Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums College Which colleges have good teaching?

This was important to us as well. I am not sure about sources of “aggregate information” other than the usual; in other words, many of the ranking systems do have rankings for undergraduate teaching, though much of this is probably quite general and I would assume, based on student surveys.

Some places do have strong reputations for undergrad teaching, either generally or in specific departments, but I guess some of that we just absorbed via osmosis during the long slog of researching places, kind of a “people say...”. However, one can ask about who specifically teaches, particularly the undergrad intro or required classes, how many classes/profs use TAs and in what capacity, etc. Also whether research and job opportunities are reserved for undergrads. Overall size, and specifically class sizes might help tease some of this out as well. DD was very lucky to have several classes with under 20 students her first year, which certainly fostered good teaching and strong relationships. (This was true even in an intro science class where she was accepted into a small (18 student) honors section that had more in-depth labwork, all taught directly by the prof).

Teaching strength was certainly a factor in my DDs choices- she is at a school that focuses on undergrads and undergraduate teaching; TAs have minimal roles in teaching, being mainly used for grading help or running small sections of a class where more problem-solving help or lab help is required. All of her classes are taught by the professors (exceptions being TA help for labs, both in sciences and in language drill sessions, hands-on humanities things like music theory practicals, etc). There are grad students and several grad schools at her college, so students can take grad classes at these schools, but they don’t compete with grad students for research experiences- something else you can ask about, though finding hard data will probably not be possible.

There are other informal measures of how undergrad teaching and the interaction between students and faculty is valued. DDs school has a program where a student (or group of students) can take one prof out to lunch each term, to a nice restaurant, paid for by the college, Some schools have musical groups that are comprised of mixed student/community members/faculty, so kids might play alongside their teacher(s). Housing systems can facilitate student/faculty engagement, with professors assigned to housing communities, living within or near the student housing, hosting dinners, lectures and outings for their assigned “house”.

So, my advice is to ask lots of specifics, on the tour, in the information session, in departmental visits, ask students you see around campus. Other than general rankings, I don’t think this is something one can find online.