Art by Samantha Miller
Rate My Professors is “the highest-trafficked site for quickly researching and rating professors, colleges and universities across the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom,” according to its site.
For college students, it is the gateway to planning a successful semester, because a good professor can make or break a class. Therefore, how will a student know how the semester will be in advance? They check Rate My Professors.
The website has been around for over 20 years, according to Crunch Base. It has had enough time to work out all of its technological kinks, so it is now easy to use and an extremely helpful tool.
“Rate My Professors is simple enough for students to use,” according to UMKC Roo News. “Students can search by school name or professor name, and it’s easy to leave a comment for one or both.”
All comments and ratings remain anonymous and provide students with an easy rating scale out of five. Therefore if one has a really great professor, the professor would receive a 5/5, as seen on the website. There is also a section to place the grade received and written thoughts about the class and professor.
Students are prone to hearing rumors about professors and how horrible they were, or how much work was given, so to have a website with certifiable reviews where other students with personal experiences in a certain class with a specific faculty member, is wonderful.
Others agree with Rate My Professors’ positive description. MUO rated Rate My Professors as the number one website to assess and review professors.
Additionally, the My Career Tools website provides helpful tips and further information for reviewers to take heed to and keep in mind on Rate My Professors, that if followed, can create a really helpful source for the college community.
The tips My Career Tools includes are: remaining anonymous, not posting multiple ratings about the same class or professor and to keep in mind that professors cannot be fired for bad reviews, nor can the site or individual professors remove bad reviews.
Furthermore, the ever-changing technological advances in the world are also something to keep in mind. The quickest source of information these days is the internet, Rate My Professors can be easily accessed through any device by just typing in the site name.
In the future, the next time students sign up for — or prior to signing up for — a class, they should evaluate their professors using Rate My Professors through reading the reviews.
Knowing what previous students said can be extremely beneficial for understanding the breadth of education that can be obtained from a class, how well the student will enjoy a course and maybe even the effects on their long-term career aspirations.
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Follow the Graphic on Twitter: @PeppGraphic
Email Emily Chase: emily.chase@pepperdine.edu
