Worst Professor - Vent

[Eren.Yeager]

I want to know about your worst professor/TA ever. Someone you might have hated or was such a butthole. Funny stories are good too!

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[Cnthinkoname]

I had an accounting professor who curved your final grade depending on how many more points you scored on the final than your semester exam average. Had I done worse during the semester, I would’ve gotten a higher grade. Not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but expected better from an accountant.

 

[deleted1082375]

gonna get crap for this but here we go:

-calc 2 lead by TA
-chinese international student who clearly cheated on toefl
-learned british english only
-had a hybrid accent of british english and chinese→unintelligible gibberish came from her mouth
-would work a single long problem on the board in class, get to the end, realize she made a mistake, and erase the whole thing to start over.... never finished a single problem
-dropped the class before I had to take a W and retook at the community college that summer. Got an A.

 

[Eren.Yeager]

gonna get crap for this but here we go:

-calc 2 lead by TA
-chinese international student who clearly cheated on toefl
-learned british english only
-had a hybrid accent of british english and chinese→unintelligible gibberish came from her mouth
-would work a single long problem on the board in class, get to the end, realize she made a mistake, and erase the whole thing to start over.... never finished a single problem
-dropped the class before I had to take a W and retook at the community college that summer. Got an A.

I had a physics TA who had such a bad accent no one understood what they would say. These meetings were optional though, but after the first week of 50 students, it kept dropping until they decided to just cancel the sessions.

 

[lumya]

My calc 2 professor was a left-handed Russian with emphysema. He had an incredibly thick accent that no one could understand between the coughs. He also only used an over-head projector with dry erase markers so as he wrote, his left hand smeared everything.

I could not understand a thing he said or wrote and had to basically teach myself.

Edit: Another one was my sociology professor who wrote the book and taught from it. And there was homework due every day at the beginning of class so it was like reading the textbook and then hearing the audiobook version for hours afterwards. Also on RateMyProfessor.com someone wrote "I wish every day I would get hit by a car so I don't have to go to this class" so shame on me for still signing up.

 

[harvard_of_the_west]

I took a friend to the ED after she attempted suicide (pill overdose) in the middle of the night and stayed with her into the morning until her parents arrived. My "Principles of Strength and Conditioning" teacher had assigned HW to be turned in during class at 8:00. I emailed him and explained what was going on and included my completed HW in the email, but I didn't attend class that morning. I got no response from him, got a zero on the HW, and was never informed that the test scheduled for two classes out was being moved forward one class. I walked into the next class and was handed a test I had to take with zero studying.

Needless to say, this guy was pretty lame. So I went to Student Judicial Affairs, they gave me a lawyer, there was a hearing, and I won (my HW was graded and I was allowed to replace my test grade). I got an A in the class and he earned one heck of a reputation of being a total prick.

 

[lno1999]

Got hit by a car one night and was in the hospital for a while. A teacher refused to give me an extension on the exam that I had the next morning (I emailed her while I was in the ER waiting for my xrays) and told me just to "use it as my drop test" since she allowed us to drop 1 of 3 midterms in case we didn't do very well on it. She honestly believed that me getting hit by a car while crossing the street and being in the hospital with a concussion, torn rotator cuff, and broken ribs was NOT a legitimate reason for an extension.

Fortunately, the rest of my professors were much nicer to me after the incident.

 

[lno1999]

I had a physics TA who had such a bad accent no one understood what they would say. These meetings were optional though, but after the first week of 50 students, it kept dropping until they decided to just cancel the sessions.

I also had a physics TA that once straight up told our class "I do not reward the hard worker, but only the deep thinker." I laughed out loud during class.

 

[deleted1082375]

Got hit by a car one night and was in the hospital for a while. A teacher refused to give me an extension on the exam that I had the next morning (I emailed her while I was in the ER waiting for my xrays) and told me just to "use it as my drop test" since she allowed us to drop 1 of 3 midterms in case we didn't do very well on it. She honestly believed that me getting hit by a car while crossing the street and being in the hospital with a concussion, torn rotator cuff, and broken ribs was NOT a legitimate reason for an extension.

