Rate My Professors Guide How to Use Student Reviews

Rate My Professors: Your Complete Guide to Student Reviews

College students face countless decisions throughout their academic journey, but few are as crucial as choosing the right professors. Enter Rate My Professors—a platform that has fundamentally changed how students research instructors and make course selections. Since its launch in 1999, this website has become the go-to resource for millions of students seeking honest feedback about their potential professors.

Whether you’re a freshman navigating your first semester or a senior looking to optimize your final courses, understanding how to effectively use Rate My Professors can significantly impact your educational experience. This comprehensive guide will walk you through everything you need to know about the platform, from navigating reviews to understanding potential limitations.

What Is Rate My Professors?

It is an online review platform where students can anonymously rate and review college professors across American, Canadian, and United Kingdom institutions. Founded by software engineer John Swapceinski, the site originally launched as TeacherRatings.com before becoming Rate My Professors in 2001.

Over its 25-year history, the platform has grown to feature more than 1.7 million academics, 8,000 colleges, and 19 million student evaluations. After changing ownership several times—including acquisitions by Viacom’s MTVU and later Cheddar—the platform continues to serve as the largest online destination for professor ratings.

How to Use Rate My Professors Effectively

Searching for Professors

The platform will direct you to your institution’s specific page, where you can browse professors by department or search for specific instructors by name. If you’re looking for a particular professor who isn’t yet listed, you can create a new listing yourself.

Understanding the Rating System

It uses a straightforward 1-5 scale system where students evaluate professors on two primary criteria:

Overall Quality: This reflects how well the professor teaches course material and their helpfulness both inside and outside the classroom
Level of Difficulty: This indicates how challenging students found the course content and workload

The Overall Quality rating determines the visual indicator next to each professor’s name: a smiley face for “Good Quality,” a frowny face for “Poor Quality,” or an expressionless face for “Average Quality.”

Reading Reviews Strategically

When examining reviews, look for patterns rather than focusing on individual comments. A professor with consistently positive feedback across multiple semesters likely provides a quality learning experience. Pay attention to specific details about teaching style, grading policies, and course structure.

Students can also include additional information such as whether they would take the professor again, if attendance was mandatory, whether the textbook was required, and what grade they received. This contextual information helps you make more informed decisions.

Understanding Ratings and Reviews

The value of it lies not just in the numerical ratings but in the detailed comments students provide. Each review can include up to 350 characters of written feedback, allowing for specific insights about the professor’s teaching approach.

Students also select up to three tags from a list of 20 descriptors that characterize the professor. These tags can highlight qualities like “caring,” “hilarious,” “tough grader,” or “inspiring,” giving you a quick snapshot of what to expect.

Remember that reviews represent subjective student opinions based on individual experiences. A professor’s teaching style may resonate differently with different students, so consider multiple perspectives when forming your opinion.

Benefits of Using

For Students

By reading about professors’ teaching styles, grading policies, and course expectations, you can select classes that align with your learning preferences and academic goals. This preparation can lead to better course outcomes and a more satisfying educational experience.

The platform also helps students avoid potential mismatches. If you thrive in highly structured environments, reviews can help you identify professors who provide clear expectations and consistent feedback.

For Professors

While some educators initially viewed the platform skeptically, many professors have found value in the feedback. The site allows professors to claim their profiles and respond to reviews, creating opportunities for dialogue with students. This feedback can provide insights into how their teaching methods are perceived and areas for potential improvement.

Some institutions have even incorporated Rate My Professors data into their faculty development programs, using student feedback to identify successful teaching practices.

Addressing Concerns and Criticisms

Despite its popularity, It faces several legitimate criticisms that users should consider when interpreting ratings.

Bias and Accuracy Issues

Research has identified several potential biases in the platform’s ratings. Studies show a positive correlation between course difficulty and professor ratings—students tend to rate professors more favorably when they perceive courses as easier. This “halo effect” can skew ratings toward professors who are perceived as more lenient graders.

Gender bias has also been documented, with female professors sometimes receiving different types of feedback compared to their male counterparts. Additionally, factors like professor attractiveness have been shown to influence ratings, raising questions about the relevance of some feedback.

Verification Challenges

The platform doesn’t require users to verify that they’ve actually taken courses with the professors they’re rating. This opens the door for fake reviews, including the possibility of professors rating themselves or colleagues rating each other. While the site attempts to prevent multiple ratings from the same IP address, determined users can circumvent these measures.

Sample Size and Representation

Not all professors receive equal numbers of reviews, and the students who choose to leave reviews may not represent the entire class. Professors teaching large lecture courses might accumulate more reviews than those teaching smaller, specialized classes, potentially skewing the overall picture.

Alternative Platforms and Resources

While Rate My Professors dominates the online professor review space, several alternative resources can supplement your research:

Academic Jobs

This platform offers professor ratings alongside job listings and college rankings. It provides similar functionality to Rate My Professors but with additional features for career-focused students.

Official University Resources

Many universities maintain their own course evaluation systems that provide more structured feedback. While these are typically only available to enrolled students, they often offer more comprehensive assessment criteria.

Informal Networks

Don’t underestimate the value of asking current students, academic advisors, and department staff about professors. These conversations can provide nuanced insights that online reviews might miss.

Course Syllabi

Many professors post syllabi online or in campus libraries. These documents provide concrete information about course expectations, grading policies, and required materials—objective details that complement subjective reviews.

Making the Most of Your Research

Effective use of it involves treating it as one tool among many in your course selection process. Consider the following strategies:

Combine multiple sources of information, including official course descriptions, syllabi, and conversations with advisors. Look for consistent themes across different review sources rather than relying on single data points.

Pay attention to recent reviews, as teaching styles and course structures can evolve over time. A professor who received poor reviews several years ago might have significantly improved their teaching approach.

Consider your own learning preferences and academic goals when interpreting reviews. A professor described as “demanding” might be exactly what you need to push yourself academically, even if some students found the experience challenging.

The Future of Professor Evaluation

Rate My Professors has fundamentally changed the relationship between students and faculty by introducing transparency into what was once a closed system. As higher education continues to evolve, platforms like this will likely play an increasingly important role in helping students navigate their academic choices.

The platform continues to refine its approach, having recently removed controversial features like the “hotness” rating in response to concerns about sexism in academia. This demonstrates an ongoing commitment to focusing on educationally relevant feedback.

Understanding how to effectively use It—while recognizing its limitations—can significantly enhance your college experience. By combining online reviews with other research methods and considering your own academic needs, you can make more informed decisions about your educational journey.

Remember that every professor-student relationship is unique, and the best way to determine if an instructor is right for you is often to attend their classes and experience their teaching style firsthand. It should inform your decisions, not make them for you.