Could this be real

Eh, I always take these rankings with a grain of salt, and I would hazard a guess as to your question, that the reason USCGA at least, is able to still produce fine officers is because there is not necessarily a direct correlation between academic performance and Military excellence.

That being said, it's also possible that fine officers are produced in spite of having some poor instructors.

Just my own two cents on the matter.
 
USCGA13STN said:
Eh, I always take these rankings with a grain of salt, and I would hazard a guess as to your question, that the reason USCGA at least, is able to still produce fine officers is because there is not necessarily a direct correlation between academic performance and Military excellence.

That being said, it's also possible that fine officers are produced in spite of having some poor instructors.

Just my own two cents on the matter.
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I agree with you. I take this crap with a grain of salt too. I just felt like posting it since Luigi always seems to find articles about all the other academies that make them look bad.
 
Also, if you look up the rankings on RateMyProfessors.com, the cadets that posted them were posting in 2005, 2006, 2007, etc. So it's a bit out-of-date. I'd agree to take it with a grain of salt. Also, websites like these usually attract students who are angry at teachers or who praise the ground they walk on. There's both extremes, and I'd say the better way to figure out how good the professors are is to talk to current cadets themselves.
 
Haha, that's funny.

Yes I wouldn't take it seriously. I can think of a few schools that have much worse professors that don't even rank.

RPI is a fine engineering school, and it's ranked.

Don't worry about this at all. The professors are just fine. You often hear from the unhappy people more than you hear from the happy ones.

"Maybe it's the officers."

Even CGA professors who are also officers have great resumes. My brother-in-law is off to Yale for his master's, then to CGA to be an instructor. He's probably going to replace out other classmate who also received his master's from Yale. Some of my favorite professors went to Harvard for their master's, or Tufts or Johns Hopkins or any other great school. That doesn't lose sight of where they went for undergrad either.

Think about every crappy school you can, and see if they are on this list. They aren't.
 
Note there are no "party" schools on the list. You have to at least go to class to evaluate your professor, oops I mean TA or online class teachers assistant. Seriously people ...this type of pole means nothing. :rolleyes:
 
vandy1992 said:
Note there are no "party" schools on the list. You have to at least go to class to evaluate your professor, oops I mean TA or online class teachers assistant. Seriously people ...this type of pole means nothing. :rolleyes:
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I think vandy1992 can think of one Nashville-area school that could be on the "worst college" list.... and it aint Vanderbilt. It is, however, where my high school had its graduation (I'm assuming vandy1992 went to Vanderbilt, otherwise my reference is lost).
 
Actually I can think of quite a few Nashville Universities that fit the category. And yes, your school reference isn't lost on me. Go Commodores
 
Iceman,

Definitely take this article with a grain of salt. I posted this on my Facebook because I thought it was hilarious. SAs are always getting rated in some form on some kind of bad list. For example, we were also number 3 on "Dorms Like Dungeons," which I don't really think is true.

I've had some of the best teachers while I've been here at the Academy. I've had teachers stay with students until 10 pm or some even come in late at night and work with you until midnight. I've also had teachers who have become mentors and more like family to me. They've helped me out with my rough moments here at the Academy. The teachers here, for the most part, are absolutely amazing and do everything in their power to help you succeed.

T&F
 
trackandfield08 said:
Iceman,

Definitely take this article with a grain of salt. I posted this on my Facebook because I thought it was hilarious. SAs are always getting rated in some form on some kind of bad list. For example, we were also number 3 on "Dorms Like Dungeons," which I don't really think is true.

I've had some of the best teachers while I've been here at the Academy. I've had teachers stay with students until 10 pm or some even come in late at night and work with you until midnight. I've also had teachers who have become mentors and more like family to me. They've helped me out with my rough moments here at the Academy. The teachers here, for the most part, are absolutely amazing and do everything in their power to help you succeed.

T&F
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Palace Chase
 
A big part of the issue here is the small size of USMMA and USGA and the fact that most of these students don't spend as much time on the internet as their counterparts at civilain colleges - so there is a very small group of students providing the information. Even one or 2 students can greatly affect the ratings if only 5 or 10 rate the professor. All teachers at these schools are much tougher graders and that is going to cause resentment. If you only show up for class once a week and still get a B many students are going to think that was a great prof. - But that isn't going to happen at a service academy.
 
http://centerforcollegeaffordability.org/uploads/2012_Methodology.pdf
All I'm saying is that an on-line feedback system such as rateMyProfessor allows the public to have an idea of what students think of those who are paid to teach them. If this is any indication of how it truly is which may not be 100% true, it can be a tool to be used by faculty to address professors that aren't effective or have higher failing rates than average. Unlike civilian colleges where you may steer clear of tenured professors who have unflattering feedback, Military academies differ. As I have mentioned in another post regarding this, Zagat or Yelp ratings may aid you in deciding where to have lunch or dinner. I doubt that they just pulled the numbers from thin air.
 
Ah, that Forbes article again....

I KNEW I should have gone to James Madison University! :rolleyes:


I take them for what they're worth. I went to two schools on the list and I probably would have flipped the order they were presented in.

If you're reading through the list and you think "wait, how'd that make it in there..." well, that tells you one of two things, either you aren't in touch with reality or the Forbes list, and others, aren't perfect.

And it starts in the top 5. I have nothing against Williams College, but it seems a little high. In my opinion Wash U. is better than Smith. Carnegie Mellon or Johns Hopkins is better than Colgate. We could argue all day about it, but there are colleges in the top 50 I wouldn't put in the top 100.
 
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iceman2018 said:
http://centerforcollegeaffordability.org/uploads/2012_Methodology.pdf
All I'm saying is that an on-line feedback system such as rateMyProfessor allows the public to have an idea of what students think of those who are paid to teach them. If this is any indication of how it truly is which may not be 100% true, it can be a tool to be used by faculty to address professors that aren't effective or have higher failing rates than average. Unlike civilian colleges where you may steer clear of tenured professors who have unflattering feedback, Military academies differ. As I have mentioned in another post regarding this, Zagat or Yelp ratings may aid you in deciding where to have lunch or dinner. I doubt that they just pulled the numbers from thin air.
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I thought ratemyprofessor died around the same time HotorNot....

A problem could be sample size too. If I'm looking at a yelp review with two entries, one saying the feed was good and the other saying "I hate Jane, she stole my boyfriend and she isnt a good waitress"... well, I look at the rating and it's low. One or two reviews has significantly more weight.

Take a larger sample and I have another "I hate Jane" review, but it has less or an impact with 500 other objective reviews.
 
After reading endless "lists" concerning this university or that university...the only consistent and accurate rating I have ever seen concerns the amount of tuition. That one the schools seems to always get right. Take everything else with a grain of salt.
 
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