Anyone use Rate My Professors .com?

[sanantone]

Many jobs require a BS+ and the Edu-Gov't Complex will make you take Gen Ed. The way to mitigate the nonsense is use RMP.:hurray:

You're still paying for the courses and having to sit through them, so you aren't doing much of anything with RMP. The "Edu-Gov't Complex" is not making you take gen ed. Private universities require gen ed and always have, and the government does not directly accredit schools unless you're talking about the state of New York which only accredits 22 colleges. Accrediting agencies are private organizations. There are many good-paying jobs that only require an associate's degree or certificate of training. A lot of these jobs have shortages of qualified workers, so go for it.

[TrailRunr]

This is not true. The most popular majors have remained relatively stable. CJ is not a gen ed subject, it remains extremely popular, and it has a very high underemployment rate. Business administration/management remains as the most popular major, and this major also has a high underemployment rate. Some of the social sciences and humanities remain in the top 10. No one is forced to take Asian Studies and philosophy unless you attend a for-profit that maps out your gen eds due to limited options. If people didn't have to take a science, the only thing that would keep those departments afloat would be STEM and healthcare majors. There are hardly any STEM majors in the top 10.

The real reason for gen ed is tradition. Universities have been this way for thousands of years. They were never meant to be vocational schools. What I tell people who don't like gen ed is to not go to a 4-year college because it is not meant for them. They can get an AAS or certificate and be done with it.

Science and/or math are fundamental parts of nursing, engineering, and computer science. There is no way to make STEM optional. Philosophy you can get rid of even though many programs are trying to put in ethics requirements so that they can pretend grads are honest and won't cheat.

At the top public universities I care about in California, business administration (eg. Haas), nursing/pre-nursing, engineering, undeclared (this "major" is highly discouraged nowadays), and computer science are all oversubscribed with absurdly high GPA requirements due to demand wildly outpacing supply. I guess it's different in Texas. CJ is not a major at the Univ of California at all, especially since it's too vocational. At SJSU, CJ is a good bit below the most popular majors of CS, accounting, undeclared, and nursing. Law enforcement salaries and pensions are high in California, so it makes sense that CJ has some demand, but it's still way behind accounting, CS, and nursing. The only reason the other majors have students is because the rejects have to major in something or transfer out. Look at this link and use GPA as an indication of popularity.

Info.sjsu.edu

If the resources wasted on excessive GE requirements are put into the popular majors, more people would be able to get degrees that employers actually want. The way it's been done, tradition, tenure, well-rounded grads, ethics, multicultural requirements, blah blah blah..... I don't care. It's a waste of time and money, and it's time for taxpayers to demand change and pull the subsidy on useless departments. Yes, layoff the philosophy professor and hire a CS, accounting, or nursing professor in his place.

Edit: I have a BA so my GE is waived. I have no skin in this except as an angry taxpayer.

[sanantone]

Science and/or math are fundamental parts of nursing, engineering, and computer science. There is no way to make STEM optional. Philosophy you can get rid of even though many programs are trying to put in ethics requirements so that they can pretend grads are honest and won't cheat.

That doesn't mean that every student has to take those courses. Most licensed professions require an ethics course to be taken as a CEU, so they obviously see value in it. You don't need a whole philosophy department for ethics courses. Professors in any department with any degree can teach ethics. Ethics in CJ courses are not taught by professors in the philosophy department; they are taught by professors in the criminal justice department.

Since we're talking about fundamental parts of certain majors, you can't have licensed professional counselors, licensed mental health counselors, licensed marriage and family therapists, psychologists, licensed psychological technicians/associates, social workers, occupational therapists, or even psychiatrists and psychiatric nurse practitioners without behavioral science curriculum. The shortage of workers in these areas is so severe that some states and the federal government have special student loan repayment programs for them. Your state participates in a program to repay the student loans of mental health providers.

At the top public universities I care about in California, business administration (eg. Haas), nursing/pre-nursing, engineering, undeclared (this "major" is highly discouraged nowadays), and computer science are all oversubscribed with absurdly high GPA requirements due to demand wildly outpacing supply.

As I already said, business administration is the most popular major. However, it has a high underemployment rate due to oversaturation. A lot of business administration majors will end up in jobs that don't require a degree. Nationwide, engineering is not among the top 10 most popular majors. If you look at the GMAT, GRE, and LSAT scores of business administration majors, you will see that business administration is not a major that weeds out many mediocre students. On the other hand, philosophy and economics majors tend to score very well on these exams. Humanities majors, surprisingly, do better than biology majors on the MCAT.

Same as it ever was: Top 10 most popular college majors | Career Path News for College Students | USA TODAY College

I guess it's different in Texas. CJ is not a major at the Univ of California at all, especially since it's too vocational. At SJSU, CJ is a good bit below the most popular majors of CS, accounting, undeclared, and nursing. Law enforcement salaries and pensions are high in California, so it makes sense that CJ has some demand, but it's still way behind accounting, CS, and nursing. The only reason the other majors have students is because the rejects have to major in something or transfer out. Look at this link and use GPA as an indication of popularity.

