How to Find a Great College With Amazing Professors

Your college professors can make or break your higher education experience. Do your research with this advice in mind to find the right school and faculty.

Finding schools with great professors is an essential part of the college search, and it goes far beyond just asking if classes are taught by teaching assistants or actual professors. Most students consider the size, location, and academic offerings of a college, but they fail to think about the essential people leading them to a college degree: the professors. 

Define what makes a good professor

To find colleges or universities with great professors, you must first define what "great" means to you. Do you want to really get to know your professors and possibly work side-by-side on a research project? Then look for smaller liberal arts colleges where each professor’s main focus is teaching undergraduates. Do you want to learn from professors doing groundbreaking research and publishing articles in the most prestigious journals related to their fields? Then look for larger research universities where their focus is contributing to their academic discipline.  

Related: How to Build a Better Relationship With Your Teachers

Consider average class sizes

One factor you can use to determine how great professors are is the average class size of a college or university. This is a statistic that’s announced in just about every admission data presentation. However, just because a class is small doesn't mean that it will be a good experience. Also, there’s often little information behind that statistic. For example, does the college offer small classes in every major or just certain ones? Are the programs with small classes challenging to get into? Do you have to wait until you’re a junior or senior to take smaller classes? These are all important factors to consider. The best way to determine what the "average class size" means at a college or university is to ask a current student about their class sizes and the atmosphere of each one.

Look into student-faculty ratios

Another statistic often cited when determining the quality of the professors is the student-faculty ratio. Similar to class size statistic, this can vary from department to department. For example, an obscure major could have a smaller ratio, while a more popular major could be much higher. It comes down to determining how many students have been admitted to the program you’re interested in and then looking at how many full professors (not adjuncts or teaching assistants) there are in that department. Student-faculty ratios can also be skewed by the type of professors in the department. Adjunct professors tend to be temporary lecturers who teach one or two classes a semester. If the school calculates adjunct professors into their numbers, then the ratio can vary from year to year, and it’s good to consider if adjunct professors are what you want. 

Related: What’s a Student-Faculty Ratio and Why Does It Matter?

Talk to current students

My favorite way to determine how great professors are is to ask the students, but you must be specific to get the answers you really want. Who’s your favorite professor and why? Ask them to tell you about a time they interacted with a professor outside the classroom and how it went or why it impacted them. By asking for specific examples, you’re more likely to hear stories of how professors truly interact with students and get an idea if they’re the kinds of teachers who care about the people in their classes.

Research special programs

Another way to learn about professors is to ask about special programs. Schools with majors or courses that are integrated across departments show that professors are willing to go the extra mile to provide a high-quality education. Teaching within your area of expertise is one thing, but sitting down with another professor and creating a curriculum covering two or more disciplines is no easy task. Students can benefit from learning about a topic or issue from multiple perspectives. Also, colleges or universities that offer programs where professors travel abroad with students or take students to the nearest metropolitan area to learn about an industry firsthand show they have professors invested in their education. 

Related: List: Colleges With Innovative Academic Programs 

Finding the right college with the right professors can mean gaining lifelong mentors—people who’ll not only educate you but change the way you see the world. Professors can also be integral in helping you navigate your career path. Determining how you can connect with professors at the colleges and universities you’re researching may seem like an obscure concern, but it could make all the difference in the world when you get to campus.

Find great colleges and universities with even greater professors using our College Search tool.

Like what you’re reading?

Join the CollegeXpress community! Create a free account and we’ll notify you about new articles, scholarship deadlines, and more.

Join Now

Tags:

About Katherine Price

Katherine Price

Katherine Price is the founder of College Mindset, a company in which Katherine uses her experiences as a former admission officer and student affairs professional to develop a student-centered approach to college counseling. Katherine also helps students develop valuable life skills while navigating the college application process. When she isn’t working with students, she mentors new Independent Educational Consultants to help them build a college counseling curriculum that provides the right amount of challenge and support for students. 

 

Join our community of
over 5 million students!

CollegeXpress has everything you need to simplify your college search, get connected to schools, and find your perfect fit.

Join CollegeXpress

College Quick Connect

Swipe right to request information.
Swipe left if you're not interested.


Jenna

Jenna

High School Class of 2021

CollegeXpress has helped me greatly during my college search. I used their college search feature often and it helped in comparing schools I was looking at. Now that I’ve found a college the scholarship search feature is helping me find a way to find my college experience. CollegeXpress has many helpful features and resources for anyones college search, it truly is a wonderful tool for anyone entering college level!

Katie

Katie

High School Class of 2019

My favorite feature of CollegeXpress is the scholarship search. As someone going out of state for college, I needed all the financial help I could get, and CollegeXpress helped me easily find scholarships I could apply for to help fund my education.

Mimi

Mimi

High School Class of 2022

CollegeXpress has provided me with tips that were for college students, but as a high school junior, they were still very useful. Not only that, it also gave me an idea of what to expect when it comes to going to college or already being in college. I want to say thank you to CollegeXpress, and I hope you continue the wonderful tips until I hopefully get into college and throughout my college journey.

Jeannie Borin, MEd

Jeannie Borin, MEd

President and Founder, College Connections

I frequently visit CollegeXpress to answer questions from students and parents. There are countless hot topics in admissions that need to be addressed. I enjoy reading what my colleagues post and gain additional insight from different perspectives.

Sonny Harris

Sonny Harris

College Student

For the entire year before college, I spent a lot of time deeply considering what major I wanted to go into and how to fund my higher education. After a lot of research, I came across CollegeXpress, which helped me ultimately find a ton of scholarships for which I could apply—and some of which I received! If it weren’t for CollegeXpress, I may not have found those scholarships as they didn't appear on any other scholarship search forum. Additionally, I learned more about the options I had been considering for my major through CollegeXpress’s resources. In the end, I chose to major in Computer Science, as it seemed best suited to me and the careers in the field seemed enjoyable, and I've never been more excited to move into my future! Ultimately, I want to thank CollegeXpress for offering their services. I received enough financial aid in scholarships to fund my entire freshman year of college and even got some money refunded which I used to purchase a new laptop, and I bought all of the books I needed for the semester!