What were your best and worst classes/grades in college?

[BrianNole777]

I took Sociology 101 my Freshman year and loved it. I thought it was really easy. The professor was basically a Communist as were the teaching assistants. They were as left wing as it gets and basically preached how everything bad people do is because of the way society is set up. It was wild.

This was when George W. Bush was President. The first exam seemed like every question was: "True or False: George W. Bush is an awful President." I answered how I thought would get the best grade.

I got a 100% on the first exam. It was great. In our small group, the teaching assistant called me out in front of the 25 students for getting a perfect score. I ended up getting an A+ in the class. I almost majored in Sociology because I thought I could be like the Albert Einstein of the Sociology Department but I switched to History.

My worst subject, by far, was Math. I always hated Math. Algebra was the worst. I think I got a D- in it. I barely passed. I almost took Geometry. I was like Forrest Gump in Math. I hated it. Equations are dumb and I've barely used Math since.

My second worst grade was science. I liked science and took Astronomy 101. The professor was a ginger (like me) who was basically a child prodigy/mad professor type. He had a PhD in Physics from Cal Tech or University of Michigan by the time he was 21. He worked on black holes.

He was so far above me in science it was insane. I liked learning about planets but after a few months, there was math involved. That really grinded my gears.

I cheated on the math part of the exam and got caught. I was totally sleep deprived and looked at the student's exam next to me and wrote down his answer. I knew the exams were different.

What was I thinking? I have no idea.

The professor emailed me a week later and wrote: "Could you please come into my office tomorrow after class? I have a question about your exam."

I immediately knew I was busted. I told my roommate and he said: "Admit it! Tell him you cheated. Don't deny it. You're already caught. He may take it easy on you."

The next day, I went into the professor's office. It was tiny. The teaching assistant was there. She was very cute for a science nerd. (No pics)

The professor asked me how I liked the class. I told him I liked it alot especially the experiments he did on stage. He then opened my exam and asked me to show him how I got this math answer.

I took a deep breath and told him: "I barely slept the night before the exam. I'm bad at math and was almost hallucinating and I looked at my classmates test and copied his answer. I'm sorry."

The teaching assistant said: "It's really great you admitted it!"

The professor said "OK. Thanks for letting me know, Brian. Here's how it's solved" and showed me how to solve it. I wasn't really paying attention. Math blows.

Then he said: "We won't report this to the university. I think this experience will make you a better man. I'll take 30 points off your exam."

I think I got a 30% on the exam. That's alot better than 0%.

I eventually got a "D" in Astronomy. As John Kerry said: "D = Degree!"

I think I graduated with a 2.8 GPA or 3.0.

CSB.

How about you?

 

[LuciousBDragon]

I enjoyed the classes where the TA’s spoke English or broken English. I was frustrated when they did not speak English.

I remember a survey went out during a semester I had a Chinese person teach Geographic Information Systems and spoke maybe two words of English. I told the University the problem and proposed a remedy that I either get an A or I get back my money. Dept head was MIA. Weird, the registrar’s office never got back to me on that one.

 

[BrianNole777]

Anybody else?

 

[Aardvark86]

My best grades, though not my highest, were a b+ and a- on my American govt papers for the late Gary McDowell. My highest was probably an a in my senior Soviet studies seminar, which I felt I earned as it entailed reading an entire semester of gulag memoirs.

I think my worst was a b in chemistry.

 

[artradley]

My best grades, though not my highest, were a b+ and a- on my American govt papers for the late Gary McDowell. My highest was probably an a in my senior Soviet studies seminar, which I felt I earned as it entailed reading an entire semester of gulag memoirs.

I think my worst was a b in chemistry.

I was on the 12-year college plan. After getting kicked-out of Iowa I went part-time for eleven years. In that time I got a full-time job, then started my own software business. I finally discovered that my degree requirements were going to expire, so I took the last couple of courses at age 30.

The last course was a "capstone" business policy class that was notorious for being the hardest class in the Business School. I took it as a once-a-week night course. We took the final two weeks before the course was over - with a term paper due after that. I have never prepared for a test like that in my life. I had a business trip the week before, and spend all my hours on the plane, in the airport, and in my hotel studying.

