Can you share graduate school horror stories about group projects?

I had a nightmare experience with a thesis advisor. He was always unavailable. When he was, he would criticize my work harshly without really guiding me on how to improve. It made the whole thesis - writing process a long and agonizing journey.

In school, for our first group project in science class, we had to build a model of the solar system. At first, there was some confusion on who would do what part. But we quickly divided the tasks. I was in charge of making the planets, and my friends worked on the stand and the orbits. We had some disagreements along the way, but in the end, our project was a success.

Another example is Lisa in the field of literature. In graduate school, she focused on a very niche area of 18th - century literature. She faced a lot of skepticism from her peers as it was considered an unpopular area. But Lisa didn't care. She traveled to various libraries across the country to access rare manuscripts. Her in - depth research led to a well - received book on the subject. After graduating, she became a sought - after lecturer at a prestigious university, teaching her beloved 18th - century literature.

Well, my advisor was always MIA. I'd schedule meetings weeks in advance and he'd either forget or show up an hour late. When it came to my research, he gave very vague directions. It was like trying to find my way in a fog. He'd say things like 'just explore more' without any real guidance on what to explore. It made my progress so slow and frustrating.

Another horror story is dealing with difficult advisors. I've heard of an advisor who would constantly change the requirements for a thesis at the last minute. The student had to rewrite large portions of their work multiple times, causing a great deal of stress and delaying their graduation significantly. It was really frustrating for the student as they had no idea what was expected of them in the end.

Group projects can be a horror. You get teamed up with people who don't pull their weight. I was once in a group where one member never showed up for meetings or did any work, and the rest of us had to cover for him. It led to a lot of arguments and stress.

One of my graduate school stories is about a group project. We were a team of five with different backgrounds. At first, we had a lot of disagreements on the approach. But after long discussions and finally compromising, we came up with an innovative solution. It was a great learning experience about teamwork and communication in graduate school.

Sure. One success story could be the Apollo project. It was a huge success as it managed to land humans on the moon. This not only demonstrated the technological capabilities of the United States at that time but also inspired generations to pursue careers in science and space exploration. It was a project filled with numerous challenges, like developing reliable spacecraft and life - support systems, but through great teamwork and innovation, it achieved its goal.

Sure. I once painted my room by myself. I didn't use enough drop cloths. So I ended up with paint all over my floor. It took me hours to clean it up. What a mess!

Sure. Amazon is a well - known success story. It started as an online bookstore and expanded to become the world's largest e - commerce platform, offering a vast range of products and services. Another is Shopify, which enables countless small and medium - sized businesses to easily set up their online stores and manage their e - commerce operations successfully.