Do you consider the professors’ qualifications when helping your child deciding which colleges to apply to?

[Anonymous]

Besides the course rigor, do you also look into their research areas or industry connections? Thank you.

[Anonymous]

I’m a professor and you really shouldn’t. The most famous ones are often very bad teachers, and the best teachers aren’t usually famous. The professors who focus on mentorship are what you want for your student, and that is deeply varied by individual and not by school.

[Anonymous]

No.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a professor and you really shouldn’t. The most famous ones are often very bad teachers, and the best teachers aren’t usually famous. The professors who focus on mentorship are what you want for your student, and that is deeply varied by individual and not by school.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a professor and you really shouldn’t. The most famous ones are often very bad teachers, and the best teachers aren’t usually famous. The professors who focus on mentorship are what you want for your student, and that is deeply varied by individual and not by school.

Thank you. Just to share a bit of background — we had some negative experiences with public elementary schools, so we eventually moved our children to private schools. The smaller class sizes allowed for more individual attention, which we really appreciated. However, I’ve still noticed that the quality of teachers can be hit or miss.

The biggest difference between public schools or private schools seems to be the students themselves — families who choose private schools tend to be more engaged in their children’s education (families who genuinely care about their children’s overall development, not just their test scores.) and as a result, the students are generally more well developed and can navigate well (again not just test grades or cramming for no reasons).

I’m wondering if it’s similar in college — that is, the quality of teaching may still vary, but the real difference lies in the students.

[Anonymous]

For grad school yes, but would not for undergrad. Unless maybe you could pinpoint someone who does high quality research with undergrads in a small department at a slac.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a professor and you really shouldn’t. The most famous ones are often very bad teachers, and the best teachers aren’t usually famous. The professors who focus on mentorship are what you want for your student, and that is deeply varied by individual and not by school.

Thank you. Just to share a bit of background — we had some negative experiences with public elementary schools, so we eventually moved our children to private schools. The smaller class sizes allowed for more individual attention, which we really appreciated. However, I’ve still noticed that the quality of teachers can be hit or miss.

The biggest difference between public schools or private schools seems to be the students themselves — families who choose private schools tend to be more engaged in their children’s education (families who genuinely care about their children’s overall development, not just their test scores.) and as a result, the students are generally more well developed and can navigate well (again not just test grades or cramming for no reasons).

I’m wondering if it’s similar in college — that is, the quality of teaching may still vary, but the real difference lies in the students.

Good lord I don't know where to start!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a professor and you really shouldn’t. The most famous ones are often very bad teachers, and the best teachers aren’t usually famous. The professors who focus on mentorship are what you want for your student, and that is deeply varied by individual and not by school.

100%

[Anonymous]

Yes

[Anonymous]

This. I took an advanced chemistry (mostly seniors and junior with a professor who was famous within the field and he would brag about destroying undergrads. He may have been a great researcher but he viewed it as his job to haze undergrads. The average in our first midterm was 12.

[Anonymous]

I had 3 future Nobel Laureates in Physics as undergrad professors. One cane in grumpy the first day of class and said "if it's snowing I am not coming over from my office in Tech Square so don't bother to cone to class.".
The other two were amazingly kind and engaged in our mandatory lab course.
At the time all three were doing the work that won them the prize.
It's hard to generalize.

[Anonymous]

When it comes to tenure track positions, even the middle of the road schools are getting top young academic talent today. I wouldn't be concerned about the academic qualifications of assistant, associate, or full professors at most universities today. Certainly not at the undergrad level. For grad school it's different. It gets more granular at that level. And that's where real subject expertise and mentorship matters more. But I would not be concerned about the academic qualifications of professors for undergrad at any school in the top 150 or so.

[Anonymous]

Land the helicopter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When it comes to tenure track positions, even the middle of the road schools are getting top young academic talent today. I wouldn't be concerned about the academic qualifications of assistant, associate, or full professors at most universities today. Certainly not at the undergrad level. For grad school it's different. It gets more granular at that level. And that's where real subject expertise and mentorship matters more. But I would not be concerned about the academic qualifications of professors for undergrad at any school in the top 150 or so.

+1, these days the top talent from Harvard, UChicago, Princeton phds are going to so many different kinds of colleges at different tiers that you really don’t hasn’t to think about faculty quality that intensely.

Of course, this is a reflection of the sorry state of academic hiring, but that’s a beast of its own

[Anonymous]

And the correct answer is no.