After each test the professor would write on the chalkboard the highest score, the lowest score, and the average score. After handing out the papers he wrote: 15, 62, 98. The class audibly gasped when he wrote the 98. He then said "This is misleading; so I'm going to cross out the 98 and replace it with the second highest score." Which was an 82.

When we took our break he looked me up in the hallway and shook my hand, saying he had never seen a score like that ever on his final.

I carried a crappy GPA all through college. But I nailed my last class.

 

[IowaHawkIT]

I failed a classical music class at UNI because I showed up for the final on the wrong day. Had to retake it.

 

[Aardvark86]

I was on the 12-year college plan. After getting kicked-out of Iowa I went part-time for eleven years. In that time I got a full-time job, then started my own software business. I finally discovered that my degree requirements were going to expire, so I took the last couple of courses at age 30.

The last course was a "capstone" business policy class that was notorious for being the hardest class in the Business School. I took it as a once-a-week night course. We took the final two weeks before the course was over - with a term paper due after that. I have never prepared for a test like that in my life. I had a business trip the week before, and spend all my hours on the plane, in the airport, and in my hotel studying.

After each test the professor would write on the chalkboard the highest score, the lowest score, and the average score. After handing out the papers he wrote: 15, 62, 98. The class audibly gasped when he wrote the 98. He then said "This is misleading; so I'm going to cross out the 98 and replace it with the second highest score." Which was an 82.

When we took our break he looked me up in the hallway and shook my hand, saying he had never seen a score like that ever on his final.

I carried a crappy GPA all through college. But I nailed my last class.

First, good on you for seeing it through. Seriously man.

Second, the blackboard story you just told is the story of my B+ on my first American Gov't grade. That was a 0745am eye opener for a lot of freshman in an entry level course that was a gatekeeper to a popular major.

 

[Aardvark86]

I failed a classical music class at UNI because I showed up for the final on the wrong day. Had to retake it.

my roommate loved to stay up late ...and sleep late. One day after he'd stayed up late to study for an exam, I came home from lunch to find him in bed. So I said, "Beans, how'd your exam go?" He looked at me very vaguely through a fog. I said, "Beans, did you sleep through your exam?" He replied, "did you?" And then suddenly, the waking light of dawn turned on, his eyes lit up, he yelled, "oh shit!", leaped out of bed, threw some pants on and went bolting out of the dorm to beg for an opportunity to take his test..which he ultimately aced because he was a very smart guy.

 

[The-Dude-Abides]

The most impactful class I ever took was Quest for Human Destiny with Rabbi Jay Holstein. Life changing really.

 

[Stoopsbrother]

best grades pre law classes

worst math

really enjoyed the social science classes straight A's had the old chief of police for Waterloo as the professor

 

[fsu1jreed]

Best: Ecology/Hydrology/Geomorphology

Worst: Chemistry

 

[BrianNole777]

Best: Ecology/Hydrology/Geomorphology

Worst: Chemistry

Chemistry always sucked.

 

[Kinnick.At.Night]

In terms of interest, my best classes were pre-law classes. My worst, were in psychology. I double majored in the two fields and planned on going to law school until I lost interest in more years of very expensive school. As far as grades, they’re two simple majors. I got almost straight As in college.

 

[fsu1jreed]

Chemistry always sucked.

I didn't help this poor white trash cripple graduated high school without understanding it.....what's even crazier, are that those best classes are built up it.

 

[BrianNole777]

I didn't help this poor white trash cripple graduated high school without understanding it.....what's even crazier, are that those best classes are built up it.

I think I got a C in chemistry in high school Sophomore year.

 

[3boysmom]

My worst class was Econ. I don't even remember if it was Micro or Macro. I got a B in it because it was graded on a curve and I sucked less than the others.
I honestly don't remember a favorite class, but the most memorable class was Human Sexuality. If anyone took Human Sexuality at Iowa in the late 80's or early 90's and maybe ever, they will know what I am talking about. I was expecting something more biological based. Maybe a science type class. What I got was a how to course. Complete with movies. It was.... something,

 

[millah_22]

Best: Business/Marketing, Design

Worst: Bio

 

[Obviously Oblivious]

Worst biochemistry, by a mile. Best or most enjoyable probably my accounting courses with Tom Carroll and a psychology course on environmental stress with Bob Baron.

