DISASTERS: on this semester's class

[seventhe]

This semester I'm taking my last class - a 3-credit Polymer Science lab, that runs for 6 hours on Friday, 9-3. *CUE GROANING*

At the very first class - a safety and syllabus overview - the professor introduced us to the class by saying: "This is the worst class you're going to take in your entire PhD." Which I am sure is a great way to start off the semester with high morale!

Basically, we run experiments on lab days, and reports - big honking 10-20 page reports with error analysis (and not the good HONKing either) - are due two weeks after the lab, rolling. So on Week 1 I will do Lab 1. On Week 2 I will be writing Report 1 and doing Lab 2. On Week 3 I will be finishing and turning in Report 1, writing Report 2, and doing Lab 3. This continues until the end of the semester, or until I die, whichever comes first.

Have I mentioned that they make grad students take this class by itself because it's so much work? FULL TIME grad students, that is. So this semester? I'm carrying a FULL TIME workload. With just this one class. Remember: I have a job! A hard one! It's already full time!*

On top of this GREAT AND EFFICIENT schedule come the following two awesome points:

1. They are trying to redo the lab experiments, to improve them. However, this means that the new ones last year? NONE OF THEM WORKED. Students got to choose between (a) working extra in the lab to get good data or (b) attempting to write a 10-20 page lab report and answering all assignment questions with bad data. That's a lose-lose situation to me, but do they care? Apparently not, because the prof doesn't seem to think many of the labs this year will be much better. Great. Glad we care about quality.


2. They've apparently run out of second-(or-greater-)year students on assistantships supported by the department, so. My TAs and teachers and lab assistants? Are the students in the class.
   Just think about this one for a long second here. The students taking the class right now... will be teaching the class. And taking it. As they teach it.
   These are first-year students. They've only been through the first half of the core - our first 5 courses**. That's it.
   So these first-year students will be coming on Monday, learning about the lab and setting it up, and then teaching it to us. While they also do it.
   I don't pity them and I won't blame them for doing a shit job; that's a shit situation to be in. But I am also Not Very Excited for the amount of help (read: zero) I'll have on these labs.

I just. University of Akron, you may consider this an official public notice: YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG, GUYS.

I'm not looking forward to this.

It's my last class, and with that in mind, I'm going to just shoulder on through until May. I'm basically making myself harshly limit the amount of time I spend socializing or traveling or doing other stuff, and I'm looking at my schedule to trim out things. I can survive this, and it'll be worth it when it's done.

My plan is: I am going to save Thursday and Friday nights all for homeworking and lab reporting. This means no more weekend-long trips, not until May (except for a very few rare exceptions, like Ohayocon and a birthday or two). Only one night per weekend for socializing or hanging out. If I get behind on things, I will take a half day of vacation to work on them, rather than stay up all night. I can't afford to get sick this semester because there aren't any lab makeups I can attend (seeing as I work). I'm going to have to be pre-emptively careful, not just careful. Or else this is going to suck, a lot.

So: yay. And, uh, sorry to those of you who I hang out with in real life, but I really do need to make myself do this. It isn't that I don't love you! I promise. Really. in my pants.

On the plus side, this is the last semester you'll hear me whining about class.


* If we factor in travel time - JUST travel time, not errands or the gym or anything else I will be doing during the week - I'll be pulling 55 hour weeks. If I count nothing but work and school and driving there and back. :/ That also doesn't include homework time or, you know, anything like eating or chores (adulthood is its own part-time job (ADULTHOOD SUCKS)).
** Yes, the UAkron PolySci core is frigging ridic. The first semester is 5 courses. Who does that. No wonder this damn degree has taken me 4 years.

Comments

[owlmoose]

Ugh, that just sounds like badness all around. At least the prof, if not a fount of morale, is being honest with you about how much it's going to suck?

I cannot imagine that being the guinea pigs for all-new experiments will be any kind of fun. On the upside, they can't expect perfect results from you. (Can they?) Although, making that kind of change while having all inexperienced grad assistance does not sound like good planning. Feh.

Good luck with everything, and yay for it being your last class! Does that mean you're done at the end of the semester, or do you still have research to contend with?

[seventhe]

Yeah, I am not impressed with their planning skills on this one. The one thing I can say is: at least the prof is aware of the situation and the conditions and the setup. (That's more than I can say for previous professors.)

And yes: I will still have to have a research thesis. But once classes are over I'll have so much more time (and spoons) to make that happen.

[crankyoldman]

Wow, yeah, I'm REALLY looking forward to grad school now. Lab classes in general seem to be a lot of UR DOIN IT RONG in colleges. I avoided them as much as I could, unless they were design classes.

Actually, I have no idea how my grad program will be if I get in, because it's the bastard lovechild of education and engineering, which means I guess I get as much touchy feely as I get technical? Maybe I need to read what I applied for again.

I think I may be sending you a lot of care packages. Just like you got from your parents in undergrad, but with less pants?

