Calling all academic weapons- welcome to the new semester! With a new semester comes the adjustment to our new professors, and we all know the feeling of seeing that only one section of a certain class that you really, REALLY need to take fits into your schedule, which is, of course, already full of other non-negotiable classes. As any college student does, we then look up the name of the professor on RateMyProfessors.com and see that they have a whopping 2 out of 5 stars. It is discouraging before you even start the class to see phrases like “failed twice,” “doesn’t provide resources,” “worst class I’ve ever taken,” and “bad lecturer.” But I have learned that when you commit to passing no matter what, any horrible class allegations can be beaten.
One professor I had last semester had some of the scariest reviews that I have ever seen. I mean, the professor posted the syllabus mid-July for the class, and I saw that it included an essay, a minimum of 11 pages and single-spaced, which consisted of 10 different topics. That alone is enough to scare off some of the class in the first week- if memory serves, we dropped from about 50 to 37 students before the first assignment was even graded. Then, that website tells me that most people fail and that every single assignment and exam for the class is in extended-response format- as a science class. Yikes! That was one of the most interesting classes I’ve ever taken. Not only that, but I received a grade that was well above passing, a grade over 100%. I just didn’t understand why everyone hated this professor so much. I had a very good experience with the professor, and in the end, I was even offered a job in the very same professor’s research lab.
Here’s what I’ve come to realize: the only people who turn to Rate My Professors to write reviews are those who have very strong feelings about that particular person. If you don’t believe me, see for yourself: most of the reviews under any given professor are either really good or really bad. I know I have been here; that professor I talked about above had absolutely no good reviews, and I took the time to go online and write the first one so that someone out there will know that it’s not a lost cause. But of course, I did very well in the class, which I think is an implicit bias in itself: the “grade received” statistic that the website includes is going to be your best friend. If you see that someone gave the professor a horrible review and failed the class, that should speak for itself, in my opinion. Likewise, if someone gives a glowing recommendation in favor of the instructor and gets an A in the class, we have to think to ourselves about why that might be. Don’t take everything on the site at face value.
That being said, here’s what I’ve found to be most accurate, through many experiences of professors not being as bad as they say (or the other way around): if you really want the truth about a professor, look for a few key things:
- A review from someone who got an A or B in the class but still has something negative to say about the professor. That is a lot more likely to be the truth.
- Reviews from people who got ‘average’ grades in the classes.
- Similar to the first point above, look for someone who gave the class a positive review and didn’t do as well as they had hoped. Anyone willing to admit they liked a class they failed is a lot more trustworthy in my eyes than those who become keyboard warriors after final grades are posted!
The moral of the story here is just that, as we’ve been told our whole lives, we can’t trust everything we read on the internet. I think a lot of us are guilty of internalizing every negative thing we see as a result of our individual anxiety and fear of uncertainty at the beginning of the semester. As we get back into the swing of things, try to be present in the moment andalways remember to take care of yourself!