Bruinwalk.com an imperfect system
By Chloe Ghoogassian
May 7, 2009 10:24 p.m.
“His lectures were awful. You can’t read his handwriting. No one ever had any idea what he was talking about.”
If this statement sounds familiar, you have most probably been affected by bruinwalk.com professor reviews. As one continues to research this instructor, you find he is strikingly rated “not effective,” “very hard,” “not concerned,” “not available” and “not good overall.” Your hopes of taking this class are immediately crushed because you have learned to take everything your fellow Bruins say seriously.
Before enrolling in one of my classes this quarter, bruinwalk.com, which is a Student Media Web site, told me that my instructor is the “worst professor ever, speaks only to hear himself talk, and is rude, inappropriate and just really annoying.”
I must admit that these comments gave me a few preconceived notions about this professor. My professor even joked about the absurdity of the comments on the first day of class and gave us a choice to either drop the class based on these reviews or deal with his so-called “cruelty.”
As the quarter has progressed, however, I have found myself completely disagreeing with the online comments. I can safely say I really enjoy this class and professor thus far.
Most students don’t consider the reasons professors are rated so poorly or even take into account that these classes could be great. Bruinwalk.com can offer some good advice about professors and classes, but it should not be the ultimate deciding factor for enrollment. As the old saying goes, don’t judge a book by its cover. Many students use bruinwalk.com to decide among professors who teach the same class, looking for certain factors such as if they are easy to understand, have a thick accent, give a lot of homework or are easy graders.
Some students also decide to put off taking a class for a quarter just because the “better” professor teaches in the fall instead of spring and the “worst” professor only handed out As to about 2.3 percent of the class. Halleh Hashtpari, a first-year physiological science student, said bruinwalk.com influenced her enrollment decisions despite her demanding load of pre-med class requirements.
“I dropped my math class last quarter because bruinwalk.com told me that the professor was really hard and didn’t hand out grades higher than A-minuses,” Hashtpari said. “I waited until this quarter to take it and enrolled in a dance class instead.”
As helpful as bruinwalk.com may be, we must take into account the basic statistics of the students writing these reviews. For the most part, they don’t tell us how hardworking they are, what grade they earned in the class or how much they actually care about the academics. These reviewers could just be a bunch of bitter students who hated the professor and got bad grades, out of the many students who actually liked the professor and did well but didn’t write any reviews. These students are not entirely representative of the hundreds and hundreds of students who have taken that class.
Whatever bruinwalk.com’s limitations may be, it has inevitably become an important step for students before clicking that “add” button on URSA. The accountability of those who write, “She is a slob. I hate her” about a despised professor is questionable and superficially subjective, so students should approach the Web site with much scrutiny.
“If you look for patterns among the reviews and average out all the comments, you should get a pretty good idea about who the professor is,” said Kevin Lipa, a first-year mathematics student. “Any review should not be singled out because it doesn’t give you all the information you need to know.”
Like Lipa, students should view bruinwalk.com reviews critically, keeping in mind all the disparities of opinions of those who have had that professor. No single review should rob students of a rewarding academic experience.
Keep in mind that the only people writing these reviews have experienced polar extremes with instructors and classes. Those who either hate or love their professors are the most likely to give reviews. In-between experiences rarely compel people to write reviews, so this happy medium should be intelligently deciphered by students.
Through my experiences in college and in life, I have learned not to judge situations and people ““ even professors ““ until I have gotten to know them firsthand. Bruinwalk.com is a great sample for getting to know classes and professors, but it should not be considered an absolutist theory of academic success.
If you need help choosing the right professor, e-mail Ghoogassian at [email protected]. Send general comments to
