So... how much weight to give ratemyprof reviews?

[Hilltopmom]

Looking at ratemyprof reviews for the schools ds has been accepted at, one particular school has atrocious reviews for almost every prof in his chosen major.

(This just occurred to me to check - he’s working on a pros/ cons list this week for each school)

I usually take those things with a grain of salt and often there are only a few available for each prof. But in this case, there are at least 50+ bad with a capitol B reviews of many of the profs.

That’s scaring me.

Thoughts??

To compare, another school on his list has glowing reviews for the majority of the profs in the dept. while the other schools seem mixed by professor, which is what I’d expect.

Edited December 20, 2017 by Hilltopmom

[obsidian]

IME it depends on what the bad reviews say. Sometimes people leave good reviews for easy classes and bad reviews for hard classes regardless of the actual quality of the professor. Things in reviews that are red flags for me would be along the lines of unhelpful/rude during office hours, confusing in lecture AND doesn't follow the book, etc. Also professors that teach mostly lower level classes tend to have bad reviews. I had a professor last semester with almost universally bad reviews - all in Calc 1/Calc 2. I took a 400 level math class with him and he's amazing. Organized lectures, helpful during office hours, etc. In contrast, my absolute worst professor had really good reviews because he allowed computer use on exams (exams were supposed to be closed note, but you can guess what happened).

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I look at what course the student was enrolled in.  Were they taking a course within their major or was this likely to have been a required course in a subject they weren't comfortable in?

 

I also look for trends.  Is the prof listed as being unorganized, missing class, changing due dates?  Do several reviews mention that the prof is difficult to understand or to contact?

 

This might be a reason to visit the college and contact the department for a tour and to meet current students.

[luuknam]

I agree with STEM and Sebastian, but presumably the other schools would have the same required core classes and similar issues... I'd take it seriously, and definitely try to talk to a few current students majoring in that subject (and also glance at reviews for profs in other subjects). 

[Hilltopmom]

Ok thanks, we’ll do some more investigating, for sure.

 

He did meet with current students at Open House, the comp sci club ran a big thing that day where he chatted with a lot of students. Granted it was open house day and I’d think only kids happy there would volunteer to be a part of it. The students seemed to like it but we didn’t ask specific questions about professors.

We also met with at least 10 of the professors in the dept (was surprised how many attended a Sat open house!) which was nice but no idea from the meet and greet what sort of teachers they are.

[regentrude]

Keep in mind that Ratemyprof is not a representative sample.

I have taught over 5,000 students and have about 40 ratings, so about 1%.

 

Look for trends. Look for specifics. Bad ratings that ramble "worst prof ever" without specific criticism are disgruntled students who failed the class and blame it on the prof.  Bad ratings that mention specifics like prof unprepared, tests unrelated to material covered, unfair grading etc should be noted, especially when multiple students have the same complaint.

Edited December 21, 2017 by regentrude

[EKS]

Usually people who submit ratings are either really happy with the professor or really disgruntled.  However, we have found that if there is a theme in the comments, it's usually right on.

[JennyD]

There have been a bunch of studies showing that student evaluations are heavily influenced by -- among other things -- whether the course is quantitative or non quantitative (instructors in quantitative courses get lower ratings), students' grade expectations, and gender (male professors do much better generally; being funny helps men; being attractive helps women).    

 

That said, lots of bad reviews for every professor in a given major would make me wonder what was going on in that department. Why are the students so unhappy?   Are the instructors carrying huge course loads?  Is the program poorly run overall? 

 

Lots of professors attending a Saturday morning open house is a very good sign, IMO.  But I'd suggest that your son ask some more pointed questions of other students about what they see as the strengths and weaknesses of the department.  

[G5052]

It's only one factor among many.

 

I'm a "hot" professor there, but I also have some scathing reviews including one from a student that I dropped for non-completion of assignments (a school policy). If you looked at mine though, you would see that I'm organized, answer my emails, and give good feedback. That's the type of thing you want to look for, not rants about working too hard or not liking the textbook.

 

A friend of mine had almost a whole class post bad reviews. She could tell that they collaborated by the dates and because there were many identical sentences and almost the same organization! The dean saw that and said she wouldn't be renewed as an adjunct. Students can indeed gang up on a professor that way.

