I am currently a last semester senior with a job lined up after I graduate in May. My schedule this semester is awful, in that most of my major related classes are done and I’m stuck taking a bunch of liberal arts classes that I don’t care about and require a ton of work. These classes will not give me any skills I need to do my job well, and my boss was laughing that I’m even required to take them. I’m in 2 classes that relate to my major, and I enjoy going to those classes and actually get fulfillment from them, but besides that, I have to drag myself off the couch to go to the liberal arts classes. And then once I’m there, I’m so bored and frustrated that I even have to be there that I just do work for my internship or surf the Web the entire time and not listen to a single word that is said. I figure I’ll just catch up later before exams because all the slides are online anyway, and I’ll do the work and not even look it over because it’s just graded for completion. I felt completely liberated over break because I worked every day, doing something that I enjoy and that actually matters, and now I feel like I am in prison for the next 3.5 months.
I have class 4 days a week and work a full day at my internship one day a week (this is at the same agency, which will turn into full time in May), and my work day is literally the highlight of my week. I actually fully enjoy just that one day and feel free, and then it’s right back to useless grind the next day. Liking what I do certainly helps in that regard because I’m excited every week to go into the office. But for 3.5 more months, I’m stuck in essentially prison, and it’s getting to the point now where every day feels like a week has gone by. It’s only February, so I’m not yet at the point where I can see that light (especially when every day is freezing and it’s dark at 5pm). I would want to get out either way, but I feel like my senioritis wouldn’t be nearly this severe if I was actually learning about things I chose to learn about rather than what the curriculum says I have to. Last semester, I only took major classes and a fun elective, and it was super easy and I had fun. This semester is an eternal grind, so needless to say, I should have reversed everything. I enjoy my particular university and I live in a great apartment with my friends this year. Ideally, I would keep living in this apartment and just go to work every day. I’m ready to be an adult and just do my job in peace.
You feel like most seniors. But end of the day, you cant do that job fulltime without your degree most likely. I suggest you put in a bit of effort into the “boring” stuff. Your job wont be thrilling all day every day and these liberal arts classes are teaching perseverance.
You will often have to do things in life that won’t interest you, won’t get you any additional skills, won’t make you happy. These include meetings at work, watching your child’s band concert, standing in line to vote. You have to suck it up. This semester is just practice for doing your duty.
If you don’t pay attention in class, why go? If the information is all online, just do the work online. I suggest you put away your phone and pay attention in class, but if you aren’t going to do that, just don’t go.
Maybe you’ll learn something that you can someday use on Jeopardy!
@ucbalumnus this is what’s required by the university, and I put it off, so no I can’t. And to the other poster above, very few seniors actually want to get out. I don’t feel like an adult by sitting in gen ed classes with entirely freshmen that I should’ve taken years ago, when I actually have a full-time job already set up where I get to do useful things.
I get that it’s annoying having to take classes you don’t want to take, but you have no alternative. This is life. In retrospect, I’m sure you’ve realized that it would have been better to scatter your required classes over your four years of college.
Power through by considering the alternative: no degree and no job. What’s more annoying and soul destroying than that?
Having your degree is a “useful” thing and for better or worse, you need to take the gen eds you put off. Hopefully there is a life lesson in there for you.
Change your mindset. The finish line is around the corner.
You want to graduate. You want to put in the effort to pass your classes.
You want your GPA to be decent…yes you could pass with C’s/D’s but that would affect your GPA. Who cares? you say? I have a job! But you may someday want to get a Master’s degree and GPA would matter
How can you make these topics apply to your job? Maybe you are taking Psych 101…it is good to learn about human behavior and apply that to your co-workers or customers. If you are taking World History, it is good to learn about different cultures because you may be surprised how many people from different countries you will work with. We have many Indian and Chinese people and it is fun to learn about their cultures through Lunar New Year and Divali events at work.
Liberal Arts classes are to help you be a more well rounded person…If you watch the US Government right now it is useful to be aware of history to see how forms of government affect things.
At work, as a new person, you may have to grind things as well. You will be learning as you grind, gaining experience, etc. But not everything is going to be exciting.
Figure out how to structure your time…the easiest to me is to pay attention in class…since you are there it makes sense to use that time paying attention. When you are reading/studying, use the Pomodor method. You read for 25 minutes with no distractions, and then you take a 5 min break.
Gamify it. Reward yourself when you read a chapter or finish a homework.
Use resources at your school…Go to the Professor’s office hours and talk about the topic with them. Maybe you don’t understand why Comparative Religion is relevent today. Get a tutor to help you focus…like if you have a meeting with the tutor, you will need to do the reading before that to discuss.
Form a study group in your class to help you stay on track.
If you are really having trouble focusing, maybe is it time to go to the Counseling Center and talk to someone.
Imagine it is May 15th, the day before finals. What do you wish February you would be doing to prepare? Do that.
This is life and honestly- I’m not sure what you’re complaining about. Most of your current existence is terrific- you live with people you like, you have a job lined up after graduation, your biggest problem is being bored by having to sit with freshman for a couple of hours a week? time to get some perspective.
Would you rather be monitoring road side bombs in Afghanistan with all your “age peers” who enlisted in the armed services? Probably not. Would you rather be unloading boxes of breakfast cereal on a loading dock with your “age peers” who didn’t have the money to go to college so they got a job working nights at a supermarket distribution center, hoping to get switched to the day shift after another year? Probably not. Would you rather be driving uber and taking classes part time hoping to get an AA at your local community college? Probably not.
Get a grip. Your life is going to full of “have to do’s” and developing some perspective is part of maturity. If you work for a hedge fund you’ve got mandatory training classes on money laundering (which are boring as all get out). If you work for a hospital you have mandatory training classes- some lasting for months- on new OSHA safety regulations, or on patient privacy, or disaster training for the next pandemic. If you work ANYWHERE and get promoted into management you’ll have to take courses on communicating with your direct reports, how to give negative feedback without getting sued, how to report sexual harrasment by a member of your team. Not to mention the periodic trainings on how to interview without getting sued.
None of these things are particularly interesting but for most adults, paying attention in these classes is the price you pay for continuing to get a paycheck. You’re just getting practice now.
Stay focused, get some perspective, stop complaining. That will help you power through.
Oh- and you might get “volunteered” to prepare your division’s disaster and safety plan. So you get to be the person to go to the classes on how to keep 1,000 people safe in case of a tornado or flood. And sit through lectures from security consultants, local fire fighters, your chapter of the Red Cross, etc. And there’s a test at the end- so if you don’t pass, you get to take the course again next quarter!