Of the 73 percent of college students who use Web sites that rate professors, nearly half said they select courses based on the professor’s reputation as an easy grader, according to a recent Kaplan Test Preparation study.
University students who use RateMyProfessors.com told the Emerald their intent is to research a professor and the classes he or she teaches, rather than deciding to take a course based on its difficulty.
More than 1,200 current college students or recent graduates took Kaplan’s survey in December 2009 and January 2010, corresponding with the MCATs or LSATs, the admissions tests for medical and law school. Because those students are pursuing careers that require them to take additional and competitive schooling, they would be the most driven to attain a high GPA, which would lead them to check sites like RateMyProfessors for a competitive edge in grading, said Jeff Olson, vice president of research and analysis for Kaplan.
“We know that colleges are very competitive places,” Olson said. “It’s a competitive place to get in, and it’s a competitive place to stay, so students are always looking for an edge in the competition. And this can have an influence in getting into grad schools where they want, or getting a job.”
According to RateMyProfessors, of the approximately 1,200 University professors featured on the site, more than 40 professors have a rating of 5.0 in the “Easy” category.
Meanwhile, 22 professors have a rating of 1.0, denoting that they are the hardest.
“I think an interesting follow-up question would be the reaction of the professors themselves,” Olson said. “It would be interesting to find out if they feel pressure to be an easy grader to influence their ratings on these sites. That was not something we attempted to address with this study.”
Of six professors randomly selected from the highest- and lowest-ranked University professors, one declined to comment and the rest did not respond to interview requests.
Olson said that though students check RateMyProfessors and other sites to find easy-grading professors, most students visit these Web sites to learn what other students have said about the professors. The survey also found that students visited the site to find out about a professor’s overall quality of teaching and whether he or she had an engaging teaching style.
“I use it sometimes to check out a class or two,” said junior Corey Milstein. “I used to use it to make some decisions for gen eds.”
“What I like to do (on RateMyProfessors) is not so much choose professors based on it, but after I choose a class, I look up the professors to get a good idea of what to expect,” said University junior Jack Brazil, a history major.
However, not all students are successful with the site.
The Kaplan survey found that 8 percent of responding students regularly log on to contribute to professor rating sites, and Brazil is among them.
“In terms of when you visit one of these (professor rating) sites, there are many students who visit the site, but not many people actually write reviews for the site,” Olson said.
Because the Web site isn’t affiliated with any university, it includes a quirky rating: how “hot” student users think a professor is.
“The good news is that only 3 percent of students surveyed said that this factored in their decision to take a class,” Olson said.
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Grading history precedes professors
Daily Emerald
March 8, 2010
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