Need advice about bad professor

Parents Forum
1

<p>S is a freshman majoring in Biological Sciences, plus a certificate in bioinformatics. Workload is kind of heavy--17 credits including labs and learning communities for 3 classes: biology, inorganic chemistry and computer science. Classmates are mostly sophomores based on his incoming AP and placement test results.</p>

<p>The problem is, S currently has a C (!) in Chem despite doing all the reading, homework and prep quizzes (prep quizzes are extra credit), plus attending all classes and printing out all the notes beforehand so he can supplement during lectures (he sent me his 'Blackboard' results to 'prove' this). </p>

<p>He says the class quizzes are nothing like what they've been studying. The prof told them first day there was a 50% fail rate for this class. DH, who was a college professor a while back, says it's a weed-out class, but agrees that S, who got a 4 on his AP Chem test and an overall gpa 4.5, shouldn't be one of those who fail.</p>

<p>Rate My Professor for this guy is pretty grim with nearly everyone complaining about exactly what we're experiencing. They also say talking to him makes no difference. Most recommend getting a tutor who's had that class with that prof, although they say it only helps a little. But S says he has no time for a tutor because of his schedule.</p>

<p>Is there any advice we can give him? DH says we should contact the department head, but that sounds like helicoptering to me (besides, word is this prof is retiring after this year, so one parent complaining isn't likely to make a difference in the way he teaches). </p>

<p>S is actually second-guessing his Bio major because he's feeling like he won't make it through the chemistry requirements! That happened many years ago to DH who dropped out of zoology because an advisor told him his math 'wasn't strong enough' which he says was the result of a bad TA teaching the class, but as a freshman he wasn't assured enough to plough ahead.</p>

<p>Any and all ideas would be most welcome. We've heard no complaints from S since he left here a month ago until this, so it feels like we should do something or at least give him some suggestions.</p>

2

<p>Your #1 goal should be to help your child without making any waves. If he can transfer to a different class with a different prof, then do it. Also, you might consider taking it as a summer class (assuming it is gen. chem.) Most excellent universities basically have porous admission for summer session, and just about any school will offer general (inorganic) chem as a summer class. </p>

<p>I would avoid going to the dept. if you can.</p>

<p>Also, be aware what the drop date is.</p>

3

<p>I think may kids get a huge reality check in college. Our daughter is holding her own but she is completely busting her backside just to make it. This is a kid that scored all 4s & 5s on her APs (and she took 16) and was number 4 in her class in a very competitive HS. I think the kids are shocked how tough it is to make As when only tests are the measuring sticks. No more homework and project grades. Just that darn exam that makes or breaks you. Has your son considered a tutor, who hopefully was or is a TA for this professor? A tutor can not only help with the content of the exam but the format of the exam also.</p>

<p>In one of Ds classes this week they had to read a poem and pick it apart for meaning, method, etc. They had quiz on it the next day and the prompt for the quiz was “write the poem” She was dumbfounded. She spend hours picking the poem apart but never thought she might have to recall it word for word. So she knew all about the poem but that was not what the professor was looking for.</p>

<p>So your son may know the information, but his application of it, may be what is not working. Make sure he is going to all TA sessions. My daughter’s biology class week had Friday “off” but there was a TA session in prep for a major exam. 11 of 150 kids showed.</p>

4

<p>No advice, other than a C is not, by any means, failing. I’d make sure that he makes liberal use of the professor’s office hours if he can’t get a tutor.</p>

5

<p>I would encourage your son to look into changing sections/profs, but if that’s not possible, just gut it out. He’s not failing yet, though I do recall how horrible a C in college felt, after being valedictorian at my HS. Tell him to try to get as much help as he can get; go to all the study sessions, talk to the TAs and fellow students. Go to office hours if he can.</p>

