How accurate is Rate My Professors?

comfortablycurt
Fri, 14 Nov 2014 01:37:12 +0000

It can be a valuable source, but it has to be taken with a grain of salt. As others have already pointed out, a lot of the negative reviews on there come from students that did poorly in the class and want an outlet through which they can vent.

There’s a sociology/anthropology professor at my school that has a reputation for being a very hard professor. A lot of people don’t like him because his classes are difficult, and he has a really bad rating on RMP. I’ve had three courses with him, and he’s one of the best professors I’ve ever had. He’s an incredibly intelligent person and he knows the material like the back of his hand. If you ask him a question, he is going to answer it with theoretical perspective, applied examples, and multiple viewpoints. He knows the stuff, and he expects you to know it too.

A lot of students take courses like Intro Sociology with him and expect it to basically be a blowoff class. Then they are very surprised when they find out that it’s going to be difficult. What I’ve found is that good students absolutely love him, and the lazy students that only want to put in minimal effort end up hating him. His ratings aren’t a reflection of how good of a teacher he is. They’re a reflection of people that don’t want to work to understand the material.

I have seen some negative ratings on there that I’ve found to be quite accurate, and I’ve found some positive ratings that I didn’t really agree with. It can serve as a useful tool, but you’re much better off asking people around campus that have actually taken classes with the professor in question.