For every NYU student, course selection on Albert is a familiar burden. Its simplistic design is structured entirely around communicating the most rudimentary information: the what, when and where of each course being offered. For students deciding on whether or not to enroll, there is an important piece of information noticeably missing from this display: the who. So, as I’m sure we’ve all done before, we copy and paste their name into Google, making sure to add NYU at the end of the query, and bam, a whole host of results, each providing some facet of information about the prospective professor. 

The first step for many is Rate My Professors, a site that seeks to portray a concise and detailed profile of professors that reflects the opinions of former students. To achieve this, the site allows anyone to add feedback and opinions under an existing profile.

The number that jumps out on these profiles is the instructor’s overall quality and difficulty of the course scaled from zero to five, and a percentage reflecting the number of students that would take the class again. Categorical feedback is seen in the professor’s tags, or common characteristics or behaviors that further classify their teaching style. Underneath all of this data is written feedback from those who have contributed to the profile. 

Rate My Professors covers a lot of ground when it comes to picking your courses — ground that is unfortunately compromised by the inability of the site to verify submissions. Without having to create an account, users may submit false ratings under any profile of their choosing, with no limit to how many a given user may submit. Whether the situation lies in a student out for sabotage with a series of negative reviews or even the chance of a professor hoping to boost their own stats with positive reviews, the integrity of each rating should be considered with skepticism. 

Rate My Professors, aware of these shortcomings, urges its users to abide by their guidelines which warn against such dishonest practices. Beyond basic filters against profanity and personal information, the site encourages embracing a clear head before engaging with profiles, recommending in their official guidelines that, “Replies fueled by anger do not reflect well on the author and can be removed for violations such as profanity. Take a minute to step back and make sure your reply will genuinely help others.” 

The site does have valuable statistics and information to help educate students, however it alone should not be the basis by which you select your teachers. Unfortunately, there are not many superior alternatives in the digital sphere; Reddit, another common tool for professor hunting, is subject to the same woes as Rate My Professors, and thus should be treated as a possible supplement rather than a definitive solution. 

Online outlets such as these are inherently flawed due to the bias of reviewing in the first place — individuals tend to leave a review only under extremely positive or negative circumstances. This lack of mediocre reviews skews ratings to either end of the scale, providing a biased outlook on the professor. While certain aspects of these reviews may be salvageable, erring on the side of caution is always advised — try and focus less on any emotion and more on the concrete details discussed in these reviews. What do their tests look like and how many are there? What’s the turnaround of grades in the class? What’s their teaching style like? Look for substantive information about how the class actually operates instead of the opinions of students who clearly just have a bone to pick.

Alternatively, seeking out resources in person can offer more helpful information from more credible sources. Peers who have already taken the class can provide verifiable testimony to the experience, a professor’s quirks and what to look out for. 

Keep an open mind in those early weeks of class. Establishing negative perceptions of your professor before even meeting them can have consequences down the road — going into something with a negative attitude is unfair not only to the professor, but to yourself, as it creates a barrier between your assumptions and reality. 

The first few classes should be spent not only on learning the material, but on gaining a sense of how your professor operates. One of the best litmus tests is how they approach the syllabus — are they a by-the-books stickler for rules, or are such requirements up for interpretation? This often sets the tone for the rest of the semester and gives you an idea of their flexibility when it comes to items such as deadlines and grade bumps, both of which are crucial information for any classroom environment.

In addition to policies, teaching style is another make-or-break characteristic to look out for. While somewhat dependent on the nature of the class — the intimate environment of a seminar class as opposed to lecture-based learning — a great professor often is identified by their ability to engage an audience. If you aren’t particularly captivated either by what it is they’re saying, or the way in which they’re saying it, the add/drop period exists for a reason. Although already elapsed for the fall 2024 term, add/drop was specifically made for circumstances such as this.

Online tools like Rate My Professors are a good way to learn the quirks of your instructor before you meet them, but they’re no substitute for meeting the genuine article. Whether you realized it too late or accepted your doomed fate, at the end of the day, you and your professor don’t necessarily need to get along in order to learn. Take solace in the fact that even bad teachers can impart valuable classroom lessons, such as the time-tested art of learning it yourself.

WSN’s Opinion section strives to publish ideas worth discussing. The views presented in the Opinion section are solely the views of the writer.

Contact Grayson Stotz at [email protected].