<p>Pretty much everyone in academia recognizes that freshman chemistry is a “weedout” course. I distinctly remember getting a 42/100 on my very first chem exam. What I didn’t realize when I walked out of the room after the exam, wondering whether I should just drop out of college then or wait til the end of the semester, was that the average grade for that test was something like 30, and I had gotten an A. So tell your son to hang in there; it WILL get better (but maybe not until after he’s done with that class).</p>

6

<p>Getting a 4 on the AP chem exam doesn’t necessarily mean you should be getting a “B” in a college-level class. However, I think a 50% fail rate is inappropriately high, which is why I recommended switching professors.</p>

7

<p>I must be missing something; why is the professor bad? is it because your son has a C (!) !</p>

<p>I don’t know why parents don’t tell their kids before they go to college that, most likely, the grades they will be getting won’t come close to what they got in high school. </p>

<p>Also, I would question why your son is taking such a heavy class load his first semester of college. </p>

<p>I also thinks this point out why AP classes are not the equivalent of a college course.</p>

8

<p>Sounds like your son has run into a typical freshman weed-out course and a harsh dose of reality rather than a bad professor. Has he (1) gone to office hours, (2) devoted the recommended number of out-of-class hours studying (usually 3-5 hours for each hour in class), (3) gone to office hourse, (4) joined a study group, (5) gone to office hours, (6) compared what he is studying to the types of questions asked on exams to see where the difference lies, (7) gone to office hours? I’m sure he’s never gotten a C before, but believe me, it’s not unusual in college!</p>

9

<p>First, it sounds like his first semester/quarter is extremely overloaded. Is there a reason he has to take 17 credits of all sciences right away? Secondly, a C is not terrible. Yes, the chem class is the weeder class. Unfortunately, that is the attitude of many profs and schools. </p>

<p>I would just advise him as others have, to join a study group, ensure that he meets with his advisor, and finds a way to get help from his professor.</p>

10

<p>If this is a less-selective school (and I’m not implying that it is) then a 50% fail rate on a freshman science course is to be expected. There’s a reason less selective state Us have low soph return rates and grad rates. Also typical would be lots of kvetching about demanding profs on rate my professor.</p>

11

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<p>I don’t think weedout courses with a 50% or greater flunkout rate is limited to less selective universities. A former roommate who was a bio major at Tufts recounted that there was a 60% flunkout rate at the end of his freshman year in the early '90s.</p>

<p>Heard similar rates at other elite selective universities…especially ones known as pre-med factories like Tufts.</p>

12

<p>If the situation is stressing your son to the point that he has trouble focusing on his other subjects, I agree with the suggestion to drop the course and take it over the summer (hopefully with a different prof.) </p>

<p>Professors and department chairs are increasingly inundated with claims of incompetent teaching, unfair grading practices- the list goes on and on. Perhaps it’s because tuition is increasing, or perhaps it’s because high schools are offering too many AP classes which are really nothing like college classes. Regardless, appeals to authority almost never result in positive change unless the professor has engaged in criminal behavior.</p>

13

<p>I get these calls once a year from my D. She’s going to fail, she failed all the quizzes blah, blah, blah. </p>

<p>A lot of times the quizzes are much harder than the tests, she will fail all of them. With the curve and homework and class attendance,she ends up with a B or better.</p>

<p>No need to panic yet. Does the class have a TA? Talk to the TA, and see how he is doing compared to the rest of the class.</p>

<p>In college it’s not always how you are doing, but how you are doing compared to the rest of the class. My D’s had classes where the professor screams doom and gloom at the beginning and scare the class into thinking that everyone is going to fair their class.</p>

14

<p>As others have said, one option is to change sections. Another option is to see if he can take either the chemistry class with a pass/fail grading option or take one of his other classes as pass/fail so that he can spend more time focused on the chemistry class. A lot of universities offer this option, where instead of a letter grade, students get a Pass or Fail on their transcript. If he’s concerned about his GPA, this can be one way to still get credit for the class, but avoid a hit to his average.</p>

