Carney Curve

Boston College course evaluations · every published number, ranked class by class

Positions account for how many records stand behind each number, so one perfect review does not outrank a semester of them. Every score shown is the real average — only the ordering is adjusted.

Class record · ECON · MCAS

ECON 3389

Machine Learning for Economics · 7 instructors on record · 20 sections

What the course score is made of
74BC evaluations20 records · weight ×1.0 · Fall 2021 – Spring 2026
Student reviewsno reviews — does not contribute
RateMyProfessorsno ratings — does not contribute

That is the class itself, averaged across everyone who taught it. Who taught it, and how each of them scored, is the board below — that is what a student picking a section is actually choosing between.

What the challenge rank is made of
42ndMore challenging than 42% of BC classesranked against every one we hold
89BC — “Intellectually Challenging”20 records · raw score out of 100

Boston College's own “intellectually challenging” question for this class only — students answer it positively about courses that stretched them, so it measures intellectual challenge and NOT grading, workload or quality. Almost every BC class scores high on it, which is why it is shown as a rank rather than a score.

What the workload rank is made of
48thMore work than 48% of BC classesranked against every one we hold
59BC — “Workload”20 records · raw score out of 100

Boston College reports workload for this class only as one of five bands, not as a number of hours, and it does not publish what the bands mean — so this site will not translate it into hours. Higher means more work, which is not the same as worse.

Large scale datasets, both in length (number of observations) and width (number of variables) have become ubiquitous across many applied areas. The goal of this course is to provide an introduction to methods that allow us to use these datasets for forecasting and classification, as well as for simplifying these very wide datasets with dimensionality reduction methods. The course will also examine how to explore network connectivity with such long and wide datasets. The course will make use of computational libraries from Python, Julia, or Matlab, but students are free to make use of other coding methods, such as R or Stata.

The board

7 instructors · ranked on this class onlyCompare the top 3

Scores are real averages. The order also accounts for how many records back each one — the count is under every score — so one perfect review does not outrank a semester of them. 1 of the 7 rows carry a mark saying so.

RankInstructorOverallWorkloadChallengeRMP overall
1Yunus Semih CoskunEconomics923 records78th63rdno page
2Shane McmikenEconomics Provisional842 records78th55thno page
3Haydar EvrenEconomics Provisional782 records78th30thno page
4Arnab PalitEconomics774 records78th51st401 rating · all classes
5Anshuman BhakriEconomics Provisional fewer records711 record78th29thno page
6Anatoly ArlashinAdvancing Studies734 records81st48th1002 ratings · all classes
7Pietro VisaggioEconomics734 records39th34thno page

How this board is orderedPositions account for how many records stand behind each number, so one perfect review does not outrank a semester of them. Every score shown is the real average — only the ordering is adjusted. The comparison here is the class itself: a thin record is read against how this class was rated overall, not against the university.

Every instructor with an evaluation record for this class is on this board — it is not a top ten, and nothing is hidden behind a “show more”. Overall is the instructor's blended score for THIS class only, and its one contributing source is Boston College's evaluations for the sections in the row's record count — nothing on this board is an average across the other things they teach. Workload and Challenge are RANKS against every class we hold, not scores: BC's questions all sit near the top of the 1-5 scale, so a raw number would put almost every row in the high eighties and tell you nothing. Challenge is BC's “intellectually challenging” item, which students answer positively about courses that stretched them — it is not a measure of difficulty or grading. Neither column is ever marked better or worse. 3 of 7 rows are marked provisional: fewer than 3 records stand behind the number. That is thin evidence, not a bad instructor — the record count is in every row. The RateMyProfessors column is an instructor's overall figure across everything they teach; that site has no course dimension, so it is shown for information and kept out of the ranking.

The line

All 13 items · means across 20 records
The Professor4 items
Clearly Explains MaterialThe instructor was effective at creating an understanding of difficult subject matter.
8410th pctl
Available Outside of ClassThe instructor was available for help outside of class.
8716th pctl
Brings Out Your Best WorkThe instructor motivated me to do my best work.
806th pctl
Sparked My InterestThe course stimulated my interest in the subject matter.
802nd pctl
The Course3 items
Well-Organized CourseThe course was well organized.
8419th pctl
Clear Learning GoalsThe learning objectives for the course were clear.
8313th pctl
Useful Beyond the CourseWhat I learned is applicable beyond this course.
8820th pctl
Assignments & Feedback3 items
Assignments Help You LearnAssignments and exams contributed to my learning.
8211th pctl
Gives Feedback PromptlyI received feedback on my work in a timely manner.
8521st pctl
Meaningful FeedbackThe feedback I received on my work was meaningful.
8213th pctl
Workload, difficulty & attendanceNot ratings
WorkloadHow much work the course took outside class, on Boston College's five-band scale — the band boundaries are not published, so this is not a number of hours.
5948th pctl
Intellectually ChallengingThe course was intellectually challenging.
8942nd pctl
Attendance MattersAttending class was necessary to do well in this course.
8011th pctl

Bar length is the rank against every comparable record we hold, not the raw score: BC's questions all have a median around 4.5, so a raw-scale bar would be nearly full on every row and would tell you nothing. Every bar is one ink colour — nothing here is graded green or red. The hatched bars are not ratings at all: a higher number on either describes a different course, not a better one.

Game log

20 sections · newest first
InstructorTermSecInstrCourseWork
Pietro VisaggioSpring 202602706340
Pietro VisaggioSpring 202603807360
Pietro VisaggioFall 202501635840
Pietro VisaggioFall 202502777460
Shane McmikenSpring 202502868460
Shane McmikenSpring 202503827260
Anshuman BhakriFall 202402717760
Yunus Semih CoskunSummer 202401100100
Yunus Semih CoskunSummer 202403756560
Arnab PalitSpring 202401817460
Arnab PalitFall 2023017875
Arnab PalitFall 2023028375
Arnab PalitSummer 2023016460
Yunus Semih CoskunSummer 202303100100
Anatoly ArlashinSummer 202201808080
Anatoly ArlashinSummer 2022027367
Haydar EvrenSpring 202201777860
Haydar EvrenSpring 202203786960
Anatoly ArlashinFall 202101706760
Anatoly ArlashinFall 202102696860

How to read this boardInstructors are ranked on their record in this class only, never on their average across everything they teach. Scores are out of 100 — Boston College's 1–5 agreement scale, ×20, the way these numbers were printed for years. Workload is BC's own five-band figure, not a number of hours, and is shown as a rank. A dash means the question was not reported, and is never a zero.