How to choose professors at CUNY without wasting a semester

Ratings are a signal, not a verdict

Rate My Professors scores are written by students, so they skew toward people with strong opinions. A professor with 40 ratings at 4.3 tells you more than one with 2 ratings at 5.0. Look at how many ratings there are and how recent they are.

What to look at besides the stars

• Difficulty: a hard professor in a course you need for your major might be worth it. In a filler elective, probably not.
• Would take again: this percentage often says more than the overall rating.
• Section time: an 8 AM class with a great professor can still wreck your semester if you cannot get there.
• Gaps and travel: long gaps, or a trip between campuses between classes, add stress that does not show up in ratings.

Balance your whole week

Mix demanding courses with lighter ones, and avoid stacking several heavy classes into the same days. ChillSemester combines professor ratings, early classes, gaps, commute and your work shifts into a single 1 to 5 stress score for any schedule, so you can compare options quickly.