I hate group projects! need advice

wiredspider

Diamond Member
Jun 3, 2001
5,239
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0
Thanks for the replies, even the tldr, lol.

I think it basically comes down to:

I feel that my group is actually making the project worst than if I just been assigned to do the entire thing myself, because I am expecting them to help or do things. They don't do them or do them wrong.

Feel like I need to go whine to the professor as result.









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So I recently went back to grad school and we have those dread group projects :(. I didn't really know anybody because I just started in the spring semester, so I just joined up a group that was looking for members. I figured it was easier than starting my own group and there weren't very many project choices left anyway...

Not to get into everything, but the group doesn't even start planning to work on the project until the week before it is due. It's a doable in a week project, but really should be two weeks. It was honestly less than week because we have class on Thursdays and the first meeting with the project group was the Sunday before it was due.

The group consists of
A: The guy who started the group and who I considered the "leader". He didn't really seem to do anything without me prompting him. I initially kind of thought that he was going to take care of things and didn't want a newbie like me getting in the way. I was like yay I'm going to be able to coast through a project for once.

B: Some other guy who I don't know and only ever showed up for one meeting.

C: A girl that joined at the last minute through me. Sort of helps.

D: Another girl that joined, presumably though guy A. Sort of helps, but just seems like what they do has tons of errors.

So basically we get started on the project Sunday, I have to leave early because of work stuff. I ask them to email me what they get done and that I'll be finishing up the summary (I already started it before the meeting). I don't get an email until the next day and there are just errors abound in the Excel spreadsheet they came up with. So I make a new spreadsheet, correcting things and showing how it should be done, I email it back to the group telling the error and the corrections I made. I hint at they might as well use my new spreadsheet since it has the corrected stuff. For some reason, they attempt to use their old spreadsheet.

This seems to be a continuing theme until the night before the project. Their spreadsheet is super lacking, by that I mean it only contains 5 years of data when the project we were analyzing were both 10+ years. The more I look at their spreadsheet, the more errors I find. I mean stuff like using static values instead of referencing a cell and transposed numbers. It was just utter fail, I couldn't even begin to fix it, so I just went fixing up things in the spreadsheet I had making the whole time. Earlier that day, I had begun the powerpoint because we had to present our findings to the class. Girl D sort of added some things to it, but because of the incorrect data she was using from the spreadsheet, it was wrong....

Anyways, I am fixing up the spreadsheet and powerpoint until just hours before class. I email it to my professor and CC it to the group, asking if this was in the realm of being right. Professor approves and replies all to the group. Since I'm super tired at this point, I reply to the group to help add in some charts or stuff into the powerpoint from the updated correct spreadsheet. Anyway, 2 hours before class and no one has done anything except Girl C added a sheet into Excel that made no sense. I couldn't get any sleep because I kept on checking my email to see if anyone else did anything. Oh and did I mention I had come down with a cold or something because all their project meetings screwed up my sleep schedule?

I try to fix up the project the best I can before class. We give our presentation, it was probably OK at best. I wasn't exactly proud of work (even though it basically ended up being all my work), but I couldn't really do more with the time I had and being sick.

At this point, there is still a written paper that needs to be turned in. Since I did all the work so far and the other two girls sort of helped or at least kind of tried, it was agreed that Guy A would write the paper. Guy B scampered off right at the end of class. I asked Guy A to have it done this weekend so I could review it and make changes if needed. I emailed him yesterday asking for the paper or just his progress of it. So far nothing, :(. It's stressing me out, I feel like he either hasn't done it or it will just be bad. I don't want to wait until the last minute to fix things like last time..
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Cliffs: My graduate level class group seems like a bunch of retards. They don't know what they are doing. I took their initial indifference to the project to mean that they knew what they were doing and didn't want me in the way of things, since I'm a new student who just joined this semester after being out of school for a few years. I should of stepped in and been a leader, but at the time I was thinking I'm new to grad level work and I didn't want to be a tyrant demanding things be done my way and stuff (but their work was clearly wrong).

There is still a paper due, I'm waiting on it from the group since I did all the other work.

I'm edging on writing it myself, so I can stop stressing about the situation. I don't want to wait until the last minute to do it, I have other classes and work full time, so it's not that easy to pull an all nighter.
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Should I just write the damn paper or not?

The group seems to already know they have done bad at this point, so I don't feel there is much to gain to by talking to them. I hate to have hostility, because I still have to work with them for the rest of the semester on another project.. :mad:

Should I go whine to the professor about the situation? There doesn't seem to be a peer performance evaluation for this project. I don't really expect him to do anything, it's already been done at this point. However, the project seems like crap for a 5 person group (groups are only suppose to be like 3-4, see we can't even count!). I would like to explain how I had to fix everything while being sick. As proof, I can show him the horrible excel spreadsheet they kept working with and compare with my spreadsheet.
 
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darkxshade

Lifer
Mar 31, 2001
13,749
6
81
tl;dr

noticed some mention of girls though... pics? :awe:


edit: the thing about group projects with pickups is that it's a game of wits... who can hold out the longest? Someone always blinks... steps in and does all the work in fear of a lower grade. That appears to be you. :p
 
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AyashiKaibutsu

Diamond Member
Jan 24, 2004
9,306
4
81
TL : DR, but I'm going to guess you're going to be doing 99% of the work yourself if you want a good grade. Joining one of the last teams needs members probably means it's the team of rejects.
 

