Class record · HIST · MCAS

HIST 2817

The U.S. Presidency · 1 instructor on record · 3 sections

What the course score is made of

89BC evaluations3 records · weight ×1.0 · Fall 2023 – Fall 2025

—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

44thMore challenging than 44% of BC classesranked against every one we hold

90BC — “Intellectually Challenging”3 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

39thMore work than 39% of BC classesranked against every one we hold

50BC — “Workload”3 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.

Fulfills US History requirement for History Majors.This course will provide a survey of the Presidency of the United States from its invention at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 to the present day. We will proceed chronologically through all the Presidents and their Administrations, with particular focus on Presidents who are traditionally regarded as less than successful. From this basis we will also spend considerable time on the issue of how all Presidents reputations tend to fluctuate over time. We will also discuss issues such as the expectations Americans traditionally place on Presidents and whether those are realistic. Each student will produced a final project on a particular President whose reputation and its ups and downs interest them.

The only instructor on record

3 sections · nobody else has taught itFull record

Instructor	Overall	Workload	Challenge	RMP overall
Thomas MurphyHistory	943 records	39th	44th	864 ratings · all classes

There is no ranking to read here: Thomas Murphy is the only instructor with evaluation records for HIST 2817, so the number is a record, not a position. The RateMyProfessors figure is their overall score across everything they teach, not their score in this class.

Also taught by Thomas Murphy

6 other classes

Class	Instructors	Course score
TMRE 7060Education in Living Faith: Foundations and Practice	38 records	90
HIST 2401U.S. History I	14 records	83
HIST 2402U.S. History II	14 records	90
HIST 2804Irish America	13 records	85
HIST 2509Catholics and Social Justice	12 records	83
HIST 2512The Jesuits: A Secret History	22 records	81

Other HIST classes

All of them

Class	Instructors	Course score
HIST 1001Europe in the World 1	2077 records	72
HIST 1002Europe in the World II	1541 records	75
HIST 1113The African Diaspora and the World I	1239 records	76
HIST 1012Atlantic Worlds II: Race, Religion, and the Struggle for Democracy	1134 records	75
HIST 1093Modern History I	930 records	79
HIST 1094Modern History II	824 records	81

The line

All 13 items · means across 3 records

The Professor4 items

Clearly Explains MaterialThe instructor was effective at creating an understanding of difficult subject matter.

9665th pctl

Available Outside of ClassThe instructor was available for help outside of class.

9777th pctl

Brings Out Your Best WorkThe instructor motivated me to do my best work.

9565th pctl

Sparked My InterestThe course stimulated my interest in the subject matter.

9774th pctl

The Course3 items

Well-Organized CourseThe course was well organized.

9465th pctl

Clear Learning GoalsThe learning objectives for the course were clear.

9359th pctl

Useful Beyond the CourseWhat I learned is applicable beyond this course.

9247th pctl

Assignments & Feedback3 items

Assignments Help You LearnAssignments and exams contributed to my learning.

9149th pctl

Gives Feedback PromptlyI received feedback on my work in a timely manner.

9464th pctl

Meaningful FeedbackThe feedback I received on my work was meaningful.

9886th 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.

5039th pctl

Intellectually ChallengingThe course was intellectually challenging.

9044th pctl

Attendance MattersAttending class was necessary to do well in this course.

9466th 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

3 sections · newest first

Instructor	Term	Sec	Instr	Course	Work
Thomas Murphy	Fall 2025	01	98	92	40
Thomas Murphy	Fall 2024	01	90	88	60
Thomas Murphy	Fall 2023	01	94	88	—

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.