'Rate my Professors'

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Professor here and I get ratings sometimes. They're pretty accurate and not negative or insulting for personally. The problem with sites like these is students can use harmful language or make untrue statements at will. They didn't like their grade or didn't like the professor? Then the professor is mean or not funny or worse. These statements seem to disproportionally harm women.

I have seen colleagues rate themselves, it's obvious and sad.

My kid uses it to check for faculty at the community college they take classes at (in high school) to ensure "easy" professors. So far so good.

Another professor here. I also agree that (given enough responses) they tend to be accurate, and that professors do game them with various degrees of subtlety. One thing to note is that some professors have lower overall ratings because they teach big intro classes which generally score low, but might also teach electives that would have high scores if the scores were separated by class.

I'll add that many universities also collect student course ratings at the end of each term and make them publicly available, though they may not be prominently posted. They tend to have higher response rates than RMP though lack the text commentary. I often refer students to those - very often they don't know about them.

[Anonymous]

Sometimes professors with 5's are just really easy graders and there is not that much work in the class. 3's and 4's the class can be challenging but overall the professor is solid. My kids have absolutely enjoyed and done well in classes where professors have gotten 3's and 4's.

What really is fantastic to know about is the professors who get 1's. It isn't that they are hard graders, you read the reviews and they involve issues like:

- Don't speak understandable English
- Don't answer email
- Create tests that don't cover what they have taught
- Are not at all responsive to students
- No office hours
-Grades harshly so class average is below 50
- Arrogant and condescending
- labs and assignments have errors which end up making the work much harder

The issue is sometimes student have no choice but to take that professor if they teach a required class.

[Anonymous]

Had no idea this was still around. I was active on the forum (that no longer exists?) when I was in college 20 years ago.

[Anonymous]

Our college kids use it when choosing which section of a course to take - why wouldn't you?

[Anonymous]

interesting that kids are still using this. we used it for finding fit - like if a class was exam or paper heavy or reading/discussion or lecture notes heavy.

[Anonymous]

Yes, my kid uses it all the time