/sci/ - Science & Math

>I'm a 3rd semester physics student and I'm wondering if it even makes sense going on the way I do.
>I'm a lazy person in general and hardly find motivation for anything, let alone anything productive. I study because I feel like if I >have< to do something this makes the most sense because the government pretty much covers my costs, I can stay away from actual work and I learn something that is at least sometimes interesting and good to know.
>I think that while having a degree will make it easier for me to cover my life expenses in the future my ability to make smart decisions will get me through life regardless of a degree, it's good to have but not a must. At the very least it's not something I need to obtain as quickly as possible.
>So here I am pressing myself through this, putting together the minimum amount of hopefully not too crappy work to wriggle my way through courses and exams with the least effort possible and at the end of the day, taking my fair share of time-outs and holidays (how could I live under the inhuman conditions of a regular, full-time schedule of responsibilities!).
>I want to finish what I started and I do know that a degree will provide myself with a safety net in case whatever else I attempt to do in the future to support myself doesn't work out, but let's face it I'm not gonna change into an entirely different person busting my ass with homework for a solid 8 hours a day.
>However, and this is supposed to be the actual question of this thread, if I keep going through this the way I am doing I am already starting to see that I look at papers and lectures and realize that I know nothing. Even though I understand that this is an expected consequence of my laziness it just bothers me to always be that guy who, when asked, knows nothing of value.
not science or math

>>9761702
wow you sound like a big loser

>>9761703

True. This is the crowd I want to consult, though, so I posted here. Sorry.

>>9761704

I probably am. Any constructive elaboration or advice would be appreciated.

>>9761702
How can you say you have the ability to smart decisions but you can't make the decision to just "man up" and embrace a bit more responsibility than the previous day?

>>9761735

Because a smart decision for me is getting by with minimum effort, not trying to load myself with responsibilities.

Even though it requires some responsibility I have decided that obtaining a degree is a smart decision, now I am trying to do this with minimum effort.

I don't really have that hunger to achieve something (hence >>9761704 calling me a big loser). But I do what I need to do to get by. All I'm wondering is from people who have graduated (maybe even in a similar fashion to myself) whether it comes back to bite me one day.

>>9761702
I have very similar problems. I study math and whenever there's a course which is largely rote memorisation, i barely pass. It might help to change your perspective on why you study. I assume you're at least somewhat interrested in physics, otherwise you would've picked something easier instead, no? So you should read and learn things because you find them interesting, not because of some exam and degree. You're stuck in uni for a while, so you might as well try to enjoy what you learn and spend the time that you're in class paying attention. Throughout the year, I only study or work on things i find interesting, and i barely do anything for the courses i don't care about until the final exam. It's not optimal but it's a more enjoyable way of going through school, and it's less stressful than just doing what you need to get by. If you do this, you will also develop a stronger work ethic more naturally.

>>9761702
>>9761735
You literally just do not give a fuck. I was the same as OP for my first 3 semesters in university. I was very good student in high school because I wanted to go to very good university to get out of the shithole I was from.

I entered college as a physics major and found myself virtually guaranteed a good life even doing the bare minimum at my university. I was getting Bs and Cs in all my math and science classes and really only cared about trying to rub elbows with kids from extremely successful families and banging hot chicks. Professors would speak to me one on one and tell me that I'm extremely bright and asked me to stop throwing away my potential. I just did not care. I no longer saw science as a way to improve my life and protect my family like I did before university. If anything, I saw it only hindered me because many elite people do not really respect STEM people. They just see them as tools to help them reach their ends. I did not want to be a tool. I wanted to have control over my life so I did not have to be at the mercy of others like I was as a kid. STEM did not provide that - STEM has you live grant to grant.

But I realized that this path I was descending down was soul-crushing more than anything liberating, and I searched deep down for over a year and realized what I really wanted to aspire to.

Once I had this, I knew why I wanted to study and it gave me a vision to hold on to when you don't want to study anymore but got to keep pushing yourself. I self-studied hard to make up for my lost time in my studies and now, I'm taking all graduate courses for my math and sciences and am considered one of the top two students in my department.

