When you get assigned a bad professor, you....

[Chris127]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

Last semester I made the mistake of not being aggressive enough with dropping and adding courses to get the professors I wanted. My cousins, both of which are residents now, told me to never go into a class without knowing the teacher first.

Now, in my 2nd semester of undergrad, I am kind of going crazy here. Well, for a legitimate reason. My chem teacher is horrible. There is a website for our university, where students can review professors they have had, and apparantly mine is the worst in the department. Therefore, I am on a mad rush at the moment, trying to get into a different section.

But, is this normal? Do you other pre meds feel that part of success lies with a decent professor? Do you attempt to obtain a specific professor for the semester, or do you take what you get?

 

[nimotsu]

Absolutely know what and whom you are dealing with at all times.

I don't endorse this site nor is this an advertisement, but this site worked well for me:

http://pickaprof.com/

You have to pay for the service (it used to be free), but that's how I picked professors.

 

[penguinophile]

Last semester I made the mistake of not being aggressive enough with dropping and adding courses to get the professors I wanted. My cousins, both of which are residents now, told me to never go into a class without knowing the teacher first.

Now, in my 2nd semester of undergrad, I am kind of going crazy here. Well, for a legitimate reason. My chem teacher is horrible. There is a website for our university, where students can review professors they have had, and apparantly mine is the worst in the department. Therefore, I am on a mad rush at the moment, trying to get into a different section.

But, is this normal? Do you other pre meds feel that part of success lies with a decent professor? Do you attempt to obtain a specific professor for the semester, or do you take what you get?

I think that everyone tries to get the best prof possible, even if that means getting up an hour earlier. However, before you decide that the professor is horrible based on the website reviews make sure that people aren't whining because of bad grades. Some teachers will give you massive amounts of knowledge and make you understand very difficult concepts, but just don't curve well, while others will curve just to get people to quit bitchin'. For my money, I'd prefer a B+ with enough knowledge to kick the crap out of the MCAT vs. an A where I learn my course during the "review" in a Kaplan/PR course.

 

[pschmom1]

I've been pretty lucky with my professors until this semester. Last semester I dropped my bio class after the first class b/c the professor immediatly went into lecture, (mind you it was the first day, I was waitin for a syllibus or introduction to the class) he had a thich accent, spoke quietly, and very slllooowwww. I figured I had to get a lot out of this class and he was not going to cut it. Then the first day of anatomy this semester, I walk in and sure enough it's the same guy 😱 . I tried to switch but couldn't. The class didn't have an assigned professor when I enrolled obviously. He' snot sooooo bad but not so good either. I would fare better with an enthusiatic type that helped you learn the material rather than read slowly and quietly from the book. The same for my chem instructor. She doesnt even have her masters and she skips around and talks as if we already know the info! Um hello, I'm not taking an intro chem class b/c I know the basics already 👎 . The thing I hate the most is that when I'm lost, other people seem to know what he heck is going on and are following right along. That might have something to do with the fact that most of my class is right out of high school and just had chem and I graduated 9 years ago and have never had it in my life. I am completely in the dark about it. Anyways off topic, a good website that I go to is called RateMyProfessor.com. That might be similar to the one mentioned earlier but it's nation wide. Just type in your state and school and it will let you know the skinny on the professors at your school.

 

[Shredder]

haha wow what a lopsided poll, too bad its not public to see who finally breaks the monopoly. i think any decent students would look into profs, it can make a huge difference, not just in the grade but in ones life. some profs do change ppls lives, and it can make or break interest in a subject. very important.

 

[pschmom1]

haha wow what a lopsided poll, too bad its not public to see who finally breaks the monopoly. i think any decent students would look into profs, it can make a huge difference, not just in the grade but in ones life. some profs do change ppls lives, and it can make or break interest in a subject. very important.

I absolutly agree. It's not all about the grades you get, it's also about what impact that professor has made on your life and future. It was one of my psychology professors who persuaded me to go to med school and become a psychiatrist. At first I thought he was crazy (like I wanted to go to school for 8 years plus residency) but then I thought long and hard about what he said and what I was looking for in a career and I had many sleepless nights and did the research, and her I am, I made the plunge. I still haven't had the opportunity to tell him that he was my inspiration.

 

[shantster]

haha wow what a lopsided poll, too bad its not public to see who finally breaks the monopoly. i think any decent students would look into profs, it can make a huge difference, not just in the grade but in ones life. some profs do change ppls lives, and it can make or break interest in a subject. very important.

