Choosing Professors

To take this professor, or not take this professor, that is the question. No doubt, as you approach the start of your Fall courses, you will feel anxious to get the inside scoop on your professors - how they teach, workload, communication styles, industry experience vs. academic focus, etc.

While all of Graziadio's faculty are experienced as professors and have industry experience (to varying degrees), each understandably has a unique style that may or may not fit your learning style. Over the next few weeks, the E.L. team will compile professor-specific reviews of faculty for you to review. We hope this will be helpful in navigating future class registrations, seeking out opportunities to meet with faculty, and feeling more acclimated to the Graziadio culture.

In the meantime, there are several resources and ways to gain insight on your professors:

RateMyProfessor.com

This website contains reviews from past students for most of the Graziadio faculty. When navigating the site, first search by school, then by specific faculty. There are overall quantitative rankings of quality, helpfulness, clarity, and easiness. Some faculty have only one or two ratings. I typically ignore rankings when the number of raters is less than 5. Even then, keep in mind that these ratings are usually from students at the extreme, especially when the reviews read like personal attacks. You can be sure that student was overly subjective in his/her review, which may not be an accurate assessment. Nevertheless, I have found many of the reviews to be helpful in getting an initial sense of faculty. I then follow-up with students who have taken the professor. Access the RateMyProfessor.com website here.

Speaking to other students

By far, the best resource on professors is other students. Students typically are honest about workload, clarity and helpfulness. Easiness is relative, so take their input based on how their skills compare to yours. I've taken classes with professors that I've loved, where several other students hated the faculty because they felt he/she was too hard. In these cases, I was either more experience or more interested in these areas and found the professors not to be as hard as these students said. Sometimes the reverse happened.

Professor recommendations

Occasionally I have spoken to faculty to get their input on professors when trying to decide between classes. When speaking with professors about other professors, realize you won't be able to talk about everything. The goal is to focus on learning and teaching style matches, as well as whether the course objectives match the career interests of the student. I have fond professor recommendations to be very helpful when looking at electives to take.

Bottom Line

The important point to keep in mind is that no review will ever be 100% accurate. Use reviews from students as additional stepping stones in assessing which classes to take. There are several other points to consider when signing up for classes: schedule, number of days on campus, and workload.