Pick-a-Prof reveals grading histories

Students at 180 colleges and universities around the country now have the option of shopping for courses like they shop for the latest electronic devices.

Pick-a-Prof — pickaprof.com — allows students to view professors' grading histories, write course reviews and evaluate professors' responsiveness. Students can also trade textbooks and download recordings of lectures onto their iPods.

The six-year-old company based in Austin, Texas, seeks to be "a one-stop academic shop," said its university relations director Karen Bragg.

After receiving requests from students, professors or administrators, Pick-a-Prof typically contracts with student governments. The service costs between $5,000 and $10,000, according to The New York Times.

At this time the USG has no plans to buy the Pick-a-Prof service.

USG president Alex Lenahan '07 said he would approach Pick-a-Prof with an open mind, but noted that "the company would have to make an effective case for their product in the Princeton context," as most of the services offered are already available elsewhere.

"There's no reason for Princeton to support Blackboard, Point, SCG, and an external product like Pick-a-Prof," USG academics chair Cailtin Sullivan '07 said in an email.

Unlike Pick-a-Prof, none of the University's current services divulge course-by-course grade distributions, but Sullivan was concerned that making such histories available might worsen academic competition at the University.

"At Princeton, where grades can be emphasized to the point of adversely affecting performance, we'd have to take seriously the effects, on professors and students, of tracking grades separately for each professor," she said.

But student interest in Pick-a-Prof remains high on many other campuses. In its first test year at Texas A&M, 80 percent of undergraduates used Pick-a-Prof, Bragg said. Students often run their course schedules by Pick-a-Prof before registration, checking for the difficulty of the courses and their professors.

University spokeswoman Cass Cliatt '96 said in an email that no one has ever approached her to request course-by-course grade information. Since individual departments are responsible for awarding grades, the University does not keep grading data on professors or courses.

Even if the USG decided to subscribe to Pick-a-Prof, Nassau Hall would have the final say on whether the service comes to the University. As a private university, Princeton has no legal obligation to release grading information to outside parties.

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Pick-a-Prof has successfully argued in court that public schools — as a matter of public record — cannot withhold grading histories. The company won a test case against the University of California, Davis, which eventually released the grades and paid Pick-a-Prof's legal fees.