<p>I am a sophomore and have basically no work to do. I have been averaging between 6 and 8 classes per semester in chemical engineering, while working in a lab for about 15-20hrs per week, while competing on my school's ski racing, water skiing, and cycling teams and am involved in photography club. My GPA is currently 3.93. I know most people would love to be in my situation having no worries about academic work and having their only problem being finding something fun to do. </p>
<p>I love hanging out with my friends but since a lot of my friends who I would go hang out with all the time in past semesters have turned 21 and now spend all their time at the bars, I am left trying to hang out with a few of my underage friends or my girlfriend most days. However, they are all getting really sick of me asking them to hang out every night citing that they have homework or studying to do. In the past I have even just done all of their work for them so that we could have fun but after a few unfortunate exam scores, they are disinclined to do that anymore (understandable). My relationship with my girlfriend is strained, my friends all think I'm a pain in the a@@, making it even more unlikely that they will hang out with me, even if they are taking a study break. </p>
<p>I am also a painter and animator, but since a skiing accident this season where I shattered my right hand (dominant) I can hardly write let alone paint (looking at 3 months immobilized, half way through). This has also put quite the damper on my photography, playing tennis and racquetball, cycling, and skiing compounding the problems with my friends as all I have left that I can do is hang out with them or watch movies. Now after 2 months of watching 2-3 movies per day and "bothering" my friends all the time, most of them have stopped talking to me and most of the others never want to do anything. </p>
<p>Why cant college be more like the movies where everyone parties and wants to hang out all the time?</p>
<p>Your gpa indicates you’re a sharp guy so why don’t you volunteer to tutor at the Student Center?
You’ll meet new people who are desperate for help and you can kill some time doing a good deed.
Maybe an especially pretty girl who is struggling in her classes.</p>
<p>By no work, I mean I never have any homework to do and dont really spend much time studying. On a heavy week I may have 3 hours of out of class work to do, but most weeks I dont do anything out of class so I have a lot of free time. I never do any homework on the weekends and almost never after 5pm. My spots seasons dont overlap much so that is not that much of a time commitment. Then I just fit my research in the lab between my classes. So most days I have between 5 and 7 hours after I do everything of free time. </p>
<p>I would not say I am hard to have fun with, but, at least from what they are telling me, I just expect too much out of them. I’ll text them throughout the day talking about whatever, then ask them to hang out at night. Sometimes I would just go show up at their room, like they do to me every now and then,but they always kick me out since they dont have time. Especially, this has become even more of a problem since I haven’t been able to do much for the past 7 weeks and wont be able to get back into my training until summer.</p>
<p>That “especially pretty girl who is struggling in her classes” turned into my girlfriend. Didnt meet her in a tutor session she was just in my class. I do not want to break up with her, but I can see that she gets frustrated since I am always asking her to go do something and she always has work to do.</p>
<p>Get another job, get into a MMORPG, explore your college and the surrounding areas, sign up for more class’s(Minor in something?), deals drugs, do other peoples homework for money, bla bla bla</p>
<p>College is what you make of it. Go find something to suck up your time.</p>
<p>Not everyone here can afford to go to a top notch school. Stick a bright kid into a solid state school and it is not hard to imagine taking 6-8 classes while juggling other aspects of college life. Most of my professors assign one problem set every 2-3 weeks, each with 3-5 questions so they don’t take very long. I have only written 1 500 word paper this semester. So, I do not think it is unreasonable not to have much out of class work to do. When an exam comes around I study for a few hours the night before to review. If you go to all of your classes you shouldn’t have to study much since the professor basically tells you what is going to be on the exams. Obviously not the exact questions but if there is an example problem, you can be pretty sure one very similar to it will be on the next exam.</p>
<p>I was just trying to have a serious conversation about how a better work ethic or being able to get your work done faster than your friends can cause problems in your relationships.</p>
<p>You can sign up for as many classes as you want on your own up to 19 credits. After that, you need your advisor’s signature. I know many people who are taking 20+ credits, even a few at 25-26. While I wouldnt go that high since you end up having to take night classes, up to 20-22 fits nicely into a morning /afternoon schedule with a lunch break and leaves your evenings free.</p>
<p>The OP said they attend a regular state school, in which this situation makes sense, as most CC’ers either attend their flagship state university and totally over achieve there or attend a top tier 1 or tier 2 private university. </p>
<p>At many regular state universities you’re permitted to take as many credits as you want and the workload at many is often less intensive, which makes it believable that even as a chemical engineer OP is lacking things to do. I’ve heard of people at regular state schools going for 10 classes a semester / 30 credits, although most prestigious ivy leagues and what not will not permit you to do that because the ivy league/ivy-league equiv. courses are a whole different deal. </p>
<p>OP, if it’s not too late I suggest you consider transferring or taking some time off or what not. I personally lean towards transferring to a better school if you have the financial capability to do so (many offer need based aid), as it seems like you are simply not being challenged enough - that’s the whole reason why people transfer to higher-ranked schools (not counting the kids who do it for the name). </p>
<p>Or you could take a semester off and do a paid internship or whatnot somewhere more exciting.</p>
<p>MrWinters had the best advice, deal drugs. You will then meet the people who do party every night. Therefore, you will have people to hang out with… at least until you annoy them… or run out of drugs.</p>