So I started in the uni just a couple of weeks ago, and am starting to wonder what the heck am I doing in there. So are there other students in the B-T with serious lack of motivation? And even more favorably, anyone who's managed to get over the lack of motivation? The main issue is the math, that I just don't seem to give a **** about... Any other peeps out there with similar issues? Also I'd like to add that I suppose the difference between Finland and just about any other country is that the uni doesn't really cost anything. It's like 90 € for the entire year to get in, and the living gets covered by the government grants... Any top tips, then?
it can feel quite strange suddenly making the jump to higher education. you have to do more yourself, get less guidance. if you screw up then you screw up; its pretty much up to you! it is what you make of it, are you sure you're on the right course? if you are then are you in the right group and can you move? i've found it difficult tbh, going into my second year now but i managed to have my course changed to something more specific (3D animation from Game design) so im hoping things will improve. one thing i have learned is that motivation comes from being happy where you are and with what you're working towards.
Yeah I think the problem is the "basic courses" that everyone has to go through. If only I get those out of the way and move to the courses that are actually interesting... The group is fine, and overall I'm enjoying my time, but damn is it hard sometimes... I guess part of the problem is that I haven't been to school in 1,5 years. I went to the mandatory military service after college and I've just been idling and having a good time for the last 9 months... It's hard to suddenly wake up to the real life again
may i ask whether you smoke? that doesnt help believe me i know. it can be hard mate, ive been working the last few yearso im a fair bit older than everybody else, find it difficult to connect with many and as most of the work is group based its awkward at times. get through the boring stuff and you might find yourself with more focus if its something you want to do
90€ for the entire year? and your living expenses are covered??! you lucky bugger. I'm in my 3rd year and so far I have about £8000 debt piled up but with the motivation, I didn't feel that motivated really either the past 2 years, I always thought it would be like those American teenage college movies but that vision disapeared very quickly lol. but in my opinion the debt situation was the biggest thing on my mind to motivate me that little bit. Though if your living on campus (which i'm not) you should start to feel more motivated once you start getting friendly with the female students and partying!
crompers: No, I don't smoke and have never smoked after high school... I do, however, seem to consume an awful lot of alcohol these days. It's partly a problem, but also gets me connected with other students Motoko: Yeah I guess it's something we like to call a welfare state The school itself doesn't cost anything, really, we just pay for the student health care and stuff. And the government grant is some 100 € over the living costs, so it isn't much, but if one really saves then it may be enough. EDIT: Also I'm such a nice person I can't help but think how there would be 100 Million asian people more willing and ready to do all the hard work and get graduated in no time at all than I am. Sometimes it just makes me feel pretty shite. I get the best chances in the world to get something done and still just don't give a damn about it Yeah that'll help with the self esteem.
My best piece of advice is treat it as a 9-5 job. Which it's infi-f*&%$£g-nitely better than having to do a 9-5 job, unless you're one of the estimated 2% of people that a) have a job they enjoy and b) aren't idiots. Serious though, if it's more than just feeling like a fish out of water then look into switching courses: I hated my course the second time I went to Uni but I stuck with it and got so pissed off by my 3rd year I dropped out then. Massive waste of time really. Being a 30 year old uni drop-out is a bit odd.
I, er, fit the bill. Well on my way to getting kicked out of Uni, in fact. Can't seem to give a **** about studying. I don't know what it is about me, but I have the attention span of a goldfish. Perhaps ADD.
Welcome to the club. No matter how I try, if I just really don't give a **** about the lecture, I just can't concentrate in listening to it. And that leads me to think that if I'm not going to listen to the teacher/proff anyway then I might just as well stay home and tell myself I'm studying... Oh well, it wont work either.
I'd keep my head to the grindstone.. finish your work and get the A even if it means putting in extra hours after school in class or out.. some people think college is easy and some have trouble- depends on what type of person you are, but either way you want a high gpa.. volunteer work will get you connected with the people you want to know or you could slack off and have a good time, least you won't owe a grip in student loans.. gl man =]
Jipa, I'm not that sure, but if maths is your major, I'd strongly consider your options if you're really hating it. I'm doing a maths degree, and it takes a lot of work. More than any sane person's going to put in if they aren't interested, and don't find it rewarding. I've found my motivation started super high, after several years out of full time education, and declined gradually to be about on par with most other students at my uni, which isn't especially high. But you have to be doing something that you enjoy. It being the Finnish system though, I'd probably say that if you don't mind the time, just stick out maths for a year. You have plenty of time to change to something else and complete your time at uni before state funding runs out. Also, if the uni at Tampere is anything like the one in Turku, you're not going to having nearly as many hours of contact time (that is, time in lectures, tutorials, seminars) as we do over here. So you need to get involved in study groups, and definitely get yourself into a society. Whatever your major is, get into the society for it. From what I've been told by students at Turku uni, societies are an absolutey vital way of making friends and having a proper uni experience in Finland. If you are majoring in maths, just remeber, it's 90% ARGH and 10% Eureka, and the 10% makes you feel great, but it's that feeling's got to keep you going for the other 90% of the time too.
