The story of how I didn't graduate from college.

notfred

Lifer
Feb 12, 2001
38,241
4
0
So, for the past half a decade or so, I've been taking classes every semester trying to get a degree in Computer Science. This was supposed to be my last semester, I would graduate Fall, 2006.

Well, tomorrow is the final day of final exams, and barring some sort of miracle, I'm going to fail a class. This means that after tomorrow, I'll be one class shy of a degree.

I found a job and an apartment in San Francisco, and I'm moving regardless of whether or not I pass this class. The people that hired me really don't care if I know physics or not. It's irrelevant to web development, which is what I'll be doing.

The class I failed is a lower division Physics class in electricity and magnetism. It's required that I pass it to graduate with a CS degree, but it's really pretty irrelevant to computer science. I'll probably never have to know the velocity of a particle with charge q as it passes through a magnetic field of some strength, at some distance from a theoretical infinitely long straight wire.

I'm kind of annoyed that I'm not graduating, but mostly because I told my parents that I would, not because it's going to negatively impact my life in any significant way. I'll sign up for the physics class at a junior college in san francisco for next spring, then transfer the credits over to my current school, and I'll get a degree next May.

Ugh, life's little annoyances. I guess this should be a big deal to me, but it's so much less significant than so many other things people deal with every day. I think I can handle one night class next semester, I wont die. Other people get in car accidents, get arrested for doing something stupid, accidentally get someone they barely know pregnant. This seems minor in comparison.

Oh well.
 

S Freud

Diamond Member
Apr 25, 2005
4,755
1
81
I say go to San Fran and take the class down there, why waste all that time and effort to stop 1 class shy of getting a degree?
 

tfinch2

Lifer
Feb 3, 2004
22,114
1
0
Originally posted by: notfred
So, for the past half a decade or so, I've been taking classes every semester trying to get a degree in Computer Science. This was supposed to be my last semester, I would graduate Fall, 2006.

Well, tomorrow is the final day of final exams, and barring some sort of miracle, I'm going to fail a class. This means that after tomorrow, I'll be one class shy of a degree.

I found a job and an apartment in San Francisco, and I'm moving regardless of whether or not I pass this class. The people that hired me really don't care if I know physics or not. It's irrelevant to web development, which is what I'll be doing.

The class I failed is a lower division Physics class in electricity and magnetism. It's required that I pass it to graduate with a CS degree, but it's really pretty irrelevant to computer science. I'll probably never have to know the velocity of a particle with charge q as it passes through a magnetic field of some strength, at some distance from a theoretical infinitely long straight wire.

I'm kind of annoyed that I'm not graduating, but mostly because I told my parents that I would, not because it's going to negatively impact my life in any significant way. I'll sign up for the physics class at a junior college in san francisco for next spring, then transfer the credits over to my current school, and I'll get a degree next May.

Ugh, life's little annoyances. I guess this should be a big deal to me, but it's so much less significant than so many other things people deal with every day. I think I can handle one night class next semester, I wont die. Other people get in car accidents, get arrested for doing something stupid, accidentally get someone they barely know pregnant. This seems minor in comparison.

Oh well.

Don't you have to take the last 30 credits at the university you get your degree from?
 

mwtgg

Lifer
Dec 6, 2001
10,491
0
0
Will your current school even take the transfer credits? Some say they want the last 30 (or whatever) credits completed there to be given a degree.
 

bonkers325

Lifer
Mar 9, 2000
13,076
1
0
Originally posted by: notfred
So, for the past half a decade or so, I've been taking classes every semester trying to get a degree in Computer Science. This was supposed to be my last semester, I would graduate Fall, 2006.

Well, tomorrow is the final day of final exams, and barring some sort of miracle, I'm going to fail a class. This means that after tomorrow, I'll be one class shy of a degree.

I found a job and an apartment in San Francisco, and I'm moving regardless of whether or not I pass this class. The people that hired me really don't care if I know physics or not. It's irrelevant to web development, which is what I'll be doing.

The class I failed is a lower division Physics class in electricity and magnetism. It's required that I pass it to graduate with a CS degree, but it's really pretty irrelevant to computer science. I'll probably never have to know the velocity of a particle with charge q as it passes through a magnetic field of some strength, at some distance from a theoretical infinitely long straight wire.

I'm kind of annoyed that I'm not graduating, but mostly because I told my parents that I would, not because it's going to negatively impact my life in any significant way. I'll sign up for the physics class at a junior college in san francisco for next spring, then transfer the credits over to my current school, and I'll get a degree next May.

Ugh, life's little annoyances. I guess this should be a big deal to me, but it's so much less significant than so many other things people deal with every day. I think I can handle one night class next semester, I wont die. Other people get in car accidents, get arrested for doing something stupid, accidentally get someone they barely know pregnant. This seems minor in comparison.

Oh well.

:beer: for you. i just failed my final and probably the class. there goes tuition $ and 3 grad school credits!
 

notfred

Lifer
Feb 12, 2001
38,241
4
0
Originally posted by: mwtgg
Will your current school even take the transfer credits? Some say they want the last 30 (or whatever) credits completed there to be given a degree.

That doesn't seem to be an issue at my school. Lots of people I know have taken courses at community college over the summer a semester prior to graduating, and I just looked at a web page with "notes for graduating seniors" at my school, and it says:

"If you are taking classes at other institutions, please forward your final transcript to us as soon as possible"
 

tfinch2

Lifer
Feb 3, 2004
22,114
1
0
Originally posted by: notfred
Originally posted by: mwtgg
Will your current school even take the transfer credits? Some say they want the last 30 (or whatever) credits completed there to be given a degree.

