Finding out a Professor's drop rate? Is this possible? (skill, degrees, reputation)

[fierce_flawless]

I've been reading "reviews" of instructors and Professors on a website that does just that (lets you rate your Prof)... and several reviewers will make a reference to a Professor's "drop rate". Things like "highest drop rate here! Class started with 30, 2 of us made it through!"

There's another site that also claims to be able to give you stats such as the grading habits, drop rate, etc., for any given instructor/Professor but when I checked it hardly had ANY info for anyone at my school (community college) because it's all user submitted. The drop rates and grading info might not be but I didn't bother registering to find out.

I am wondering if getting this info is just as simple as going to the school or is there more to it? I'm about to register for fall and I'd love to know the drop rates of some of these Professors on the list. I am making a concentrated effort to choose wisely as opposed to just picking whatever class this time around. I absolutely must choose wisely for math so I don't fail it again... I need someone skilled in dealing with "math phobics"!

I'm using the professor rating site to help me but still, those are opinions and some of it will, of course, be from disgruntled students who flunked. So I'd like a way to get other info if possible. My most recent English (Freshman Comp II) class (online/web course) had an absolutely crazy woman teaching and by the end of the course all but 4 people remained. I didn't read the reviews before taking the class, as I wasn't aware of the website, but when I read them after wards everyone was spot on with their criticisms of her. Many talked of her high "drop rate" and I think it says a lot about her style and personality that so many withdraw from a class that is pretty much mandatory for most degrees.

[Mar0]

I don't know if researching the drop rate is a great way to judge a prof. A lot of people drop classes because of the class content not being what they expected or because a different class opened up and dropping the original class was a better fit for their schedule. Plus, a lot of people may need to stay in a specific class in order to graduate and perhaps that class is only taught by one professor. I don't know....but I think that the professor rating sites are a pretty accurate description of a professor (except for the reviews that are clearly written from someone who is unhappy with their grade or whatever).

Regardless, I don't think that the university would release that info- if they even have it.

[fierce_flawless]

Originally Posted by Mar0

I don't know if researching the drop rate is a great way to judge a prof. A lot of people drop classes because of the class content not being what they expected or because a different class opened up and dropping the original class was a better fit for their schedule. Plus, a lot of people may need to stay in a specific class in order to graduate and perhaps that class is only taught by one professor. I don't know....but I think that the professor rating sites are a pretty accurate description of a professor (except for the reviews that are clearly written from someone who is unhappy with their grade or whatever).

Regardless, I don't think that the university would release that info- if they even have it.

Well they're getting it from some place, if other students are mentioning it and this other site has the info available (the one I didn't register for)..

I understand what you're saying but in my particular case these are Gen. Ed. classes that pretty much everyone has to take unless you're getting a certificate or trade/vocational.... Math, English, Sociology, Psych 101... you get the idea. These are classes with oodles of options for the student, with multiple class times and so forth. I mean, who wouldn't understand what Freshman Comp I and II are going to entail?

I would think that if an English Professor teaching FC I & II is losing all but 4 to 6 students per session in a class that starts with 30 and it happens repeatedly then that should indicate some sort of "problem".

I'm attending a community college and while it has an overall good reputation in town, I KNOW that it's my job to make sure I get the best education possible and that there *are* crappy teaches on board there. I've met 2 of them now... one who was ridiculously picky and another on the opposite end of the extreme who didn't "teach" a darn thing. I completely self-taught myself the course via the text... not sure what she was getting paid for in that case (it was an online course)... she couldn't' even be bothered to answer an email for the entire session and *I* caught errors in her exams.

I just want to know I'm getting my money's worth so that I don't suffer in future classes and especially when I transfer to UT.

[jessiegirl_98]

I also don't think that a drop rate is a good way to judge a professor. My advice is to just talk to other people and/or professors that you do know and see who they recommend. It may be a crap shoot in your first semester, but after that, you will learn really quickly who to take and who not to take. Also, you could register for 1 extra class and just drop 1 before the deadline where you loose money to give yourself a cushion. I know of no site that has that info anyway.

Again, you can check out ratemyprofessor.com, but take the ratings with a grain of salt. You have disgrunteled students but really anyone, even those who haven't taken the class, can leave "ratings." If someone does have all positive ratings though, that can be a good sign!

[Megande]

I don't know any way to get the drop rate, either.

My suggestion would be to email the professors that teach the sections that you have to choose between, tell them you are trying to decide which section to take and that you have some concerns and see if they will meet with you to discuss them and give you more information about the class. I'm a professor and I'd be happy to do this with any students. If they blow you off, you will know that they aren't likely to be helpful if you enroll in their class, either.

[K-Luv]

Originally Posted by fierce_flawless

I would think that if an English Professor teaching FC I & II is losing all but 4 to 6 students per session in a class that starts with 30 and it happens repeatedly then that should indicate some sort of "problem".

This sounds like an isolated incident as any teacher who is not tenured would be canned if this was the case.

My experience with college is that regardless of the subject and/or teacher every classroom ends the semester with less students then it began with. I had a chemistry I course that began with 80 students, but by the time the final rolled around less then 30 students remained. Not all officially dropped the class, but a good amount did, the rest just stopped coming for one reason or another.

As stated by another poster, people drop out for a variety of reasons and issues with the professor are probably at the bottom of the list. So you can't judge a teacher by it. Health insurance at my school is mandatory for all full time students. If a student does not supply his/her own insurance then they are automatically enrolled into (and charged for) the schools program. Some students will enroll full time to receive the maximum amount of financial aid but then drop a class or two so they can go down to part time status to avoid paying for the insurance. So you can see that has nothing to do with the teacher.

By the way, if you want the best education that you can get you then you would want to take classes with only 3 or 4 other students.

Anyways, just email or talk to the potential professors and ask them what percentage of their students drop out.