When registering for courses, there are many factors you have to consider: “Is this course part of my curriculum?” “Does it fit my schedule?” and “What is the professors rating on Rate My Professor?” Every semester millions of students around the world flock to the Rate My Professor website to check professors’ ratings before registering for a course.
The platform allows students to leave reviews on their professors. Any grievances or praises students have for their professors help build up the overall rating for the professors and their courses. Through this system, students are also able to investigate professors and decide whether their courses would be the correct fit for them or not, but is it useful to make such a decision based on what students you don’t know have to say about professors?
The platform’s rating system uses an “Awesome, Great, Good, Ok and Awful” scale, which makes the ratings straightforward and easy to understand. Students are also able to share the grade they received in the course, whether the course was a requirement, whether attendance and textbooks are mandatory, and if they would take the course again. Additionally, students can also highlight things that they believe other student might take into consideration when looking for a course or professors, such as how important participation is, how often test or quizzes happen, how accessible the course is outside of the classroom, etc.
At UTEP, many, if not most, students use Rate My Professor avidly. On the university’s page in the platform there are ratings for over 2,300 professors, some of whom aren’t active professors at UTEP anymore, with thousands of accumulated reviews from current and past miners. The ratings include professors from every study offered at the university, from core courses to graduate level courses.
Many students turn to the platform to decide whether potential professors would be the right fit for them or not. Business student Marili Cervantes, says the reviews other student post about the professors helps her assess the quality of a course before registering for it.
“I use it to look up a professor and see if his class is easy and opinions about the, the class. If the professor puts a lot of work or does he teach well, stuff like that,” Cervantes said. “Basically, what I use it for is to choose my classes. So, if there’s a professor who has like one star or two stars out of five, he’s my last option.”
Similarly, Industrial Engineering student Carmen Olmeda, says the platform has helped her decide whether to switch professors rather than avoiding the course entirely.
“It has stopped me from taking a class, or maybe not taking the class, but switching [professors]. Just because they have really bad reviews and I don’t wanna get into a class that is hard just because the professor makes it hard,” Olmeda said.
Overall, it seems like students do find the platform to be a useful resource when registering for courses. The reviews that other students post on the platform allow them to avoid courses that might not be the right fit for them before embarking on their semester. So as of now, it seems like Rate My Professor is here to stay.
Briana Estrada is a contributor and may be reached at [email protected].