Many departments not only have evaluations but also display them as public information so students can access them. Other departments hold their information dear and will not release it to students. Sometimes they are even used for the departments own evaluation of the professor. These evaluations attempt to rate the class more impartially, and the professors themselves do not have access to them until after they hand out final grades. These evaluations usually rate relative class difficulty, effectiveness of the professor's presentation style, usefulness of the textbooks, amount of coursework, and the professor's willingness to help.
Some departments have student run evaluation systems as well.
Trials and Tribulations All engineering programs in general have quite mediocre or even poor retention rates. Students drop out of engineering or even out of school entirely because the program was not what they expected. Most students have no idea of the amount of course work and the difficulty of the concepts that engineering entails. Some drop out and decide to pursue other career options while others drop eventually re-enter engineering. But in either case, too many students drop out because of the wrong reason, shock.