College student cleverly calls out slacker for not pulling weight in group project

In our student years, we encounter all types—some are naturally gifted, while others barely lift a finger. One Reddit user, u/Sensitive-Use-6891, shared how they teamed up with a professor and a classmate to teach a lazy group member a lesson. Their plan worked perfectly, leaving the slacker regretting his lack of effort in the final group project.

The post begins with the “go-getter” and “overachiever” student sharing that he was enrolled in a dual degree program. He also revealed his humble background and talked about his dependency on a stipend. “I need good grades, or I will lose my money. Since I am estranged from my family and disabled, I absolutely need this money to study,” the student wrote.

During the semester's end, one of their professors announced a group project, with each group comprising three people each. The students were tasked with writing an essay, creating a scientific poster and preparing a 30-minute-long presentation on the same topic. They had to complete the class activity within six weeks before a final quiz. “I ended up in a group of three with one cool guy who is engaged and puts in effort, and a dips*** who has been lazy from day one,” explained the studious team member.

The three of them agreed to schedule and divide the tasks equally. On their first review meeting, the laziest student showed up late and, according to the post, even forgot his laptop, which was a good enough reason to upset the others. “We needed some data he was supposed to have analyzed and compiled, but he kept saying he’d send it tomorrow or that he was 'almost done.' When we pressured him about it, he finally admitted that he had done absolutely nothing so far and then had the audacity to tell us he wouldn’t do it at all,” the post revealed.

Additionally, the underachiever showed no care for their grade and appeared to be relying on his batch mates to sail through the project. Finally, the student spoke to the slacker about his stipend situation. "I tried explaining to him that it's cool if he doesn't care, but it's a shared grade and him not doing any work means I fail too and if I fail I lose my stipend. His answer? 'Well it's not my problem that you're broke,'" the post shared.

That’s when the top grader decided to make a plan to get his classmate to “fail on purpose.” Along with the help of the “cool guy,” the two members of the group finished the assignment on time without involving their troublesome mate. Following this, the duo took the professor into confidence about the entire incident. “We showed proof to our teacher, and he told us to mark what part of the project each person did. He said he would make an exception for our group and grade each person's work individually,” the student shared.

One day before the presentation, the student said, “This dips*** asked in the group chat what he should talk about, and I responded with, ‘As agreed before the project, everyone talks about what they wrote in the essay.’” Upon hearing this, the sluggish team member started to panic and admitted to having put in little effort to present anything in front of a panel of professors and the entire class. The intelligent team members didn’t offer any help, and he was told to figure it out by himself. In an update, the scholarship earner informed his readers that their presentation went well, except for the slacker, whose passing chances do not match the minimum criteria.

As part of the reactions to the post, u/blue73812 commented, “Group projects suck. I’m glad you worked this out with your professor and the one member of your group who put in the work.” Offering a different perspective, u/Hot_Week3608 remembered, “I was in a three-person group with the same two people throughout my entire graduate program. All three of us worked our asses off on our projects, and I am still incredibly grateful for that, even 10 years later, because I know how rare it is.” “We have academic freedom, but assessments need to be equivalent, or students can complain,” u/tomtomclubthumb concluded.