# College Education & Rating Your Professors: Were you awake in your English class? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 17, 2006, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-education-rating-your-professors-were-you-awake-in-your-english-class/348776 "2006-03-17T17:01:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-education-rating-your-professors-were-you-awake-in-your-english-class/348776/21 "2006-03-17T22:43:49Z")
My graduate advisor is still teaching and has some of the hightest ratings I’ve seen, just as she did when I was her student. I just don’t get it. I like her, but her teaching sucked. She was hardly ever prepared; I saw her once 15 minutes before class taking notes from an open text book so she’d having something to teach in the graduate level class. But people love her, I think because she’s sincerely concerned about her students’ welfare. But she’s still not someone I would have recommended if you actually wanted to learn something. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-education-rating-your-professors-were-you-awake-in-your-english-class/348776/22 "2006-03-17T22:49:49Z")
I read the website because I know there are other serious students like me who post useful comments. Plus, even the most boneheaded comment says something about either the poster or the teacher. For example, when I see a post like “OMGOMGOMG LOL TEH CLASE IS SO HARD LOLOL I GOT A D” I know I’ll probably do well in the class. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-education-rating-your-professors-were-you-awake-in-your-english-class/348776/23 "2006-03-17T23:26:20Z")
So many of the professors from my (former, maybe future) college (shout out to Rilchiam [and someone else, I think]) have fairly low ‘ease’ scores but high overall ratings. Even the few ratings that basically say “this man is boiled down, condensed, and bottled evil and he takes joy in making students cry”\* use decent grammer and spelling. Of course, the whole page is pretty much irrelevant to that school, because you don’t get to chose your classes, so it’s not like there’s a lot riding on it. \*Fun fact: This is true about the professor. He told my freshman class he likes to teach freshman classes “to thin the herd” (eg, get as many people to drop out as he can. Four people from that class [of 18] are no longer at the college). ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Tiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Mama\_Tiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Tiger)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-education-rating-your-professors-were-you-awake-in-your-english-class/348776/24 "2006-03-17T23:32:50Z")
I figured it would be nice to give Dr. X a little anonymity, since it’s not like he knows I’m talking about him. Plus it gives you all something to turn your creative minds loose on. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Campion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@Campion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Campion)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-education-rating-your-professors-were-you-awake-in-your-english-class/348776/25 "2006-03-17T23:57:19Z")
With a sigh of relief, I can report that the site ranks my mom a 4.8 overall (and says she’s nice, which I can vouch for), but – and this is critical to my peace of mind-- has no rating on her “hotness” quality. I don’t think I could stand it if those kids were rating my mom’s hotness. That’s just gross. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-education-rating-your-professors-were-you-awake-in-your-english-class/348776/26 "2006-03-18T00:11:22Z")
> [@Anne Neville](#): > > I looked up my graduate advisor. He’s rated as “hot”. :eek: I thought he was ugly, in addition to being a terrible advisor. I think the people who rated him as “hot” were clearly dreaming, on something, or both when they saw him. Anyone could have done that as a joke. His colleagues might have done it. Heck, he could have done it himself. You don’t have to be a student to post a rating and a chili pepper. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-education-rating-your-professors-were-you-awake-in-your-english-class/348776/27 "2006-03-18T00:38:22Z")
One of my favorite professors was actually one of the toughest-so I hope the ease score doesn’t lower the rating. For another favorite professor, this amuses me: > [@](#): > > ``` > He should be barred from teaching and then expelled back from us > > ``` That should be U.S., dumbass. (Said professor was a refugee from the USSR in the early 1980s). Something weird-when I’m logged in, I see LESS of the listings than when I wasn’t logged in. WTF? ---
