Not attending classes...

Colleges & Universities A-Z Cornell University
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<p>I've been reading a few threads and numerous freshmen have been saying that they stop attending their classes after the first couple months. Is not going to class a normal thing to do? </p>

<p>I definetely have a motivation problem - i find it hard to start homework before 10 PM and really hard to start a writing assignment the night before its due. I'm also sort of a perfectionist so that makes the procrastination worse. My style of studying, unfortunately, has become not listening/sleeping in class and then just attempting to read the book the night before the test (gotten me all A's so far). I know this wont work at Cornell but im afraid that i will stop attending classes just as others have and lose initiative to stand out like i do in HS.</p>

<p>Also, if im planning to do pre-med with engineering, then will lets say a 3.0 GPA be acceptable for top med schools if i decide to go? I'm guessing that med schools will be interested in a different perspective in the classroom and will understand low engineering GPAs, but im not sure if my view is right.</p>

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<p>I can't say for how it is at Cornell, but, in the classes I've taken at the U of I(owa), it really depends on the instructor and the type of class. My linear algebra class didn't really require attendance. Homework needed to be handed in on Wednesday, possibly by a buddy, and you needed to show up for tests; the teacher tended to ramble off on confusing tangents, so you really just depended on the book anyway. He didn't take attendance and let people sleep in class... so there really was no point to coming every day.</p>

<p>Some Spanish classes, though, required active participation pretty much in order to pass, and others at least claimed to take attendance regularly. </p>

<p>Basically, go for the first few weeks, and then you'll find out for which classes regular attendance is actually needed. It's not getting lazy so much as it is... being more frugal with your time?</p>

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<p>If you are doing premed then you better attend all your classes because you can't get good grades just by reading the books. Taking active notes in class is very important.
However there might be some classes where the professor is boring and repeats everything from the book. In that case you might be better off sleeping!
I don't think 3.0 is a competitive GPA regardless you your major. Engeenring classes are hard and so are premed courses. So if you get a 3.0 for your engeenring courses, you are most likely going to get the same grades for your premed courses!
You have not even attended a single day of classes at college and you have already made 3.0GPA your goal?</p>

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<p>3.0 will not be enough. A certain amount of allowance is made for tough majors but not THAT much. The average student accepted to med school has a 3.6 (this is for ALL med schools not the top ones). You might be able to get by with a 3.4-3.5 in engineering. Certainly for top med schools, you'll want a GPA of 3.7 or above.</p>

<p>I would suggest to attend class rather than read the textbook. From my experience, the vast proportion of material on prelims come from lecture. Obviously, if you want to do super well, you should go to lecture AND read the textbook but given a choice, I'd rather go to lecture for 50 min a day every couple of days. </p>

<p>Occasionally, you may meet a terrible terrible professor that would warrant you not attending lecture. I've only had one such professor so far through 3 years of Cornell.</p>

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<p>nocarlguy, How much extra reading do u do for ur exams?
Does stuff outside of what the prof teach come?</p>

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<p>This semester was the first semester where I couldn't finish all of the assigned textbook readings. I typically spend A LOT of time reading which is why given the choice, I'd rather attend lecture. How much non-lecture material is included on the prelims depend on the class but outside of intro bio, I've never really had a class that tested significantly on textbook-only material.</p>

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<p>Do profs make up their own questions or are they from text-books/lectures?</p>

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<p>Professors make up their own questions of course, mostly testing material that's covered in lectures.</p>

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<p>I find that most professors base their exams off the material they cover in lecture. If you don't go to lecture, and take notes, you waste a lot of time later trying to study everything in the book....when you could just focus down on your lecture notes.</p>

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<p>When I took a college course last Summer (not at Cornell) the professor thought we read the book every single day (and it was recommended that we did), but all I did was listen to him and scim bolded words in the books b4 tests (write down the ones I didn't know, w/ definitions and study those a lot) and I would always get A+'s (and an A+ final average, even though it is written down as an A because I guess colleges don't give "A+'s".</p>

<p>Would this work in real college life? Or do people actually read entire books...</p>

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<p>Well you won't be getting A+'s consistently if that's what you're asking.</p>

<p>As I said, I did most of the textbook reading in previous semesters.</p>

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<p>Ha! </p>

<p>Don't expect an A+ to be handed to you. Questions on exams here focus on how well you apply the material you know, and generally are not right from the book. Reading the "bolded words" will help, but it certainly won't get you an A.</p>

<p>Your grade is based on how well you perform in comparison to Cornell students. I find that most people here usually perform pretty well, so you have to put in some work to get an A.</p>

<p>As far as not reading. For CHEM 207, I read the book, but I got a C on the first exam. However, for the second exam and the final I focused on the lecture notes and the material he covered in class and was able to get an A for the course, after I stopped reading.</p>

<p>So, in some situations you might not need to read the book...BUT if the course follows the book closely (unlike Chem 207), you will need to read it. If it doesn't follow the book closely, in the time that it would have taken you to read, it helps to review lecture notes and problem sets.</p>

