A lot of times when people pick a college they look at the campus, the amenities, how well the football team is doing, how closer or far it is to home, etc. However, if you care about your future career, you need to look at your professor. This is actually one of the key things that will help you not only during college, but afterward. Knowing the right professors can help you get a job, move on to grad school, etc.
True story: I was looking at going to grad school, or getting a job when I was close to graduating, so I talked to one of my professors I had for a couple of classes. He recommended a different school for grad school or suggested a couple of places I might like working. I interviewed at one of the places he recommenced and they interviewing manager goes at the end of the interview, professor ______ said I should I hire. Basically he hadn’t seen any big red flags, and so that recommendation good enough for him. I wish all my interviews were that easy.
Unfortunately, no one usually tells you that you can talk to, or at least request to talk to your instructors. So here I am, and I always recommend doing that if possible.
But what if you can’t talk to them. Maybe they are at a conference, teaching a class, etc. Well there are several things you can do.
LinkedIn is a professional networking website. It allows you to look at a user’s work history, and start to get a feel for their specialty. Now, a lot of people’s LinkedIn profiles and posts are not fully flushed out. They may only have minimal data, but that is OK.
I like using LinkedIn compared to other social media sites like Instagram, YouTube, or Facebook, because often there is more than one person on a site with that name. With LinkedIn, since people put their work history, you can see better about it.
Rate My Professor
There are various websites out their that let you rate your professor. Some are better than others.
The good about them, is that this information is being made public about a school and/or professor by a set of students.
Unfortunately, the criteria used isn’t always helpful. For example, some might ask how easy/hard a class is, and if the professor is “hot”. They usually don’t focus on questions like, “how much did you learn”.
Let’s face it, a “hot” professor isn’t going to help you pass a professional licensing exam. In fact, a professor which is too easy, may not help with that either. But a professor who is hard, but helps you learn, can make your career that much more successful.
Be careful with your Google results. Just as there may be duplicate people on a social media site with the same name, in the world there can be even more. I recently got a Google alert because my name appeared in a funeral notice. I can guarantee you that I am not dead, but someone else with my name did pass away.
So you might want to include other search terms as well, like the school name to get as accurate results as possible.
Conclusion
You’re going to spend a lot more time in the classroom with your professors than at a football game, or even in the student life center. So make sure you have good professors in the subjects that interest you.