How do you know if a college has a lot of professors with hard to undertand accents?

[Everythingbut]

Who do you ask for questions like this?
.
.

[wesnr1]

For that information, try stopping a student when you visit the school, preferably one who doesn't work for the admissions office.

[Kajon]

You can always dig around by school or name on Rate My Professors | Find and rate your professor, campus and more - RateMyProfessors.com the kids who write in tend to tell it like it is!

[Everythingbut]

Thanks that's what I was wondering if I could ask the tour guide or not. You hit the nail on it's head.

Now that I'm home from the tour is there a way to find this out by email?

[Kajon]

Or you could try this link and scrOll down to the alphabetical list. http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/

[Everythingbut]

Thanks Kajon I just saw your 2 posts.
I'm checking the links now

[NJSue]

Large research universities with big graduate programs are more likely to use international graduate students without much (if any) pedagogical training or familiarity with the American educational system to teach intro undergraduate courses. The issue with hard-to-understand instructors is going to exist primarily at these kinds of schools.

[beolein]

If you get someone you cannot understand, and if others in the class cannot understand that person, you all can go to the department head and higher for a fix.

[limulus]

My D and I went to an Accepted Students Day at a school at the very top of her list. There was an information fair with professors there. We asked a question about teaching assistants in the classrooms, recitations, and labs. He proudly told us that they run an intensive oral English language program for their graduate students every August.

Huge red flag! D is attending another school.

[Whatdidyou]

hehe, you're going to have plenty of these teachers no matter what school you go to. However, like someone else above said, research-based institutions likely have more.

In reality, this is sort of a silly thing to base your college decision off of. There are so many more actual important things to worry about.

[cobrat]

I wouldn't care because IMHO....this is good preparation for dealing with co-workers, and most importantly....clients who have strong accents.

What? You're going to complain and ask for different co-workers and clients?!!

A couple of fresh college grads at one place I worked were fired for acting as if they could do exactly that with several much more experienced/proven colleagues.....don't think so....

[NJSue]

hehe, you're going to have plenty of these teachers no matter what school you go to.

Not really. Many colleges have international faculty but at LACs, for example, those faculty are more likely to be full-time experienced teachers with English-language communication skills and teaching background far superior to those of freshly arrived graduate student TAs at huge research institutions.

And it's not a silly consideration, nor is it xenophobia. Students in any and all countries have the right to be taught by someone with decent communication skills in the designated language of instruction.

[fauxmaven]

You could ask a few people on line , and they will probably tell you the truth. Just look for a thread from the school you are interested in ,and PM a few students !

[warbrain]

I know at least a few professors that get complaints all the time about their accents, but have lived in the US for the majority of their lives, and are probably more familiar English than any other language. If it's not xenophobia, at the very least, it's students looking for a scapegoat for their poor performance.

[tx5athome]

I graduated pharmacy school 23 years ago from the top ranked pharmacy school in the nation (at the time, I am not sure about now). There were quite a few of my professors (long-standing professors, not graduate students) who I had trouble understanding. They were absolute geniuses in their fields, but between their accents and their communication skills, we often had a difficult time understanding them. I think it is much more common in math and science. I guess I agree with cobrat, it is good preparation for life.