If you're like me or just about every other college student on the planet, you've probably checked out the website RateMyProfessors.com at least once or twice throughout your brief college tenure.
For those of you who have never used it before, the website provides readers with reviews and ratings from students regarding all of the professors at the University.
Before scheduling, many of my friends consulted the website to make sure that their particular professor wasn't the devil in disguise.
I'll admit that I, too, looked over the site prior to scheduling for the Fall semester. To be honest though, the reviews didn't have much of an impact on what classes I choose and in hindsight I'm thankful for that.
One thing that I have discovered is that in a lot of instances, the reviews are biased because the particular individual doing the review wasn't happy with the grade they received in the class.
What concerns me is that I know multiple people, who base their entire schedule off of the ratings that they read on the site. Personally, I think this is a huge mistake.
Even if the unfavorable review of a particular professor is accurate and non-biased, there is no way of telling how you're experience the teacher will be. For all you know, you may end up enjoying the challenging, interesting professor as opposed the professor that gives an easy A, but makes you suffer through boring lectures.
In my experience, reviews on the website stated that two of my current professors were extremely difficult and boring and that they should be avoided, if possible. Well, as we approach the latter portion of the semester I can proudly say that I am getting a B in both classes and find them both very entertaining.
This is not to say that the RateMyProfessor website is entirely bad and evil because it's not.
It is actually a very good website, which provides you with an idea about what to expect from a professor before you ever step foot in the classroom.
However, you need to remember that it is to be used as one of many different resources in choosing classes, and should not be the lone, deciding factor in your course selection.
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