Fortunately, the rest of my professors were much nicer to me after the incident.

that's when you go to the dean and their department head and complain.

 

[lumya]

I just remembered another one. Less bad but more funny/sad. I once saw my physics TA on the school shuttle so I waved. He then got off promptly at the next stop. He was then late to recitation... because that’s where I was headed to. The guy literally got off 8 blocks early and walked so he wouldn’t have to say hi back.

 

[DNAJB6]

My organic chemistry I professor had early Alzheimer's disease and would draw all the reactions in reverse. I had to teach myself. Grade wise I did well, but I retook the course for MCAT prep. He retired shortly thereafter.

 

[GoPenguinsGo]

This isnt a story about a bad prof but I feel it should be shared with the world. Back in my sophomore year (which is 4 years ago now) we were doing presentations in my Intro to Psychology class. A girl hooked up her chromebook to the computer for the classroom and as she searched for her powerpoint on the screen, she used a shortcut function that also showed other open apps and one of them was a saved pictures file. On near full display, were nude photos of her in front of a mirror.

She pretended like it never happened and powered tf throught that presentation like an NFL linebacker through a toddler. Mad respect.

 

[GoPenguinsGo]

did you ask her for them later?

Haha no but theres a part of me that *still* thinks she did it intentionally to flex on this girl in our class who was dating her ex boyfriend at the time. Girl was looking good to be honest

 

[deleted1082375]

Haha no but theres a part of me that *still* thinks she did it intentionally to flex on this girl in our class who was dating her ex boyfriend at the time. Girl was looking good to be honest

that's gross.

 

[PaladinX]

Current prof doesn't allow us to see our exact grades after exams (has the system setup to where it only tells us our letter grade but can't track any grades at all and doesn't know how to change it), doesn't tell us when exact test dates are until the week before (he does tell us things like "maybe sometime at the end of the month, maybe"), doesn't answer students in lecture (on multiple occasions has yelled at students), had lots of misspelled words in his exam and tells us we're racist when many students complained about the misspellings...lol I can't drop cuz this is a class required by some med schools

 

[SavoirFaire87]

Physics prof. Two weeks before the final, he said that anyone who opted to do a massive presentation could waive the final exam. I was going into the final with an A and didn't want to jinx it so did the presentation, which took so much time. The prof then changed his mind and said that anyone who did the presentation still had to take the final but that it wouldn't count toward their grade. I had another final a few hours later so ended up having to waste 3 hours in class + 2 hours driving to show up to the physics final. The final ended up being a joke. It was a "group final", and everyone got 100%.

 

[Eren.Yeager]

Got hit by a car one night and was in the hospital for a while. A teacher refused to give me an extension on the exam that I had the next morning (I emailed her while I was in the ER waiting for my xrays) and told me just to "use it as my drop test" since she allowed us to drop 1 of 3 midterms in case we didn't do very well on it. She honestly believed that me getting hit by a car while crossing the street and being in the hospital with a concussion, torn rotator cuff, and broken ribs was NOT a legitimate reason for an extension.

Fortunately, the rest of my professors were much nicer to me after the incident.

Wow I remember one of our classmates having been involved in a hit and run while trying to cross to the dorm rooms. The professor literally went out of their way for them. They were bringing them goods and we as a class started a bit of a fundraiser to help them with the bills and food/etc. since they were unable to work for that time period.

