Group projects seem like fun until you get three weeks away from the end of the semester and start to despise everyone in your group. You realize you basically procrastinated the entire semester and now you are going to have to spend sleepless nights with these people just trying to meet the minimum expectations.
On the first day of class your professor is rambling about the same generic syllabus template that you've already heard three times that day. You are day dreaming about what you are going to eat for dinner when you hear the words "group project" sometimes followed by "40% of your grade" or "biggest thing we do all semester". The little panic light starts going off in your head. How many people are in a group? Do I get to pick my group or is the group assigned? Will I be the loser who doesn't have a group? Will I get random slackers put in my group? Is it actually going to be hard?
You get your group and start to calm down. Ok this is manageable, we aren't best friends but its just a project, we can get through this. Your professor lays out the guid lines of the project. At first, you all freak out realizing this is going to be a ton of work, but then you divide it up and talk yourselves down trying to convince each other it won't be that bad.
Half way through the semester your group meets up and thinks they are doing fine. You have turned in part of the project and got a decent grade. You plan out what you have left and try to leave as soon as possible. Lets be real, this project isn't anyone's first priority with two tests and a paper due this week.
Then it all comes crashing down. There are only a couple of weeks left in the semester and you realize the huge amount of work your group needs to finish before the due date. You meet multiple times a week, trying to crank through the last 10 pages you have to write. When it is all done you print that baby out and get it bound. This project is now so precious to you that you don't want to get a scratch on. You feel like you accomplished it all, then you realize you still have to present it. Now you just have to sit back, memorize your part, and hope your group members have a small idea of what they are talking about.
