<p>Here's an interesting new ranking for UMich. This just shows that we're not just a giant research school that doesn't care about the undergraduates... which is a rumor that tends to go around a lot.</p>
<p>Best</a> Undergraduate Teaching | Rankings | Top National Universities | US News</p>
<p>That’s so nice! Thanks for sharing!</p>
<p>Ive seen this directly. All my teachers, whether they be GSI’s or professors have been incredible.</p>
<p>All of my profs have been **** so far. This ranking doesn’t make sense to me</p>
<p>Very impressive…especially given elite levels in graduate education and research.</p>
<p>LOL this is an awful list; half the schools on here are known more for poor undergraduate teaching. Guess I’m going to choose UMBC over Harvard now because they have better teachers!</p>
<p>Well, at least we can agree on one thing, that the Duke faculty trails UMich</p>
<p>Quote from Goldenboy:</p>
<p>“I agree with warblersrule that the new Duke Forward campaign should continue to bolser Duke’s faculty which slightly trails some schools that Duke is considered more prestigious than (Cornell and U of Michigan).”</p>
<p>So is this one comparatively true or not?</p>
<p>wayneandgarth, I stand by that statement though I’m not sure what it has to do with this thread. Also, it shows you that no one cares about that at the undergraduate level since Brown and Dartmouth are still considered a lot more prestigious than UT-Austin, U Wisconsin, Michigan, etc. Maybe in a perfect world but we’re far from that…</p>
<p>goldenboy, Cornell and Michigan are just as prestiguous as Brown, Dartmouth and Duke. You are delusional if you think otherwise. Either you give Brown, Dartmouth and Duke way too much credit (they are not that presitious, certainly not in the league of HYPSM or even Cal, Caltech, Chicago or Columbia), or you do not realize how prestigious Cornell and Michigan are. It is obvious you are incapable of seeing Michigan in a positive light (you post negative comments on this forum without exception and without fail whenever Michigan is potrayed in a positive light), perhaps you have the same complex where Cornell is concerned. I should make it clear that the only prestige that matters to me is prestige among the educated elite. I really could not care what undeducated masses or high schoolers/college students/recent graduates think.</p>
<p>And I have often seen you reference the USNWR undergraduate teaching ranking in the past. Why the sudden rejection? This is the third time in 4 years that Michigan has made the top 10 list.</p>
<p>This said, the undergraduate teaching rank is indeed suspicious, not because of the universities that make the ranking, but rather because such a ranking is impossible to validate.</p>
<p>Tbeezer, you should choose your professors more carefully. Michigan is known for having one of the more caring faculties among research universities. That is not saying much, of course, as research universities are not known for having caring faculty. I personally managed to build strong relationships with most of my professors. My comparative research on universities over the past decade suggests that Michigan is in very good company where faculty interest in undergraduate instruction is concerned.</p>
<p>Well I’m taking most of the intro level science courses and so far all of them have been horrible. Not sure how to get around that for the intro stuff :/</p>
<p>I think it really depends on the courses you take. For example, taking Calc 1 will probably mean that you will get a GSI who isn’t very good. But for other classes such as Econ 101, the professors can be phenomenal. I don’t think that I’ve ever had a better teacher than Professor Malone for Econ 101 and that is considered an intro level course.</p>
<p>It’s really all about doing your research online and finding good professors. I find ratemyprofessor.com to be a great tool even though many people may question its accuracy. So far, it has worked well for me.</p>
<p>It’s so hit and miss. Having said that, sites like ratemyprofessor can help avoid (to extent it’s not a prereq) the fossils who could care less or just have no skill at teaching. I have a prof who is just incredible, 2 who are so bad that I never go to lecture and it never matters either, and another who is trying some experimental team-based thing. I get the impression he really cares about the undergrads, but man, this new method has been a disaster. </p>
<p>So i would say this semester 1 in 4 are decent, a worse rate than my GSIs. Keeping in mind that #6 doesn’t mean a whole lot when we consider the state of education in this country, I can just imagine how bad it is elsewhere. Passion and expertise only get us halfway. Often the more we know about a subject, the worse we are at teaching it.</p>