How do I deal with this bull****?

[Amba]

---

Members do not see this ad.

I personally think he might of shown superiority and that might of made the other 2 girls feel uncomfortable. But the fact of the matter is that they equally distributed work, and they both practically failed to complete it. The debate ends there. I know in my group if I divided out the work, got crappy work in return, and someone (a college student) made such excuse as having "computer" issues, I would not be happy. If OP has described them accurately, they seem like trolls who are not serious.

And people say OP has no leadership skills. I disagree, he started off with strong leadership skills in this project, but the others failed. It is obvious that those two ladies would have not wanted to carry this project forward (using OP's given description). So he simply took control and did what he had to do. Now I don't know if what he said is 100% true, but if it is, college students should know better than to screw around and not turn in work.

I take it as this, If the divided work had to be turned in to the professor, he would not go after them to get the work in. He would simply give them a zero. In the same case, OP has no obligations to go after them to get their work in. Now that it is a group project, he could use a little bit of convincing to get them to work alongside again. But that's my opinion.

Aren't you a high schooler? I'll put this as nicely as I can, because anyone is welcome to post in pre-allo, but don't pretend to know what college is like. It's the same reason I'm not posting in allo.

 

[catzzz88]

Fair enough. Do you think I should approach the professor after the presentation? I'm not looking to throw my group members under the bus, but I want to convince my professor to grade my performance separately.

Interesting thread, OP.

I'll throw in my two cents: If the professor asked people to come forward about problems early, it seems that you have passed that inherent "deadline."

On the other hand, these team members sound incredibly frustrating and I never could stand "group" projects where I got paired up with lazy people with lower standards. A perfectionist myself, I totally understand where you are coming from.

Thus, when assessing the situation as a whole, you need to try and get a meeting with you professor BEFORE the presentation. If the professor is reluctant, just tell him that it is very important TO YOU and that it will take less than 5 minutes... and cross your fingers!

Important points to bring up during the meeting:
1) APOLOGIZE PROFUSELY for bringing it to him/her so late; do not make excuses for yourself for why you are so late, just make it clear that you understood the original instructions to only come as a last resort and to come early, and apologize that you came the day before the presentation. NO EXCUSES, simply apologize and then ask if it is okay if you quickly ask for advice.
2) DON'T WHINE! DON'T SAY ANYTHING NEGATIVE ABOUT YOUR TEAMMATES!
Please do not say she "lied" or even subtly suggest that they are intellectually inferior or even lazy.
3) To start the conversation, simply cite your previous grades in this professors class. You can word it like this: "I think you know from my previous performance in your class, that I not only take this class very seriously, but that I truly enjoy the subject matter and feel it is preparing me well for future endeavors."
4) State that the group project has been rocky for various reasons (do not go into unnecessary details... this = whining), but that you have ultimately come to the professor for advice. Make it clear that you do not identify with the final outcome of the powerpoint. Explain that your teammates made it clear that they felt you were taking too much of the paper over (paper will be the best piece of work), and that they prefer to work on the powerpoint.
4) Your ultimate question is: would it be possible to split up the grades between the two projects? If not, ask for advice about how you can work with the powerpoint that they made while still communicating your extensive knowledge of the paper and all of the hard work you have put in up to this point. Come at it by appealing to the professor's vast and godly experience on the topic... say something like "You must have a lot of experience on the matter and I would really appreciate your advice."
5) Thank them again for listening, apologize again, and be gracious for the time he/she gave you and the excellent advice. Say you will do your best.

 

[487806]

Aren't you a high schooler? I'll put this as nicely as I can, because anyone is welcome to post in pre-allo, but don't pretend to know what college is like. It's the same reason I'm not posting in allo.

Well said. First, it was nysegop, and now jpatel. I agree that anyone can post in preallo, but at least be in college before discussing college-related matters. It's getting somewhat annoying.

Well given that I had written the article myself, we had no option but to do this. When we all say down to discuss the article, I asked them how they would interpret certain parts of it (in particular the parts they would be presenting). You know what response I received? They told me I made them feel stupid. They thought that this exercise was pointless and that they already had a understanding of the article. However, given the discusison we had, they didn't have that great of an understanding. At least not the level that I think the professor wants us to know.

I actually empathize with your concerns and will go opposite to what many people were criticizing about "leadership". I really don't believe leadership has a role in a group-related academic setting, more so than actually getting the grade. You can report this incident to your professor, but don't make it sound like you're whining about it.

 

[deleted407021]

+1 above post. Not to be discouraging. Just behave appropriately to your stage in life. In reference to the high schooler, of course.🙄

 

[NontradCA]

OP you come off as a real douche, and I'm sure your group partners can sense it.

 

[JPodel]

Sorry to all who were annoyed! I guess I'll post in pre-allo after graduating hs. Once again, I apologize for coming off as an annoying high school student.

 

[487806]

Sorry to all who were annoyed! I guess I'll post in pre-allo after entering and experiencing college. Once again, I apologize for coming off as an annoying high school student.

Fixed. 😉

 

[deleted407021]

Sorry to all who were annoyed! I guess I'll post in pre-allo after graduating hs. Once again, I apologize for coming off as an annoying high school student.

