Your most embarrassing undergrad moments

[Doctor Poetry]

SHARE YOUR STORIES OF YOUR MOST EMBARRASSING UNDERGRAD MOMENTS...

HERE GOES MINES...

we were working on our chem experiment and I mistakingly go to the weighing room and begin weighing my sample for the experiment...I was not aware that you cant move the weigh stations, because it becomes uncalibrated; however i do. Another professor was in the weighing room with her class and she saw me do that...result was that she yelled at me in front of her class and i felt like ****...now when i think about it, i just laugh it off

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[Mithril]

Tried to put on the wrong sized cap on a test tube in a micb lab. It wouldn't fit so I tried jamming it and I ended up breaking the test tube and ramming the shard of glass into my thumb. There was blood everywhere and I wouldn't stop bleeding for a good 20 minutes. One girl in my lab fainted and I needed to go to the ER to get stitches.

 

[Doctor Poetry]

Tried to put on the wrong sized cap on a test tube in a micb lab. It wouldn't fit so I tried jamming it and I ended up breaking the test tube and ramming the shard of glass into my thumb. There was blood everywhere and I wouldn't stop bleeding for a good 20 minutes. One girl in my lab fainted and I needed to go to the ER to get stitches.

Lol...ThaT is hilarious ( not the part where you started to bleed even though it was your faulT) but the part where the girl fainted

 

[WorldChanger36]

It had been one of those days where nothing goes right and I happened to get the elevator with one of my most disliked professors. He was going to the 4th floor I was going to the 3rd. I figured it would be a great idea to "elevator oven" the guy. So right before I thought the door were going to open, I expelled the loudest and smelliest fart I could. Of course the doors didn't open as expected and the elevator took the slow trip down to the first floor. Apparently a fire fighter used his key on the 1st floor. Finally the door open and we both jump out gasping for air. Ended up with an A- in the class. Epic fail

 

[slowbutsteady]

Top this:

I am at a frat party, very drunk (redundant). Crazy dancing by all and the girls start getting up on a table and dance. So I got up on the table and danced.

The DJ turned off the music and made me get down. Once I was down, he restarted the music.

 

[muhali3]

I was in a group discussion with my teacher and like 20 other students and my mommy called me to see where I was because it was getting late. There were like 5 hot girls in the circle too. The bully next me yelled out "Hey his mommy is calling him" and everyone laughed at me. My iphone says "momma" on it too.

Another time I was in an elevator and I answered the phone "hi mommy" and the girls in the elevator laughed at me. I don't know what they were laughing about.

Yeah I still call my mom "mummy". Somehow you're supposed to transition to saying mom when you get older or something, but I never did that.

 

[NickNaylor]

I was in a group discussion with my teacher and like 20 other students and my mommy called me to see where I was because it was getting late. There were like 5 hot girls in the circle too. The bully next me yelled out "Hey his mommy is calling him" and everyone laughed at me. My iphone says "momma" on it too.

Another time I was in an elevator and I answered the phone "hi mommy" and the girls in the elevator laughed at me. I don't know what they were laughing about.

I suspect you'll be getting a visit from the banhammer soon.

 

[n3xa]

I spilled Kovac's reagent all over my jeans in micro lab.

And off they came!

 

[Playa]

I was in a group discussion with my teacher and like 20 other students and my mommy called me to see where I was because it was getting late. There were like 5 hot girls in the circle too. The bully next me yelled out "Hey his mommy is calling him" and everyone laughed at me. My iphone says "momma" on it too.

Another time I was in an elevator and I answered the phone "hi mommy" and the girls in the elevator laughed at me. I don't know what they were laughing about.

Ok wow.

I was at a party, got really drunk, and I was walking back with some friends who were still sober. Needless to say, they were constructing a new building on campus at the time, and had fences around the construction site. Me and this other drunk chick just ran to those fences and started climbing them lol, my friend had to chase us halfway through campus.

 

[DaisyBuchanan]

Freshman year, I was presenting a literary research paper at a conference. The paper was about the use of sex as an element of horror in these two stories that are based on this ancient legend. After reading at length about the use of fetishism, sadomasochism etc and how they were used as the source of horror, it was time to take questions from the audience (about 30 people, many professors).

