Being the person in a group project that always takes on the leadership role can be exhausting.
It gets to be a pain when you’re the only one who thinks about the progress of the grade, and it appears that you’re the only one who cares about your grade. You end up doing the rearranging of everyone else’s schedules and the communication with professors and other contacts you may need for a group project. You end up coordinating everyone else’s parts of the project, that you probably divided up in the first place. You hate working in groups for all these reasons.
But your group probably appreciates all you do (even if they don’t say it or acknowledge it). If you’re anything like me, you like to take charge to make sure things go the way you want them to. You also probably function better with more to do, even if you complain the whole time. It feels better knowing that your work is getting done right and is being taken care of. It may mean you have to get on your group members about their portion of the work, and if it's really bad it may mean that you need to let your instructor know that your group wasn’t participating. You hate being a tattletale, but you also hate when your grade is heavily dependent on the work that other people do.
But your work will pay off. This is the type of thing that sets you apart from the others. This kind of thing keeps you on your toes and makes sure you have the ability to plan ahead. You can take the lead in any situation, and you can make the best of situations you are given. It may be annoying that people just assume you will do the majority of the work, but I guess there’s always going to be someone in any group project. You will have more respect from your other group members and be able to say you did a lot of the work. You have a lot of skills that the other members of your group may not be as good at portraying, and you will continue to build those skills as you continue to get projects with others.
Group projects can be the worst. You may hate them, and you may never want to do another one again. But at least you always know you’ll be able to count on yourself to do the work that you’re proud to submit. At least you know the work will come out how you want it to, even if it meant you had to do more work than everyone else. You will get more out of the work than anyone else, and it will make you a better student in that class, and in the rest of your academic career. Try not to hate on the group projects too much, the instructors just want to make sure you can work with others, and the one who stands as a leader and a voice for the group really does stand out among others.