<p>I'm in a small group of engineers in my university (<50) who I will be with for almost every class for the next two years and they're starting to annoy me. It seems like most of them like to brag about their fancy internships or research they're doing or say how they finished the last homework assigned in less than an hour or aced an exam without studying. Maybe it's just my insecurity speaking, but it seems like this is more of an environment where people are competing against each other to get the top score in the class rather than an environment where people work together to learn. The former has seemed to occur more often than the latter recently though because my classes are getting tougher and the classes are all graded on a curve.</p>
<p>Is this something that happens often and how should I go about dealing with this because I seem to want to study alone more than ever now.</p>
<p>Are you in upper or lower division courses? I used to have to deal with that somewhat, but not to a large degree. In my experience sooner or later their work ethic catches up to them and they get a reality check.</p>
<p>As far as not having anyone to study with who isn’t annoying, you are pretty much going to have to get to know everyone of your classmates until you can find someone who you can stand since you have such a small class size. It definitely sucks but I’m sure there is someone you can stand in there, just look for the person rolling their eyes everytime someone is bragging.</p>
<p>I personally never found engineering students to be a particularly pleasant bunch - most of my friends were in math, physics, biology, and chemistry majors. So it’s not just your imagination.</p>
<p>Studying alone is actually a pretty good idea regardless of anything else. It’s not easy and your homework score will suffer for it, but your overall grade generally improves because you learn to rely only on your own abilities. As for friends, you can always look elsewhere.</p>
<p>This must vary a lot by school and/or era. Most of the students at my school 30 years ago were Engineers. Almost all were smart, dligent, modest people. </p>
<p>I can only think of one guy that bragged a bit, and honestly he had some good things to brag about. We didn’t mind. Thinking more on it, this guy went to the trouble to organize some small group sessions for friends (like me) that struggled in Microprocessor class. </p>
It is most certainly a changing era. Everything I’ve seen or heard suggests that engineering students as a group used to be much more pleasant in decades past.</p>
<p>Shoot, most of the students in my school between 5 and 9 years ago were genuinely nice people who weren’t cutthroat about competing for grades or anything. On at least one occasion, a peer used his exam with a correct answer on it to help argue that my exam with an identical answer should get points back. I think this must still vary quiet a bit by school.</p>
<p>I like around 1/2 of the people in my classes (College of Civil engineering has 480 undergrads). They are really nice people. But I’m a competitive person (sorry, I guess I’m part of the problem) who generally only helps out friends. There’s a solidly large group of students (maybe 1/4 of my class) who are cheaters/ copiers/moochers, so I try to avoid them at all costs. And only 1 token butt-face and useless braggart that I’ve met. </p>
<p>I’m probably the cut-throatiest person in my program. </p>
<p>Like GMT said, this will prepare you for your professional career. Apparently a few studies reveal that A LOT of American workers aren’t in love with their colleagues. Try to ignore the cheaters, by the way. Don’t let them disrupt your mental rhythm.</p>
<p>The odd trend I’ve noticed within my program is that the most vocally arrogant people in my classes, the type that would say “well your answer must be wrong because mine is right,” are actually the B students. The ones at the tippy top tutor others and are genuinely warm-hearted people excited to spread the gospel of their research/career choice. There are a couple exceptions, but I can count them on one out of a 100 per class year in the department.</p>
<p>There’s nothing odd about that - the smartest students find no need to brag about getting A’s because they know that that is the grade they should expect for the work they did. The weaker students are the ones for whom an A is not just par for the course, so it’s a bigger deal to them.</p>
<p>Interestingly enough, too many people bragging about their grades is generally the sign of a bad professor who gives out grades for something other than mastery of material…</p>
<p>What helped me in school was to not care how well others did or didn’t do in class. I made an effort not to ask, and not to look at others’ scores since I knew there was no point. It was hard at times, and I may have broken my rule on several occasions, but generally speaking, I tried not to care.</p>
<p>Your confidence can be greatly affected by comparing yourself to your peers. What matters in the end is making sure your grades are satisfactory to achieve your goals. If you have atleast a B, you’re good to go. Let it go, and move on.</p>
<p>I actually did hear stories 30 years ago about cut throat student (steal the professor ref book from the library kind of students) at RPI. However, based on campus tour a few years ago RPI now encouragements team collaboration. Like the Real World. Hopefully that is true because it sounded good to me. </p>
<p>Mine has a huge case if insecurity, everybody brags about their internships but the more I dig in the more I found out they are juniors and seniors. Hang in there. She almost cried when she called me. A little mom talk calmed her down and she’s finally got her interview from a household name.</p>
<p>Admittedly 30 years ago co-op/internship was not much of an issue</p>
<p>I had professional summer jobs (one 3 hours from home, one in my home town). But that was unusual. Most students did whatever summer job they could find near home. Often they continued at places they had worked in hs. </p>