One older prof with a white beard raises his hand and says, "That's a very interesting theory. Do you have any personal anecdotes to support your claim?"

My writing teacher falls out of her chair silently laughing as I turn bright red and stammer that my analysis was based on the works discussed.

 

[Janieve]

I had a self-defense class right before my chemistry lab. One day, we were working on getting out of holds and I (for real!) elbowed the girl pinning me to the wall in the friggin' temple. She promptly crumpled, and I skipped the lab so I could make sure I hadn't outright killed this girl - I hit her really hard.

The next lab, I had to explain why I missed the last week's. Everyone treated me like a domestic abuser after that - I'm talking less than garbage.

She ended up fine. I ended up with a reputation as the girl who hit her friend so hard she had to be hospitalized.

Yeah. Such is life.

 

[DocBell]

We have this system where we submit our papers online. It was my final 10 page paper for a field class worth 50% of the grade. I had saved an early early draft under a different title and I submitted that instead. I accidentally submitted a 1/2 page paper entitled "Insert Witty Title Here" that ended with "figure out what the hell you are trying to prove....."

Luckily my professor really liked me and he called me to figure out what was up. I was horrified and he still jokes about it whenever I turn in a paper.

 

[GlamDoc]

We have this system where we submit our papers online. It was my final 10 page paper for a field class worth 50% of the grade. I had saved an early early draft under a different title and I submitted that instead. I accidentally submitted a 1/2 page paper entitled "Insert Witty Title Here" that ended with "figure out what the hell you are trying to prove....."

Luckily my professor really liked me and he called me to figure out what was up. I was horrified and he still jokes about it whenever I turn in a paper.

Love this.

 

[45408]

We have this system where we submit our papers online. It was my final 10 page paper for a field class worth 50% of the grade. I had saved an early early draft under a different title and I submitted that instead. I accidentally submitted a 1/2 page paper entitled "Insert Witty Title Here" that ended with "figure out what the hell you are trying to prove....."

Luckily my professor really liked me and he called me to figure out what was up. I was horrified and he still jokes about it whenever I turn in a paper.

ahahahaha, that's a really good one

 

[niblet]

Ok wow.

I was at a party, got really drunk, and I was walking back with some friends who were still sober. Needless to say, they were constructing a new building on campus at the time, and had fences around the construction site. Me and this other drunk chick just ran to those fences and started climbing them lol, my friend had to chase us halfway through campus.

No, I'm pretty sure that part of your story was absolutely necessary.

 

[orthomyxo]

My most embarrassing moment happened a few weeks ago during my first orgo exam. We had just learned about chirality, chairs, Newman projections, so naturally our prof allowed us to bring molecular model kits. Instead of taking my entire kit, I decided to build a few tetrahedrons and put them in a small ziploc bag along with all of those little ball thingys that represent atoms, and a few extra bond pieces. We took the exam in a lecture hall with those little fold-up desktops so I rested the bag in my lap to save room. About halfway through the test the bag fell out of my lap, spilling every single piece I had, which was pretty loud. At least 20 people in my general area turned around and stared and I just kinda laughed and kept working with all my stuff strewn halfway across the room. The worst part was when the prof came by to answer someone's question and he cleaned up some of my pieces lol. He had also just recently joked about someone spilling their models during a test

 

[fizzgig]

We have this system where we submit our papers online. It was my final 10 page paper for a field class worth 50% of the grade. I had saved an early early draft under a different title and I submitted that instead. I accidentally submitted a 1/2 page paper entitled "Insert Witty Title Here" that ended with "figure out what the hell you are trying to prove....."

Luckily my professor really liked me and he called me to figure out what was up. I was horrified and he still jokes about it whenever I turn in a paper.

this could totally have happened to me applying to grad school... i definitely had my own self-entertainment application essay.

i was inspired by this, which because of your story too i will now share just in case anyone out there hasn't seen it yet. it is a lab report entitled "Electron Band Structure in Germanium, My Ass" and it's a classic
http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~kovar/hall.html

as for your experience, glad your prof thought it was funny!

