p. RateMyProfessors.com, a staple in the course selection process of most college students, recently published its first collection of Top 50 lists. The College ranked number nine overall for top faculty.
p. This is the first time that RateMyProfessors.com has used the student input from the website to recognize the schools and professors with the highest ratings.
p. The schools with the top faculty on the website were judged based on the highest combined average ratings among their faculty. Professors are rated in four different categories on a scale of one to five: easiness, helpfulness, clarity and rater interest.
p. Brigham Young University in Utah is ranked the number one university with the top faculty on the website. The College ranked above number 15 University of Virginia and number 11 James Madison University. The only Ivy League university to make it on the top 50 list was Cornell University, ranked number 50.
p. The large discrepancy between the ratings of the U.S. News and World Report and those of the website is the result of ther website ranking schools solely on the opinion of the students who visit the website while the U.S. News rankings are based on statistical data, including average freshman retention rate, student-faculty ratio and selectivity.
p. Princeton University is the number one national university in America in the 2008 U.S. News ratings. BYU is ranked number 79 by U.S. News. The College is ranked number 33.
p. “The group of students who tend to post comments on online sites may not be a representative sample of students who take the courses,” mathematics Professor Dana Johnson said. “Also, it is possible that a student is unhappy with a grade and uses a negative comment to spite the professor; there are usually two sides to the matter and the professor has no way of responding.”
p. Johnson has visited the website in the past to check her ratings, but says that they do not affect the way she conducts her class. She believes that the course evaluations that students fill out when each course is taken are more accurate.