15

<p>This is the beginning of a school year, how could your son got the final grades already? Regardless, 17 credits in the first semester is an overload, he needs time to feel the college rigor. While he was a top student in HS does not mean he will succeed in college, since his peers in college are in the same level as he was.</p>

<p>Our D is in bio as well, we intentionally asked her to take less credits in the first quater of her college career, 12 credits. She was getting B’s and A-'s. By the third quater, she has an upswing in the gpa and getting mostly A’s. You need give your S a little bit more time to make this hugh change in his life.</p>

16

<p>He can consider dropping a class. Or, as others have suggested, switch profs if he’s able to do so and thinks another prof would be better. Dropping this or another class may be his best bet so he can devote more time to this class or take Chem later with another prof.</p>

17

<p>Given it’s only, what, a month into a course and he has a C in a very difficult course, I think you are over-worrying. I think one of the biggest problems is the fact that the school let him skip the earlier chem course over his AP score. Often they can be apples and oranges (I think its different in the US, but most Canadian kids I know, they often take the AP course related to their intended major, everyone gets a 5 here as its a different HS curriculum too, but then they also retake that course in first year because of its importance to their major…every single one says the prior AP course only helped somewhat and the college course was entirely and more challenging). But we are in the land of cheap tuition so not such a need to knock off a year and race ahead. </p>

<p>But that aside, there is nothing wrong with starting with a C in a difficult college course! That doesn’t mean it can not move up. Especially as he’s new to college. Especially as he had just a 4 in the AP course. If you avoid courses and majors where you can’t maintain an A, there isn’t going to be a lot of options out there. </p>

<p>Everyone around him was likely just like him in highschool with all As…now in college there is going to be a distribution of grades and most do not get to keep their As despite working the same way, doing what they know, from highschool. What is necessary for college can be very different than highschool and the mean class ability is very different (it can be a real shocker, depending upon the standards of one’s prior highschool and ones former classmates).</p>

<p>All you’ve told us is he’s shown up and following directions…not that he actually knows the material at the level he needs to, that is necessary. In college you don’t get much if any credit for attendance, or effort, or following the rules. And it is very possible for someone to do well on the homework, with a plug and chug mentality (see some ways to get the right answer), yet <em>not actually sufficiently understand the underlying principles</em> of why something works the way it does (and thus one can’t apply it in novel problems that appear on the tests).</p>

18

<p>Mine was absolutely thrilled to have a C on that first anatomy test. It put her in the top quarter of the class, and the teacher does not curve. I’ll just repeat what others have said. It’s tough. It’s supposed to be tough. Even former “top of the class” kids are giong to hit some roadblocks, and that’s not a bad thing. Weeders tell departments who has the will to continue and who folds and goes home. </p>

<p>Also have to agree about APs not really prepping students for college level work.</p>

19

<p>Your job right now is to be the best supporter you can be. So, let him vent, and, by all means, continue to encourage him. I’ll agree with the posters who are saying that a C is NOT failing. I’d hate to see one less-than-stellar chemistry grade (especially when it’s not yet a final grade) derail his academic/career plans. I’m sure getting a C when he’s doing all the right prep work is a major shocker. His job is to pass. (Old joke: what term do you use for the med school student who graduated last in his or her class? Answer: “Doctor”).</p>

<p>Only give your son suggestions if he requests them (or if you ask him if he wants suggestions and he okays it). If he just wants/needs to vent, allow him that option. </p>

<p>BTW, I’m finding it very difficult to follow my own advice. I’m just so used to trying to be the problem-solver…</p>

20

<p>A “C” is not a bad grade especially in a weed out course. I took some classes where I was thrilled to get a C. Keep an eye on the drop date though and if it is possible to change to another professor do so.
I had probablly the worst (as in hard grading) professor for chemistry and stuck with it to my detriment. Others dropped that class (as in they were failing) and after changing sections made much better grades than I did with a lot less angst.</p>