>>9761764

OP here. Totally get what you're saying. Over the last few months I've tried something similar. Replaced my 4chan/reddit/twitch bookmarks with physics boards and youtube channels so that whenever I'm home and randomly browsing I will hopefully find something there that strikes my interest and then digging deeper to understand the general concepts behind how it works. Playfully raising my interest and motivation in the topics. It does me some good but as you said, I still suck at exercises that I actually need to do for uni.

>>9761764

Do you feel like you're way behind in knowledge compared to your peers? Do you feel confident that you will be able to provide something of value after you graduate?

>>9761807
Not him, but I feel like I'm behind on my knowledge and don't feel like I would contribute anything of value in physics with my current knowledge

>>9761742
>third semester
So you're not upper division yet.

If you can get by without doing anything in upper division, then great. But it sounds like you probably won't.

If you're not working, don't do research or ta, you'll have a hard time finding jobs when you're out. Most employers want a master's in physics. Bachelor's just says you're not an idiot. Plenty of people that don't go to college aren't idiots either, so not much of a bonus there.

Tldr college is for networking. If you're only going for classes you'll have a bad time.

>>9761702
>my ability to make smart decisions will get me through life regardless of a degree

I wouldn't count on that,

>I'm a 3rd semester physics student ... I'm a lazy person in general and hardly find motivation for anything, let alone anything productive. I study because I feel like if I have to do something

Proof by contradiction right there.

On a more serious note, you should have really considered what you're going to do with your life. There are many more valleys than university and doing physics with the least amount of minimum work to pass will get you nowhere in academia, or industry for that matter, because this

>Even though I understand that this is an expected consequence of my laziness it just bothers me to always be that guy who, when asked, knows nothing of value.

is the biggest red-flag and the opposite of what studying physics should provide you with.

I would seriously reconsider if physics is your life's calling and look for other pursuits if you find out it's not.

>I would be curious to know of people here who have graduated if it is normal to feel "clueless", how it turned out post-grad and, of course, any other thoughts you might have on the topic

Yes, I was often "clueless", but I loved most of the subjects we had in undergrad physics and even though I didn't really study hardcore like some others, I always enjoyed the lectures and pumped out the maximum effort before the exams so that I really understood what was being taught. I was pretty clueless during the first 2 semesters and didn't give much shit about my grades, this changed in the third one though and by the time I graduated, I knew this was my calling and the grades reflected that.

>>9761910

OP here.

I am planning on getting a masters degree tho (anything better than a real job!). This is partly why I think I can do what I'm doing right now as long as it gets me through (if it gets me through). Going for a master's I will have much more freedom in selected the courses I'm interested in and we will finally deal with real problems instead of being stuck learning math basics. Judging from how it went for my mate (who is doing his master's at the moment) it seems like a much better opportunity to network and gain worthwhile experience (due to smaller groups, more direct communication with professors, working on topics that I chose to specialize in).

Why are you saying I will struggle more in the coming semesters? From what I have heard the first few semesters are the tough ones.

>>9761941

Man that's awesome it worked out like that for you. Maybe there's a turn for the better in it for me too.

Physics is definitely what I want to study and every time I truly understand the concept being taught I'm absolutely fascinated by it. The thing is, and this is what I meant with "clueless and nothing of value", it doesn't happen very often that I completely understand the concept, and that makes it quite frustrating. But from my perception it seems like many people going through uni feel that way and you only really begin to understand things in hindsight. So this was the reason I asked the question: How did you guys feel in that regard while studying for your bachelor's?

Is it okay to come out feeling like "I do not have full command over this concept, but I have spent some time dealing with it and if such a problem occurred in the real world I could tackle it with a little research, at least much less research effort than someone entirely new to the matter."

Hints :
>nobody like poor people. You'll lose your current firends when they'll see you working at MacDonald's at 35
>no girl likes guys without ambition. You'll find yourself bald, fat, ugly and a bachelor by 30
>nobody respects people who don't work. You'll get fucked by all the society when they'll cut out welfare.
>you can't study and get a degree when you struggle for paying your rent and your food

You don't get a degree because you have a "clue". You get a degree because you fucking need it to fucking survive...

>>9761702
Change your diet. Keto is your friend.

