I got a B in a class I attended twice.

[uw_madtown]

Once to pick up the first take-home midterm test. Again to turn it in. The syllabus was e-mailed to a class list (so I didn't go on the first day) and the other two tests (also take-home) were mailed out as well. I spent approximately 20 hours doing the three tests, each about 6-8 pages long. Other than attending two class sessions and doing the tests, I put no other effort into this class.

Posting this for two reasons:

1) To see if any other college students have similar stories of ridiculously easy courses.

2) To brag.

[spamuell]

Edit: Decided I was being a dick. Well done.

[Bradyams]

I had an english course where we told the professor what grade we get, and the class was ridiculously easy. Over the entire semester we wrote one poem, and two 2 page magazine articles on a topic of our choice. I wrote both mine on poker, which made it even easier.

Oh ya, and I got an A.

[miajag81]

Weak. I got an A- in a class (Accounting I) I attended once.

[CallMeIshmael]

I've pulled an A in two courses in which I couldnt identify the professors until I saw them at exams.

[bump]

[ QUOTE ]
I've pulled an A in two courses in which I couldnt identify the professors until I saw them at exams.

[/ QUOTE ]

Two classes. ~$22,000 a semester. So you spent roughly $4,250 to learn absolutely nothing from some of the most brilliant minds in the world.

Well Played. At least you will leave with a sweet piece of paper that says "Cornell" on it.

[gumpzilla]

[ QUOTE ]

Two classes. ~$22,000 a semester. So you spent roughly $4,250 to learn absolutely nothing from some of the most brilliant minds in the world.

[/ QUOTE ]

So you think he's taking nine classes or so? Yikes. Doubtful. Furthermore, before you get all sanctimonious, there is a WORLD of difference between not attending a class and not learning. Reading, thinking and talking are frequently more effective than getting lectured at for a wide range of people.

I'm curious what subject this was in. My last semester as an undergrad I turned nocturnal about halfway through in an effort to lead something resembling my normal social life while also working on my thesis. I gave up on my classes other than the one physics class I had that had one meeting for an hour a week with me and one other guy. In particular, I stopped going to topology immediately after the midterm, eight weeks or so before the end of the semester.

After my thesis was handed in, I decided to go back to topology. The professor for that course, who I hadn't spoken to about this move at all, acted as if nothing was out of the ordinary and conversed with me when I came in and sat down (it was a seven person course or so, so my absence was super conspicuous.) I talked to him afterward about whether he'd be available to talk to me about homework for the course, of which I'd handed in nothing, as I tried to feverishly learn two-thirds of a semester in topology in two days before the final. Over the next two days I did basically two-thirds of the homework for that class and then took the final, and got out of the class having never handed in any of the homework which was 30% of the grade with a B.

Stunts like this make good stories in some ways, but it's a mixed bag. I was back at my college recently for a reunion and was talking to a current senior in the physics department. A professor that I had for one course apparently told a story about me doing five problem sets for his classical mechanics course overnight at the end of the semester (the structure of the course made it so that these were five heavily worked-on problem sets, so this was mostly tying up loose ends but still involved a lot of work). I know the story was about me because he apparently MENTIONED ME BY NAME to a crowd of people, none of whom had been at the college at the same time as me, so there wasn't any reason for him to think that they would have any clue who he was talking about. I reiterate that I had this professor for one course almost five years ago. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry when I heard that.

[CallMeIshmael]

[ QUOTE ]
Two classes. ~$22,000 a semester. So you spent roughly $4,250 to learn absolutely nothing from some of the most brilliant minds in the world.

Well Played. At least you will leave with a sweet piece of paper that says "Cornell" on it.

[/ QUOTE ]

You arent looking at the whole picture though...

If you don't attend classes, you get to add other things to your life:

1. Sleeping in
2. Poker. ($$$)
3. Free time with friends who dont have class at that time
4. Volunteer work (this looks good on the med/grad school app)

But... I have to point out that, its not like Im not learning from these minds.

You can get the lecture slides off of the internet. Some even have audio recordings.

Also, you can purchase the notes from this thing called TakeNote for like $50/class.


Just because I dont see the teacher doesnt mean I didnt learn.

[CallMeIshmael]

Also...

[ QUOTE ]
~$22,000 a semester.

[/ QUOTE ]

WOW... no. Way too high.

[BK_]

no matter how you look at it, going to astro 101 lectures wont help you learn astronomy any more fully. there are lots of upper level classes i would never miss, but alot of entry/mid level lectures arnt anything groundbreaking, especially in areas like math science or econ