**Author:** ![jkirkman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ac8455/32.png) [@jkirkman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jkirkman)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-education-rating-your-professors-were-you-awake-in-your-english-class/348776/28 "2006-03-18T01:21:04Z")
Sadly, none of my professors I remember are on the list. Of course, I mostly drifted through undergrad majoring in drinking beer. 10 years later, in Grad school, at a different college, I was a LOT more focused. Man, I loved Grad school. A professor who was published both professionally and commercially who came into class every time without a single note or piece of paper, leaned up against her desk, and lead a 2-hour class vibrantly off the cuff every damn time. Classes with full bird colonels from the local air force base who would break into something a prof said with “I just don’t think that is right” and the killer class debates that followed. None of those profs are in the database. Pity. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-education-rating-your-professors-were-you-awake-in-your-english-class/348776/29 "2006-03-18T01:41:19Z")
One of my high school classmates wound up as a professor at the college I attended. He’s still there, with a 4.8 out of 5 overall rating, drawing such comments as: > [@](#): > > Such a great professor- truly inspiring and looking out for you to do your best in his class. I hope I can get him to be my advisor in the coming years! > > Vinnie is absolutely amazing professor, lecturer, advisor, and person. > > So amazing I asked him to be my advisor. I really admire his mind, his abitliy to lecture well, and his personability. Warms my heart to see the outstanding qualities Vinnie showed way back in high school still shine through. ---
**Author:** ![ladybug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/46a35a/32.png) [@ladybug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladybug)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-education-rating-your-professors-were-you-awake-in-your-english-class/348776/30 "2006-03-18T01:49:45Z")
I just looked up my old school. One of my favorite undergraduate professors is getting consistently good ratings – and the students are leaving intelligent comments, too! I’m so happy that other people like her as much as I did. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Hanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b3f665/32.png) [@Hanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hanna)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-education-rating-your-professors-were-you-awake-in-your-english-class/348776/31 "2006-03-18T01:56:32Z")
Another site for doing prof checks is [My Professor Sucks](http://www.myprofessorsucks.com/start.php). For my school it seems that this site is used more that Rate My Professors. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-education-rating-your-professors-were-you-awake-in-your-english-class/348776/32 "2006-03-18T03:49:29Z")
> [@vivalostwages](#): > > You don’t have to be a student to post a rating **and a chili pepper.** Maybe it’s just that I primarily speak Mexican Spanish (a dialect which often uses its word for ‘chili pepper’ to mean ‘penis’) with my girlfriend, but I thought of something entirely different there, at first. > [@Video Productions Student](#): > > While he made know somethings about the film world and has a creative knowledge, he can not relate it to the rest of the class. Made know? A creative knowledge? Mets? Yankees? Clouds? ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-education-rating-your-professors-were-you-awake-in-your-english-class/348776/33 "2006-03-18T17:53:15Z")
Some comments about former professors of mine: > [@](#): > > pathetic, crusty, nasty, boring, slimy The professor in question wasn’t boring, slimy, nasty, or pathetic, but I’d agree with “crusty”, which they say like it’s a bad thing. > [@](#): > > thought i was going to get a good grade but didnt Gee, what a surprise. > [@](#): > > ALso, he would act very casul towards the class 99% of the time then freak out when students were casual towards him. No, he didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-education-rating-your-professors-were-you-awake-in-your-english-class/348776/34 "2006-03-18T18:17:05Z")
Yay! My favorite teacher has several well-written and complimentary reviews, with an overal average of 4.9. That makes me happy. He was awesome! > [@Student #1](#): > > An adorable man with a sexy accent and a fabulous sense of humour, he makes every class worth its weight in gold. He grades fairly easily, is never intimidating, mixes class up with music and stories, and shows interest in every student. You can’t help but love this man and his class. > [@Student #2](#): > > P. is great–and he’s sassy, too. He’s a shining light over the idiot classmates who cannot pronounce a thing. And he makes you sing. A lot. ---
