Universities with the Least Accessible Professors

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In college lecture halls, lessons move quickly and usually impersonally. Every student knows who their professor is, but in most cases professors will only know a handful of their students’ names.

Some schools are better than others of course. It’s easy to imagine that at a small liberal arts school, a philosophy professor with 10 students will know every one of them and will frequently instruct and entertain them during office hours. Meanwhile, at a public research institution with lecture halls that seat 500, the vast majority of students may pass in and out of a classroom without their teacher ever making eye-contact. These students will do their assignments, receive their grades, and probably never ask for a rec letter.

Every year the Princeton Review ranks the top 20 schools with the least accessible professors. The results are based on students’ answers to the survey question “How accessible are your instructors outside the classroom?”

As might seem predictable, of the 45 schools that have made the list in the past six years, 34 are public universities.

Some of this, of course, can be explained simply in class size.  The rest may be due to the natures of the institutions – professors at public universities may prioritize their research, while research may be a secondary concern to professors at small liberal arts schools, allowing them more time for their students.

Here are the schools with the Least Accessible Professors:

The ‘Least Accessible Professors’ Rankings From 2015 to 2010

 

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2015 Rank & School 2015 Rank 2014 Rank 2013 Rank 2012 Rank 2011 Rank 2010 Rank
 McGill University  1  3  1  11  14  20
 United States Merchant Marine Academy  2  2  2  1  7  11
 New Jersey Institute of Technology  3  1  3  2  8  12
 Howard University  4  6  13  9  6  8
 Hampton University  5  4  14  NR  NR  NR
 University of Hawaii – Manoa  6  7  NR  NR  NR  NR
 Portland State University  7  8  16  NR  NR  NR
 Trinity College Dublin  8  5  NR  NR  NR  NR
 St. John’s University (NY)  9  12  9  5  NR  NR
 University of California – Los Angeles  10  13  15  NR  16  NR
 University of California – San Diego  11  14  NR  NR  NR  NR
 State University of New York – Stony Brook University  12  19  20  16  9  NR
 University of Massachusetts – Amherst  13  NR  NR  NR  12  13
 University of California – Berkeley  14  15  NR  NR  NR  NR
 Manhattanville College  15  NR  NR  NR  NR  NR
 Stevens Institute of Technology  16  11  8  10  15  6
 Marywood University  17  16  NR  NR  NR  NR
 City University of New York – Queens College  18  NR  NR  NR  NR  NR
 Drexel University  19  9  NR  NR  13  15
 University of Minnesota – Twin Cities  20  17  NR  NR  NR  NR
 City University of New York – Baruch College  NR  10  NR  NR  NR  NR
 California State University – Stanislaus  NR  18  NR  NR  NR  NR
 University of Kentucky  NR  20  4  18  3  7
 Georgia Institute of Technology  NR  NR  5  3  4  2
 University of Maine  NR  NR  6  15  NR  NR
 University of South Florida  NR  NR  7  17  NR  NR
 Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey – New Brunswick  NR  NR  10  7  2  4
 Temple University  NR  NR  11  12  NR  NR
 Sonoma State University  NR  NR  12  8  18  NR
 University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign  NR  NR  17  NR  NR  NR
 Illinois Institute of Technology  NR  NR  18  6  10  1
 Michigan State University  NR  NR  19  NR  NR  NR
 University of Toronto  NR  NR  NR  4  1  3
 The University of North Carolina at Greensboro  NR  NR  NR  13  NR  NR
 Case Western Reserve University  NR  NR  NR  14  NR  NR
 The University of South Dakota  NR  NR  NR  19  NR  NR
 Tuskegee University  NR  NR  NR  20  5  5
 Spelman College  NR  NR  NR  NR  11  17
 Auburn University  NR  NR  NR  NR  17  9
 University of North Dakota  NR  NR  NR  NR  19  NR
 University of Georgia  NR  NR  NR  NR  20  10
 University of Rhode Island  NR  NR  NR  NR  NR  14
 State University of New York at Albany  NR  NR  NR  NR  NR  16
 University of California – Riverside  NR  NR  NR  NR  NR  18
 University of Arizona  NR  NR  NR  NR  NR  19

Source: The Princeton Review

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