 

[chman]

I seem to embarrass myself on a daily bases...

 

[GrantN]

This happened just the other day, we were in an organic lab doing our lab, it consisted of thin layer chromatography, anyways, there was only 1 bottle of reference solution and i managed to contaminate it so severely that the rest of the class after my got bizarre results under the uv light, while me and another group had gotten the right results. and this was at the end when everyone was throwing out there solutions, needless to say i caused some commotion.

 

[DocBell]

this could totally have happened to me applying to grad school... i definitely had my own self-entertainment application essay.

i was inspired by this, which because of your story too i will now share just in case anyone out there hasn't seen it yet. it is a lab report entitled "Electron Band Structure in Germanium, My Ass" and it's a classic
http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~kovar/hall.html

as for your experience, glad your prof thought it was funny!

I have never read that before. If a mock essay could sum up my entire college experience that one does. Thanks for sharing. It seriously made my whole day.

I am glad my prof was amused too. I would have been so confused if he had just failed me.

 

[chman]

this could totally have happened to me applying to grad school... i definitely had my own self-entertainment application essay.

i was inspired by this, which because of your story too i will now share just in case anyone out there hasn't seen it yet. it is a lab report entitled "Electron Band Structure in Germanium, My Ass" and it's a classic
http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~kovar/hall.html

as for your experience, glad your prof thought it was funny!

Pure win. I was tempted to send this to my chem prof because she has a sense of humor...maybe if it didn't contain curse words.

 

[loveoforganic]

I, clearly, really like o. chem. One fateful week, we were handed problem packets for both the current week's and next week's material. I read ahead because I was just dying to learn more organic, and did both packets. On recitation, when we asked questions, I asked a question about the last synthesis on the next week packet, having forgotten there were two different packets. I realized what happened and tried to stop the professor from explaining, but he insisted, and my head was fried with lasers from the eyes of the 70 other students in the room.

slick

 

[BBender716]

this could totally have happened to me applying to grad school... i definitely had my own self-entertainment application essay.

i was inspired by this, which because of your story too i will now share just in case anyone out there hasn't seen it yet. it is a lab report entitled "Electron Band Structure in Germanium, My Ass" and it's a classic
http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~kovar/hall.html

as for your experience, glad your prof thought it was funny!

 

[IlaEm]

First week of college and I'm walking around trying to find my class. I somehow forget to step over a curb and go flying. My heavy backpack lands on my head and I look like a upside down bug swinging my limbs trying to stand up. It took me a good amount of time to scoot my backpack back onto my back so I could stand up. I am sure I turned beet red.....

 

[Dr McSexy]

First week of college and I'm walking around trying to find my class. I somehow forget to step over a curb and go flying. My heavy backpack lands on my head and I look like a upside down bug swinging my limbs trying to stand up. It took me a good amount of time to scoot my backpack back onto my back so I could stand up. I am sure I turned beet red.....

:fistpump:

Similar story...

First day I was moving into the dorms. I can't remember if it had rained earlier that day or if it was just really humid (Louisiana weather, y'know). Anyway, I was walking back outside to get more things. As soon as I stepped outside, I lost my footing on the wet step and faceplanted in front of the door and lost my flip flop at the same time. All of this in front of several students and parents waiting to move in the door.

I took it like a champ though.

 

[IlaEm]

:fistpump:

Similar story...

First day I was moving into the dorms. I can't remember if it had rained earlier that day or if it was just really humid (Louisiana weather, y'know). Anyway, I was walking back outside to get more things. As soon as I stepped outside, I lost my footing on the wet step and faceplanted in front of the door and lost my flip flop at the same time. All of this in front of several students and parents waiting to move in the door.

I took it like a champ though.

Yeah a few years ago I slipped down some stairs in the rain (also wearing flip flops). On the way to the ground, I hit my umbrella so hard on my boob that it broke and then I bruised my tailbone. I then had to walk a mile home looking like I had jumped into a pool.

Can you tell I am a bit clumsy??

Oh yeah...and this was also on campus.

