<p>josh - it is not a matter of slacking off. The fact is that most schools, even the well endowed, elite, highly selective ones have some tenured professors who are not very good teachers. The school has to keep them on and students have to take classes from them that are boring and uninspiring. If a couple of these professors happen to be in one department, it will mean that that particular department is not very strong, especially if it is a small department. If you are lucky, you can avoid these folks all together or only end up taking a course or two from them. However, if you happen to major in an area with a couple of weak professors you are going to be in for a rough time. Students in this situation often end up changing majors. </p>
<p>Please understand, I am not refering to Oberlin here, just colleges in general. If you want to get an idea of what areas might not be as strong at any particular school, find out how many majors they graduate on average each year. It may be that that particular major just isn’t particularly popular, but it also migh indicate an overall weakness in that area.</p>