 

[Eren.Yeager]

Current prof doesn't allow us to see our exact grades after exams (has the system setup to where it only tells us our letter grade but can't track any grades at all and doesn't know how to change it), doesn't tell us when exact test dates are until the week before (he does tell us things like "maybe sometime at the end of the month, maybe"), doesn't answer students in lecture (on multiple occasions has yelled at students), had lots of misspelled words in his exam and tells us we're racist when many students complained about the misspellings...lol I can't drop cuz this is a class required by some med schools

LOL wtf. I had a professor who wouldn't explain how they were curving their exams, but no one really questioned it. They were such a butt when students asked actual good questions. I don't blame them for being an ass to people asking stupid questions though. They were such an ass though they made us do an attendance quiz thing right before break because a lot of students normally head off to vacation early, which was such a a-hole move tbh even though it wasn't worth much.

They snapped on a student for taking pictures of the slides instead of taking notes. They weren't really a distraction to us other students because they were in the back corner where no one would notice tbh.

 

[Eren.Yeager]

Physics prof. Two weeks before the final, he said that anyone who opted to do a massive presentation could waive the final exam. I was going into the final with an A and didn't want to jinx it so did the presentation, which took so much time. The prof then changed his mind and said that anyone who did the presentation still had to take the final but that it wouldn't count toward their grade. I had another final a few hours later so ended up having to waste 3 hours in class + 2 hours driving to show up to the physics final. The final ended up being a joke. It was a "group final", and everyone got 100%.

LOL that's tough.

 

[FluffyCat1212]

Had a chem lab TA who spent the bulk of the labs pacing the back of the room muttering to himself under his breath. Granted, it was an 8am Gen Chem lab and nobody wanted to be there lol. On the bright side, he very rarely cared enough to take off points when we screwed things up in lab, as freshmen do.

Also had a philosophy professor who "graded" our exams by penciling (literally...dude used a pencil to grade) in a score on the side of each of the free responses with zero rationale for giving that score. He also falsely accused my (conscientious) friend of cheating and took it all the way to the dean who promptly dismissed the accusation. The claims were pretty baseless. No higher-level measures were taken, but she still failed the class.

But then again, I also had some professors who changed my life and remain very positive influences, so it wasn't all bad

 

[Rogue42]

Oh baby, do I got one for you all. Sit back, relax, and enjoy this rollercoaster.

Junior year, bio major -> needed to take Orgo I -> been putting off signing up because my undergrad would "purge" people from classes if they did not pay by the first day of semester -> waited for them to purge people from the best Orgo I professor (for the sake of the story, we will call him Dr. X) -> they finally did which opened three spots -> signed up for the class but registration would not process because I needed to also sign up with the associated lab -> no lab openings because the system does not purge people from labs because its technically a "no credit" class (aka free so there was nothing to pay for...just the way the system was setup) -> screenshotted my registration, the three open spots, and the error message -> emailed that to Dr. X and CC'd the chemistry department chair at midnight the night before classes (cause again, they purge at midnight the day before classes) -> got an email the following morning from the Dr. X that said he would love to have me in his class, but needed a permit for the lab from the Department chair - > department chair finally emailed me back and said that I he would give me a permit for a lab spot if I would take a different professor (for the sake of the story, we will call him Dr. Y) -> Dr. Y was the worst Orgo professor on campus and had a ZERO on rate my professor -> emailed the department chair back, explained my situation again thinking he did not understand my first email where I CC'd him - > he responded with the same thing -> went to his office (the department chairs office - just for clarity) within 30 minutes of the debacle -> I opened the door, and said, "hey this is Rogue42, Ive been emailing you this morning."-> he said, "yeah. did you get my responses, or are you just stupid?" -> I said, "no, I got them. I just did not understand. There are still spots in Dr. X's class, and thats who I was trying to take" -> Department Chair said, "Yeah, I dont care. You will either take Dr. Y or you can take Organic in the spring, delay your graduation, and spend more of daddys money. I get paid the same either way, so what do you want to do?"-> frustratingly agreed, knowing that I could take the permit number, register for whatever lab I wanted, and then just switch to Dr. X's class anyways -> left his office, got home -> discovered that the department chair "capped" / locked registration of Dr. X's class three people shy just to ensure that I could not do exactly what I was planning on doing -> unhappily took Orgo I with Dr. Y -> found out that without my registration, he would not have had enough students to actually teach the class and they would have had to add more spots to other professors.....it gets worse, but I still have a foul, bitter, aweful taste in my mouth from the way that Department Chair spoke to me. I was a 3.8 gpa student at the time, pursuing pre-med, and was on a full-ride scholarship.

