projects with a group, while others would rather work alone.

When everyone is committed to working together and sharing the responsibilities equally, partnering with others on school tasks can be very effective. However, since working alone offers greater control over the outcome of a project, including the grade, I prefer to complete assignments on my own. Without question, a group is usually capable of accomplishing more than an individual. When a team can depend on one another to generate ideas and follow through with assigned tasks, the experience is highly rewarding. This is especially true when team members bring a variety of strengths to their shared work. For example, one person may be a skilled researcher, while the other is good at math or writes well. In this ideal scenario, where everyone is committed to the project and puts forth a strong effort towards completing it, group work can be fantastic. By contrast, a person who works alone must obviously perform all the work by herself. Yet, this too has its positive points. For example, working independently allows a person to set a convenient work schedule. If it suits best to work in the evenings or on the weekends, a person working on her own can make that choice. Furthermore, without others, a person working independently has full control of the final product. The reality is that some students work hard and care about getting excellent grades, while others do not show the same level of commitment. Group work can be highly stressful and maddening for the people who care most about the work. Indeed, this last point is a major reason why I prefer working independently rather than with a group on school projects. In situations where all members of a group will receive the same grade for a project, inevitably some group members will end up doing more than their share. This is unfair and very frustrating. When working alone, one may do great work or perform very poorly. In either case, however, the responsibility and the final grade are entirely one’s own. That is why I would rather work by myself.