Bird course gone bad

[jochi1543]

Anyone else sign up for a "bird course" only to realize it's the WORST of all your courses? Let's suffer together in this thread.

Currently manipulating exponential equations in my "bird course" - environmental chemistry.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[nonesuchgirl]

My french class is annoying more than hard, but it sucks.

I suspect next term's Modern Tech/Human Values and Anthro classes will end up being a lot harder than I think. 😕

 

[maestro1625]

I took vertebrate zoology, which was indeed a course about birds.

and yes, it sucked.

 

[tourniquet1963]

ha.. when i read bird course.. i thought actually a course in studying birds/bird song.. i took animal behavior and the whole semester consisted of studying the bird song.. listening to the variations that exist in mating songs vs calling songs.. oh god it was horrible

 

[nonesuchgirl]

I took vertebrate zoology, which was indeed a course about birds.

and yes, it sucked.

ha.. when i read bird course.. i thought actually a course in studying birds/bird song.. i took animal behavior and the whole semester consisted of studying the bird song.. listening to the variations that exist in mating songs vs calling songs.. oh god it was horrible

Oh god that would suck so much. And I'm afraid of birds too. 🙁

 

[Phoenix.]

I took a one credit Geography Department "Waves & Beaches" course to help satisfy the science requirement at my undergrad university with an "easy science course" that sounded quite pleasant from the title. I was not prepared for the study of the physics of waves. I missed the drop deadline by one day and it's the only W on my transcript. Pretty silly. I have since seen the error of my ways and took all my science pre-reqs as a post-bac. Still not keen on waves though.

(I also took two other one credit science classes in undergrad: "Climate & Mankind" of which I can't remember a single thing (did I really complete that class???) and "Dinosaurs & Other Failures" which was in fact quite fun).

 

[jochi1543]

Don't get me wrong, I think I've got a reasonable chance of getting an A- in this class (maybe even an A, if I managed to hit an A- or above on my midterm last week, which is a possibility), but the amount of work required is unbelievable. The problems are either really difficult or incredibly time-consuming...I just did one that required me to explain how bleaching of lignin with chlorine produces furans and dioxins...yeah, so this is lignin:

 

[ChubbyChaser]

My bird course, was human relations. THe class was terrible. Our entire grade was papers, 12 of them. Ridiculous.

 

[jochi1543]

My bird course, was human relations. THe class was terrible. Our entire grade was papers, 12 of them. Ridiculous.

I had to write 15 papers for my Poli Sci course during my study abroad in Japan. To add insult to injury, 1) they didn't have +/-, so my 3.4 average translated into a B, or 3.0 2) it was a graduate course, but my undergrad listed it as a regular course upon transferring the credit.

 

[ChubbyChaser]

Yup, we dont have plus our minus. My 89 in that class= 3.0, same as my 88.7 in another class.

 

[Thisbitterpill]

insect bio anyone??? i'm currently on the cusp between a B- and a C+ and i've never gotten a C in my life... didn't think insects would be the ones to bring me down... they're just so... backwards and counterintuitive

 

[whittle]

The only time a Bird Course would be enjoyable was if it involved smoking pot and walking through the woods, pointing out colorful winged creatures along the way.

 

[RPedigo]

I'm taking an upper-division religious studies class called History of Christianity, because I thought it would be interesting to learn about the majority religion in the United States.

...it was, until we had to read 100+ pages per week, write 5-6 pages of notes per lecture, and write a bunch of essays. 🙁

 

[nick_carraway]

ha.. when i read bird course.. i thought actually a course in studying birds/bird song.. i took animal behavior and the whole semester consisted of studying the bird song.. listening to the variations that exist in mating songs vs calling songs.. oh god it was horrible

YES! Yes I hated animal behavior and I still do. I loved my major but that class was just a complete and utter waste of time.

 

[Sir Buckethead]

Archaeology. If you are not actively in a coma there is no way you will survive an entire lecture. And if you can't sit through a lecture you don't know what assignments to do.

 

[LadyWolverine]

I took a one credit Geography Department "Waves & Beaches" course to help satisfy the science requirement at my undergrad university with an "easy science course" that sounded quite pleasant from the title. I was not prepared for the study of the physics of waves.

Archaeology. If you are not actively in a coma there is no way you will survive an entire lecture. And if you can't sit through a lecture you don't know what assignments to do.

I made both of these mistakes in undergrad. One semester, I took what I thought was a 1-credit puff course called "History of Oceans." When I signed up, I thought that we'd be learning cool stuff about pirates and the loch ness monster. Little did I know that we would end up covering geology, oceanography, meteorology, paleontology, and a little bit of astronomy thrown in for good measure, all in 1 stupid credit. All the stress of a hard science course, with 1/4 the payoff. Argg.