Please feel free to discuss with us but hold off on getting in depth without any knowledge of how college works. Unless you are duel enrolled, in which case, please do join us.

 

[JPodel]

Eh I'll probably annoy some by even being dual enrolled in a CC, so I'll just hold off on pre-allo for now.

 

[deleted407021]

Eh I'll probably annoy some by even being dual enrolled in a CC, so I'll just hold off on pre-allo for now.

This is a forum for college students, so yeah, maybe that would be wise. See you fall 2014!

 

[kami333]

That is a great point and certainly the way I would have approached this article. The only issue with this method is that we all live in different cities and we all work. Given the time it would take to commute and get time off work, we wouldn't be able to meet often enough to finish the paper. I also don't own my own car so I felt it would be unfair to them to have to drive all the way out to where I am.

Next time you should look into using something like Teamviewer to set up an online meeting and share your desktop, then you can chat or conference call while all looking at the same desktop. Another good tool for long distance collaboration is to use Google Docs and share the document/presentation, then everyone can work on it at the same time and you can check up on each others work.

 

[HopefulReapp]

Something similar happened to me in my only literature class (as an engineer). We had a group project that was worth 40% of our grade and consisted of teams of 3. We had to develop a society and then a 12 page paper describing it, so we each decided it would be good to do a certain third (aspects) of the society and the paper.

One of the team members missed the first two deadlines but we let it slide because he kept saying he would do it. The last deadline was for his parts of the society, paper, and ideas for an in-class presentation. I ended up having to delay the meeting by an hour and a half because of a previous meeting. I walked into our student union that hour and a half later and saw him on his computer watching the new "Gentleman" Psy video and he had a paragraph written and nothing else.

Me and the other group mate who actually did work didn't have time to do the third's work and we couldn't make a presentation because we were literally missing a third of our society.

Emailed the professor about the issues, talked to her about it, showed her the guy's text messages and emails, and she gave us all C's.

Life isn't fair sometimes and it sucks, but what can you do.

 

[HopefulReapp]

Aren't you a high schooler? I'll put this as nicely as I can, because anyone is welcome to post in pre-allo, but don't pretend to know what college is like. It's the same reason I'm not posting in allo.

I just graduated college and the opinions seem pretty sound. What's wrong with what he wrote?

 

[lilwayne]

Just talk to the professor or if there are any TA's or assistants in the class talk to them. State that you don't have the time to be playing around with these goons that obviously don't care much for their grade as you do. I would tell them that we equally divided up the work and set a deadline as to when the divided work was due and they practically failed to produce adequate work. And make sure to say that they were not willing to put in enough time to properly help you out, you had to do some of it by yourself to save you the grade.

I'm sorry but that bolded part had me LAUGHING for 10 minutes straight LOL

Not in a bad way either 😀

 

[487806]

I just graduated college and the opinions seem pretty sound. What's wrong with what he wrote?

Scroll up and see the answer. In case you missed it, here's what I said

Well said. First, it was nysegop, and now jpatel. I agree that anyone can post in preallo, but at least be in college before discussing college-related matters. It's getting somewhat annoying.

Now, let's forget about this topic and focus on the main point of the thread.

 

[Lunasly]

Not to mention that they are both acting very immature. Instead of talking about our problems, they just look at the message and don't reply.

 

[akademiks1989]

If I were the professor and found out that you combined three pieces of work together rather than truly collaborating and that it was your idea with this bossy attitude of yours, I would have to favor with the two "clowns" in your group.

In the future, you can all set up a time to meet at the library or coffee shop, and someone types out the paper while all three are present. If I were one of the "clowns" I'd feel more comfortable that my name is on the paper rather than handing my work to some stranger who is self-serving and thinks so lowly of me in the first place.

Sorry if I am being harsh, but I highly suggest you learn how to interact with your peers in a fair and educationally stimulating way.

 

[Lunasly]

Don't read into my post too closely. I already gave a reason as to why we couldn't meet on a continual basis.

 

[jayoh]

I don't think there's anything wrong with assuming a leadership position... in my experience, most groups need it. Unfortunately, as a leader, if your group members aren't pulling their weight then it's your fault too.

I agree that many college students can be annoyingly flippant about group work, but when one of them doesn't turn in something on time, you can't just log on to SDN and vent about it, you need to be proactive. Obviously having "computer issues" is a sophomoric excuse, but you can't just say "Fine, I'll do it myself." Plus, if they want to add a video that's funny, who cares? There is some value in a comical opening to a presentation.

I guess my point is that you need to hold yourself accountable for your part in the group failing to communicate. You may be "academically superior", but that doesn't mean you're a good leader or communicator.

 

[dirigo]

Hope i'm not late. Keep all your emails that you sent to your teammates. As a matter of fact start sending emails right now and make it sound diplomatic.. ie "Hi guys I just want to check on you to see how far are you on with blah blah. This is a group grade and I want us to succeed...blah blah...if you have any questions or suggestions talk to me blah blah....is there a time we can meet and discuss the final product of our project..." This way you have proof of how you tried to resolve this issue.

Now do you think you can carry all their weight and get a good grade out of this? If not go talk to your professor and play the victim.