›
To take part in discussions on talkSFU, please apply for membership (SFU email id required).

Rate My Professor: Is it Reliable?

Student0667
edited October 2009 in General
Hi all,

I am plotting my classes right now and I have found a few courses that I am interested in. However, I found that the professor who is teaching the course have a pretty terrible rating on RateMyProfess.com. Should I take that site's word for it and take the course later?

My experience with RateMyProfessor.com has been pleasant because much of the ratings are quite accurate. By accurate I mean my experience matches that of the rating.

Comments

  • Ether
    edited November 2007
    I trust the ratings if I can read them. For example,
    "This professor is a very dull lecturer who gives difficult exams and assigns multiple group projects" would be something I could take seriously. On the other hand,
    "omg this ugy is the worst prof everrrrr bcuz i failed" causes me to have a more positive opinion of the professor in question.
  • NukeChem
    edited November 2007
    Another thing to keep in mind is the essentially statistical behavior of large samples. If a LOT of students rate a prof chances are the indicators you see give a better idea of what that person will be like for an "average" student. However if only one or two students rate the professor the chances are a lot higher that they represent the extremes of a sample size rather than the mean.

    So take ratings with a grain of salt. :)
  • randomuser
    edited November 2007
    As the others have said, some ratings are useful such as: "only teaches from lectures" "mainly teachers from textbook" "goes off topic in class a lot none of lecture on tests", but stuff like "total b***h" or a**hole" usually just come from disgruntled people
  • collegestudent
    edited November 2007
    one of the profs in my class said his daughters go on and fill in good surveys about him b/c his students give bad ones. they did it to protect his feelings lol.
  • Steven
    edited November 2007
    I use it haha. Some comments are quite entertaining.
  • schroed
    edited November 2007
    I've used RMP to check up on a couple of my crim professors before I took the courses. So far it hasn't let me down. Definitely gotta take many of the comments and ratings with a grain of salt, however.
  • DaNoobie
    edited November 2007
    I've stopped worrying about whos teaching the course already. Odds are if you're close to wrapping up your degree, you wont care whos teaching it as long as you can get outta there soon
  • segadcsonic
    edited November 2007
    RMP is useful for 1st/2nd year courses since most of the ratings are for those courses. Just make sure the prof. has several ratings to make it less biased.
  • Student0667
    edited November 2007
    I've stopped worrying about whos teaching the course already. Odds are if you're close to wrapping up your degree, you wont care whos teaching it as long as you can get outta there soon
    I am only second year and I want to avoid doing anything that would put a dent on my 3.1 CGPA. I already have done quite a lot of stupid stuff and made a lot of stupid decisions already.
    RMP is useful for 1st/2nd year courses since most of the ratings are for those courses. Just make sure the prof. has several ratings to make it less biased.
    I hope to start third year courses next semester and I am heading into uncharted territory. Wish me luck, especially with the bad reviews on some of my professors.
  • baby e
    edited November 2007
    Some of the stuff on that site is so funny and so accurate. I spent a good 2 hours on there once laughing my ass off at all the comments. I havent been on there in a while tho, and right now since i am trying to just get the hell out of school and get it done, i dont really care what rating the profs got.
  • imelting
    edited November 2007
    i dont think its really all that relevant, i hav my own study habits and how i learn/absorb the material.. no one's opinion is really gonna influence how i pick and choose my courses

    especially since i hav time constraints from work anyways, whatever fits my sched is the one i'll pick /shrug
  • mitea-gatz.
    edited November 2007
    collegestudent;17535 said:
    one of the profs in my class said his daughters go on and fill in good surveys about him b/c his students give bad ones. they did it to protect his feelings lol.
    sounds like certain philosophy teacher with letter starts with H :omg:
  • Student0667
    edited December 2007
    mitea-gatz.;17859 said:
    sounds like certain philosophy teacher with letter starts with H :omg:
    I am surprise that philosophy is even a subject...
  • callonmeee
    edited February 2008
    I agree with what was said earlier in the thread that if you can read the comment then it's beneficial. I find extremely useful if quite a few students have rated the professor with readable comments. If only I went there before I took a class last year I would have known about a prof's horrible accent and another's poor teaching style....
  • ChaozXIII
    edited October 2009
    wisdom of crowds my friend, wisdom of crowds

    Like the physics prof im taking right now Karen Kavanagh, people are dead on. She is hard,Sucks at teaching(no one gets her lectures at all)

    but they do miss alot of worse things. She skips part of the book, thought 10*10*2 is 100 until I corrected her. And she speaks of things irrelavant to physics like the terry fox run and circus de solei
  • buflibufli
    edited October 2009
    another thread back from the dead

Leave a Comment