You would think that, after this experience, I stayed faaaaaaaaar away from anything having to do with geology or paleontology. But I apparently didn't learn my lesson. The worst course I ever took as an undergrad was the "Introduction to Archaeology" class that I used to fill my social science distribution (from our world-renowned anthro dept...zzzzzzzzzzzz). The first day of class, I showed up, bright-eyed and eager to learn about dinosaurs and early man. Boy, did we ever learn about early man. We learned so much about early man, I can probably still tell you what kind of rock he used to beat his dinner to death with, what kind of rock he used to pee on, etc. There were no dinosaurs. I was sorely disappointed. And bored beyond belief.

I know the Leakeys are probably spinning in their graves as I say this, but there are only so many lectures on "chert" and "flintknapping" that one can sit through before you want to gouge your eyeballs out and eat them (preferably with one of those obscure flintknapped tools that the professor is droning on and on about). Seriously, wtf is chert? That's not even a real word!

 

[154465]

Speech is killing me. You think they would grade you on your ability to give a speech but apparently they think it's an advanced writing course and I'm screwed.

 

[ChubbyChaser]

Human relations (boring and a bunch of papers), and Introduction to biological research (busy work)

 

[jochi1543]

Don't get me wrong, I think I've got a reasonable chance of getting an A- in this class (maybe even an A, if I managed to hit an A- or above on my midterm last week, which is a possibility), but the amount of work required is unbelievable. The problems are either really difficult or incredibly time-consuming...I just did one that required me to explain how bleaching of lignin with chlorine produces furans and dioxins...yeah, so this is lignin:

Update, I got an A (borderline A+...just 1% away ) on the midterm, so now I am on the upper end of an A...might even get an A+! Doubt I'd get that lucky, tho. Dreading the final now!

 

[wanabdoc]

Anyone else sign up for a "bird course" only to realize it's the WORST of all your courses?

Why again do most pre-meds think biology is the best route?

 

[shevie]

invertebrate zoology. eeew that class makes me nauseous just thinking abt it. I dont know what part of it was supposed to be easy. Understanding the anatomy of a squid? a spider? im not really sure. I barely went to class though b/c i was so grossed out.

 

[neuro1617]

Biotechnology. Its a 200 level course but has been wayyy more in-depth than I thought it would be. Lots of work...

 

[jochi1543]

invertebrate zoology. eeew that class makes me nauseous just thinking abt it. I dont know what part of it was supposed to be easy. Understanding the anatomy of a squid? a spider? im not really sure. I barely went to class though b/c i was so grossed out.

Ew, that sounds disgusting. What about all those people who do entomology for a living? Ugh.

 

[jochi1543]

BTW, here's my list of courses for the spring:
A&P II
Intro Biochem
Toxicology research thesis
2nd year Spanish
3rd year German
Issues in Women's Health


I think Spanish and German should be my bird courses, since I've always had straight As in languages...however, this is complicated by the fact that I haven't taken Spanish since 2003 and German since 2004. Hopefully it will come back fast!

 

[badasshairday]

How about taking a course at a community college that is known for being an easy A? I took an Art History class back in my comm college days and everyone told me it was super easy because everyone gets an A.

I got a B.

 

[jochi1543]

How about taking a course at a community college that is known for being an easy A? I took an Art History class back in my comm college days and everyone told me it was super easy because everyone gets an A.

I got a B.

LOL, yeah, that's what happened with me and astronomy fall of freshman year. C+, the only grade below B- in a class of like 50! It was all my fault tho, I skipped too much and didn't do half the readings. It was weird, because I actually had a strong interest in astronomy at the time.

 

[shevie]

Ew, that sounds disgusting. What about all those people who do entomology for a living? Ugh.

Ya, it was. And the worst part was that it KILLED my Senior yr gpa. NOT because I didnt do well in lab or on the exams. But because he decided to "count" class participation and "effort," (there were only like 12 ppl in the class), and the fact that I rarely came to class was "very disconcerting" especially given my high exam grades (i think he was subtlely accusing me of cheating or s/t.) I tried to explain to him that I didnt think the class was going to involve live and dead bug and scorpion specimens, which i am terrified of (even if theyre captured in jars), and I think that just pissed him off even more. I ended up with a B instead of an A- and i was SOOO mad.

 

[LucidSplash]

Seriously, forget those entymology courses. Wait until you get to helminth infections in medical school. The profs really like to break out the ICK factor pictures for those lectures.

<---- Still can't enjoy pork ribs again yet, and it's been over a month.