Month: February 2023

Professors, and the way they approach education, can make or break someone’s college experience. 

When I was getting close to starting my freshman year of college, I was worried about a lot including if I would like my professors. I expressed my concern to one of my friends, and she told me about Rate My Professors. 

Rate My Professors allows students to search for specific professors from a college or university, give professors a rating based on the student’s experience in the class, and see what other people thought of them. 

I immediately went to the website and began searching for my professors to see what reviews past students had given them. However, this only added to my worry because I had found most of my professors were given low reviews by past students. I spent the next couple of weeks leading up to the start of the semester imagining my classes being miserable due to my professors. 

When the semester finally began, I was pleasantly surprised. Most, if not all, of the professors that were given bad reviews were helpful and understood their students. I was confused for a few days until I realized something.

Whenever I have had a good experience in the past with nearly anything, I never think to leave a good review about it. However, when I have a bad experience, I am far more likely to leave a review.

This makes Rate My Professors unreliable. It dilutes the positive experiences someone may have and highlights the negative experiences. 

I noticed a similar phenomenon when I worked at a fast-food restaurant in high school. Out of boredom, I logged onto the Google reviews for our restaurant and began to read them. I found almost no positive reviews and began to worry I worked at a below-standard restaurant. However, only a few weeks later, we began to hand out surveys with each meal asking people to fill them out based on their experience at the restaurant. We still received a similar amount of negative reviews, but the number of positive reviews we received had increased. 

Another reason Rate My Professors is unreliable is simply due to a lack of effort from the students. I can think of many times throughout my life when a student has done the bare minimum in a class only to come to the professor near the end of the semester and get mad for not passing them. I believe this is the case for many students who use Rate My Professors. Many students will take a class expecting it to be an easy A grade and get frustrated when they are confronted with actual work. This is something that should never be blamed on the professor but often is. 

One student on Rate My Professors wrote a negative review regarding Rhiannon Bent, an assistant professor of communication. They said: “Professor Bent is extremely detail oriented. Her grading style is extremely difficult to meet and likes to think that she’s benefiting the students by picking every little detail.”

As someone who has taken a class with Bent, I find this review interesting as the class she teaches is preparing students to enter a very detail-oriented field, so her being attentive to details helped me grow as a student.

Aside from the reliability of Rate My Professors, it has the potential to be damaging to a professor’s career and reputation.

College classrooms are a two-way street between the student and the professor. From my experience, most, if not all, of the professors at Utah Tech University are willing to work with you and put in the effort to help you succeed as long as you are willing to do the same. 

I encourage anyone who may be worried about a professor in one of their classes to try the class before relying on Rate My Professors. If you are struggling, then be transparent with your professor, and I am willing to bet they’ll be willing to help.

If students think college is hard, imagine raising children on top of their other academic responsibilities.

Parenthood is not something to be taken lightly as you’re constantly shaping the life of a new human and preparing them for the outside world. While this task is hard enough, it’s even harder when schools like Utah Tech University don’t have a day care for the likes of infants.

This is an absolute shame.

Many students begin parenthood while earning their degree, and while I don’t have any children, I’m a proud uncle of eight children with two on the way. I’ve seen my siblings struggle with their academic lives while also trying to put food on the table.

My sister-in-law gave birth to two incredibly energetic boys while she was in college at Southern Utah University. When I asked her how she was able to make it through college while also earning high grades, she told me how grateful she was for the child care services on offer at SUU.

One of the previous presidents of SUU donated the campus president’s house to the university to become a day care service for the faculty and students on campus. While this is not a free service, it was still affordable for students.

This allowed my sister-in-law to attend her classes while knowing her children were being cared for. This is the advantage of having a day care on campus; it allows for students to give their all to their studies while also providing educational experiences for their children as well.

Utah Tech doesn’t have a day care, but they do have a preschool for children starting at 3 years old. Preschool Coordinator Kari Young receives various inquiries about day care services on campus, and it’s gotten to the point where she has to mention the lack of a day care every time she answers the phone.

“It’s a pretty constant battle,” said Young. “We start offering services for faculty and students once their child turns three, and we’ve received many a request for day care service for students.”

So why is there no day care? Well, Young believes it’s due to a lack of funding in the department.

