How to Deal with Opportunists in Pre-Reqs

This article is to show people how to spot and deal with opportunists in their pre-req classes.

How to Deal with Opportunists in Pre-Reqs

During my time in prereqs, you come across a series of characters. One character that has always stood out to me was the opportunist. They usually do not attempt to hide, as usually, they are plain as day. Prereqs are hard work, very hard work, and having someone try to leech off your hard worth ethic is a downright shame! They are in every pre-req that I’ve come across. This article will give you my experiences with the opportunist and how to spot and handle them!

How to Spot the Opportunist

1 Opportunists usually try to be your friend right off the bat

I have seen this with my own eyes, and I have experienced this myself. Most of the opportunists that I’ve come across were in my anatomy classes. In my first attempt at anatomy, this girl who pretty much leeched off of whom she thought was organized or had their stuff together instantly became friends with a girl who wasn't taking the course seriously, and it crashed and burned. A semester later, a classmate was pretty much open to being friends and wanting to exchange numbers. She was young. Still, as time went on, she didn't associate with people who didn't have A's. If you had A's/B's, she was on you like white on rice, but I made a C, and she dropped all contact and went to someone who had A's. The thing is, when you are either looking like you have everything together or making good grades, there are usually classmates who usually aren't nice or talkative who bombard you; so that I would watch out for this.

2 They don't contribute anything

When dealing with these types of people, I've noticed that they don't ever contribute to studying. Opportunists show up, but they do nothing. In contrast, 2 or 3 other people are either trying to learn or teach others. If they contribute anything, it's usually meaningless compliments to keep you unaware of their motives.

3 They usually have no idea what in the world is going on

Opportunists typically sit in the lab/lecture for an hour. Still, they have no idea what in the hell is going on, despite the teacher telling the whole class what to expect next week. There have been times when I was either asked while studying or leaving a class what pages we had to read or when this was due.

4 They morph personalities to achieve what they want or need

These are very complex yet simple people. They may be cool and chill towards you if that is your personality and you are doing well or seem to be doing well. But if there is a person, let's say who's getting A's on top of A's and is mean as heck, they'd technically morph into their minion to achieve what they want!

How I Dealt with Opportunists in Prereqs

1 Distance yourself from them

With my first experience from a opportunist, when I found out what the person was about and how they started to morph personalities, I kept my distance. If you've read my blog on cliques and bullying, you'd understand why.

2 Delete all contact

When it came to opportunists, I didn't have any contact with them whatsoever after discovering what they were about; I didn't talk to them, I didn't smile at them, and the opportunists whom I met during my prereqs were blocked.

3 Surround yourself with hardworking people

When you're taking your prereqs, surround yourself with people who are willing to put in the work and not take advantage of your hard work. Surrounding yourself with positive and hardworking people, willing to put in the work, is usually the way to go.

References

5 Traits of an Opportunist

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TheNursingdoll

About TheNursingdoll, CNA

Hello there! I am a nursing student hoping to get into my technical school's Fall of 2021 program. If you are a pre-nursing student needing help , I will help in any way possible.

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Also too from ear , a person told me calling them out helps as well too

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Specializes in Community health.

I’m in a masters NP program right now. I haven’t seen any “opportunists,” but there are a couple people in my class who have no clue what is going on. And once each class, the professor puts us into random groups to collaborate. I cringe when I’m with one of these because they show up like “So, what are we studying this week?  Kidneys?” Then I have to do the group work while trying not to be rude about the fact that it’s graduate school, I know we are all busy people, but you should make some attempt. 

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Specializes in Neuro.

I didn't really experience opportunists (not to say they don't exist), lazy group work members for sure. But I do attribute that to not sharing grades & being a little older, crankier & antisocial & the younger folk not being interested in interacting with cranks sitting in the corner??? Worked for me!??

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On 4/12/2021 at 6:37 AM, CommunityRNBSN said:

I’m in a masters NP program right now. I haven’t seen any “opportunists,” but there are a couple people in my class who have no clue what is going on. And once each class, the professor puts us into random groups to collaborate. I cringe when I’m with one of these because they show up like “So, what are we studying this week?  Kidneys?” Then I have to do the group work while trying not to be rude about the fact that it’s graduate school, I know we are all busy people, but you should make some attempt. 

Hey ? That always got me , I've seen people like that and worked with people like that before LOL. That's why a planners always handy

42 minutes ago, MiladyMalarkey said:

I didn't really experience opportunists (not to say they don't exist), lazy group work members for sure. But I do attribute that to not sharing grades & being a little older, crankier & antisocial & the younger folk not being interested in interacting with cranks sitting in the corner??? Worked for me!??

This comment made my day LOL?

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Specializes in Primary Care, Military.
On 4/12/2021 at 6:37 AM, CommunityRNBSN said:

I’m in a masters NP program right now. I haven’t seen any “opportunists,” but there are a couple people in my class who have no clue what is going on. And once each class, the professor puts us into random groups to collaborate. I cringe when I’m with one of these because they show up like “So, what are we studying this week?  Kidneys?” Then I have to do the group work while trying not to be rude about the fact that it’s graduate school, I know we are all busy people, but you should make some attempt. 

I'm in the same type of program. I feel lucky that we have a small cohort of peers, we're all motivated, and we all get along really well. I ran into a lot of those issues during my BSN program, but haven't experienced these issues in graduate school. 

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