Rate my professor is a website students use when selecting their future professors and classes.
The site averages out ratings that students have given a certain professor and it determines how helpful, clear and easy the professor is in class. The site gives the professor a rating out of 5.0, shows the average grade that raters had gotten in the class and even how to the students have rated the professor.
For some reason this seems like a good idea and in a sense it is, but it is a bit taboo to choose your professor based on how hot they are.
Alongside all of the ratings the professor receives there are also ‘tags’. Tags are shorts phrases that describe the professor or the class. Some tags that students use are, “would take again”, “tests are tough” and “skip class? You won’t pass.” All of the tags are supposed to be a good indication of what the professor is like and what you will need to do on your part if you want to register for their class.
All of these things are informative, but students take the ratings to heart by only picking professors who have a good score according to the students. The problem with this system is that all students have a different experience.
A student who skips class and doesn’t put effort into their work may give the professor a low score based on their own bad grades or if they did not like the class because it had a lot of note taking.
On the flipside a students who never misses class, enjoys the lectures and, per say, finds the professor attractive, may give the professor a good rating because they received a good grade in the class and enjoyed the subject.
The site is misleading and is not very helpful to advisers when they are trying to help students pick out their classes. Students take the websites rating to heart and even base their decisions off of the ratings that students have given.
As I said before, it is highly unlikely that every student is going to have the same experience with a professor.
So when you are choosing your classes next semester keep in mind that the ratings on Rate my Professor may just be from someone who disliked the class or received a bad grade. You would hate to pass up a great opportunity just because a website told you that a professor was rated a 2.0 and wasn’t even hot.