Only 1% of police departments require a bachelor's degree, and when they do, they normally do not require a specific degree. Only 25% of police departments require an associate's degree. It is even rarer for corrections officer positions to require any kind of degree. Despite this, CJ is one of the most popular majors in the country. CJ majors are considered underemployed because they are largely employed in positions that do not require a degree.

If the resources wasted on excessive GE requirements are put into the popular majors, more people would be able to get degrees that employers actually want. The way it's been done, tradition, tenure, well-rounded grads, ethics, multicultural requirements, blah blah blah..... I don't care. It's a waste of time and money, and it's time for taxpayers to demand change and pull the subsidy on useless departments. Yes, layoff the philosophy professor and hire a CS, accounting, or nursing professor in his place.

You're forgetting that history, psychology, liberal arts/general studies, and English are among the most popular majors. No one is going to get rid of English departments since writing is essential to almost every decent job and every major. People aren't having trouble finding accounting and computer science programs to get into. If a school has a problem with staffing CS and accounting programs, it is due to the lack of people with doctoral degrees in those fields who want to work in academia; it is not due to the subsidizing of other departments. The salaries for CS and accounting professors are high because there aren't enough people wanting to teach those subjects.

[Life Long Learning]

Gov't jobs with real fixed retirements (defined benefit plans) generally require a BS. I agree AAS degrees are excellent and provide real skills, but it depends on your goal. I aim towards careers (triple dipper) with defined benefit plans not sexy titles nor high pay high turn over fields.

The military should do away with the civilian college paper degree mentality and educate and train their own. Same with other industries.

You're still paying for the courses and having to sit through them, so you aren't doing much of anything with RMP. The "Edu-Gov't Complex" is not making you take gen ed. Private universities require gen ed and always have, and the government does not directly accredit schools unless you're talking about the state of New York which only accredits 22 colleges. Accrediting agencies are private organizations. There are many good-paying jobs that only require an associate's degree or certificate of training. A lot of these jobs have shortages of qualified workers, so go for it.

[sanantone]

Science and/or math are fundamental parts of nursing, engineering, and computer science. There is no way to make STEM optional. Philosophy you can get rid of even though many programs are trying to put in ethics requirements so that they can pretend grads are honest and won't cheat.

At the top public universities I care about in California, business administration (eg. Haas), nursing/pre-nursing, engineering, undeclared (this "major" is highly discouraged nowadays), and computer science are all oversubscribed with absurdly high GPA requirements due to demand wildly outpacing supply. I guess it's different in Texas. CJ is not a major at the Univ of California at all, especially since it's too vocational. At SJSU, CJ is a good bit below the most popular majors of CS, accounting, undeclared, and nursing. Law enforcement salaries and pensions are high in California, so it makes sense that CJ has some demand, but it's still way behind accounting, CS, and nursing. The only reason the other majors have students is because the rejects have to major in something or transfer out. Look at this link and use GPA as an indication of popularity.

Info.sjsu.edu

If the resources wasted on excessive GE requirements are put into the popular majors, more people would be able to get degrees that employers actually want. The way it's been done, tradition, tenure, well-rounded grads, ethics, multicultural requirements, blah blah blah..... I don't care. It's a waste of time and money, and it's time for taxpayers to demand change and pull the subsidy on useless departments. Yes, layoff the philosophy professor and hire a CS, accounting, or nursing professor in his place.

Edit: I have a BA so my GE is waived. I have no skin in this except as an angry taxpayer.

I just took a look at your SJSU link. Have you ever thought that GPA thresholds are tied to the difficulty of the subject or licensing and not popularity? But, if they are based on popularity, there are some interesting things to note. The GPA requirements for many of the STEM and business majors are rather low. Communication Studies requires a higher GPA than Computer Engineering and the same GPA as Engineering. Social work requires a higher GPA than all but two of the business majors and the same GPA as software engineering. I see that Kinesiology requires a rather high GPA, but there is not much of a job market for Kinesiology majors. It might be a popular major at some schools, but it's not something employers really want in large numbers. A BA in Environmental Studies also requires a rather high GPA. It actually requires a higher GPA than a BS in Environmental Studies. This is more of a policy-oriented degree than an environmental science degree, but it must be rather popular according to your theory of GPA being tied to popularity. The job market for animation is terrible, but the Animation and Illustration program requires a super high GPA. Do employers really want a general business administration degree more than a finance degree? I doubt it. Popularity of majors is often not tied to what the job market is demanding.

[sanantone]

Gov't jobs with real fixed retirements (defined benefit plans) generally require a BS. I agree AAS degrees are excellent and provide real skills, but it depends on your goal. I aim towards careers (triple dipper) with defined benefit plans not sexy titles nor high pay high turn over fields.

The military should do away with the civilian college paper degree mentality and educate and train their own. Same with other industries.

