Trying to keep this as anonymous as possible. I’m in college and taking a class split into three short modules. You’re placed in one group for all three modules, and whatever grade the group earns is the grade you get. My group consists of 2 other people who have only done work during class time, which isn’t enough since we meet at most 2x a week. I have activity logs and gc messages showing that I’m always initiating communication, setting deadlines that only I meet, and doing work outside of class.
The class only lasts about three weeks. I genuinely tried to give them time and the benefit of the doubt, but we’re now a day away from presentations and they’ve barely contributed. One person wrote a small paragraph the night before, and the other presented part of the project.
The night one assignment was due, I reminded them earlier that I’d be very busy that day. At 9 pm, I asked if they had done it (neither had). So I completed it myself and emailed one of my professors around 9:30 pm about my situation (assignement due to SAME email at 11:5pm that night). I wasn’t demanding anything, but seeking advice and felt he should be aware.
After class, he called me in and berated me for emailing him after school hours and said I should have “made the group work.” I apologized, but explained I was concerned about my grade because I was doing most of the work. I had even prepared to present the entire project alone due to the lack of communication. I explained how uneven the workload was compared to other classes, where at least bare minimum collaboration happens.
He told me I should contact the other professors and said I was too late in bringing this up, even though the course is very short and I wanted to give my group time to redeem themselves. I left the conversation crying and feeling worse for saying anything. I did email the other professors as told, but now regret it after how poorly that interaction went. I would have been fine if he’d simply said there was nothing that could be done and the group grade stood
So, AITA?
NTA. You didn’t wait months. The entire class is THREE WEEKS. What exactly was the earlier window supposed to be?? Day two?? You tried reminders, deadlines, communication, and picking up slack. Your professor scolding you instead of addressing the broken group system is unprofessional. Crying afterward is a pretty normal response to being unfairly blamed when you did everything right.
I tried explaining this to him because if I complained day 2, its almost like its too early to tell and maybe they’ll pull through later. The entire class being so short doesn’t give me a lot of time to judge if they’re doing anything until the very end.
NTA, I say this as a college professor – your professor was rude as hell. Yes, it is frustrating to be contacted after hours and right before an assignment is due, but I always tell students you can send those times, just don’t expect me to be up and responding, and if you need a response by a certain time to send earlier/plan accordingly.
Regarding the group work, this is why I hate assigning groupwork outside of class, it hardly ever works and it’s a pain to regrade when groups fall apart. But you should not be penalized for someone not pulling their weight and they should not get a free pass.
Advice: if your college has a dean of students/student ombudsman – go to them and bring up your concerns about your group and you tried to get help from the professor and they were unhelpful. I would also recommend going to the dept chair/asst chair but the dean of students is supposed to be confidential and also in charge of handling grievances so this is probably the best place to go first. But go up the chain of command and I would complain about the of handling of this case as well
I completely understand the after work hours thing, but I was not expecting him to write to me until monday. I just thought it would be ok to send the email especially since an assignment was due that day to the same email.
I really tried to see if my group would pull through, but at most the work they have done is either checking over my work or coming up with an idea for a project. I’m a little afraid following his advice of messaging the other professors considering his response here. I wrote the email friday, 9:30pm and got called in after class on Monday where this discussion happened.
NTA. That professor handled this poorly
You still submitted the project. Replying to complain about emailing after hours means the professor went out of their way to be an AH. There’s nothing wrong with emailing after hours, prof should have just ignored it/not checked his email and read your email during regular hours. NTA.
I was moving and had a stressful day on the day of the assignment. I checked in on my group at 9pm and no one had done it. At this point I was testing to see if my group would do anything, so I did the assignment ahead of time and saved it to my phone so I could send it in if they havent.
They told me at 9pm that night they have not done it after I asked, so I sent it in on my phone after the whole fiasco I had that day and letting them know about my situation.
NTA, you did what anyone would do trying to protect their grade group projects shouldn’t feel like doing everything solo while hoping others show up. You weren’t snitching, you were just being responsible
Nta. They got what they deserved.
NTA. You didn’t “snitch,” you documented reality. Group projects where everyone gets the same grade but doesn’t do the same work are academic roulette.
His response just makes me question if I should have kept quiet about it. I emailed the other professors for the other 2 classes like he asked, but im regretting it now seeing his response.
NTA
I’m an adjunct professor at a university, your professor is an AH for essentially talking down to you and somehow expecting *you, a student,* to make your group members do their work. You have done everything possible to make that happen.
There’s really no “too late” to bring this kind of thing up unless it’s after the grade is posted. I hope the other professors are much more helpful.