IndyColtsFan

Lifer
Sep 22, 2007
33,655
688
126
Group projects suck. Inevitably, there are going to be slackers in your group and you'll have to pick up the slack. I still don't quite understand the purpose of group projects; the "you need to learn to work in a team" argument is lame since most people have considerable experience working in teams in their jobs by the time they arrive in grad school.
 

Gooberlx2

Lifer
May 4, 2001
15,381
6
91
Should I go whine to the professor about the situation?

No. If it makes you feel better, just write the paper and let everyone skate by on your shoulders. Then, next time, go ahead and take lead. Hopefully you'll have had the chance to meet some other classmates and form a more productive group.

If the project ends up getting marked so low that it has significant effect on your overall grade, then you might try having a discussion with the prof about it. I doubt it will achieve much though.
 

wiredspider

Diamond Member
Jun 3, 2001
5,239
0
0
no pics, they are normal chinese girls you see in college.

I agree about the game of wits, but I've never had a group as bad as this one before. The two girls were kind of trying to do the work, but it just seemed like their result was fail...

I don't really have any options but to continue working with them for the rest of the semester, which is why I feel like I need to go to the professor. The other part team project is a stock market simulation game. Stupid site won't let me change the login I paid $27 for... (already shared the login with the group), otherwise I would part my ways with them and they can be on their own.
 
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mb

Lifer
Jun 27, 2004
10,233
2
71
tldr

I had the best damn groups when I did grad school. We'd knock out crazy projects in a weekend that took others weeks to do, and we always got an A+ on them.
Most people seemed to try to do the whole project themselves and then combine their work at the end. We'd just divide it and combine our separate sections with some good editing. Of course it helped that I was the one who edited it and did a little more work than everyone, but not by much. I usually had to present less so that made up for it.
 

gorcorps

aka Brandon
Jul 18, 2004
30,741
456
126
tldr

I had the best damn groups when I did grad school. We'd knock out crazy projects in a weekend that took others weeks to do, and we always got an A+ on them.
Most people seemed to try to do the whole project themselves and then combine their work at the end. We'd just divide it and combine our separate sections with some good editing. Of course it helped that I was the one who edited it and did a little more work than everyone, but not by much. I usually had to present less so that made up for it.

Gee, at least you're modest...:rolleyes:
 

Epic Fail

Diamond Member
May 10, 2005
6,252
2
0
tl;dr

Maybe your group members are busy writing novel length rants at other forums. :awe:
 
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mb

Lifer
Jun 27, 2004
10,233
2
71
Gee, at least you're modest...:rolleyes:
Hah, well it's the truth. After a short while I figured out I was the one who could do it the best and the quickest.. no sense in letting someone else do it. I no my grammerz n stuff!

Plus I hated giving presentations so I didn't mind doing the editing.
 
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wiredspider

Diamond Member
Jun 3, 2001
5,239
0
0
tldr

I had the best damn groups when I did grad school. We'd knock out crazy projects in a weekend that took others weeks to do, and we always got an A+ on them.
Most people seemed to try to do the whole project themselves and then combine their work at the end. We'd just divide it and combine our separate sections with some good editing. Of course it helped that I was the one who edited it and did a little more work than everyone, but not by much. I usually had to present less so that made up for it.

That's what I was expecting, it's grad school, student should be of a better caliber than the ones I worked with in undergrad!

I wouldn't mind doing a lot of the work, but this group seems defective or something.
 

Matthiasa

Diamond Member
May 4, 2009
5,755
23
81
If anyone is excessively slacking all you can really do is talk to the professor about it to see if anything can be done.

Oh yeah and write up the paper, you really shouldn't risk it.
 

blackdogdeek

Lifer
Mar 14, 2003
14,453
10
81
whether you realize it or not, this kind of stuff is valuable experience for real world corporate managers. you will need to know how to either hire awesome people, pick up the slack for awful co-workers and cover your ass.
 

gimmewhitecastles

Golden Member
Mar 2, 2005
1,834
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0
Since the leader obviously didn't "lead", just go stone cold anal retentive tyrant* on him and level him in front of the group members to get his shit straight. If that doesn't work be happy with your "B".

*Add some growls and foam at the mouth to be more effective.
 

vshah

Lifer
Sep 20, 2003
19,003
24
81
I'd write the paper, but I would also talk to the prof. I never hesitated bringing things like this to the professor's attention in college. I'm not there to help other people slack off. Most group projects had some form of group member review at the end of it, and I would simply be honest there. I only ran into this issue two times in college though.
 

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
70,568
13,803
126
www.anyf.ca
I hated group projects in school. I'm glad our TR in college was not a group think. I highly doubt I could have coded a forum software from ground up, with other people. Some things are easiler done alone. ;)
 

Hacp

Lifer
Jun 8, 2005
13,923
2
81
I think you missed rule number 1 of group projects. You always go into the project with the expectation that you're doing all the work yourself.