For years students have looked to the famous site that is ratemyprofessors.com for all the answers. At some point in your academic career, you’ve most likely heard of or used the website yourself.
Whether it’s for a good laugh or to vent, Rate My Professors is a well-known source within the academic community. Students have used this review site as a way to pick classes, whether it be knowing which classes to avoid or which ones have the best teachers. The main question to consider is how accurate the site truly is.
When searching up a few of the professors I’ve had in the past or am taking now, I found that they seemed to match my personal experience almost to a tee, though many believe negative ratings for professors are the fault of people who may only resort to the site if they have something negative to say.
The fact is that that’s not usually the case. Here at the college level, there is a higher standard held for professors and that simply reflects peoples’ reviews. More often than not, professors and teachers deserving of high ratings end up earning them.
I seldom use the site personally, but scrolling through some reviews gives me hope that students actually do care one way or the other. It’s pretty difficult to find a teacher in the middle because students either talk about how much they love a class or hate it, and that’s usually dependent entirely on its professor.
The few problems with the website are that not every professor is on it, and not every course they teach is reviewed. Another aspect is that some professors may not
have enough reviews to give an accurate account of how they teach and their rating.
It’s important to pay attention to what the reviews list as pros and cons, if they give any reasons at all. Think of the website as a restaurant rating on Yelp or Google: you probably wouldn’t read opinions without the detailed context explaining the review given.
The fact that someone has the idea to go to Rate My Professors and put in the effort to write a review means that they are most likely going to leave an accurate and well-thought review. If someone is venting, then analyze why they said that and then judge if it’s warranted.
Ultimately, it’s the lower reviews that people are looking for and worrying about. A notable aspect that makes this website critical to pay attention to is that it’s never recommended or spoken about by faculty or higher-ups.
To expand on its comparison to food reviews, you would certainly want to look at the reviews for a restaurant if the chef advises you not to.
Given this, it’s important not to rely strictly on someone else’s view or opinion. Part of learning is trying something out and developing your own opinion. And don’t forget that students don’t control which professor teaches which course, so at the end of the day, Rate My Professors might be just a fair source with not much use.