This doesn’t just apply to Utah Tech’s situation with child care. Almost every university in Utah struggles with funding and scheduling for day care programs that cater to children of various ages. Even with all the financial burdens, it seems like many of these universities care about giving students the necessary resources to both excel in their studies and parenthood.

Now one could easily ask a parent, “Why don’t you just get a babysitter?”

I asked everyone of my siblings this same question when I was frustrated about them not hanging out with me as much. Every time I got the same answer.

It’s very difficult to trust an amateur with the welfare of a child.

While there are many ways to find babysitters, a day care or child care service offered at a university allows a sense of trust and lets the child interact with more kids their age.

Even if funding such a day care service costs a lot of money, it falls in the same necessity as new facilities that encourage deeper learning. The university has no problem investing in projects like the Atwood Innovation Plaza, so they can do the same and provide a helping hand to students who are juggling such important responsibilities.

At Utah Tech University, student enrollment is only growing due to the school changing and adapting to newer approaches to benefit the students.

Students who are considering what university to attend have the option to research online the Dean’s List by Turning Point USA. The Dean’s ranked universities on categories such as the learning environment, debt, diversity and inclusion. The schools are given a grade similar to what you would see on a report card.

Although not ranked on the Dean’s List, Education Magazine writers ranked Utah Tech in the top 10 best arts and science colleges. Along with this, Utah Tech takes first place for the most affordable public university within the state of Utah, awarded by the Utah System of Higher Education.

Utah Tech excels at having a high acceptance rate and implementing their academic motto, while needing improvement on inclusivity and on-campus food options.

Acceptance rate – A+

Utah Tech has a 100% acceptance rate, which is incredible because it gives students the chance to attend college even if their grades throughout high school weren’t outstanding.

High school was a very hard time for me. I struggled to find my place and did not feel like I belonged. This affected my academic standing. I moved schools three times, and I flew under the radar with my grades. Fortunately, I was able to graduate high school.

With my grades, I wouldn’t have been accepted to very many colleges. I applied to Utah Tech and was accepted. Utah Tech college admission counselors give any applicant wanting to attend a higher education institution the opportunity to do so. Because of this, I would give the college an “A+” rating in the acceptance rate category.

Academics – A

Utah Tech faculty takes pride in the motto “Active Learning. Active Life.” From what I’ve seen, professors stand by this motto when fulfilling their teaching responsibilities.

Learning is about retaining information and being able to put it into action. This is essential to getting a degree and being able to succeed in the career field a student has chosen.

As a kinetic-style learner, I comprehend material by participating in hands-on learning. The “Active Learning. Active Life.” teaching style helps me learn and understand what my professors are teaching.

I would give Utah Tech an “A” in the academics category because its academic motto is emphasized on campus to put learning into practice.

Inclusivity – D

Utah Tech could improve on segregation for on-campus student housing.

Currently, there are not any options for different genders to live together unless they are legally married. Even the married students don’t have space to live on campus. They have to go to an off-campus, married housing site.

Non-segregation is important because students don’t always fit into a certain stereotypical box and accommodations need to be made. In today’s society, there is more awareness on transgender, non-binary students and young married couples. It is important for the school’s housing employees to help everyone feel safe, comfortable and included wherever they are living.

I would rate Utah Tech a “D” in the inclusivity category because it is segregated, and there aren’t any options for inclusive, on-campus housing.

Campus food – D

Utah Tech dining services could also improve on the options for food on-campus.

Most universities have multiple dining halls and a student union with many restaurants offered. The Trailblazer Cafe has 2-3 restaurants serving food throughout the day. There is also a Subway, Stacks and Brooks’ Stop. The Human Performance Center has a B-Fruity juice bar with smoothies and snacks.

I notice when looking for food options on campus, there is not a variety of fruits and vegetables. I have the option to go to B-Fruity, but I am allergic to the majority of their smoothies. I also don’t see a lot of Vegan, gluten-free and dairy-free selections. It is important to have diet friendly options for a big group of people.

Niche, another college rating website, grades Utah Tech’s campus food as a “B+.” I strongly disagree with this grade because Chick-fil-A and Pizza Hut do not offer the healthiest selections.

I would give Utah Tech a “D” for the food category due to the non diet-friendly choices.

Utah Tech currently has much to offer including many great resources and academic approaches but still has room for improvement in other categories.