Bad college professor? (Do this ONE thing)
About the author
Hi there. I am the prolific professor with 15 years of experience teaching online and in-person. I have a graduate degree. I have a passion for education. But I’ve also worked in the professional world (outside of education) too. Thanks for visiting.
I have the worst professor ever
Hi there.
You probably found yourself here because you have a bad college professor and it’s impacting your learning AND it’s just a frustrating situation to be in.
Maybe your professor isn’t teaching, or they are always late to class. Or maybe you can’t learn anything from them because they are so bad at teaching.
Whatever your circumstances, I know that having a bad college professor can make your college experience awful. And you may feel helpless.
I was a college professor, and I heard lots of students talk about other professors and how bad some of them were, and I know the frustration that you must feel.
I am going to help you understand how to deal with a bad college professor because the last thing you want is for your grades to suffer.
How to tell if you have a bad professor
You might have a bad professor if they routinely don’t show up to class or are constantly late, they ignore emails, they grade unfairly, are rude and unhelpful, or they simply don’t teach.
Here are several things that would signal that you have a bad college professor.
Doesn’t show up to class - Is your professor late to class or doesn’t show up half the time? If this is your professor, they may be a bad college professor. Sometimes there are good excuses for professors to miss class or be late, but if it’s happening too much, it can really hurt the students.
Ignores emails - Does your professor simply not respond to emails but you know they got them? This can be annoying to say the least. You are their student and your success in the class could be on the line if your professor isn’t doing their job.
Doesn’t teach - If your professor plays too many videos, or doesn’t spend enough time teaching the material, it’s going to be hard to learn the content. Sure, there is a time and place for videos and class activities, but if you never have any meaningful lecture, how will you learn?
Unfair - Maybe you have a professor who is completely unfair and plays favorites. Or you think that their grading is too harsh. Either way, if you are being treated unfairly, it can be hard to succeed in their course.
Rude or unhelpful - Does you professor say snarky comments to you or other students or do they seem condescending? Or maybe they won’t offer you any assistance or ignores your requests for help. You might feel alone if you have an unhelpful professor.
All these things are going to weigh heavy on you and impact your learning. You need to figure out what to do to deal with your bad professor.
What can I do if my college professor is bad?
If your professor is bad, you should complete a honest and professional evaluation at the end of the semester. As a former professor, I also recommend students try to build rapport with their bad professors to boost their morale and potentially gain some insight into their professor’s personality.
I have a solution for you if you have a bad college professor. I suggest that you complete a honest course EVALUATION explaining your experience.
Most universities will have students complete course evaluations at the end of the semester. But typically you will complete these online so pay close attention to your email or your online learning management platform to see if they have course evaluations for your university.
Very few students complete these evaluations and they miss an opportunity to evaluate their professor’s performance.
In my experience, roughly 35% of students complete these evaluations. This is a very low response rate and should be much higher! So, I recommend that you do this one thing because they could change their habits with your honest feedback.
Your professor and your professor’s boss will be reviewing these evaluations so the feedback is taken very seriously.
Don’t just focus on reporting your frustration on websites that rate professors because you want to get to the ROOT OF THE PROBLEM by helping the professor make positive changes and they can’t improve if they don’t get feedback.
But you might need help now!
And I get that.
Because after you evaluate your professor, you may never take them again for another course and then it’s too late. So, you’ll need to know how to deal with your bad professor NOW while you’re still in their class.
Don’t worry. I have some other suggestions.
If you have a bad professor, you can ask them for help, switch classes, embrace the difficulty or withdraw if you don’t want to wait to complete a student evaluation at the end of the semester.
Ask them for help - If your professor can’t teach or you’re having trouble understanding the material because of their abilities, you should ask them for help. Reaching out to them will let them know that they aren’t doing a good job in some areas and maybe they’ll improve. Or at the very least, they know that you are concerned about your grades and learning and are willing to put in the effort.
Switch classes - If you can, and it’s not too late, try switching classes. You usually can’t switch classes too far into the term, but if you are in the first week of class, it might be possible to get into another class. Make sure you check your school’s add/drop policies before you do this. Sometimes colleges will let you do a LATERAL transfer to another class.
Embrace it - You could realize that you are going to have to deal with bad employees in lots of professions, and you should make the best of it. Maybe you need to build a study group with your classmates, or study outside of class more. And ultimately agree that this situation won’t hold you back but it will make you stronger for enduring the class.
Withdraw - If you feel like you are going to fail the class, and you can withdraw and take it with another professor later, you could weigh the pros and cons and do this instead. But read this article before you make any serious decisions. There could be some severe consequences lurking.
How you respond to a bad college professor is going to vary based on your circumstances. There isn’t a one size fits all solution for this problem.
You will have to figure out how to handle it based on your biggest concerns. If you can push through it and avoid this professor in the future, that might be best.
Should I take a course with a bad professor?
It wouldn’t be advised to take a course with a bad professor because you might not learn as much information or your grades could suffer. If they are truly a bad teacher, it would be recommended to find another professor unless you have excellent academic abilities, like to challenge yourself or don’t have another option.
If you really needed to take a course with a bad professor, you could prepare yourself by getting outside tutoring or studying harder.
Keep in mind that you might love the professor despite other students saying that they are BAD. As a former professor, I don’t always find support for students’ opinions of their professors.
Some students love certain professors while other students hated them. It varies so much so don’t write off a professor just because someone thinks their bad. They could be your favorite instructor later.
How to report a bad professor
If you need to report a bad professor, you first need to determine why you need to report them. If they are doing something that you think violates institutional policies, you should contact their superior or the Dean of Student’s Office to get advice. If they are just bad teachers, you should leave quality feedback on their course evaluation.
Okay. If you have a professor who is REALLY doing something that is wrong and you feel like you need to tell someone about their behavior, you should report it.
Obviously if it’s illegal behavior, you should report that to the campus police. But hopefully it isn’t that bad.
If it is something more performance-based, and you’ve exhausted all efforts, you could take it to their boss. Make sure it’s something urgent and legitimate. If you complain about your professor not offering you extra credit, or giving you that grade bump, it won’t likely be taken seriously.
Approach them with the information and let them handle it.
Depending on how your university organization is structured, you would want to go to their Dean. You can locate the department or division that they work for and see who is in a leadership role.
But it’s pretty easy to figure out who their supervisor is by looking online at your college’s website. You could always start by looking at the department they work for to narrow down the possibilities. And someone at the college should be able to help you.
Can you switch college classes if you have a bad professor?
You typically can switch college professors but normally you can only do this during the drop/add period in the very beginning of the semester. And this only lasts about a week depending on the term. After that, you would need to make a lateral transfer.
You need to make sure you understand your college’s registration policies to learn more about switching classes. And understand that this period may vary based on the length of your term.
So, if your professor is bad, and you realize it very early on, you could switch. But be careful because you might end up with another bad professor. You’ll need to do your research and make sure it’s worth it.
And to be honest, it is going to be hard to tell that you have a bad professor only a few days into the semester so use some caution here.
If you already passed this deadline, you might inquire about a lateral transfer to another course. You will probably have to get permission from your current instructor, the new instructor and administration before you transfer.
Not every college will allow students to complete a lateral transfer to another course, and in my experience, it rarely happens. But check your university’s policies to find out if this is an option.
They probably won’t let you do this just because you don’t like your professor though.
I know that after reading this article, you are one step closer to solving your problem.
You’ve got this.
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