 

[BJJ]

I go to the soda fountain to get water with a sandwich in one hand. I get my water and go to put the cap on which takes a little bit of maneuvering. While doing this someone stands behind me waiting to get their soda. I get a little impatient and put a little strength into it and the cup of water bends and tips over spilling water on to the floor. Me trying to conserve water cups just grab it again and try putting more water into it. About 30 seconds into it I realize there is a hole on the other side of the cup. So I put the water down and just get another cup without a cap. After this ordeal I had to walk past the entire line of people waiting to get there beverages.

 

[Sid Farkus]

Yeah a few years ago I slipped down some stairs in the rain (also wearing flip flops). On the way to the ground, I hit my umbrella so hard on my boob that it broke...

Sorry about your broken boob. Haha Kidding.

The following story isn't really that embarrassing, as I planned ahead to turn an embarrassing situation into a funny one.

I'm sure just about everyone has had their phone go off in class. I kept fouling up in one class--forgetting to silence/vibrate my phone--so I came up with a plan. I made a ringtone of the intro to "Let's Get It On" and applied it to all my incoming calls. Then, if it goes off, so what? Laughs all around. Of course, it only took a few days for me to get a call in the middle of Gen Chem II, a class of 70-80 ppl. Everyone looks at me--some in shock, some chuckling--and I start blushing because I didn't plan anything out for AFTER the phone rings. Somehow, while fumbling through my pocket to turn off the ringer, I had the sense to coolly say, "Oh, sorry. It's my mom."

........Success!

(P.S. No, it was not my mom.)

 

[oldyogurt]

It had been one of those days where nothing goes right and I happened to get the elevator with one of my most disliked professors. He was going to the 4th floor I was going to the 3rd. I figured it would be a great idea to "elevator oven" the guy. So right before I thought the door were going to open, I expelled the loudest and smelliest fart I could. Of course the doors didn't open as expected and the elevator took the slow trip down to the first floor. Apparently a fire fighter used his key on the 1st floor. Finally the door open and we both jump out gasping for air. Ended up with an A- in the class. Epic fail

I don't know why you wouldn't opt for the silent but deadly variety in the presence of a professor (actually you are bold to even fart at all), but I enjoyed this tale heartily.

 

[IlaEm]

Sorry about your broken boob. Haha Kidding.

Hah! Yeah that would have been some talent! Hopefully my subject-verb whatevers were better in my essays than in my SDN posts!

P.S. Let's get it on = GREAT SONG!

 

[Knitress]

So, at the end of my first semester of undergrad...

I was finishing my gen bio class, and one of my friends was taking the same prof for that class next semester. She was going to borrow my book, but there were some rumors about the book switching. So one afternoon, we saw the prof standing in the lobby of one of the buildings on campus, along with a lot of other people.

We decide to go ask her about the book. She answers, and invites us to grab some food from a nearby table. Being poor college students (Free meal? Yes, please!), we take her up on her offer. About halfway through filling up our plates, my friend realizes that we are the only people under 30 in the room. And then I realized... we were at the faculty Christmas party! No wonder everyone was giving us dirty looks. We snuck out of the room as quickly as possible, but three years later, the mere memory of crashing the faculty Christmas party is mortifying...

Edited to add: Oh, right... the first reason I thought that it was anything other than the faculty party? Well, this prof was the pre-med adviser, and I thought it might be a pre-med thing... never mind that I was a pre-med myself! Yeah, that just added to the embarrassment...

 

[Astarael]

One of my worst moments happened during advanced inorganic chemistry lab. I missed the first two labs (Th and F) because I came down with mono so badly that I didn't think I could make it through the lab, and I figured I'd be a danger to myself and others due to sleep deprivation (and believe me, there's more than one way to harm yourself in a lab like that, even if you're totally alert). Anyway, all of the lab TAs were inorganic chemistry grad students, and the two that I had to work with most frequently were very funny but super serious about labwork. Those two also thought I was an idiot for missing the first two labs.