Baron put my research term paper on file in the Psych library so his future students could see an example of the type of work he was expecting from them. I remember being flattered and also a bit embarrassed when he singled me out in class for it.

 

[Menace Sockeyes]

After being a mediocre HS student until 12th grade, I was typically A’s and on the Dean’s List most of the time in college. I got a C once though. Literature of the American Revolution. It was stupid of me to think I could handle a 7:45/8 AM class. I flat out overslept it a few times. My A+ classes were Statistics, Art History, Europe in the Age of Revolutions, Modern Political Science, Music History in the Western World, British Satire, Educational Psychology, and African Novels. My two Masters A+ courses were Educational Law and Research Analysis, the first and last courses of study in the program.

 

[SeaPA]

Best class as far as most interesting - Religion in America. The instructor, Dr Leo Sandon, was an absolutely outstanding teacher and man, who lived an interesting life & often talked about the things he'd seen & done during the civil rights movement.

Worst, as far as difficulty - Oceanography. I took it to meet part of my science requirement; figured I loved the ocean & it would be very interesting. Eff that, it was ridiculously difficult, in that to pass you pretty much had to learn, in a semester, a combination of chemistry, physics, astronomy...over the course of the semester, it dabbled into damn near every branch of science. I barely made a C in it - without question the hardest class I took at FSU.

Worst as far as boring - Cost Accounting. Damn near changed majors out of fear that I'd get stuck in a career doing that crap.

Best grade - I went about my education in a somewhat unconventional way. My junior & senior years I went to FSU in the summer & fall, and in during the spring semester I stayed home & worked at my dad's accounting firm (now mine) doing tax returns. When I got my Bachelor's from FSU, the rules for taking the CPA exam had recently changed & you had to either have a Masters, or a Bachelors + 30 hours of higher level courses, of which 2/3 had to be in accounting classes. I chose to start working & take the extra hours wherever I could find them, at several different nearby universities. One was a Tax course at a small University near my home (St Leo University). I'd been doing tax work for about 3 years, so I pretty much knew all of it already. On the first exam, the teacher included 10 extra credit points on top of the regular test. I got all of them right, other than he docked my 1 point for abbreviating something because he couldn't stand to give a 110. I also effed up his "curve" system he'd always used of raising the highest score achieved to 100 & adding that many points to everyone's grade. I did about the same on the 2nd test, so he revised everything on both, disregarding my scores.
Somewhere along the line he realized who I was, pulled me aside after a quiz & asked if I was Barry's son (he knew my dad but hadn't put it together right away).

 

[Obviously Oblivious]

Best class as far as most interesting - Religion in America. The instructor, Dr Leo Sandon, was an absolutely outstanding teacher and man, who lived an interesting life & often talked about the things he'd seen & done during the civil rights movement.

Worst, as far as difficulty - Oceanography. I took it to meet part of my science requirement; figured I loved the ocean & it would be very interesting. Eff that, it was ridiculously difficult, in that to pass you pretty much had to learn, in a semester, a combination of chemistry, physics, astronomy...over the course of the semester, it dabbled into damn near every branch of science. I barely made a C in it - without question the hardest class I took at FSU.

Worst as far as boring - Cost Accounting. Damn near changed majors out of fear that I'd get stuck in a career doing that crap.

