Watch CBS News

25 colleges with the worst professors

This post is part of a series on schools with the best and worst college professors. Read the other post on the 25 colleges with the best professors.

Which colleges and universities have the worst professors?

The upper Midwest is a hot bed for bad professors, according to data an education think tank culled from millions of RateMyProfessor teacher evaluations.

Among the top 25 schools with the worst professors, six of them hail from Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Nearly a third come from all parts of the Midwest.

The pair of schools with the lousiest teachers are service academies -- U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and U.S. Coast Guard Academy. Here's what curious about this -- two other service academies -- United States Military Academy and the Air Force Academy -- earned spots on the list of colleges with the best professors.

The list with the poor teachers is just about evenly divided among private universities (13) and public universities (12). At least seven of the schools focus on engineering, which is a brutally hard major.

25 schools with the Worst Professors

  • U.S. Merchant Marine Academy NY
  • U.S. Coast Guard Academy, CT
  • Tuskegee University, AL
  • Michigan Technological University
  • New Jersey Institute of Technology
  • Milwaukee School of Engineering, WI
  • Bryant University, RI
  • Bentley University, MA
  • St. Cloud State University, MN
  • Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, NY
  • Minnesota State University, Mankato
  • Western Michigan University
  • Widener University, PA
  • Worcester Polytechnic Institute MA
  • Central Michigan University
  • Seton Hall University, NJ
  • Pace University, NY
  • Iowa State University
  • Drexel University, PA
  • University of Toledo, OH
  • Howard University, Wash. DC
  • St. John Fisher College, NY
  • University of North Dakota
  • Truman State University, MO
  • Mount Union College, OH

The worst professor list came from RateMyProfessor data gathered by the Center for College Affordability and Productivity. Every year, the think tank uses these professor ratings when it compiles its annual college rankings for Forbes.

If your school isn't on the list, I wouldn't relax too much. The center only looked at 610 schools. You can find the professor rankings for each of these schools, which include all the nation's most prominent institutions, by checking the center's component rankings scores. Just look for the column with the abbreviation RMP.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.