Fast forward to my second day in lab, and we were doing a synthesis that involved acetic acid in one part and ammonia in another. Since it is pretty difficult to decant exactly 10 mL of liquid from a 1 L container, I ended up with some acetic acid left over. Before disposing of it, I looked at the waste container, and made sure that the one I was using was for the proper experiment and said "acetic acid" on it. I Poured the excess acetic acid in, and a cloud of smoke filled the jar. Immediately. I had stupidly disposed of concentrated acid without neutralizing it, thinking that the fact that it said acetic acid on the label meant it was safe to put the acid in directly. This was doubly stupid because the same jar was used for ammonia waste, so the waste was clearly not acidic (or at least not as much as concentrated acetic acid).

I ended up telling my TA about it, and he just said, "Yeah, it's probably just a bit of condensation following the neutralization of the acid. But you should probably leave the cap off until it dissipates." I then went back to my bench to spend the rest of the period feeling like an idiot.

 

[hiyaman]

One of my worst moments happened during advanced inorganic chemistry lab. I missed the first two labs (Th and F) because I came down with mono so badly that I didn't think I could make it through the lab, and I figured I'd be a danger to myself and others due to sleep deprivation (and believe me, there's more than one way to harm yourself in a lab like that, even if you're totally alert). Anyway, all of the lab TAs were inorganic chemistry grad students, and the two that I had to work with most frequently were very funny but super serious about labwork. Those two also thought I was an idiot for missing the first two labs.

Fast forward to my second day in lab, and we were doing a synthesis that involved acetic acid in one part and ammonia in another. Since it is pretty difficult to decant exactly 10 mL of liquid from a 1 L container, I ended up with some acetic acid left over. Before disposing of it, I looked at the waste container, and made sure that the one I was using was for the proper experiment and said "acetic acid" on it. I Poured the excess acetic acid in, and a cloud of smoke filled the jar. Immediately. I had stupidly disposed of concentrated acid without neutralizing it, thinking that the fact that it said acetic acid on the label meant it was safe to put the acid in directly. This was doubly stupid because the same jar was used for ammonia waste, so the waste was clearly not acidic (or at least not as much as concentrated acetic acid).

I ended up telling my TA about it, and he just said, "Yeah, it's probably just a bit of condensation following the neutralization of the acid. But you should probably leave the cap off until it dissipates." I then went back to my bench to spend the rest of the period feeling like an idiot.

lol I think this is pretty common, a couple weeks ago in my inorganic lab a student poured concentrated HCl in the waste without neutralizing.

 

[circulus vitios]

I've been wrestling with a bunsen burner for the past 10 weeks. I could never get it to light without having to hit the striker like 15 times. Real fun when everyone is staring at you thinking you're mentally ******ed.

I thought the burner was broken. It turns out that I'm just an idiot who never learned how to start a burner in gen chem. Hint: close the gas and air needles then open them like 1 turn each. It's much easier lighting it when the needles aren't open full blast.

 

[IvyHopeful20]

I mentioned this elsewhere but mine was in physics 1 lab where I proved with 95% certainty that f does not equal ma.

 

[teddy bear doc]

Last big experiment of my last chem lab in undergrad. We had really crappy equipment, and the flasks had a tendency to slide off the evaporators... Long story short, after repeated near-misses, I looked down at my notebook to take some notes and my flask slid off right at that second. I was so frustrated that I totally let the F-bomb fly, really loud, pretty much unconsciously. Apparently my lab teacher was right behind me.Oops!

 

[OBEAHDOCTOR]

I actually have two:

1) The first occurred during Sophomore year when I was pretty sure that I was failing physics...I got my first test back and I had gotten a 'mercy C' and I walked from the physics building to the secret bathroom in the biology building and started bawling my eyes out...now this was no ordinary crying, this was hyperventilating, snot nosed, caterwauling, heart wrenching sobbing. After I called my mommy (yes I still call her mommy, don’t hate!!), and she calmed me down (about 25 minutes later), I walked out of the secret bathroom to a crowd of people gathered around the bathroom door...if I wasn’t black my face would have been cherry red... but I drummed up some dignity, wiped my nose (toddler style, sweater sleeve and all) and walked away without a word. I got some odd locks from those people for the next two years.
2) The second occurred when I was doing breast cancer research at the hospital at my school. I was hanging out with the PhD student late one night after eating what we in DC call a Half Smoke from the infamous Ben's Chili Bowl. I felt a disturbance in the force but I was extracting DNA and didn’t want to leave my experiment. We were both hanging out waiting for some reagent or another to do something (it was 6 years ago so cut my old brain some slack) and we are telling yo' mama jokes. So she tells me a joke that was so funny that I put ALOT of force into my laugh, and wouldn’t you know it a fart squeaked out (damned chili!!)!! I was soooooo embarrassed!! There was an awkward silence but she played it off and I quickly started fanning the area to disperse the foul fumes...