Best grade - I went about my education in a somewhat unconventional way. My junior & senior years I went to FSU in the summer & fall, and in during the spring semester I stayed home & worked at my dad's accounting firm (now mine) doing tax returns. When I got my Bachelor's from FSU, the rules for taking the CPA exam had recently changed & you had to either have a Masters, or a Bachelors + 30 hours of higher level courses, of which 2/3 had to be in accounting classes. I chose to start working & take the extra hours wherever I could find them, at several different nearby universities. One was a Tax course at a small University near my home (St Leo University). I'd been doing tax work for about 3 years, so I pretty much knew all of it already. On the first exam, the teacher included 10 extra credit points on top of the regular test. I got all of them right, other than he docked my 1 point for abbreviating something because he couldn't stand to give a 110. I also effed up his "curve" system he'd always used of raising the highest score achieved to 100 & adding that many points to everyone's grade. I did about the same on the 2nd test, so he revised everything on both, disregarding my scores.
Somewhere along the line he realized who I was, pulled me aside after a quiz & asked if I was Barry's son (he knew my dad but hadn't put it together right away).

I has a sad, I taught managerial accounting at Iowa as a grad student and I loved it.

You would have aced my class, I have no doubt. I worked really hard to lift even those who struggled to a better final grade than they honestly expected.

 

[Finance85]

I took Sociology 101 my Freshman year and loved it. I thought it was really easy. The professor was basically a Communist as were the teaching assistants. They were as left wing as it gets and basically preached how everything bad people do is because of the way society is set up. It was wild.

This was when George W. Bush was President. The first exam seemed like every question was: "True or False: George W. Bush is an awful President." I answered how I thought would get the best grade.

I got a 100% on the first exam. It was great. In our small group, the teaching assistant called me out in front of the 25 students for getting a perfect score. I ended up getting an A+ in the class. I almost majored in Sociology because I thought I could be like the Albert Einstein of the Sociology Department but I switched to History.

My worst subject, by far, was Math. I always hated Math. Algebra was the worst. I think I got a D- in it. I barely passed. I almost took Geometry. I was like Forrest Gump in Math. I hated it. Equations are dumb and I've barely used Math since.

My second worst grade was science. I liked science and took Astronomy 101. The professor was a ginger (like me) who was basically a child prodigy/mad professor type. He had a PhD in Physics from Cal Tech or University of Michigan by the time he was 21. He worked on black holes.

He was so far above me in science it was insane. I liked learning about planets but after a few months, there was math involved. That really grinded my gears.

I cheated on the math part of the exam and got caught. I was totally sleep deprived and looked at the student's exam next to me and wrote down his answer. I knew the exams were different.

What was I thinking? I have no idea.

The professor emailed me a week later and wrote: "Could you please come into my office tomorrow after class? I have a question about your exam."

I immediately knew I was busted. I told my roommate and he said: "Admit it! Tell him you cheated. Don't deny it. You're already caught. He may take it easy on you."

The next day, I went into the professor's office. It was tiny. The teaching assistant was there. She was very cute for a science nerd. (No pics)

The professor asked me how I liked the class. I told him I liked it alot especially the experiments he did on stage. He then opened my exam and asked me to show him how I got this math answer.

I took a deep breath and told him: "I barely slept the night before the exam. I'm bad at math and was almost hallucinating and I looked at my classmates test and copied his answer. I'm sorry."

The teaching assistant said: "It's really great you admitted it!"

The professor said "OK. Thanks for letting me know, Brian. Here's how it's solved" and showed me how to solve it. I wasn't really paying attention. Math blows.

Then he said: "We won't report this to the university. I think this experience will make you a better man. I'll take 30 points off your exam."

I think I got a 30% on the exam. That's alot better than 0%.

I eventually got a "D" in Astronomy. As John Kerry said: "D = Degree!"

I think I graduated with a 2.8 GPA or 3.0.

CSB.

How about you?

Nice not so subtle brag thread. You seem to enjoy constantly seeking approval.

 

[fsu1jreed]

I has a sad, I taught managerial accounting at Iowa as a grad student and I loved it.

You would have aced my class, I have no doubt. I worked really hard to lift even those who struggled to a better final grade than they honestly expected.

Yes, I always worked with a student that put in the work......I liked to think that I was a student's professor

 

[Tenacious E]

I took Sociology 101 my Freshman year and loved it. I thought it was really easy. The professor was basically a Communist as were the teaching assistants. They were as left wing as it gets and basically preached how everything bad people do is because of the way society is set up. It was wild.