+1 to that statement. As a mechanical engineering major I can definitely say that with most everything science related in college it is that 9:1 ratio of frustration to understanding. If you don't feel motivated to do your work then you need to switch majors or find some motivation. Try to get an incentive from the parents like if you make X gpa then you get Y. I have an agreement with my father that if I make an 3.75/4.00 or higher for a semester then I get a new laptop (still waiting on it though since I had a 3.88 last semester). However, i will say that the first two years suck. I came into Uni with credits from my high school so all i had left were core classes and writing classes and no "fun" classes that I could take since I already had credit. In my first year I took Calc I, II, Physics I, II, Chemistry I, II and about 5 writing classes. Now that I am actually into some of the real classes for my major like 3D CAD modeling and Thermodynamics it has become a lot more interesting. Overall though, if you can't find the motivation now to do what comes later then you might as well change majors or find something that interests you. Oh, and another motivation is that I am paying for my classes so If i get an F in a class then I just paid $500 for a failing grade.
^^ my motivation. I see alot of people at college setting round, showing up for class once in every 2 weeks or so. Im like why, your paying to be here when you could be home and out no money. If im paying to be in the class im going to pass it because if i dont, theres 700+ dollars down the crapper.
Find something that you like. Everyone has to chug through intro courses and courses outside their major - you just have to bone up and do it. As for motivation, at the very least keep in mind that each course will be over in 15, 16 weeks. If you cannot focus in class, bring the textbook with you and read along. Worst case scenario, sit in the back and read other chapters of the book. At one point, I TAed for a physics recitation/discussion class. A common complaint would be "lecture sucks, I don't like the way the professor teaches, it's a waste of time" etc. I told them to suck it up and take the textbook to lecture with them. Worst case scenario, do the next week's HW in class. Just BE there. The lecture had something like 240 enrolled students, but only 40 or so on average attended the 3 times a week lecture.
Yeah it really boils down to growing some balls and getting the damn things out of the way. Anyway it's nice hearing that others aren't really enjoying their time through the first courses/years. Oh and now someone thought I'm majoring in maths, and that's not it. It's just the courses that everyone has to do in a technology uni. And yeah I've been in for justabout every "social thing" so far, and when it comes to that everything's been great. EDIT: One thing that I thought of was that if I get through every course before Christmas, I'll grab a cheap Ryanair flight to somewhere and spend a couple of days abroad.. However that just won't work Unfortunately. Should try to invent something similar that I could actually do.
It depends on your course. I studied English Linguistics and Creative Writing, with a Part One in Psychology and I loved it and found it a breeze. Doing something you love can make it all easy. I didn't have to study hard and was able to knock out essays in just a day or two, spending the rest of my time working on my creative writing and working for the student newspaper or playing games. That's me though and, as I said, it's something I loved and felt confident about. I didn't make any friends on my courses either, which was pivotal because it meant I wasn't chatting through lectures and seminars - I was just listening. All my friends were in other courses and the only thing I had a problem with was the Phonetics module, because I just couldn't remember the symbols. I do know that if you're not enjoying it then it is going to be hard. It's likely that, rather than getting better once the basics are out of the way, things will get worse - especially if you're hungover all the time. My advice would be to focus yourself on a few social activities you really enjoy, instead of spreading yourself so thinly, burn through the next few weeks of the course with a more sensible lifestyle and then see if that helps you focus. Really though, you need to decide if you like the course or not.
got a call this morning and was stumped.. she wanted to know what a schwa was so I looked it up and it's an toneless upside down e- who needs to know this stuff I've always been good at math and geometry, I can figure out volumes all day and use the theorems.. but english and writing, pretty much the pitts.. that's a good idea jipa.. find something you would like to do- check out printing plants while your at it- they can always use printers, pretty respectable job and it pays alright if you can run the bigger web presses, 4 color work.. or you could work on a boat and dangle your stuff in the water as bait- they call it free chum but the captain sometimes gets a little too friendly
When i first started Uni, i actually packed light with the idea of giving it the first 2 weeks which are free, if i didn't like it then i would back out. The first 3 weeks were fine, i could except what was happening at course pace, but then it slowed down and become rather dumb, we weren't set that much work nor much of a reading list. So i went to see the course head about it, as it was my money, no grants or loans paying for it. Hard earned cash paying for it! He told me they go easy on the first years for the first two terms of the year, then pick the pace up a little. But he understood my hunger and set me tasks which i thank him for. However bit-tech is a major distraction!!
Ugh. Don't get me started on schwas. I gave up talking about voiceless sounds and fricatives and labial consonants and rhotic accents a long time ago - but gee, look at all the words I know!
