Looking through Rate my Professor.com to get a sense of prospective faculty members?

[coffeecurls1]

I was just looking at the reviews for a prospective school at rate my professors.com. And some of them are very scary ( "so and so is rude, unhelpful, and a very tough grader" or "WORST teacher on the planet" types)... feeling very unsettled... How does one take such reviews? Also, who else is looking through such stuff? And even if silly at times, is it entirely dismissable, especially if there is no other way to gauge the faculty? ( my profs do not know the ones at this school)

[vordhosbntwin]

probably not a good place to look. on my view, profs usually take their grad students more seriously, and i mean, i took a class with fredric jameson last semester, who was excellent, but of course some stupid undergrad left him a review on ratemyprof that said he was a "boring marxist dud."

[UnlikelyGrad]

The people who give reviews on "Rate My Professor" tend to be people who are pissed because they do poorly in class. But that can be (and usually is) more of a reflection on them than the prof.

For example, I met my first research advisor (SL) while taking his class. It was a tough class. I did fantastically but no one else in the class did. Afterwards, someone wrote him a review: "The only way to succeed is to kiss his ass." What they meant: "UnlikelyGrad was the only one who did well, probably because she spent all that time in office hours." Yep. That really reflects on his teaching ability, doesn't it? (I would have rated him 4/5 stars.)

He was a terrific mentor, btw.

[coffeecurls1]

@vordhosbintwin and unlikeleygrad-- thanks a lot. this really puts things in perspective. the posts on ratemyprof do look really over the top... and they did trouble me a bit, because these are the people i will be spending the next 5 years of my life conversing with... but this really helped. thanks

p.s.-- I love Jameson's work.

Edited March 14, 2012 by coffeecurls1

[TripWillis]

I like looking up famous people on there; I imagine many of them are unavailable for students. I looked up Homi Bhaba and Henry Louis Gates Jr. the other day. That was good for a laugh.

[crystalleem]

When I look up some of my favorite professors within my MA, most of them have very low ratings. These professors are said to be hard graders, have unclear expectations, are elitists, etc. etc. They even have comments such as, "you actually have to read the books in this class" and "this teacher never gives A's".

As far as I'm concerned, they are tough professors because they have high expectations for their students, and they aren't going to accept laziness, which means mad students who don't want to work give them low ratings. They are the teachers who have challenged me (in fabulous ways), who have caused me to grow as a scholar, and who have been extremely supportive outside of class, as well.

[TripWillis]

I am actually on Rate Your Professor. I have no idea how they got my information (the school sends it?) but no one has yet rated me. I'll be curious to see if anyone does.

[hiphopanonymous]

Coffecurls, look up one or two of your favorite profs and see what morons have written about them. It will amuse you and set your mind at ease. "While he is very smart, he is also very boring": from the negative review of my advisor from undergrad, who is the mad scientist (not actually a scientist, of course) of our English department, writes great poems and novels, and who has been an exceptionally supportive mentor to me even four years after I graduated.

Trip, this is the kind of spontaneous publicity that makes people.

[LivePoetry123]

Just want to agree with what's been said. Don't worry, coffeecurls-- when I looked up my favorite MA professor on RMP he had extremely low ratings and the stuff that was said about him was completely unrecognizable to me-- I felt like they were talking about a different person. Not to mention the fact that over half the comments were things like "he's really skinny and has an annoying voice," stupid crap like that. So yeah, you can kind of see what type of people post there... it makes me so angry. I mean these profs dedicate their lives to learning and teaching and they get idiot comments on their appearance in return.... sorry I tend to go on rants about RMP.

But even if the comments were more reasonable you really still need to meet the professors yourself. Its such a matter of taste. I've had a history of liking professors almost no one else liked and disliking profs that everyone liked.

[marlowe23]

I'm on this website -- I have 6 reviews and they're all positive. In my experience you can weed through the negative comments that are obviously from people given bad grades and get some relative information. I've had one experience in which I thought, "These reviews are ridiculous! This professor is wonderful." Let's just say there was a plethora of bad comments, and they turned out to be somewhat relevant.

Take it all with a grain of salt--but it's not complete BS. Our students have voices on this website--rightly so.

Oh yeah-- I had pretty ridiculous expectations for Freshmen students, but I remembered what it was like to be a student (because I was still one).

