Purely curious.
We’re in the fourth week of the semester: I’ve missed 1, and it wasn’t “skipping” as much as I was actually sick. Even the classes that I probably could get away with skipping (ie, calculus workshop, where we just go over homework), I don’t, because I feel guilty about skipping class.
Right now it’s -8* and I really just don’t want to walk 15 min in the cold across campus 
it’s too cold to go to class!!!
Is college compulsory education? You pay for the privilege of being there, if you don’t want to go, don’t go.
ps. It was really irksome to me several years ago when (because so many are on govt aid) they began taking roll in college classes.
I didn’t attend a lecture for the last 2 years or so. I’d go to anything where you were marked on attendance though.
I know conscientious people who skipped lectures because they thought they could spend the time more efficiently studying by themselves. However this did not apply to me 
Is college compulsory education? You pay for the privilege of being there, if you don’t want to go, don’t go
Good reasoning. I am actually on a full scholarship though, so it’s kind of like someone is paying me to be here. Which is why I am going to class
Not at all, so far as I can remember. (I think I may have had some excused absences associated with special events to which I traveled in connection with my major.) That was longer ago for me than for some folks here, though.
I was a good little college student for the first two years. Then came analytical chemistry …the professor didn’t speak english well, and his idea of a good lecture consisted of scanning the text book, putting it on an overhead, and reading aloud to the class. Aside from tests, I made it to two days of class.
By senior year, I was taking week-long vacations from class. For the most part I learned the material much better on my own, so attendance was a waste of time.
I don’t think skipping one day will make a difference Stay warm!!!
For the record, I was on full scholarship as well, and I promise you will get over the guilt factor pretty quickly 
Hard to learn anything when you skip class, IMO. Lectures not only explain better than you can comprehend by reading, they also highlight what you’ll be tested on.
For me, success in college was a combination of knowing the subject matter, AND gaining insight to my Professors.
BTW, “Film day” in Human Sexuality class always brought out over 100% attendance.
I never went to class. I did my undergrad in Anatomy and Cell Biology at McGill. All the lectures are recorded and put online. Why go to class when I could sit in my bed and listen to them later?
It only became a problem when I wanted to ask a question during a final exam and I didn’t know who the professor was.
Alot. I usually went got the syllabus with the work schedule, listened to a few lectures and then that was it. I actually went to hand in a paper and couldn’t find the prof’s office. Asked some guy I saw in the hallway if they knew where it was. “You don’t come to class much do you?” was the reply I got from my prof… Got an A in that class though.
At my school there was a service (after much debate it was considered okay at the time) where you could buy the notes for a class. Cost about $100 for a semester. Not sure if that sort of thing still exists.
Of course, I have never learned well from a lecture. Do much better just reading the material on my own.
Not much. Of course, where I went to college, we wore uniforms, and our attendance was monitored and absences were reported to our chain of command.
Kind of an abnormal college experience.
I skipped an awful lot of classes. I was working two jobs putting myself through college with no financial aid, while taking a full load of 5 classes per semester. There were just some times where I couldn’t make it.
I took a business class called “Computers in Business” that I only went to four times. First day, and three exams. I still got an A.
I also skipped probably 90% of Econ 101. The prof was a recent Chinese immigrant and I couldn’t understand a word he said. I got a B, only because the student union had a grad student in there taking notes you could buy. Otherwise I’d have been sunk.
My parents figured out how much it cost them for each class that I took ($125). So if I skipped a class, I owed them $125 (unless I was legit sick). So I think I might have missed 2 classes all 4 years and I was really really sick those 2 times. I also was definitely not one of the kids that could study on their own, so going to the lectures was really necessary (and my largest class in college was 30 people, so the prof knew if you were there or not). And believe me, I know how you feel with the cold, I went to HAmilton College in upstate NY and it was below 0 for about 5 months of the school year! Good Luck!