[anne1456]

You can check koofers for professor ratings and see if they agree with ratemyprofessor. Additionally there might be a reddit subforum for the specific colleges, you can check https://www.reddit.com/r/college/wiki/faq for a list of college subforums. Some colleges have active reddits, some don't, but if the forum is active it can be a great way to get an idea about the college and various departments.

 

[Element]

When I was in school several years ago, they were usually accurate. 

[Bootsie]

I would look for general trends and see what types of issues are being brought up by students.  However, I would keep in mind:

 

What is the sample size at each school?  

Students at different schools can vary with regards to their perceptions.  Students at one school may overall have higher expectations (and, thus, on average rate professors lower)

Schools can vary regarding course requirements.  For example, I taught a course at one school with no GPA expectations set by the department (and grade inflation was rampant--but students were happy with their A's).  I taught the same course at another school which would not allow a professor to have a GPA in the course over 3.05

Not all Rate My Professor reviews are real reviews--there have been incidents where it has been found that a professor provided his own glowing reviews as a fictitious student

[MarkT]

I never only use the overall grade number - I read the actual reviews and see what the students liked or disliked.

I was thinking of doing DE Physics at the local CC but the campus convenient to us the only instructor received bad marks mostly for being lazy and uncaring.

The other campus profs received overall good write-ups but the distance was too far to fit with his other classes.

We went another route.

 

I think they still have Hotness as a criteria (???)

 

 

[Clemsondana]

The accuracy can vary wildly based on student population and student expectation. Back when I was a TA, I had a student give a poor eval with the statement 'When I came to turn in my lab report, she wasn't there and I had to make another trip'. Translation - I didn't have my lab report done to turn in during class when it was due, so I came by her lab the next day without an appointment and didn't ask anybody where her desk or mailbox was. If RMP for TAs had existed, they would have said that I wasn't available to help students. One the other hand, I had a community college student who failed the course give a great eval with the comment 'She tried everything to help, but I really should have done the work'. So, a poor review from a student who ultimately did OK and a great review from a student who failed, but they were very different populations.

 

Also, look for clusters of students who all do a rating at the same time. Over a 3 year period teaching a course and its associated lab at the same campus at the same CC, I had classes with wildly different personalities. One group thought I awesome, and several students even chipped in a few dollars and bought me a plant at the end of the semester. In another class, a group of students came to me and said that the whole class felt that I was being unreasonable with my expectations of them learning unit conversions. I told them that I was happy to help them practice, but, as is always the case with labs, I was teaching from a common syllabus in preparation for a common final (in other words, I didn't plan the schedule or write the final, but everybody at the CC was doing the same thing at the same time).

 

I don't know how much this helps. I will say that getting back evals is always an interesting experience, and usually only the outliers - sometimes the happiest but often the most unhappy - bother to write comments on internal evals or go rate a professor online.

[Butter]

My brother is overall positive on there, but he's got some VERY negative reviews.  Reading them, it is because the students were upset that he expected them to show up to class, actually complete the work, and expected them, as college students, to read the syllabus and know what was expected when.  So I'd pay attention to what the reviews say.  Honestly, those negatives people have said about my brother are positives to me (and other reviews list them as positives), but it does tell you he's not an easy instructor (and he definitely isn't) and even though to many linguistics sounds simple, it's not, and his classes are not easy A's (another thing he gets negative comments about - he's not an easy A).  I'd do some more digging if the overwhelming negatives seem truly legit, while keeping in mind people are much more likely to write a negative review then a positive or middle of the road one.

[Joules]

I agree the numbers are almost meaningless. The only value is reading the reviews, since everyone's learning style is different. We look for things like "loves the subject and made it interesting" and "taught like a seminar class" and avoid things like "feels like high school" and "tests straight from book." Other people might be looking for professors that publish powerpoints online or give sample tests to study from or have organized lectures without rabbit trails.

 

 Be sure to check the level of the course as you read each one.  A reviewer for an intro class will likely be a non-major.  A reviewer for a 3000-4000 level will likely be majoring in that subject.  Also the classes are taught differently at different levels, so the comments will reflect that.