Edited March 14, 2012 by marlowe23

[perrykm2]

All of my favorite professors have horrible ratings. All of the grad students that are teaching freshman comp for the first time have ratings like "LUV HIM HE'S THE BEST *CHILEPEPPER CHILEPEPPER*"

Totally unreliable site, except for information like "makes you pay $500 for books you won't read."

Edited March 14, 2012 by perrykm2

[marlowe23]

My favorite professor, for whom I TA, has a chilli pepper, excellent ratings (except for the "easy" ranking)-- he teaches Renaissance literature survey courses and expects sophomores to read The Faerie Queene. He mentored me through the PhD application process, etc.

It is ENTIRELY possible to be on student's sides without being a young graduate student--and not all students write with ridiculous grammar.

[theoneand]

i have used and contributed to RMP throughout my undergrad years. i've found the reviews to be generally very enlightening, helpful, and positive, though that might be a reflection of my rather unique, small alma mater. i imagine that they might get pretty nasty and irrelevant with university profs.

[Enzian]

I like the reviews that are typed in all caps but otherwise thoughtful. Like a really considerate person who doesn't realize (s)he's always shouting.

[rmgerdes]

If you're really worried, email the prof. You'll see how quickly they respond and how warm/interested they seem.

In my experience some reviews on RateMyProfessor are accurate, but it is a very small percentage. Remember that many students have different goals than we (people who want to go to grad school) do.

[coffeecurls1]

@everyone-- thanks a lot! this was really helpful. It is reassuring to put the whole thing in perspective. though some of my favorite profs do have great ratings on this site... some others, whose work I really admire ( and whom i always dreamt of working with), got horrible reviews.. what upset me, i guess, was that.. at this point, when everything seems to be coming together.. after working so hard all of last year with the applications and stuff...it all began to feel so alien and slightly scary... I really want to go to a place feeling good about it. and getting the above responses really reassured me. thanks a lot, everyone.. really!

[marlowe23]

If you're really worried, email the prof. You'll see how quickly they respond and how warm/interested they seem.

In my experience some reviews on RateMyProfessor are accurate, but it is a very small percentage. Remember that many students have different goals than we (people who want to go to grad school) do.

This is a really good suggestion I hadn't thought of-- my best profs are readily available and warm via e-mail. Glad you feel somewhat better, coffeecurls--it's a stressful process overall!

[Stately Plump]

it all began to feel so alien and slightly scary... I really want to go to a place feeling good about it.

I visited two schools in the past week and immediately sensed that I would not be walking into a scary and academically isolating place. I knew from the minute I started talking with some of the professors I might be working with. If you can visit at all, that is definitely the best way to get a feel for the type of environment you might be walking into.

I was upfront with them. I said, "My undergrad institution was a small liberal arts college where I got a lot of attention, so I didn't know what to expect coming into a major research university. It's encouraging to find the faculty so willing to meet."

[Two Espressos]

I was just looking at the reviews for a prospective school at rate my professors.com. And some of them are very scary ( "so and so is rude, unhelpful, and a very tough grader" or "WORST teacher on the planet" types)... feeling very unsettled... How does one take such reviews? Also, who else is looking through such stuff? And even if silly at times, is it entirely dismissable, especially if there is no other way to gauge the faculty? ( my profs do not know the ones at this school)

Ratemyprofessors.com isn't much use, at least in my personal experience. A quick glance at the spelling, grammar, and content in the ratings should verify this. There are always one or two articulate, thoughtful reviews, but they're the exception rather than the norm.

I used to rate professors on there all the time (nearly all of them positive, to help offset the unsupportably shitty reviews given), but I gave up a few months ago. It was aggravating, and I didn't really see the purpose of numerically "rating" professors anyways.

If you're concerned about grad professors (as teachers, as advisers, etc), I'd ask current graduate students at the program; they'd probably be the most reliable resource.

Edited March 14, 2012 by Two Espressos

[jma310]

On ratemyprof my undergraduate thesis advisor had a review that said "he looks like humpty dumpty... I wish he'd fall off the wall." reliable, I think not!

[rubyrunner]

My dad is a professor in a different field. I had the unfortunate experience of looking him up on ratemyprof only to see numerous chili peppers...ugh.