So we are trying to start a VEX U team at my college, but worlds is the week before final exams. Does anyone have suggestions if we should compete or not? Has anyone else had this same situation?
Risk it for the biscuit.
In all honesty its a hard question to answer. My exams are next week so I have a week to catch back up. Melissa from team BNS has exams right now so maybe she can share something here about how screwed she is this week.
It all has to do with how confident you are at the time and how good you are at exams. Also I would keep in mind that the decision you make may differ from your teammates so kids who worked with you all year might not be willing to sacrifice to actually attend the championship.
Hi Eric_J,
I am in fact in a similar situation as you describe. My exams were scheduled to start on April 16th through the 23rd, which clearly intersects with the week of worlds. I got in touch with all of my professors well in advance to let them know I would definitely be gone for most of my finals, and surprisingly they were flexible with rescheduling. I did have to get an official letter from an RECF representative to prove it was for a legitimate reason though.
However, if worlds is the week before worlds, that’s more of a personal case-by-case decision. Just like Tabor said, its about addressing whether or not you would be able to pull through and do decent on exams after missing a substantial amount of class. Also, it is important to consider how much money you would be losing from missing hours of lecture. I ended missing only one full day of classes and a half a week of exams, but had to study on the drive to and from Kentucky (which proved to be more difficult than it sounds.)
As much as it pains me to say, college should take priority over robotics. But if you believe you can balance both, then go for it! Just be sure to tell your professors well in advance that you will be missing class; from what I know, they will be much more willing to work around your schedule.
I wish you the best of luck with starting your VEXU team! I’m now off to take my rescheduled CS final in 20 minutes 
Thanks for the replies, and good luck on your exam.
Well, when VEX got started it was only the VRC…old habits die hard?
Any later and you are pushing into high school testing/graduation territory.
Any earlier and it would be difficult for all the local and regional events to get done.
Its designed to line up with US school schedules.
???
Not sure what you mean. September…November. School starts in September. Teams are just beginning to build their robots at that point. Almost no competitions have taken place by that time.
You want to have all of the events done in 4 months time? (3 of which are summer months when students are not at school)
…maybe you were being sarcastic?
EDIT: I didn’t realize you were not from the states…you maybe don’t know our school system schedule.
I see, I misunderstood. That is an interesting idea. I would be curious to see what others think.
Although all of our teams meet during the summer, we don’t have any centralized meeting space over the summer and it’s expected that at least some members will be busy with summer classes, internships, vacations, and etc. the shuffling of parts between teams and the more difficult scheduling of meetings is workable simply because it is early in the season and most teams are just brainstorming and prototyping. If the summer was suddenly midsession with tournaments and everything, we would not have the easy scheduling and parts availability we have during the school year when all teams can meet afterschool, consistently, in the same room.
Hey Eric, I am also trying to pull together a VEXU team here at Georgia Tech, which will be insanely difficult. But nothing amazing comes without some effort. I am most likely not gonna receive any donation from the school, so might have to run to other sponsors. Luckily my high school mentor still welcomes me to borrow his arena, power tools and 3D printer.
Let’s do this for a better tomorrow of VEX community.