PSYC 6580
Behavioral Neuroscience Scientific Development · 1 instructor on record · 1 section
Boston College's ratings are bunched at the top — the median instructor averages about 88 out of 100 on the raw scale, and 44% of them clear 90 — so a raw score cannot separate anybody. Every figure here is ranked against BC classes and that rank is re-expressed out of 100, which is what turns a raw 88 — the middle of the university — into a figure that says where somebody actually stands. On this scale 77 is the median, 84 the top quarter and 91 the top tenth. Workload is then an adjustment on top of that, worth nothing at all for an ordinary one. Lighter work than almost every one of the BC classes we hold.
The class itself, averaged across everyone who taught it — who taught it is the board below.
How is this worked out?
That is what a student picking a section is actually choosing between: the board carries each instructor's own score for this class, and the score above is the class averaged across all of them.
Not reported in these records — which is missing data, not an easy class.
How is this worked out?
Boston College's “intellectually challenging” question was not reported in these records, so there is nothing to show. That is missing data, not an easy class.
One of Boston College's five workload bands, not a number of hours. Higher means more work, not worse.
How is this worked out?
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.
Behavioral Neuroscience Scientific Development (BNSD) is a graduate-level workshop designed to support the scientific growth of students in the Behavioral Neuroscience program. Developed by Drs. Michael McDannald, Caroline Smith, Gorica Petrovich, and John Christianson, BNSD provides a collaborative space for students to receive feedback on their research at any stage. Meetings include brainstorming ideas, designing experiments, interpreting results, and practicing presentations. Each student presents eight times over five years, with meetings tailored to their current needs. The workshop fosters constructive dialogue among faculty, postdocs, and research staff, with a focus on graduate student development.
| Instructor | Curve | Easiness | Challenge | RMP overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michael McDannaldProfessor · Psychology and Neuroscience Provisional | 99100 raw · 1 record | 99+6 to the score | — | 849 ratings · all classes |
There is no ranking to read here: Michael McDannald is the only instructor with evaluation records for PSYC 6580, so the number is a record, not a position. It rests on 1 record, which is thin — read it as provisional. The RateMyProfessors figure is their overall score across everything they teach, not their score in this class.
Also taught by Michael McDannald
5 other classes| Class | Instructors | Course score |
|---|---|---|
| PSYC 2285Behavioral Neuroscience | 313 records | 86 |
| PSYC 2085Gateway Discussion for Behavioral Neuroscience | 22 records | 93 |
| PSYC 3390Neurobiology of Psychiatric Disorders | 12 records | 89 |
| PSYC 4487Cellular Basis of Motivation | 11 record | 93 |
| PSYC 5587Cellular Perspectives on Motivated Behavior | 11 record | 95 |
Other PSYC classes
All of them| Class | Instructors | Course score |
|---|---|---|
| PSYC 1120Introduction to Behavioral Statistics and Research I | 646 records | 68 |
| PSYC 1110Brain, Mind, & Behavior | 628 records | 76 |
| PSYC 1111Self, Mind, & Society | 628 records | 83 |
| PSYC 2234Introduction to Psychopathology | 414 records | 91 |
| PSYC 2260Child Developmental Psychology | 613 records | 77 |
| PSYC 2285Behavioral Neuroscience | 313 records | 86 |
The line
All 13 items · means across 1 recordBars are ranks, not raw scores. Nothing here is graded good or bad. 5 of 13 questions were not reported and are left out rather than shown as zero.
What each item asks
- Explains Clearly
- The instructor was effective at creating an understanding of difficult subject matter.
- Available
- The instructor was available for help outside of class.
- Motivating
- The instructor motivated me to do my best work.
- Sparks Interest
- The course stimulated my interest in the subject matter.
- Organized
- The course was well organized.
- Useful Later
- What I learned is applicable beyond this course.
- Workload
- How 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.
- Attendance
- Attending class was necessary to do well in this course.
Why these numbers are curved
Both the number and the bar are the rank against every comparable record we hold, printed back out of 100. BC's questions all have a median around 4.5, so on the raw scale every cell here would read in the high eighties and every bar would be nearly full — thirteen numbers that tell you nothing. Each cell prints its raw BC figure and its percentile underneath, so nothing is hidden by the transform. 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
1 section · newest first| Instructor | Term | Sec | Instr | Course | Work |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michael McDannald | Spring 2026 | 01 | 100 | 80 | 20 |
How to read this board
Instructors 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.