Being In A Class On Your Own Vs. Being In A Class With Your Friends

By Amanda Casey on September 15, 2015

As many college students struggle to fill in the last openings of their course schedules many are faced with the question of whether or not they want to take a course with some of their friends or go out on their own.

The pros to being in a class with your friends are as follows.

Class with Friends Pros

Automatic Group 

There are a huge amount of college professors who are keen believers on the idea of group work and/or group projects. If you take a class with your friends you don’t have to worry about awkwardly asking the strangers around you to get in a group with you.

Immediate Study Group

If you miss class you know you can shoot a text to one of your buds and get caught up on what you missed. A bonus is that you can each help one another with any questions you may have about the class.

In class, your group practically becomes *NSYNC. Your group presentations practically become a concert.

US Magazine

Now where there are pros, there are cons.

Class with Friends Cons

The Constant Chatter

If you’re like me, you have friends who love to talk regardless of what time it may be in class. You get that snarky eye look from the professor and can’t help but be caught in the crossfire of your friend’s continuous blabber and professor’s disapproval.

You’re Restricted to One Group in Class

Usually if you are in a class with your friends you don’t expand your horizons and mingle with other students in the class unless you are forced to. While some professors will assign groups in class, most will let you choose as you may which you guessed it, leaves you where you started … in the same group.

Now…

The pros to being in a class on your own.

Class on Own Pros

Everything is Your Responsibility

As selfish as it may sound, all the responsibilities of the class are solely yours so you don’t need to worry about helping someone you’re close to. This can make classes extremely easier since you don’t have to feel obligated to help someone you care for.

You can practically become Beyonce in that class. If you speak up and show that you know the course you’ll come off as a superstar.

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You’ll Likely Feel A Need to Introduce Yourself to Everyone Else

You’ll be more likely to approach the professor alone and stress any concerns you may have about the course versus going to your friends for the answers. The same goes for your fellow classmates.

You Are Likely Not the Only One Who Doesn’t Know Someone in Class

You meet people who are in the same exact scenario as you are. They don’t know anyone in that class. This can develop new unexpected relationships.

And of course the cons.

Class on Own Cons

You Are Dependent on You

You can’t depend on anyone in class to clue you in on something you missed. You have to make sure you are on top of all of your assignments and don’t doze off in class.

You Have to Step Out of Your Comfort Zone

You have to work a bit harder to integrate yourself with other students you may not know. You have to make the extra effort to befriend people in class if you’d like to. If you’re fine with not knowing anyone in your class that whole semester or quarter, more power to you!

Overall the two have pros and cons that don’t make the decision any easier …

What I’ve done this year is take a class I know really well subject wise with my friends so I don’t need to worry about not knowing the material word by word. If I have a hard class in a more difficult subject I often like to take the class on my own so I can be completely focused on that class and not be distracted by the friends around me.

It also helps if I reach out to a friend who has already had the class so I could go to them for help as well as the professor and professional student tutors. With this is mind, here’s to a great start of classes to you all!

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