Chem is a subject that I would suggest taking with the better professor if you have the chance. It could save you hours of work out of class trying to figure out what the teacher was trying to say. I know my son has usually gone with the better professor and it has worked out well.
The only class that my son17 has struggled with was with a guy who he could not understand his dialect, and he just wasnāt a great teacher. He wishes he wouldāve swapped out of that class instead of trying to grind it out.
@RightCoaster I agree, but would your S17 have swapped into a class that met MWF 4:30 - 5:30p?
He actually did just that this last semester, took a class that met late afternoon on Friday. He said it was fine. Itās only a few months of āpainā really. So much suffering , lol.
D17 did something similar although not on a Friday. She was dying for this one class with one particularly amazing professor. When she finally had enough credits to be able to take this upper level course, it was only offered on Tuesday evenings. She had no other classes on Tuesdays so it was a bit of a bummer but she said it was worth it to have that professor. Of course, a little different than a Friday late afternoon class but when I was in college, our social life didnāt start that early anyway. If I were counseling my kid, Iād tell them to take the better professor.
Editing to addā¦she had a similar schedule this past spring to what you are suggesting - she had a late class on MWF (either 3:30 or 4:30) while the rest of her classes were in the morning. As well as the Tues evening class.
@STEM2017 In my personal opinion, always take the better prof. My D builds her schedule around taking the better/best profs rather than the class times. Sometimes it yields a less than optimal schedule, but thatās a worthwhile trade off. Every complaint Iāve heard from students in the last few years had to do with a prof that my D would have never taken based on the profās RMP rating. Your son can use the gap time to study.
@STEM2017 I think it depends on the nature of the reviews for the lower-rated professor. A bifurcated 3 reflecting a prof that makes students work hard (learned so much, really had to study to get an A = 5, vs. professor is mean because he/she assigned too much homework = 1) vs. lots of 3s (professor is meh) vs. lower scores due to poor organization, unclear grading criteria, doesnāt hand back work, are not the same.
Generally, though, I agree that quality of teaching is more important than when the class is taught. Also, those outlier times can attract more dedicated students who are wiling to put up with inconvenience for a learning payoff.
My kid has zero choices of professors or class times. 
I agree, especially after the comments above.
Funny, S19 showed me one section with a professor with truly horrible ratings (1.3 rating with 240 votes) but the class starts at 10:30ā¦FULL with a wait list! 180 seats! I guess different kids have different priorities.
My son builds his class schedule each semester based on which courses his favorite profs are teaching. Some classes are only offered every few years so he will enroll in one out of sequence, just to have the opportunity with a particular prof.
For classes that are a bit more interchangeable (say foreign language), he āshopsā a few different profs to see which one he prefers. Final choices are sometimes a compromise of course content, prof, overall workload, and time slot.
Iād generally agree to go with the better prof, but I agree to check WHY the prof was rated poorly or good. Was the prof āgoodā only because of easy grading? Was the prof ābadā only because of high workload? If the schedule allows a bit of a ātime sinkā class, they may learn more, especially in a fundamental class. (Yeah, I know, no one WANTS a time sinkā¦)
Another thing to consider is if your son is in any activities that may be impacted by a late Friday class. And no, I donāt just mean just starting the weekend early. My S17 is on the Mock Trial team, and they go to away tournaments on the weekends, often leaving ~noon on Friday if the toutnament has a Friday evening session. So he pretty much canāt take classes that meet late on Fridays.
I think a MWF 4:30-5:30 class would interfere with many activities. This is a big consideration. He doesnāt know the club schedules but I would bet many of them meet during that time period.
Excellent advice about analyzing the good and bad ratings. Iāll have him take a closer look.
@STEM2017 - Is he a premed? if so, go with one who is an easy grader 
@srk2017 Heās not premed, heās atmospheric science, but he may continue to graduate school. I get your point.
4.7 rating is almost too good to be true? Sometimes certain departments have the same final or grading curves. Is that the case here?
Best of luck in the decision!
Back in the day when I was in undergrad, I took a close that was 5 credit hours and was scheduled to meet M-W-F for 2 hours each time. The professor on the first day of class noted that the class was a bargain because we were paying for 5 hours but getting 6 hours of instruction. He then noted that in his experience, undergrads did not like bargains so we would extend M-W classes by 15 mins and cancel the Friday class. I would definitely want more info behind the reasons for various professor rankings. Oftentimes what makes a āgoodā professor in the eyes of many (particularly 18-22 year olds) is why you shouldnāt want to have the professor.
My daughter has totally found her passion. We knew she loved horses from the time she was probably 7 or 8. But working at the equine hospital since January has totally ignited a passion for them. You can hear the excitement and passion in her voice every time we talk with her. This week she is working on the ambulatory unit with one of the senior vets driving to various horse farms around Lexington. Totally loving it. She will come home for the first week of July and then head back to the equine research facility on campus to work for several weeks with a researcher on an issue she has seen at the equine hospital (with a couple people from the hospital assisting with that research). She will work on that research next school year as well. Totally in her glory. Great to see your kid finding a passion and pursing it.
So at the advice of many of you, S19 and I took a deeper look at the ratings. We focused on the prof who had the 3.2 rating (S19 told me it was a 3.0 originally). There are 200+ ratings so it carries some weight. Like most other ratings systems, most of the commentary is extreme - either very good or very bad. So we focused on the āvery bad.ā
Here are some examplesā¦
I think S can live with this.
The REAL negative comments came from his Organic Chem class. S19 is taking Chem 1, not Org Chem.
BTW, the most recent comment for Chem 1 was from 2014. I donāt know if this is good or bad. LOL
Yeah, speaking as a professor, Iād strongly suggest looking beyond the top-line number for professor ratings.
I have a number of colleagues who rate somewhere around 3/5 on the most widely known faculty ratings site. Some of them are there because of a bunch of mediocre ratings, while others are there because of a bunch of 1-star and a bunch of 5-star ratingsāand if you look more closely, thatās because the 1-star raters object to being made to actually *work/i to get a decent grade.
Assuming youāre after an education, itās better to take a 3-star professor with a ratings distribution like that than a 5-star professor who lets everyone simply bliss through.
No one should decide based on just the number. You have to read the reviews. For a professor with a lot of reviews, it will rarely be the case that a 3.0 is based on extremes and the prof is actually really good. Thatās not true in my experience with any type of rating. And given a choice, my D isnāt taking any 3.0 rated profs unless there are only a few ratings and the 3.0 is the result of a few unhelpful 1s. But again, that has never been the case. Iām a huge fan of MFP.
" . . . . My daughter has totally found her passion. We knew she loved horses from the time she was probably 7 or 8. But working at the equine hospital since January has totally ignited a passion for them. You can hear the excitement and passion in her voice every time we talk with her. This week she is working on the ambulatory unit with one of the senior vets driving to various horse farms around Lexington. Totally loving it. She will come home for the first week of July and then head back to the equine research facility on campus to work for several weeks with a researcher on an issue she has seen at the equine hospital (with a couple people from the hospital assisting with that research). She will work on that research next school year as well. Totally in her glory. Great to see your kid finding a passion and pursing it."
Ah, Lexington.
Keeneland
Fasig Tipton
KHP
Red Mile
Tattersalls
polo
Calumet
3 day
steeplechase
Paris Pike
The only issue is that if she moves she may feel like any other town is inadequate. ic