So, heres where it gets worse....Dr. Y -> had been fired from no less than three other professorships previously -> biochemist background -> showed up drunk or hungover to most classes ->used an old chalk board to teach ->never got the reactions correct on first, or second, or usually third attempts ->he erased using his hand -> by the time he got it right, the board was so covered in half erased chalk, you could not tell what numbers went with the right equation or the previous wrong attempts -> extra-credit on exams were from left field -> true example, "Which Cleveland Indians player from the 1933 season stole second base three times in that season." -> OH make it better, it was all open answer, no multiple choice, so you couldnt even hope your guess was right on any answers even on the extra credit ->he talked about how much he would drink -> held his pre-exam reviews at a very specific pub in town...yes, he expected you to show up to a bar if you wanted to attend his pre-exam review -> said he would buy you a beer if you came though -> talked about how he was going to start a new class which was how to brew your own beer, and that it would be a biochem elective, more than he talked about Orgo I -> QUITE LITERALLY taught myself Organic Chemistry 1 that semester -> made my only C in college with a 70.

Like I said, I still have a very bitter, sour taste in my mouth with how all that went down. I still tell people about it. It might literally be the worst thing that ever happened to me on my academic journey... but I will say that it had a decent outcome because...

My undergrad required you to take an American Chemistry Society final at the end of Ochem 2 that was cumulative of Ochem 1&2 -> after my debacle with Ochem 1, I decided that I would never take Ochem 2 because I did not know enough about Ochem 1 to even make it through Ochem 2 much less pass the cumulative final -> basically suicide to do so -> found a loophole, and loopholed it so hard -> never took Ochem 2, bypassed it in favor of Biochem 1&2 -> had to have the pre-req of Ochem 2 though to technically be eligible for Biochem 1&2 -> Alas, thank you loophole -> currently, only person to ever get into medical school from my undergrad without taking Ochem 2

So, I guess it all worked out.

TL;DR: read it, its worth it

 

[CorgiLoaf]

I had an orgo professor literally insult people during office hours. I witnessed a girl break down in tears after he snapped at her and told her to "pay attention during class" and to "stop asking dumb stupid questions." The same dude also snapped at me, after I asked him about research opportunities, and he went on a tirade about how all pre-meds want are pubs. Not technically a lie but he was such a pompous ass. Gave the guy the worst possible ratings on RMP and never went back to office hours.

 

[Mkif586]

A bit off topic story but since you said fun stories are also appreciated...
I had a prof from Georgia I believe (country, not US state) who taught one hard science class. During the first lecture he offered a deal - he asks one question from the material that he is yet to teach and whoever accepts the offer and answers correctly gets A for the semester if not - it will be F. So there was a guy who took the risk, the question actually was not that hard after we covered the topic few weeks later but of course at the beginning it seemed very hard. So the guy answered it wrong and then the prof said: your answer is wrong but I highly respect brave people, so you get an A. And everyone was like WHY IT WASN’T ME. Thought the professor didn’t do anything bad a lot of folks were just jealous...

 

[DoctorWhere]

I had an accounting professor who curved your final grade depending on how many more points you scored on the final than your semester exam average. Had I done worse during the semester, I would’ve gotten a higher grade. Not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but expected better from an accountant.

Essentially your final exam grade becomes your final grade in this scenario.

Semester average 40. Final Exam 60. Final grade 60
Semester average 13. Final exam 62. Final grade 62

 

[bluefreckles]

I had an orgo lab TA give me a NEGATIVE THIRTY on an assignment. Thought maybe it was a typo and I asked about it (I can deal with a 30 lol, we all have bad days). The reply was "no, I meant to do that." Could he not have just given me a zero??