This was when George W. Bush was President. The first exam seemed like every question was: "True or False: George W. Bush is an awful President." I answered how I thought would get the best grade.

I got a 100% on the first exam. It was great. In our small group, the teaching assistant called me out in front of the 25 students for getting a perfect score. I ended up getting an A+ in the class. I almost majored in Sociology because I thought I could be like the Albert Einstein of the Sociology Department but I switched to History.

My worst subject, by far, was Math. I always hated Math. Algebra was the worst. I think I got a D- in it. I barely passed. I almost took Geometry. I was like Forrest Gump in Math. I hated it. Equations are dumb and I've barely used Math since.

My second worst grade was science. I liked science and took Astronomy 101. The professor was a ginger (like me) who was basically a child prodigy/mad professor type. He had a PhD in Physics from Cal Tech or University of Michigan by the time he was 21. He worked on black holes.

He was so far above me in science it was insane. I liked learning about planets but after a few months, there was math involved. That really grinded my gears.

I cheated on the math part of the exam and got caught. I was totally sleep deprived and looked at the student's exam next to me and wrote down his answer. I knew the exams were different.

What was I thinking? I have no idea.

The professor emailed me a week later and wrote: "Could you please come into my office tomorrow after class? I have a question about your exam."

I immediately knew I was busted. I told my roommate and he said: "Admit it! Tell him you cheated. Don't deny it. You're already caught. He may take it easy on you."

The next day, I went into the professor's office. It was tiny. The teaching assistant was there. She was very cute for a science nerd. (No pics)

The professor asked me how I liked the class. I told him I liked it alot especially the experiments he did on stage. He then opened my exam and asked me to show him how I got this math answer.

I took a deep breath and told him: "I barely slept the night before the exam. I'm bad at math and was almost hallucinating and I looked at my classmates test and copied his answer. I'm sorry."

The teaching assistant said: "It's really great you admitted it!"

The professor said "OK. Thanks for letting me know, Brian. Here's how it's solved" and showed me how to solve it. I wasn't really paying attention. Math blows.

Then he said: "We won't report this to the university. I think this experience will make you a better man. I'll take 30 points off your exam."

I think I got a 30% on the exam. That's alot better than 0%.

I eventually got a "D" in Astronomy. As John Kerry said: "D = Degree!"

I think I graduated with a 2.8 GPA or 3.0.

CSB.

How about you?

graduated with a 3.8 with quite a few 4.0 semesters, so they were all pretty good. My favorite class was, despite being agnostic, Judeo-Christian Tradition taught by Holstein. They don't make many professors like him.

 

[pink shizzle]

Undergrad: C in biomechanics. I hate physics and trigonometry.

Grad school: B in Operational and Organizational psychology. I got a concussion from rugby two days before the midterm and got a 44%. That was a rough one to dig out of, oof.

 

[soonerinlOUisiana]

Beginning class piano. Literally a perfect 100% A (caveat: no written exams)

Worst: Analytical geometry B- (low 80s)

 

[WrigleyHawkeye20]

In undergrad at Iowa, worst grades were all the science gen eds I had to take. Hated science classes and didn’t try at all. Think I took General Chemistry, Geology and maybe one other? You’d think Geology would be easy. But try identifying a f**cking rock when you’ve done zero studying!

I‘ll lump my best classes together as my overall MBA program. Had a 7 year gap between graduating undergrad and starting grad school part time. Matured a lot during those years and took it much more seriously. And the grades reflected that.

 

[SI_NYC]

I believe I received a C in Comp 2 out in Colorado. I simply was a poor writer at the time. I've certainly become a better writer but language has always been ambiguous to me, which in turn kept me from learning other languages when i was younger. Now, I've learned a little French, Greek and I'm trying hard to learn Spanish at a level where I can communicate in a well rounded manner.

 

[SI_NYC]

graduated with a 3.8 with quite a few 4.0 semesters, so they were all pretty good. My favorite class was, despite being agnostic, Judeo-Christian Tradition taught by Holstein. They don't make many professors like him.

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I heard great things about that class, but never took it. FYI, I went to HS with his daughter but didn't know her well.