**Author:** ![Ooner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c67d28/32.png) [@Ooner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ooner)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-education-rating-your-professors-were-you-awake-in-your-english-class/348776/35 "2006-03-18T22:24:46Z")
> [@](#): > > The most useless class I’ve ever taken. Corney takes hours to say what should take minutes, and rambles on pointless tangents for literally 75% of classtime. You will develop an overwhelming desire to scream out loud “GET TO THE POINT OH GOD PLEASE!” His bumbling awkward nervous rambling visage will haunt your very dreams and nightmares forever. I’m actually a really big fan of the site both for comedy value and actually finding classes I want to take or avoid. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-education-rating-your-professors-were-you-awake-in-your-english-class/348776/36 "2006-03-19T00:21:10Z")
Yay! My favorite professor has wonderful reviews, written by literate people. I have also looked up a couple of professor friends here in town. My brother, as a measly graduate student teacher, doesn’t seem to have a review. Ooh! Now I’m gonna go looke up my college friend… ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-education-rating-your-professors-were-you-awake-in-your-english-class/348776/37 "2006-03-19T00:25:36Z")
I found an old friend who now teaches Philosophy at UC Berkeley. He received few reviews. All pretty good. ---
**Author:** ![Taran](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@Taran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taran)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-education-rating-your-professors-were-you-awake-in-your-english-class/348776/38 "2006-03-19T03:12:10Z")
Looked up a few of my favorite teachers. One of them got a lot of subliterate blathering, but some kind soul said: > [@](#): > > Ask yourself: “Am I a moron?” If you can honestly answer ‘no’, you’ll love his classes. If you can’t, well, see the other ratings. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-education-rating-your-professors-were-you-awake-in-your-english-class/348776/39 "2006-03-19T07:48:37Z")
I had to give a bad rating to a math professor I had years ago. He would rush through everything and when we’d ask him to slow down, he’d grumble and whine, “But I want to get to the GOOD STUFF!” ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Purl_McKnittington)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-education-rating-your-professors-were-you-awake-in-your-english-class/348776/40 "2006-03-19T08:39:07Z")
> [@Boscibo](#): > > Another site for doing prof checks is [My Professor Sucks](http://www.myprofessorsucks.com/start.php). For my school it seems that this site is used more that Rate My Professors. This site is much more active for my school, as well. So I checked out some of my professors. Some of the comments are sadly off. > [@](#): > > Prof. L is a good professor to take if you need an A or B. She is a little disorganized and gives her classes way too much class discussion time. I recommend getting in a group with your friends because you will get over half of each class period to “discuss” the readings. Make sure to note her interesting sense of style (plain black dress everyday). I can’t really speak to how easy it is to get an A in her class, since I’m one of those nasty overachievers, but the claim about having too much discussion time is ridiculous. It’s only too much discussion time if you haven’t read the book. And we’ve never discussed anything for more than half the class period. Since she teaches literature classes, discuss is what you do, since lecturing isn’t exactly conducive to teaching how to think critically about a text. And the thing about wearing only plain black dresses definitely isn’t true. She wears pastels, for god’s sake. Neither is this true: > [@](#): > > I did not like this prof. She plays favorites, so sleep with her and you will get a good grade! She has way more integrity than that. If by favorites you mean “students who actually do the work and are willing to discuss things” then I suppose that might be right. And this: > [@](#): > > [Prof M] doesn’t really seem to have the greatest knowledge of the subject. Plus, he can’t keep discussion going and isn’t very organized. The only good thing was that we always got outta class early, b/c he couldn’t think of anything more to go over with us. He’s a nice guy, but not a good professor. Ugh. I cannot even imagine how this can be true. (Aside from the nice guy part. I had a low blood sugar during a meeting with him once and got a little _weird_, and he was calm and understanding through the whole thing.) He’s highly intelligent and informed about everything. He made our Brit Lit II survey class interesting. I can’t believe it. I guess what I’m most dismayed at is that so many people complain about talking about the same topic over and over when that’s the topic of the course, and having to do a lot of reading for _upper-level English_ classes. What were they expecting? That they would get to pick their noses and sing the chorus to “Devil Went Down to Georgia”? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-education-rating-your-professors-were-you-awake-in-your-english-class/348776.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-education-rating-your-professors-were-you-awake-in-your-english-class/348776.md?page=3)