Thankfully, the lowest assignment grade was dropped, but I had to work my butt off after that to not get any other bad grades (like, nothing below a 70-80ish) to do well in the class.

 

[alm414]

I had an orgo lab TA give me a NEGATIVE THIRTY on an assignment. Thought maybe it was a typo and I asked about it (I can deal with a 30 lol, we all have bad days). The reply was "no, I meant to do that." Could he not have just given me a zero??

Thankfully, the lowest assignment grade was dropped, but I had to work my butt off after that to not get any other bad grades (like, nothing below a 70-80ish) to do well in the class.

Oh that's just petty. I mean you could literally have handed it in blank and scored better lol

 

[Eren.Yeager]

I had an orgo professor literally insult people during office hours. I witnessed a girl break down in tears after he snapped at her and told her to "pay attention during class" and to "stop asking dumb stupid questions." The same dude also snapped at me, after I asked him about research opportunities, and he went on a tirade about how all pre-meds want are pubs. Not technically a lie but he was such a pompous ass. Gave the guy the worst possible ratings on RMP and never went back to office hours.

Wow that's lame. I had an O-chem prof who was super chill but he hated pre-meds for whatever reason and always made jokes about them failing out of o-chem. In office hours he put the most commonly asked questions on the board. I walked in and noticed like 12 people in the span of 20 minutes asking the same question that was literally on the board and he began losing his patience LOL.

 

[Eren.Yeager]

I had an orgo lab TA give me a NEGATIVE THIRTY on an assignment. Thought maybe it was a typo and I asked about it (I can deal with a 30 lol, we all have bad days). The reply was "no, I meant to do that." Could he not have just given me a zero??

Thankfully, the lowest assignment grade was dropped, but I had to work my butt off after that to not get any other bad grades (like, nothing below a 70-80ish) to do well in the class.

I would have taken this to their supervisors. A lab TA took points from me and they couldn't explain why at all and just try to walk away and ignore it. I worked my ass off on these reports to lose points for nothing. They once took points because I had my report double sided (which saves the flipping trees) and they wanted single pages only. Like WTF?!

 

[deleted1025488]

My biochem professor refused to tell us what chapters or material would be covered on the exams, citing that "they don't tell you this in medical school" (literal quote from an email). The questions on the exam were out of this world, stuff far beyond the level of even graduate studies (there was a question where he asked us to derive the primary and secondary structure for aconitase if it was stereospecific such that the opposite isocitrate isomer was formed, like what the actual F). Content on exams were literally nothing like what we were taught in class. Imagine that question but we were only taught the basic steps of TCA....17% average.

 

[CorgiLoaf]

My biochem professor refused to tell us what chapters or material would be covered on the exams, citing that "they don't tell you this in medical school" (literal quote from an email). The questions on the exam were out of this world, stuff far beyond the level of even graduate studies (there was a question where he asked us to derive the primary and secondary structure for aconitase if it was stereospecific such that the opposite isocitrate isomer was formed, like what the actual F). Content on exams were literally nothing like what we were taught in class. Imagine that question but we were only taught the basic steps of TCA....17% average.

Man, if the entire test were like that, I would have worked on my calligraphy skills...By writing "F**k you" in as many fonts as I could.

 

[Mkif586]

My biochem professor refused to tell us what chapters or material would be covered on the exams, citing that "they don't tell you this in medical school" (literal quote from an email). The questions on the exam were out of this world, stuff far beyond the level of even graduate studies (there was a question where he asked us to derive the primary and secondary structure for aconitase if it was stereospecific such that the opposite isocitrate isomer was formed, like what the actual F). Content on exams were literally nothing like what we were taught in class. Imagine that question but we were only taught the basic steps of TCA....17% average.

Unfortunately there are some people who teach only to assert their self esteem by humiliating those who know less. I once had a boxing coach who just enjoyed beating students pretending it was training...