To preface this, I am a junior with a 4.0, have A’s in all of my other classes this semester, and am in a top 25 BBA program currently.
I have a managerial accounting professor who is just really bad at teaching. He is incapable of explaining things, does not emphasize important points, does not give processes for process-driven concepts, does not give students access to the online component of the course that he is supposed to, does not correlate his lectures with the book, does not reply to emails, is consistently 30-45 minutes late to office hours, and does not provide materials that he promises to.
Essentially he is void of all of the qualities that make someone qualified to be a professor. He is a nice guy and has the job because he was successful in the field, but that doesn’t translate to teaching for him.
I am a transfer in my first year at this school, so this one course is likely going to tank my GPA. The summer internships that I’m applying for are as competitive as they get, so a 3.3 GPA is going to take my resume out of the pile immediately.
I don’t know if contacting the department will do anything, if they could transfer me to another professors course, or some other remedy, but this guy is ask for a refund because the movie was sucked bad. Unfortunately, instead of $10 and a couple wasted hours this is more like $5000 and a serious blow to my career.
Maybe the Provost? Not sure. I am wondering if it is too late to withdraw and retake from someone else or online?
So what grade are you getting? A grade of B combined with your other As will not be the end of the world.
I have a C+ right now and it may be down hill from here. I can still withdraw from the course, but it would make it very difficult for me to graduate on time if I did.
How are the other students doing in this class? A complaint from a single student is not likely to change anything. If this professor is as bad in the classroom as you claim there would be a lot of dissatisfied students.
For a first semester transfer student to make these claims of incompetence you had better have some evidence.
I do have evidence that he is not providing students with the materials that were promised in the syllabus, a string of unanswered e-mails, that he is consistently late to office hours, etc.
The class average was a C+ on the first exam, which was due to two students getting a 98, so the C+ average is actually somewhat misleading. I also know that at least 12 students who took his class last spring complained about his incompetence.
I am hoping that I will be able to drop the course, take a sprint class from my previous school, and have that course accepted for credit at my current school.
I don’t know how realistic that is, though.
Just “being bad” at teaching is not enough to do any damage. However, the other things you mentioned: not showing to office hours, not following syllabus, and not responding to emails are. Talk to the dean of the department and/or provost and give evidence. They’re not going to care if the class has poor grades, but these other things are in the job description.
Assuming tenured professor…not likely to do much other than get you labeled as a complainer.
I have had professors that are similar and some deliberately. To them, it forces the student to actually study and work for the grade. Since you are a transfer, perhaps this is more common at your new school. Maybe your old school was too easy and you have just never encountered a professor like this before. Buck up. You will likely run into bosses and/or co-workers like this in your life. You may have to take learning into your own hands.
A C in one class is not a killer in life. You will survive. Give him a bad review at the end of the semester. Griping will do little good, especially if he has tenure. The thing about “Top 25” BBA programs is that you are probably at a research university. Profs are hired and tenured there for research skills, not undergraduate teaching skills.
Thanks for the responses everyone.
The prof is adjunct, not tenured. I don’t know what difference that makes in the grand scheme of things.
I’ll likely go to the provost or department chair with evidence of his failure to communicate via email, deviation from the syllabus, failure to provide promised materials, and consistent tardiness to office hours and see what, if anything, we can do to remedy the situation.
In the mean time I’m studying 10 hours/day and using out-of-class materials on my own dime. Not that I can really afford them, but grocery money is for suckers, anyways.
Have you outright asked the prof face-to-face about the promised materials? If not, you shouldn’t complain until you have done so.
I have. He shows up late to office hours, when he does show up I ask him, he says to e-mail him a reminder, I e-mail him reminders, and he never responds.
That process has been rinse-and-repeat since the beginning of the semester.
He doesn’t have one.
I am reaching out to other professors in the department for help, and will be visiting their TAs during office hours.
As @TomSrOfBoston mentioned, these issues should be affecting the whole class. If so, you should go meet with the professor with a group of classmates to ask about lack of response to emails and late arrivals to office hours. If there is no resolution after that meeting, the group of you and classmates (not just you) should meet with the department chair.
I noticed that you contested a grade with an administrator at your previous college. Most college students go through their entire college career never having to meet with administrators about class issues. Look carefully at your own actions and expectations as there seems to be a pattern forming.
Scholardad,
That is actually a great idea. Seriously, thank you for that. I would not have thought of that and to be redundant, it is a really good idea.
I actually ended up not contesting that grade, but met with the department chair to let him know about the situation. There wasn’t anything he could do (although he’d had several problems with that professor and was not a fan of her), but we talked, he wrote me a letter of recommendation, and I got an A in the class anyways.
Hopefully there is a similar outcome this time.
Remember there is more to life and learning than your GPA. I mean this in a helpful way and not an obnoxious way but don’t be a grade grubber. GPA is less important in the business world than you think. Even if you did get a C, it really isn’t a big deal if you’ve been doing well in other classes.
I generally agree with that sentiment, in fact I think that 90% of the classes that I’ve taken in college have been totally worthless.
Due to the fact that this is my first semester at this school, this semester’s GPA will have to be on my resume when I apply for summer internships. I’m applying for some very, very competitive internships, which is why I’m worried.
I’m making friends with people at a lot of the companies that I’ll be applying to and networking within the industry as much as possible, which I hope will mitigate any resume deficiencies.
Can’t your stated GPA be a blended GPA of your entire college coursework?