How accurate is Rate My Professors?

WasatchWriter
Thu, 13 Nov 2014 21:15:29 +0000

I am a college professor. I think you are right to believe that you cannot trust a rating if only a few students have participated. A rating created by many students over several years may be more reliable. But not necessarily. Consider: I have been at the same school since before RMP existed. I have taught many thousands of students. I have less than 30 RMP reviews.

There are things to look out for. Students with an axe to grind may be more interested in rating a professor. One very angry student who has a big personality can also encourage other students to post negative reviews, and that can skew the ratings unnaturally. Look out for clusters of negative ratings and ratings that use a lot of the same words.

Look out for clusters of positive ratings too. There really are professors who encourage their good students to leave positive ratings and may even bribe them with cookies or extra credit. And some students may have had such a good experience that they leave positive ratings that don’t mean a lot. Students who have an average experience don’t have a lot of motivation to use RMP. But that describes almost everybody.

Positive ratings may also mean an easier professor, not a better one. If 10 students love a professor, but only one says that she was never challenged in the class, that one student might really be onto something.

Comments like “Worst professor ever” are not very useful. I have received some of those. I have also received “Best professor ever” comments. Obviously, I can’t be both.

Comments like “Professor can be very sarcastic at times” are probably pretty accurate. What’s not clear is whether the professor is having fun with a student or deliberately being cruel. Is this something the student experienced himself, or did he simply witness it?

“Assigns too much work” is not very clear. Too much for whom? “Assigns 100 pages of reading each week” is a useful comment – though the round number worries me a little.

“Professor assigns essays on controversial topics and only gives high grades to students who agree with his personal views” is not a good sign. If you see this more than once, and not all in the same semester, there may be a problem.

Be sure to notice course numbers. You might see a pattern of negative reviews for gen ed courses, but positive reviews for courses in the major. Even then, it’s hard to know if the professor does a poor job with the gen ed course, or if the gen ed population is simply more grumpy than the majors.