Max RobertsThis week, UT students will gear up to choose classes for next semester. But before they decide, many want to know the time of the class, what requirements they will fill, and whether there are any prerequisites.
For many students however, their main concern is their professor. Students want to know if their professor will be hard, boring or a tough grader.
The popular website ratemyprofessors.com lets UT students and others across the nation check out what their peers have to say about potential instructors.
As per the site’s name, students can rate their professors online based on overall quality and ease.
There is also the “hot” factor, where students can rate a professor’s attractiveness. A very attractive teacher is represented by a chili pepper.
Many UT students find the popular website helpful.
“I use it when I pick my classes to see what the rest of the students think about the professor and how helpful and knowledgeable they are,” said UT student Lacey Houston. “Every professor has a different way of teaching and I try to find the ones I think I can learn the best from.”
Another UT student confirmed her use of the site.
“I use it whenever I register for classes,” said Alicia Ybarra.
While some UT students find the site helpful, more than half of students asked do not use the site.
“As you get into scheduling, it’s harder to … actually look for a professor you want,” said Justin Morrow. “It’s easier to take convenient classes. Furthermore, everyone has different opinions about professors.”
Professors, of course, also have their opinion about the popular college site. UT Assistant Professor of Sociology, Ryan Cragun, finds both positives and negatives in the site. He believes that it provides some insight into the minds and thoughts of students, but also thinks it “isn’t the best avenue for delving into the minds of students” because they are limited to five responses, although the site does give students the option to leave open-ended comments.
Cragun believes that the site doesn’t measure what professors value.
“Professors want to make their students think,” he said. “I might be a little disturbed if I received a very negative review, not because I would give it much credence relative to my teaching ability and style, but because some students might give it some credence and avoid taking my classes,” Cragun said. “I don’t think students should necessarily have to go into classes without any warning about what to expect from their professors (I do read reviews of movies, books, and restaurants and find them useful – though the source of those reviews does make a difference). But I also don’t think ratemyprofessors.com is the most valid source for such reviews. Overall, I enjoy visiting ratemyprofessors.com for a good laugh. But I also don’t take the feedback all that seriously.”
Recently, ratemyprofessors.com and mtvU compiled a list of the country’s top 50 college professors, as rated by their students.
mtvU and ratemyprofessors.com introduced a new set of rankings this month that will annually find the highest-rated college professors as graded on the site.
Ratemyprofessors.com found Robert Citino of Eastern Michigan University as the highest rated professor by students. He and the other top nine professors are visible on the main site.
mtvU and ratemyprofessors.com also ranked schools with the highest-rated professors overall. The top school was found to be Brigham Young University. Other “standout” professors were also noted on the site.
Rate My Professors explained its Top 50 ranking methodology, saying that only professors with 30 ratings or more since 2005 were included to provide “statistical significance.”