That philosophy only works when you are able to have a choice in your professors. I go to a smaller school and so for all the science classes, you don't have a choice on the prof because there's only one person teaching it.

Anyway, another site to look at reviews of professors (which is free) is ratemyprofessor.com.

 

[Nikki2002]

i definitely do anything possible to get the best profs. if you go to a large university, take advantage of this. it could mean a big difference in your grades and understanding.

 

[MEG@COOL]

My current policy on bad professors is to drop the class the first week of school or asap. Keep in mind my standards arent too high so this rarely ever happens, but every so often you will come across a professor who obviously should not be teaching at a university.

 

[NiteOwl]

I try to see what the professor is like before signing up for a class. I either ask other students or go to www.ratemyprofessors.com. It is pretty accurate.

 

[baylormed]

...I run as fast as I can!!! Seriously!

I had an especially bad Chem professor my freshman year, our test averages were in the 30's and 40's all the time, he gave no extracredit and his "curve" was very minimum. Unless you already knew what you were doing (from a very, very good high school class), you would not have any idea of what was going on.

So ever since I always try to pick the professors myself, I ask people, I make sure I make dean's list so I can register early, and if I don't get the one I want I just wait until someone drops the class at the beginning of the semester (someone always does) to get in.

 

[RayhanS1282]

I had some experience with some bad professors. My developmental bio professor specifically didn't like me. I asked him once before the first exam that what areas I should focus on and the dude threw a hissyfit. He said that I should know everything and that if I want to be a doctor and the patient comes in with a problem, I can't say that this wasn't covered in class. He then asked me what my GPA was? The guy graduated from MIT so he had a superiority complex or whatever the hell makes you be condescending to people. He liked people who gave a **** about his research with flies. At any rate, I read whatever I thought was important and rarely showed up to class and I tore up his exams so, he had no choice but to give me an A.

The take home point of this is that it doesn't matter if you have a ****ty professor or an dingus type professor, as long as you do the work, the man can't keep you down...yeah man....give me that bong.

 

[Sansfrontier]

I am very picky when it comes to choosing a professor. Fortunately, I go to a big school that has more than one person teaching a class for the most part. When this is not possible, I wait around till the person I want teaches the class another semester. I've had to register ahead of most students so that's another advantage.
A professor can change your life, that's how important it is to get into a good class. In as much as I like to get the good grade, I also like to get a good overall experience in a class. If you are paying $$$/per class you better know who is teaching and if you don't like the professor, dont' stay in that class any longer and risk a miserable semester while you could be having the time of your life in another professor's class.

 

[45408]

sometimes I'll pick a prof that I'd rather not have, but if there's one that I can't stand, I just won't take the course, or I'll wait a semester to take it with someone else. It's not as important to me how easy or hard a professor is (on their exams), but I do want someone that is interesting and easy to follow (no accent >> accent). That said, I've never dropped a course for any reason. I usually just suck it up.

 

[45408]

sometimes I'll pick a prof that I'd rather not have, but if there's one that I can't stand, I just won't take the course, or I'll wait a semester to take it with someone else. It's not as important to me how easy or hard a professor is (on their exams), but I do want someone that is interesting and easy to follow (no accent >> accent). That said, I've never dropped a course for any reason. I usually just suck it up.

 

[dynx]

You're all freaking nuts. Sack up and take the course. If you slept with the prof's wife and you think it may affect your grade or the guy literally can't speak english i might consider dropping, if not...grow a pair and take the course.

 

[DrBowtie]

You're all freaking nuts. Sack up and take the course. If you slept with the prof's wife and you think it may affect your grade or the guy literally can't speak english i might consider dropping, if not...grow a pair and take the course.

Bad prof /= tough course.

 

[pschmom1]

You're all freaking nuts. Sack up and take the course. If you slept with the prof's wife and you think it may affect your grade or the guy literally can't speak english i might consider dropping, if not...grow a pair and take the course.

Oh give me a break and get over yourself 👎 . The point is to get the most out of a class that you can, and by having a good professor, one tends to not only get a good grade, but also has a good learning experience and tends to retain the info and carry it on throughout future classes/experiences. We're not talking about an easy A here so why don' t you maintain yourself and grow some self control, or did you miss that in you psych 101 course!!!!