When you're depending on benefits and a salary paid for by taxpayers, there is really not much room to complain. Most people, however, do not end up working for the government.

[Life Long Learning]

All career choices that we all must make. Pensions are/were a goal of mine. I do not believe the Edu-Gov't complex propaganda and have done well. Many believe the propaganda it and strive for very unsuccessful goals. Gen-Ed will never teach you this.

When you're depending on benefits and a salary paid for by taxpayers, there is really not much room to complain. Most people, however, do not end up working for the government.

[sanantone]

All career choices that we all must make. Pensions are/were a goal of mine. I do not believe the Edu-Gov't complex propaganda and have done well. Many believe the propaganda it and strive for very unsuccessful goals. Gen-Ed will never teach you this.

I don't believe there is any propaganda in this area. I'm not the conspiracy theorist type who thinks the government is out to get me. Gen ed requirements have nothing to do with people having unsuccessful goals. The government is not pushing for people to major in non-STEM fields; it's doing the opposite.

I learned a lot from gen ed courses/tests. I learned which subjects I like and which subjects I don't like. This helps when choosing a career. I learned more about history and how the government operates. Some people don't see the value in knowing your own history and civics, which I think is pretty dumb. I think everyone should be required to take statistics and/or research methods. They would make less illogical conclusions and be able to scrutinize questionable studies.

Why do philosophy majors tend to score so high on graduate admissions tests? One possible reason is that more intelligent people choose to major in philosophy. Self-selection bias is something you learn about in statistics. Another possible reason is that philosophy coursework helps build analytical skills.

[Life Long Learning]

How well do philosophy majors do in life?

I do not consider GMAT, LSAT, GRE, SAT and ACT test takers more intelligent people. Just tests written by the Edu-Gov complex.

I also learned a ton from history and genealogy. Most studied on my own. One who majors in History vs general Gen-Ed courses are not the same thing. I respect a history major....GenEdu not so much.

I don't believe there is any propaganda in this area. I'm not the conspiracy theorist type who thinks the government is out to get me. Gen ed requirements have nothing to do with people having unsuccessful goals. The government is not pushing for people to major in non-STEM fields; it's doing the opposite.

I learned a lot from gen ed courses/tests. I learned which subjects I like and which subjects I don't like. This helps when choosing a career. I learned more about history and how the government operates. Some people don't see the value in knowing your own history and civics, which I think is pretty dumb. I think everyone should be required to take statistics and/or research methods. They would make less illogical conclusions and be able to scrutinize questionable studies.

Why do philosophy majors tend to score so high on graduate admissions tests? One possible reason is that more intelligent people choose to major in philosophy. Self-selection bias is something you learn about in statistics. Another possible reason is that philosophy coursework helps build analytical skills.

[sanantone]

How well do philosophy majors do in life?

They do well when they go to a top law school or go into a medical professional. According to Payscale, the mid-career salary for having a philosophy degree, alone, is not that bad and is higher than majors such as biochemistry and information technology. You can go into a field that requires any generic bachelor's (many business jobs fall into that category) and work your way up. So, even though employers rarely specifically ask for a philosphy degree, the analytical skills of philosophy majors help them excel in the jobs they do get.

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/top-best-...03186.html

Highest Paying Bachelors Degrees | PayScale

I do not consider GMAT, LSAT, GRE, SAT and ACT test takers more intelligent people. Just tests written by the Edu-Gov complex.

Here we go again... We can rarely have a long discussion on this forum without someone bringing in government conspiracy theories or blaming the government for everything that's wrong in the world. Regardless of what one thinks about graduate admissions tests (there is evidence that they aren't all that great at predicting success), you need them to get into many graduate programs. If you're scoring low, then your options will be limited to lower-tiered schools in most cases or Caribbean medical schools and possibly programs that offer no funding for assistantships.

I also learned a ton from history and genealogy. Most studied on my own. One who majors in History vs general Gen-Ed courses are not the same thing. I respect a history major....GenEdu not so much.

According to Trainrunr, who you seem to agree with a lot, history and other majors like it are a waste of taxpayer dollars and are only being kept afloat by general education requirements. Of course, since my posts do not align with your opinions and ideology, you do not like the facts I posted showing that history is a popular major that does not need to be propped up by general education requirements. Just because someone chooses not to major in history does not mean that it is not important to learn the basics of history.

I apologize for contributing to the off-topic discussion in this thread. My original points were

1. I, personally, would want to get something out of a course I paid several hundred dollars for and spent 8-16 weeks completing. Some people aren't paying for their education, so they don't care about throwing away money.

2. Review sites suffer from self-selection bias. Those who have a complaint are more likely to write a review.

3. I'm not sure if RMP is all that useful for graduate students since most of the reviews are written by undergraduate students.

4. Many students complain about things I find petty while not paying attention to things I think are important.

5. I think RMP is better used for finding which instructors are awful rather than looking for an easy A, but some people don't care about learning and it shows.