Rate My Professors is the perfect tool for college students when determining their course schedule. Everyone wants an “A”-rated professor, meaning that they are good at what they do. This website is useful as a college student’s guide for finding professors, but there are a few tips and tricks to make the information more reliable. And it starts with giving. 

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1. Give helpful advice.

Whether you’re browsing through Rate My Professors or reading this article, you’re probably looking to find answers rather than give answers. But it’s always better to model what you want to see in others, so if you want helpful advice from other students, you should take the time to write out a helpful review for them, too.

When writing a review, stating what you like or don’t like about a professor isn’t the most helpful piece of advice. Instead of saying something like “This professor assigns way too many papers. I don’t like her!” you can say something that is more concrete, like “This professor always asks for responses on the reading, but if you read the assigned books, the writing assignments should be fairly easy.” Students reading your review don’t necessarily care about your personal experience, but they will want to know what the professor is like.

2. Be professional when writing reviews.

Use proper grammar and check your spelling when you write your reviews. If you use incorrect spelling and grammar, students reading your review may assume that you did poorly in the course and gave a negative review because of that. As a result, they may consider your review unreliable.

3. Pay attention to what you read.

Now, when it comes to reading others’ reviews, you should pay close attention to the number of students who have reviewed a professor. If a professor has only one or two reviews, you can’t just take those reviews as your guide. On the other hand, if a professor has many reviews, you have a stronger reason to trust the grade given. Also, it is important to keep in mind that the majority of the students who write reviews on the website are the ones who either loved, or hated, their professor.

4. Don’t let one bad review influence your decision about a professor.

It would not be wise to choose your professors based wholly on other people’s personal experiences. After all, a student who didn’t pay attention in class may receive a bad grade in that course and blame the professor, but that shouldn’t influence your decision. You should look at several reviews before choosing a class you want to take, and not let one negative review dominate the rest.

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Rate My Professors is a very useful tool and resource for students to learn about their peer’s thoughts on professors they haven’t had yet. It is also a great way for professors to learn about their teaching style. Through the site, professors can see what works, and what doesn’t work, for their students. You will find the information you gather from Rate My Professors will be more valuable to you if you follow these four tips.