<p>Hi, I have a question. With about 4 days until I register (which sucks btw...), is it justifiable to decide to not take a course just because ratemyprofessors.com says that the professor basically sucks? I understand that the teacher makes the course and all that jazz, but there is this one class I really want to take, but after the devestation that is my first semester gpa, I'm having reservations about signing up b/c all of the reviews say that the professor is horrible. Should I throw caution to the wind and take the course anyway because it seems interesting (and goes toward my minor), or follow the reviews and stear clear of it?</p>
<p>I think that a lot of the times with ratemyprofessor.com, you really have to read between the lines. Look at exactly what it IS that the people are saying. For example, if someone's "negative" ratings say something along the lines of "Demands a lot" or complains that a class isn't an "easy A" as expected, there's a good chance that the people commenting are just bitter students who took the class expecting to do nothing and were disappointed, while students who actually put work in love the class/professor. Just also try to remember that usually the only people who even bother to comment on professors either LOVE him/her or HATE him/her -- no one will post something if their feelings are in between. A couple of negative ratings may just be the product of a few embittered students who didn't work at all and got the grades they deserved. Then again, with that said, I always check the site before I register and I have based some of my decisions off of it (although for me, it's usually more along the lines of picking a class BECAUSE it has so many good ratings, meaning people really loved it, not so much deciding against a class because of negative ones). Just be wary of the reason behind some people's comments.</p>
<p>And I hear ya about the 1st semester GPA. Don't worry about it. Happens to everyone. Duke's a really big academic shock.</p>
<p>I second that.</p>
<p>You really have to take it with a grain of salt...I've never based a decision on whether or not to take a humanities course off rate my professors...for the exact same reasons bandcampgirl stated.</p>
<p>When it comes to math/science deparments, I tend to use it a little bit more, especially when it comes to choosing different professors teaching the same class.</p>
<p>Really, if you're interested in the course chances are you'll like it...unless everyone on rate my professors gives some solid reasoning behind why they had such a terrible time, I'd just go for it.</p>
<p>Before registering, visit with professors to discuss his/her courses that you're considering. Takes a bit more time, but after a short chat you'll know whether the course and the professor are likely to be interesting.</p>
<p>i feel a little differently than others. i really believe that it is the professor that makes or breaks a class. for example, this semester i am taking a class for my major taught by my favorite professor at duke. i honestly don't like the content of the class when i'm reading it on my own, but when she's talking about it, it brings a whole new life to it. as a result, i'm doing well in a class that without her, i'd be hating/probably not doing well. i'm very much a person who will take a class even if its synopsis isn't mind blowing or the best one on aces if i've heard great things about the professor (whether it's through evals sites like elliotts or ratemyprofs or my sorority list or from word of mouth) -- because that makes the class better for me. a dynamic professor makes me want to go to class all the time and go above and beyond, an ehh prof makes me want to sleep in and putz around. there are times where there's mixed reviews and if the class is useful for something and i'm highly interested in, i'll give it a shot - that's what add/drop is for... and i'm optimistic enough to be pleasantly surprised. but i will say that in the circumstances where i feel a class could be useful and reviews were definitely on the negative side, there is not one time where i'm glad i went with my gut and didn't listen to ratemyprofs. in fact, freshman year i really wish i had listened to ratemyprofs more than i did.</p>
<p>i actually used ratemyprofessors.com to check the profs for all my classes before registration. after it ended, i found out that the profs i picked all had fuller classes or classes with more people on the waitlist than the other profs who weren't as good. so yeah, maybe it does work.</p>
<p>Just be sure to not mistake the popularity of a professor with them necessarily being a better professor for you than another one. While popular professors are usually popular because they teach well and most students learn well from them, this does not always translate to individual experience. Whether a professor will be "good" or not really depends on how their teaching style clicks with you as an individual. In the past I've had professors who seem to work well with most students totally fail at helping me understand the material to the fullest and the opposite has been true as well. (less popular professor really clicks for a student) This isn't through any fault of the professor, people just learn differently. So while rating sites can be helpful I would base you class choices more on what the class is teaching and opinions of people that you know. (that doesn't help freshmen very much but I would prefer to take my chances with the course descriptions myself rather than miss out on a class I thought I would like because someone I don't know didn't like it, now I'm an engineer so I really don't get much choice in classes anyway so take my words with that in mind)</p>
<p>Yeah, as a Trinity senior, I almost feel the exact opposite from you in part because I do have leeway in taking my classes, even to fulfill major requirements. I have the luxury of having several options for each class I need to take.</p>
<p>The example of this current semester. One of my majors is English, and I've been putting off the DS1 (medieval period) requirement since I declared myself a major. Being a senior, I knew I needed to buckle down this semester and take the class, even though none of them interest me. I chose the one I'm in based on the great things I've heard about the professor, and though while I read the stuff at home, it's sort of boring, when I'm in class he really brings new life to the material and makes me excited to be in class learning that. I've heard of him through RateMyProfs, from my own major advisor, and from older friends in the program, and I'm glad I took their advice. </p>
<p>I don't think I've ever seen something as drastic as what SirGecko is detailing, in that a prof is loved by many but fails to teach/connect to me or any of my friends, but I suppose it's possible. I just think the chance ofthat happening is on the slimmer side. In fact, I've seen the opposite happen more -- where a professor is sort of panned by classmates, but some students really connect with him/her and wind up loving the class based on that professor's mode of teaching (this has happened to me several times throughout college). I've personally only didn't like one prof that people seem to be obsessed with, but I think I was more intimidated than anything else, and wound up not giving him a chance and dropping the class before add/drop ended. Also, there are instances where you could be in a class with the COOLEST material ever, but because of a bad professor, it's just a bad experience (just three weeks into the semester, and I fear the Fairy Tales class I've been excited abt since sophomore yr will be one of those experiences. Reading fairy tales for homework does not make up for sitting through that lecture). Then again, my philosophy of college is that the professor is what makes or breaks the class, not necessarily the syllabus.</p>
<p>I just always tend to recommend looking at rating sites before enrolling, because I think that more often than not, there's some good advice to be had if you still maintain an open mind and realize that some kids could be panning a prof because they received a bad grade they didn't feel they deserved. The instances where I hated a class and HATED the professor were the times I didn't look on the site, and when I did (toward the end of the semester when it was too late), I cursed myself for not reading them before because in my eyes, they hit the nail on the head and would've persuaded me to take something else.</p>
<p>I didn't mean to imply that general opinion was always wrong, just that it can be. I just mean to say that you should consider the source, and so I'd trust things I've heard from actual people rather than some anonymous person on the internet. (and here I am giving advice on the internet!) The only instance I'd trust a rating site is if someone has given a rather specific reason for liking or not liking a professor, or if there were a lot of reviews so that a couple of crazies can't tip the scale.</p>
<p>Also, I would say that it is true that it more often happens that an unpopular professor is good than a popular professor is bad. (my "popular professors turns out to be bad" story didn't happen at Duke but in high school)</p>
<p>Oh, and I'd say that the professor "makes the class" a lot more in your humanities type classes than stuff like engineering. (still need a good professor but the material is what is important in engineering, plus you can't really do anything about it anyway!) I took an English class on poetry and loved it in spite of not really being that enthusiastic about poetry myself. (where my writing 20 class was on theater and I like theater but the professor killed it for me) I've never really taken an engineering class where the professor was able to make me like/hate the class in spite of the material. (again, you can like/hate the professor but the class I feel is still about the material; its complicated)</p>