<p>It's perfectly managable to do well here, but it's no cake walk....unless your are an absolute genius, you won't have straight A+s no matter how hard you try, and not doing the assigned work will usually really hurt your grade.</p>

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<p>lol of course I know I won't EVER do anything like that at Cornell. I'm pretty much just asking if you really need to read the book...and got answers, thanks!</p>

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<p>A little bit off-topic but that thread shows me how different the US are from Germany.
In Germany the professor is lecturing about A and you tested is B. So it requires self-study and class attendance is not that important.</p>

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<p>In Europe grades also tend to be different. Like in Spain a B or C isn't nearly as bad as one in America...(reference to my jerk spanish teacher who gave horrible grades and didn't make the American transition...resulting in a failing class average and hurting my gpa!!!! lol :) )</p>

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<p>Hey all, I'm a graduating senior at Cornell. I joined these boards because I wanted to contribute to the graduate school section, but I do lurk here once in awhile. Some background: I got my BA in chemistry, with a minor in Science and Technology studies, so all of my experience is based off of Arts and Sciences classes. I don't know how much of this applies to ILR, Eng, Ag, or even other majors in A&S, so don't take my words as gospel.</p>

<p>A few things to share, based on my four years of experience:</p>

<p>1) Most classes I took did not take attendance. These include many large lecture classes. In some of these classes the professor will post Powerpoints and lecture notes on the 'net, so if you miss class it won't be a big deal. This most often occurs in intro classes. However, I never advocate skipping class regularly in these situations because there is nothing like being in the lecture itself; a lot of times the lecture notes will make no sense out of the context of the lecture.</p>

<p>On skipping classes, procrastination, etc.: I've seen the horror that envelopes people who do this. I don't want to scare you, but maybe that's the best I could do. Unless you are a true genius, your life at Cornell will be difficult if you never go to class, leave things off, etc. My roommate sophmore year never went to class; he's no longer here. Someone else I know never went to class, and had to take a semester break. So be careful when it comes to this; don't fall behind, go to class, and you'll be fine. Doing otherwise and you're playing with fire.</p>

<p>2) This is probably the most important tip I can give you in regards to college work. Most of you have received great grades in HS, mostly through multiple choice tests. WARNING: Multiple choice tests are largely absent in college level work. You'll see them occasionally (especially in large lecture classes, because they are the easiest types of tests to administer), but by and large you will be taking short answer/essay tests. Why is this such a big deal? For a very simple reason. Instead of "recognizing" the answer on the test, you have to actively recall it, produce it, and give pretty detailed answers. No longer can you memorize terms and phrases and pick 1 out of 5 for each question. This makes a BIG difference, at least it did for me.</p>

<p>There is a certain learning curve involved when it comes to learning how to handle this new type of testing. I know many of you have experienced short answer and essay tests in HS (I did), but probably not on the scale that you will see here. For instance, your AP tests were most likely predominately multiple choice. Because AP is a close approximation to college work, imagine replacing multiple choicers with short answers and essays, and you'll get the idea of college level work. Freshman year, I had about a 3.5-3.6; I got a 4.0+ in both my senior semesters, so if you learn HOW to work and HOW to handle yourself, you can make improvements. It's all about the learning curve.</p>

<p>3) Another thing. In HS I normally had something like 4 quizzes, 6 assignments, and 2-3 tests a quarter for each class. Maybe you had something similar. At Cornell, it's different. For science classes, you have approx. 3 tests accounting for 80-90% of your course grade and problem sets (homeworks) accounting for 10% of your course grade, with some other things mixed in. So as you can see, there is a huge amount of weight on these 3 tests; so be careful studying for each one, don't take prelims lightly. If you eff one up, you could really hurt your overall grade.</p>

<p>If you have any other questions, let me know! I've been through it all. BTW, even though Cornell is difficult, it's the best. I love this place enough that I'll be staying here for graduate school.</p>

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<p>great post, jbig.</p>

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<p>Yes, thank you for the extremely helpful post! GL in grad school!!!</p>

<p>Do many people stay at Cornell for grad school? And which one will you be attending? Congrats again!</p>

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<p>It depends. Some people stay on for their Master's, like in a specific program like Cornell Teacher Education. Most going for the doctorate do not stay, mostly because it's a bad idea (generally) to do your PhD work in the same place you did your undergrad.</p>

<p>I'm somewhat of an exception to this because my BA is in chemistry but I'm doing grad work in Science and Technology Studies; so really the only thing that's staying the same is that I'm going to be working and living in Ithaca. Because I'm starting a new field, essentially, it's not bad that I'm staying at the same school. But if I wanted PhD in chemistry, I would be barred from applying to Cornell's chem program for the reason I stated above.</p>

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<p>why is it generally a bad idea to do your PhD at the same place as your undergrad?</p>