A College Student’s Partners On A Group Project Weren’t Putting In Any Work, So They Told Their Professor All About It

Matthew Gilligan

3 days ago

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If you’ve ever had to work on group projects in school before, you know how it can be a roll of the dice…

Because you really don’t know what kind of partners you’re gonna be saddled with.

A college student talked about the action they decided to take after their project partners weren’t pulling their weight.

Let’s take a look at what happened.

AITA for snitching on group partners?

“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 group chat messages showing that I’m always initiating communication, setting deadlines that only I meet, and doing work outside of class.

They’re getting frustrated with these folks.

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 (assignment due to the SAME email at 11:15 pm that night).

I wasn’t demanding anything, but seeking advice and felt he should be aware.

That didn’t go as planned…

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.

AITA?”

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