OP poured weeks into the semester’s monster speech project (30% of the grade), only to watch every group member ghost the chat and vanish like smoke. Deadline loomed, they pulled an all-nighter, recorded a solo six-person performance, juggling hats and voices like a deranged one-man show.
The others submitted nothing. Professor slapped the whole group with zeroes, ignoring their frantic emails and proof. They escalated straight to the dean with timestamps, drafts, and the full tragic video. Sudden U-turn: grades fixed, sincere apologies, and next semester that professor was mysteriously “no longer with the department.” One ghosted project turned into the sweetest academic revenge ever existed.
College student carries vanished group on speech project, gets zero until college board intervenes and professor suddenly apologizes.
Teaming up with lazy group members is basically the rite of passage of higher education, but when the professor sides with the no-shows and slaps you with a zero? That’s when the group project stops being “character building” and starts feeling like a hostage situation.
Our Redditor did everything right: reached out early, chased multiple times, divided the work fairly, scheduled meetings, even warned the professor in advance.
Yet the professor’s response was essentially “rules are rules” until the college board got involved, then suddenly it was all apologies and blame-shifting.
This isn’t just one bad apple professor, it reflects a broader flaw in how many universities handle group work. A 2023 study in the journal Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education found that 71% of students report unequal contribution in group projects, yet only 18% of instructors use peer evaluation or individual accountability tools. Translation: most of the time, the diligent student gets punished while the slackers coast.
Dr. Charles M. Brooks and Dr. Janice L. Ammons, researchers in business education, have pinpointed the core issue: “The free-rider problem, also known as social loafing, occurs when one or more members of a group do not do their fair share of the work on a group project.”
That quote hits harder when you remember our Redditor literally impersonated six people with costume changes just to meet the rubric. The professor ignored clear evidence of non-participation and chose technicality over fairness, until higher-ups reminded him who actually pays the tuition.
Neutral takeaway? Group projects can mimic real-world teamwork, but only when professors build in safeguards like peer grading, contribution logs, or the nuclear option of letting students “fire” non-contributors.
Until that’s standard, the rest of us will keep sacrificing sleep and sanity while praying we don’t get the ghost squad.
See what others had to share with OP:
Some people praise professors who reward the student who carried the entire group project alone.
![[Reddit User] − I got a A+ for doing a group project solo once. Teacher was furious and demanded I got their grades.](https://dailyhighlight.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/wp-editor-1764216837658-1.webp "Student Carries Entire Group Project Alone While Teammates Ghost, Professor Gives Zero")
Some people argue group projects are unfair unless professors grade individual effort and protect diligent students.
Some people share stories of group members ghosting or sabotaging the project, leaving others to carry the load.
Our Redditor turned a nightmare group project into a legendary solo performance, exposed a professor’s terrible communication habits, and walked away with a hard-earned (if underwhelming) 70. Was the college board escalation petty or completely justified?
Should the professor have given full marks, or even extra credit for carrying six people on their back? And most importantly, how do we finally kill the “group project with zero accountability” monster once and for all? Drop your own horror stories and verdicts below, we’re all ears!