>>9761702
Switch majors and/or seek mental health help. Maybe just accept life is hot garbage, also accept you dont need to try as hard as you possibly can in everything or even anything you do.

>>9761969
This is a strong commentary on society being a trainwreck desu

>>9761702
Learn science the right way if you really need to "learn it" (If you aren't naturally capable of making great analysis without the help of the brainlet tool that is math), dodge the governement slavery system by going off radar. Survive, stay in good shape and clean, find a good spot to build your home, find a way to get electricity/internet/fresh water/ food and then reproduce. Make your children like you want them to be (like you) and it'll repeat all over again until, after many generations, the super intelligent humans you've created get recruted by the elites and become later on the elites (capable of manipulating mass population while having their little population of elites hidden). Your population will then have enough ressources to achieve immortality and maybe, I said maybe, they will want to and find a way to bring you back.

>>9761702
Start doing amphetamines

>>9761772
what made you change your outlook since you thought the wealthy saw STEM people as tools?

>>9761946
Physics 1 2 and 3 are literally just word problems you find in calc 1 and 2 books.

It's literally f = ma, integrate twice and you're done.
Or for em and optics, coloumbs force integrated to find fields.

Basically, by the time you start doing qm,classical mechanics and em, physics 1,2,3 should be so familiar you can do them as easily as you can do high school algebra.

>>9761702 You probably just have a low IQ, pic related.

>>9761986

This could be interesting, I've thought about ways to boost my energy levels in general.

>>9762008

This is too extreme, though. I would be curious to be honest but I don't wanna fuck myself up. I know myself and I wouldn't have the discipline to use it responsibly.

>>9761969

I already have skills that have proven to provide me with a stable and above minimum wage income that would allow me to pay for room and rent. Since I can do said work from anywhere with a PC and Internet I could easily find a country where these wages would even be on the upper end allowing me to live a quite comfortable life doing a few hours a day of admittedly not very exciting work.

So no, I am not forced to get that degree to survive. I think that's a terrible mindset (although probably a lot more effective than mine).

Holy

shit

the

amount

of

reddit

spacing

in

this

thread

>>9762117
Piss off, it is easier to read.

>>9762126
Maybe you should use one of these

downvoted >:(

>>9761807
I don't feel behind on my peers. i think i'm somewhat above average in things i enjoy and way below average in things i hate. Everyone kind of forgets what they learn in courses that don't get used anymore so it's not that bad.This summer, i will review some stuff i learned last semester because i was to lazy during the year and I just crammed. So i guess i am somewhat behind there

I'm not really motivated to get a phd or something so I doubt ill contribute to math. Maybe if something really interests me, and if i get the opportunity but i doubt it. I'll probably become a high school teacher and not live a life that is too stressful.

>>9761962
>Is it okay to come out feeling like "I do not have full command over this concept, but I have spent some time dealing with it and if such a problem occurred in the real world I could tackle it with a little research, at least much less research effort than someone entirely new to the matter."

You'd have to provide an example because I don't really understand what you're talking about here.

>>9763287

Well let's say we are studying oscillation. Someone serious about their degree will go hear the lecture, go home and rehears the lecture, attempt to tackle the exercise problems until they got it and then if you give them a similar problem 1 year later they will immediately solve it.

Now I would be the one who missed the lecture, quickly skip through the lecture notes online, google the problem and see if I can find something that I can make fit to the exercise problem, if I can't find anything within 15 minutes then I give up, copy the exercise from a mate and try to understand why the solution looks the way it looks.

Now give me the same exercise 1 year later and I would have no idea again. But I would have a rough clue about what it should look like and could "re-learn" the necessary skills to solve the task by going through the lecture notes more carefully and researching on the internet (or I would try to discuss it on some physics board).

I feel like the internet gives us such a massive library of absolutely everything that you can carry around in your pocket that you don't have to work full time trying to force it all in your head. It's okay to use university to just take away the general concepts of things that you find interesting and to learn the mathematical tools needed to be able to research and understand how to tackle a problem if it occurs.

Does this make more sense? I tried.

>>9761702
How about you stop reddit spacing you fucking retarded sack of shit. Maybe your attention span will improve. I can't even use the right word instead of attention span because you wouldn't understand it.

didn't read