[seventhe]

Well, this is elitist, but I'm also in raw sciences now, not engineering at all: in my experience a lot of raw science is lab, and a lot of labs are dumb. (Can I conclude PolySci is dumb? YES.) XD

But... Yeah. This is pretty poor planning. How are they still accredited? Really?

[crankyoldman]

Oh I know there's a difference between "hard" sciences and others. Believe me, I know I have no patience for raw sciences. XD I could care less about my damn lab report format, for instance. I got dinged a lot for stuff like that, because I'm an asshole when I feel like my time is being wasted.

It's not elitist, it's just another way of doing things, is all. Which works for some people (my sister was so good in her bio labs they asked her to be a lab assistant, for instance).

Oh did I mention she's TAing this quarter? I feel sorry for those kids. XD

[seventhe]

A lot of my early problems with Polymer Science were related to wrapping my brains around the difference between engineering and pure!science classes. They're. So. Different. And obviously I knew that, but knowing it and EXPERIENCING it were two different levels of understanding. XD

But I have always hated lab classes. Probably because I was involved in research very early on, so I had little to NO patience with lab bullshit that had absolutely shite to do with REAL LIFE EXPERIMENTS. I still think "lab classes" should get thrown out and undergrads should have to work a semester with a professor's research group instead, to get lab credit. I see a lot of positives there, and it would be more useful for everyone (research experience for the undergrad! a research gopher for the grad student! collaboration for the professor!). But I'm not in charge (yet).

AND SPEAKING OF FORMAT, OMFG YOU SHOULD SEE OUR TEMPLATE LAB REPORTS. I am really glad I've got experience in technical writing, but I feel really really bad for all the first-years who have never written a formal report before.

[seventhe]

Also I bet your sister will be an AWESOME TA, no lie. One part FUN and three parts KICKASS.


...creep

[crankyoldman]

No, she will mostly be a perfectionist and you really would not want her as your TA. XD You've only seen her when the booze has mellowed her, I LIVED WITH HER.

[lassarina]

What an epic clusterfuck. I am disapproving cat.

SO HEY what can I write for you/send you in a care package/email you pics of/otherwise make life a little better for Sev?

[jennyclarinet.livejournal.com]

You can do it!!! I bet it'll go by faster than you think, and then it will be OVER. But I'm glad you're being realistic about your time. Getting enough sleep is going to have to be a priority for you (I'm trying to make it a priority for myself too). And don't feel bad about not hanging out: I'm having to ditch friends to practice in order to pull this upcoming recital off.

GOOD LUCK!

[first-seventhe.livejournal.com]

We can have some major girly recovery time after all this busy stuff is over (and after our HALF MARATHON)~!

[jennyclarinet.livejournal.com]

Are we still doing that? Will it be too close to your finals? I'm still in if you are. Also, one of my music teacher friends wants to join in if we do it-her family is from Pgh.

If our training doesn't go well due to recitals and tough classes, there's no shame in running the 13.1 at a snail's pace!

[sargent-snarky.livejournal.com]

Good luck! That sounds rough, but you seem like you're good at managing your time and getting your priorities in order, so I'm sure you can do it without exploding!

Because I love you

[drakonlily.livejournal.com]

"We have to go on in a few minutes!" Enrique snarled and turned around to face his over exuberant costar. He slipped to Spanish, flustered. "You know I hate it when you do this."

"You love it, Chiquito." Pitbull breathed in a husky tone. His eyes belayed his intentions. He reached forward again, his prey pinned between his hard body and the wall.

Re: Because I love you

[first-seventhe.livejournal.com]

AY PAPI

Re: Because I love you

[safety-caesars.livejournal.com]

ENRIQUE EGLASIAS AND A SPECIFIC BREED OF DOG

Re: Because I love you

[safety-caesars.livejournal.com]

HOWEVER THE FUCK YOU SPELL HIS NAME, WHATEVER

[safety-caesars.livejournal.com]

HEY, UAKRON.



THE BOULDER THE ROCK IS DISPLEASED WITH YOUR FUCKERY.

[salarta.livejournal.com]

It always seems really, really daunting when it's on the horizon, but the time will fly by and in May you'll have you degree and wonder where all that time went. :) Plus while I'm sure you don't like the idea one bit, after you get your degree, you can make up for a lot of what you'll be missing out on during the next few months thanks to all the new free time you'll have afterward. You could run marathons, or even do nothing but eat pancakes all day! Okay, you might not want to do that, but it'll still be an option!

Also getting it done definitely comes first, but while I'll admit that some of this is purely because I like to know what you're up to, if you find the time then I'd say definitely make new LJ posts. I don't know your psychology enough to tell you what does and doesn't work, I'd need to know you in person to say anything so certain, but there's a good chance you might need your LJ (or something like it) as an outlet for frustration like you used it for here. :)

Overall good luck with the new semester! I'm looking forward to seeing a nice big post from you showing your happy ecstatic graduated self.