I didn’t. Well, I take that back–I skipped one class to take someone to the Dr.'s.
Oddly enough, that one skip came back to haunt me. Later on, I got the flu, and ended up in the hospital that semester, so I missed a few days of class (we only met 2x a week). That class, we had an attendance policy, and if you missed a certain number of days, it affected your grade. Manditorally. I fell victim to that # b/c I missed one day too many. Got an A- instead of an A. I was SO pissed. Stupid attendance rule. Yes, I am still pissed about it almost 15 years later.
…as a freshman and sophomore…I missed a fair amount of classes - primarily early morning and classes I didnt like – you know I could go to micro econ…or the beach.
As a junior/senior and then in grad school I maybe missed 2 classes in 4-5 yrs…
Found I learned much more and had to study less if I just went to class.
-Ron
I was also on scholarship and didn’t skip a whole lot - especially once I got into the classes I really enjoyed my junior and senior year. There’s no other time (aside from grad school) when your entire purpose in a day is to learn and I found/find that really exciting.
However, I did have an 8:30 Philosophy lecture my freshman year that happened to take place in the theatre we had on campus. So you’d get to the theatre, sit in the super comfy theatre seats, and then they’d dim the lights so that everyone could easily see the professor on the stage. Did I mention that this also took place after morning swim practice. I don’t think I made it through a single one of those classes awake - though I did honestly try.
One class every lecture was skipped except for the final. Got a B+ in the class.
Depends a lot on the particular courses… the lecture/discussion format, the material, the prof… You figure out soon enough which ones require more face time to get dialed in and which ones you can get away with blowing. Of course, it took about a year of indiscriminate skipping and a couple terms of probation for me to gain such insight, then finished on the dean’s list the last 2 years solid :>)
I will say, if you do go regularly, and the prof recognizes you as an active participant, it’ll help get you the benefit of the doubt at grading time if your test scores are borderline.
It’s been a while, but I don’t think I missed one class during my four years of undergrad. So far, I’ve missed one class in grad school because of a work commitment in Spain. As someone else posted, if you don’t want to go, you certainly don’t have to…you’re paying them to teach you.
Freshman year, I think I missed a total of 5 classes, but I missed because of Mono.
Sophomore year… different story. I was finishing out Gen Eds, and didn’t see the point of going to 400+ person lectures when the powerpoints were available online. I maintained over a 3.5, and was able to work more (2 jobs, total of about 50 hours a week, plus 18 credit hours, or 6 classes) to pay and save up for future payments on my education. Since most classes were either M/W/F or T/H, I would go to each class once a week, instead of 2 or 3 times a week. I never missed labs, however.
Junior and senior year, I went to almost every class…There were a few days I intentionally skipped due to the weather, as we would have 2-3 feet of snow and actual temperature below zero. Class size dropped down to about 20 students since they were the in-major courses… and being on multiple committees, I knew the teachers would give me shit if I missed class. I walked out on a class once, because the professor was making fun of me for being a few minutes late and had tears in my eyes (“does coming to my class really make you cry, Lindsay?”… he was an asshole). I looked at him and said “I think I broke my leg… I’m going to the hospital.” Got up and left. I brought in the xrays showing my severely broken leg the following class, and needless to say, he apologized.
If its a class you can completely study on your own, it’s okay to miss in my opinion. I’d guess you’re going to start coming up on the first round of exams shortly… so its probably beneficial to go.
I skipped very few classes. I don’t think missing class from a legitimate illness is skipping (I had strep and mono at the same time).
I looked at the cost of the education, even though I was on about a 50% scholarship and figured I needed to be at class not just for the grade but because I actually wanted to learn the stuff (how geeky!).
I had to make that sub-zero 15 minute walk to class and the campus job a lot. There was one time when it was sunny, right after snow and exceedingly bright. When I got to the building I took of my sunglasses and while folding them up noticed that the ear piece was missing. It had frozen to the side of my face.