This university may be able to boast about having some of the happiest students in the nation, but what about the professors?
Some students say the quality of teaching leaves something to be desired.
The university ranks No. 25 on a list of universities with the worst professors, according to the Center for College Affordability and Productivity, which compiled the list based on rankings on RateMyProfessor.com.
Good professors always manage to shine through. But for the most part, some students said, professors seem to put more emphasis on certain responsibilities, such as research, over teaching.
“As far as the professors go, I’ve had some really good ones, and in my mind, they outweigh the bad,” said sophomore architecture major Frank Abbott. “But I’ve had ones that just really, really don’t care, and they treat it like a high school class. … For the most part, they just give you assignments and expect them to be done, which is understandable. But when their curriculum doesn’t match up with what students should be there for, I think it’s kind of misguided.”
Others said going to class is often just a waste of time. If the professor’s not engaging, what’s the point?
“Especially in the gov. department, the professors rely a lot on the readings and the material,” said junior government and politics major Jolie Darrow. “And if attendance isn’t mandatory, you could theoretically just do all the readings and never go to class and get the same thing out of it, so I feel they don’t add anything to it.”
And in extreme cases, some professors’ attitudes have been downright disgraceful, students said.
Junior English major Shadae Hospedales dropped a class because she felt she couldn’t deal with the professor. The professor criticized her work without offering any suggestions for improvement and sent her several rude emails, she said.
“I’ve had professors I wasn’t a fan of, but this is the first time I dropped a course because of a professor,” Hospedales said.
But things could be worse, students said. The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and Michigan Technological University rank at the top of the list for worst professors.
Sonali Singh, a sophomore biology and environmental science major, transferred to this university from University of Maryland, Baltimore County. So far, she said, her experience with this university’s professors has been better than her experiences at UMBC.
“Even though a lot of my classes are large lectures and stuff, I feel like they take the time to use Canvas appropriately, and their TAs are always on top of things,” Singh said. “There’s no miscommunication, and their teaching is pretty good. I just feel like I learned a lot more this year than I did last year.”
Professors might gain unfair reputations because students often complain about a lot of things that may be beyond a professor’s control, Singh said.
“[Students are] really irrational sometimes,” Singh said. “They’ll just be like, ‘Oh, this work is too hard,’ or, ‘Oh, this professor gives me way too much work,’ But it’s for a reason.”
