How to read Rate My Professors ratings without getting misled

Start with how many students rated

A 5.0 from two students is a coin flip. A 4.1 from forty students is a pattern. Treat fewer than about ten ratings as a rough hint, and fewer than three as no information at all. ChillSemester does the same: it only shows a Chill Rank once a professor has at least three ratings, and marks anything under ten as limited data.

The three numbers that matter

• Difficulty (1 to 5, higher is harder): the best single predictor of how stressful the class will feel.
• Overall rating (1 to 5, higher is better): how students felt about the professor and the class together.
• Would take again: the share of students who would sign up with this professor a second time. When this disagrees with the star rating, trust it more.

Why reviews disagree

Reviews are written by the students with the strongest feelings, and the same professor can be a great fit for one student and a bad one for another. A professor who is tough but fair might get angry one-star reviews from students who skipped class and glowing five-star reviews from everyone who worked. Read two or three of the most recent reviews for specifics, such as grading style and attendance rules, instead of trying to read them all.

Compare professors the fast way

Copying every professor's name into a second tab for every course is slow, and by the time you finish your registration time may have passed. ChillSemester shows each professor's Rate My Professors rating next to every section and combines difficulty, rating and would-take-again into one Chill Rank from 1 (Chill) to 5 (Brutal), so you can compare the sections of a course at a glance and then open the professor's page for the detail.

A rank is a starting point, not a promise. If a professor with a hard rating teaches a course you need for your major, that can still be the right choice.