There are more but I dont want to relive the shower fall or walking into my room to my roommate filming amateur porn...so i will stop there

 

[Doctor Poetry]

i actually have two:

1) the first occurred during sophomore year when i was pretty sure that i was failing physics...i got my first test back and i had gotten a 'mercy c' and i walked from the physics building to the secret bathroom in the biology building and started bawling my eyes out...now this was no ordinary crying, this was hyperventilating, snot nosed, caterwauling, heart wrenching sobbing. After i called my mommy (yes i still call her mommy, don’t hate!!), and she calmed me down (about 25 minutes later), i walked out of the secret bathroom to a crowd of people gathered around the bathroom door...if i wasn’t black my face would have been cherry red... But i drummed up some dignity, wiped my nose (toddler style, sweater sleeve and all) and walked away without a word. I got some odd locks from those people for the next two years.
2) the second occurred when i was doing breast cancer research at the hospital at my school. I was hanging out with the phd student late one night after eating what we in dc call a half smoke from the infamous ben's chili bowl. I felt a disturbance in the force but i was extracting dna and didn’t want to leave my experiment. We were both hanging out waiting for some reagent or another to do something (it was 6 years ago so cut my old brain some slack) and we are telling yo' mama jokes. So she tells me a joke that was so funny that i put alot of force into my laugh, and wouldn’t you know it a fart squeaked out (damned chili!!)!! I was soooooo embarrassed!! There was an awkward silence but she played it off and i quickly started fanning the area to disperse the foul fumes...



There are more but i dont want to relive the shower fall or walking into my room to my roommate filming amateur porn...so i will stop there

lol!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Grom]

I mentioned this elsewhere but mine was in physics 1 lab where I proved with 95% certainty that f does not equal ma.

That's not embarrassing, that's awesome!

 

[myu7]

in office hours, I called my bio professor "mom" by accident. mortifying.

 

[EpicBearMan]

Last year, I was trying to load a powerpoint from my flash drive for a presentation in front of a fairly large room full of people. This flash drive also happened to have one of my music playlists on it. When I plugged in the flash drive, I accidentally hit the autoplay option instead of "open folder to view files", and up comes the media player blasting I'm Blue by Eiffel 65. The volume was set really high and the computer was really slow . It played for atleast 20 seconds before I got the media player to close.

 

[Stixman28]

Ok wow.

I was at a party, got really drunk, and I was walking back with some friends who were still sober. Needless to say, they were constructing a new building on campus at the time, and had fences around the construction site. Me and this other drunk chick just ran to those fences and started climbing them lol, my friend had to chase us halfway through campus.

This is the worst story I've ever heard try to be included in a post about 'embarrassing moments'.

As someone pointed out already, the mention of construction on your campus was not "needless to say," but in fact, crucial to your crappy story.

Second, you were drunk, you jumped a fence, and your friend had to chase you? This is embarrassing? Sounds like you were drunk, and that's about it.

there are some quality posts on this one, especially the guy who emailed his early draft to the prof, but geez, this post just sucks.

 

[juliedi]

My most embarrassing moment happened at this huge off-campus Halloween party. By the end of the night, I'd earned the moniker "that girl who threw up on everyone's shoes." I'm sure you can imagine.

 

[orthomyxo]

in office hours, I called my bio professor "mom" by accident. mortifying.

I'm pretty sure I would've died right there in her office. I can't even imagine something more awkward happening between a student and a professor, even after having read the other post about the fart thing

 

[OBEAHDOCTOR]

I'm pretty sure I would've died right there in her office. I can't even imagine something more awkward happening between a student and a professor, even after having read the other post about the fart thing

That damned chili dog!!!!