That doesn't seem to be an issue at my school. Lots of people I know have taken courses at community college over the summer a semester prior to graduating, and I just looked at a web page with "notes for graduating seniors" at my school, and it says:

"If you are taking classes at other institutions, please forward your final transcript to us as soon as possible"

What school?
 

esun

Platinum Member
Nov 12, 2001
2,214
0
0
Lower div E&M? C'mon, that's good stuff to know, even if you won't be using it at any job.
 

mugs

Lifer
Apr 29, 2003
48,920
46
91
Originally posted by: tfinch2

Don't you have to take the last 30 credits at the university you get your degree from?

That's how it was at my college.
 

2Xtreme21

Diamond Member
Jun 13, 2004
7,044
0
0
See if your school offers the class online... or if you could just take the final / CLEP out of the course, since you've already had the material. Explain your situation and see how it goes.
 

notfred

Lifer
Feb 12, 2001
38,241
4
0
Originally posted by: esun
Lower div E&M? C'mon, that's good stuff to know, even if you won't be using it at any job.

Almost everything is "good stuff to know". That doesn't really mean much by itself.

Other things that are good to know:
CPR
Freudian psychology
Organic Chemistry
Violin

I don't know any of those things, either. Sure, it'd be cool to know them, but I don't.
 
May 16, 2000
13,522
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I hear ya. I'm now 3 credits (one class) short of mine. On the good side I can stay in school, keep my school job, keep racking up grants and scholarships, and work towards my second degree. On the bad side I have to wait another year before I actually graduate and start my Masters program. *shrug* it's a tradeoff, but not the end of the world.
 

Squisher

Lifer
Aug 17, 2000
21,204
66
91
I went back to school and came withing one class of graduating and just let it stay like that for two years before I got around to taking the class. It didn't kill me.

 

esun

Platinum Member
Nov 12, 2001
2,214
0
0
Originally posted by: notfred
Originally posted by: esun
Lower div E&M? C'mon, that's good stuff to know, even if you won't be using it at any job.

Almost everything is "good stuff to know". That doesn't really mean much by itself.

Other things that are good to know:
CPR
Freudian psychology
Organic Chemistry
Violin

I don't know any of those things, either. Sure, it'd be cool to know them, but I don't.

Presumably you put a semester's worth of time into learning E&M and not those other things. To waste it having learned nothing (or so little you won't pass) sucks no matter how you rationalize it. I don't regret not knowing O. Chem since I never put any effort into learning it, but I would if I had and failed.
 

dj2004

Platinum Member
Oct 8, 2004
2,246
0
71
Originally posted by: Squisher
I went back to school and came withing one class of graduating and just let it stay like that for two years before I got around to taking the class. It didn't kill me.

Why would you wait so long?
 

notfred

Lifer
Feb 12, 2001
38,241
4
0
Originally posted by: esun
Originally posted by: notfred
Originally posted by: esun
Lower div E&M? C'mon, that's good stuff to know, even if you won't be using it at any job.

Almost everything is "good stuff to know". That doesn't really mean much by itself.

Other things that are good to know:
CPR
Freudian psychology
Organic Chemistry
Violin

I don't know any of those things, either. Sure, it'd be cool to know them, but I don't.

Presumably you put a semester's worth of time into learning E&M and not those other things. To waste it having learned nothing (or so little you won't pass) sucks no matter how you rationalize it. I don't regret not knowing O. Chem since I never put any effort into learning it, but I would if I had and failed.

I didn't put any effort into learning physics. My study habits for that class for this semester have gone something like this:
1) Skip class
2) The morning of an exam, flip through the chapters that the exam covers in the book. Write down all the formulas on a sheet of paper (we're allowed one page of notes for exams)
3) Show up to exam with page of notes, see if you can figure out what the formulas are for.

This has netted me a 45% exam average.
 

notfred

Lifer
Feb 12, 2001
38,241
4
0
Originally posted by: ngvepforever2
If you don't mind me asking, what kind of miracle do you need to pass that class?

Regards

ng

Something like 80% on the final exam which is at 8:00AM tomorrow. That's nearly twice my current exam average, and I haven't studied (I'm working on another, more important, more interesting class, that I can't retake at any random JC in the country).
 

esun

Platinum Member
Nov 12, 2001
2,214
0
0
Why'd you take physics if you weren't going to try to pass it? I mean seriously, going to class is 3 hours a week. Doing homework is 5 hours a week. Exam studying maybe an hour (just to make the cheat sheet), since going to class and doing the homework is typically enough for physics studying. Fair enough, maybe you don't feel bad since you didn't put in effort, but I'd feel bad for not dropping a class I wasn't going to put any effort into (why waste any time at all on it?).
 

notfred

Lifer
Feb 12, 2001
38,241
4
0
Originally posted by: screw3d
May I know where you'll be working, if you don't mind me asking?

I don't really mind telling you, but I don't feel like subjecting my new employer to "Haha, you hire people who can't pass physics!" jokes, either.
 

doze

Platinum Member
Jul 26, 2005
2,786
0
0
I almost didn't graduate b/c of one math class, forgot about it until last year of school and had to take it 3 times to pass. I have used absolutely nothing covered in that class in any job.