I have never been a fan of group projects. Even though teaming up with fellow students can be beneficial with the collaboration of different perspectives and help with the workload, it usually turns out to be more harmful than helpful.

First of all, group projects are much harder to carry out in college due to everybody having different schedules, some that don’t even end until night. It is usually impossible to find a common time for everybody to meet. It’s not like how it used to be in high school when everyone’s academic day ended at three or four.

I have to be honest; with group projects, usually one person is carrying the team, having to do more work than the others. Both personal experience and empirical research suggest this. Studies show students are more likely to slack off with group projects. The official term for this is social loafing, a phenomenon in which people deliberately put less effort into achieving a goal when they work in a group as opposed to when they work alone.

When a member of the group engages in social loafing, it can be extremely stressful for other members because they not only have to do their work, but that person’s work as well. Group projects are meant to be a more pleasant experience for students, but in the end, many just think it would be better if they did the project on their own. At least they could manage their own stress instead of having somebody else cause it. 

Even teachers often avoid group projects, whether it be from remembering how they had to do most of the work when they were a student or because grading is often difficult, especially when group members report problems with other members. While they do save time when presentations are given, it still doesn’t make up for all the other hassles both students and teachers have to go through. 

Although I am against group projects due to too many bad experiences, I do have to acknowledge they have the potential to be helpful. It is rare, but if there was the perfect group in which every member wanted to contribute, it could be advantageous for students. Through working together, the once impossible-looking project would become easier and faster to tackle. If you were stuck on a particular aspect, instead of having to struggle your way through the task, you could utilize other group members’ thoughts on the matter.

Group projects were meant to do just this, to make the student’s life easier, but I have yet to find this perfect group. It takes a rare combo of students to be able to work together, share the work equally and possess the same ambition for their part as if they were doing the project themselves.