Every semester, students play Russian Roulette when it comes to selecting courses.
However, some students are turning to a new source to select their professors: ratemyprofessor.com.
The interactive site allows students from all over the country to post their opinions about their professors.
The opinions are summed up in a one to five rating system that determines a professor’s level of difficulty or ease and whether they were helpful to the students registered in their course.
Some students utilize the website while others simply visit it.
“I just go on the website and just read everybody’s comments,” said Troy Gladney, 19. “I sometimes take the comments seriously if everybody’s saying the same thing.”
Gladney, a sophomore physical education student from Milwaukee, said he sees the website as a helpful tool when choosing courses.
The same can be said about Tereesa Busch, 23, a junior business accounting student, who also views the website before signing up for classes. Busch said the site has been an accurate source.
“I’ve commented on the site,” said Busch, a Pensacola native. “I take heed to the comments because there’s no purpose in the site if people lie about the professors.”
Professors across campus have become familiar with the site as well.
Charles Beamer, an adjunct political science professor at Florida A&M University, says the site isn’t a nuisance to students or teachers.
“I think it is a great website,” Beamer said. “Just as we have an independent agency that is dedicated to rating and giving recommendations on consumer products, I think that it is a good idea to have a site that is dedicated to rating and giving recommendations on and for an individual’s most valuable investment, their education.”
Beamer is one of the professors who has been profiled on the site. Beamer’s reviews were mostly positive. He garnered a five, the highest score possible, in overall ease and helpfulness.
“I am okay with what has been posted from what I have seen,” Beamer said. “I personally do not use the ratings/comments as a tool to boast but rather as a tool to better the classes I teach.”
Though some students use the website in order to complain about former professors, Beamer advises students to be careful of what postings they use to make their class selections.
“You must learn to decipher what is important and what is not,” Beamer said. “Some students use the website to post comments that are whiny in nature. Those persons must be careful that they do not undermine the website and the purpose it was intended for.”