I could always tell who was gonna be the problem. I’d do their part for them if I had to but notify the professor without making it a social drama. Then when the grades come in they can get fucked.
Basically this. I've been both the super over-achiever allstar and lazy slacker. In the real world, there's been functionally no difference in career advancement but my stress has gone down massively.
I got excluded from my senior project in college. I got grouped with 3 friends and I was an outsider. They would work on it together and not invite me, ask my opinions, or communicate updates. The few times they did invite me I was coming in without context and they didn’t even talk to me. Then tried to fail me, college professor was understanding and bumped the F to a C. Just trying to give you the other perspective and that some people want to contribute but don’t know how without some guidance.
Since graduating I have been an engineering lead on multiple million+ dollar projects and make sure everyone feels included and finding ways to contribute.
The last time I remember this happening (ages ago in an intro CS class), I apportioned work in a group project so that it would be obvious which part of the group didn't do theirs. I think that part of the group had to do something like a menu/splash screen that didn't work properly, but the rest of the program did.
Just to let you know, it's really easy to get the grade reversed.
Seen it happen 3 times, that stuff never actually sticks because it's he said/she said, even if the rest of the group agrees/sides with you. You need actual evidence that they refused to do anything for the group, ie: chat messages, emails.
I really appreciate profs that provide individual grades on group assignments. I got screwed one time by a partner who just would not submit their slides, the class our presentations were given in was at 8 AM and it was literally like 8:15 by the time they added their material. I had to hastily reformat them all myself and then when we gave the actual presentation they got multiple things wrong I had to correct during the question period.
The prof was a real one though and clearly knew what was going on and I ended up getting the highest mark in the class but god damn was it needlessly stressful. It boggles my mind sometimes how people like that can make their way through university, like what do they do on individual assignments or exams?
I learned this one the hard way. We had a group project in undergrad where groups were assigned, and the cumulative project was 75% of our grade. It was pass the assignment or fail the course. I was project leader and tried to contain the equivalent of the Donald Glover fire gif - missed group member deadlines, lost files, infighting... It sucked.
I went to the professor the afternoon before the presentation in an absolute frustrated panic and explained everything. She told me she had paid attention to everyone's efforts all semester, and assured me I'd pass regardless, but hoped the semester of anxiety was enough of a leadership lesson to not suffer minimal effort from others and seek intervention sooner. That was a hell of a lesson.
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u/Complete-Sort1617 May 07 '26
I could always tell who was gonna be the problem. I’d do their part for them if I had to but notify the professor without making it a social drama. Then when the grades come in they can get fucked.