Best Sites to Rate Teachers & Professors Online
The top pick for rating teachers and professors online is Rate My Professors. It has the largest database of college instructors, the most active user base, and a simple 1–5 rating system that makes it easy to compare professors before you register for classes.
What to Look For
Before you trust any rating site, check these criteria:
- Coverage: Does the site include your school and department? A site with millions of professors is useless if yours isn’t listed.
- Rating granularity: A single overall score is less helpful than separate scores for clarity, helpfulness, and difficulty. Look for sites that break these out.
- Review recency: A professor’s teaching style changes over time. The most useful sites show the date of each review and let you sort by newest.
- Verification: Do reviewers need a school email or proof of enrollment? Verified reviews reduce fake or vindictive posts, though many sites allow anonymous reviews by design.
- Comment quality: Sites that require a short written explanation alongside the numeric score tend to have more useful, specific feedback than those that only collect stars.
- Ease of use: Can you search by professor name, department, or course? Can you view the site on your phone without an app?
Rate My Professors
Strengths: The largest database of college and university professors in the US and Canada, with millions of reviews. The 1–5 overall quality score, difficulty rating, and optional “would take again� percentage give a quick snapshot. You can search by school, department, or professor name, and the mobile site works well.
Trade-offs: Reviews are anonymous and unverified, so some are biased or written by students who did poorly. The site is heavily US-centric; international coverage is thin. The interface is cluttered with ads.
Who it suits best: College students in the US or Canada who want the broadest sample of opinions before choosing a class.
Rate My Teachers
Strengths: Focuses on K-12 teachers, with separate ratings for helpfulness, clarity, and easiness, plus a “would take again� percentage. Parents and students both contribute, giving a fuller picture. The site is free and requires no login to read reviews.
Trade-offs: The user base is smaller than Rate My Professors, so rural or small schools may have few or no reviews. Reviews are unverified, and some are written by disgruntled students rather than parents. The site has not been updated significantly in years.
Who it suits best: Middle and high school students (and their parents) trying to gauge a teacher’s style before the school year or when choosing electives.
Koofers
Strengths: Combines professor ratings with actual past exams and study materials. You can see a professor’s average GPA distribution, which gives a data-driven sense of how they grade. Ratings include difficulty, quality, and a “hotnessâ€� rating (though the latter is gimmicky).
Trade-offs: Coverage is limited mostly to larger US universities. Some features, like downloading past exams, require a paid subscription. The rating system is less intuitive than Rate My Professors.
Who it suits best: STEM students at big universities who want to see real past exams and grade distributions alongside peer reviews.
Rate My Courses
Strengths: This site, run by the same company as Rate My Professors, focuses on course ratings rather than individual instructors. You can see overall course quality, difficulty, and workload, which is useful when deciding between electives or required courses. It also links to the professor who teaches each section.
Trade-offs: The database is smaller than Rate My Professors, and many courses have no reviews. It’s only as good as the student participation at your school.
Who it suits best: Students who care more about the course content and workload than the specific professor, or who are choosing between multiple sections of the same course.
Course Hero
Strengths: While primarily a study resource, Course Hero has a professor rating section that includes reviews, ratings, and even textbook information. The reviews are tied to specific courses, so you can see how a professor teaches a particular subject. The site also offers course-specific study guides and Q&A.
Trade-offs: Access to many features requires a paid subscription. Professor ratings are not the main focus, so the review volume is lower than dedicated rating sites. The interface can be overwhelming with upsells.
Who it suits best: Students already using Course Hero for study help who want to check professor ratings in the same place.
Reddit (r/ratemyprofessors and university subreddits)
Strengths: Not a formal rating site, but university-specific subreddits often have threads where students candidly discuss professors. You can ask follow-up questions and get nuanced advice about teaching style, grading, and workload. It’s free and completely anonymous.
Trade-offs: Information is unstructured and may not cover every professor. You need to search or ask, and responses are not guaranteed. It’s also not a permanent record; threads get buried.
Who it suits best: Students at schools with an active subreddit who want real-time, conversational advice beyond a numeric score.
How to Choose
Start with Rate My Professors for the broadest coverage and quickest comparison. If your professor isn’t listed or you need more detail, cross-check with Koofers (for grade data) and your university’s subreddit (for candid advice).
For K-12, use Rate My Teachers but take reviews with a grain of salt, as they are often written by students with strong opinions. If you’re deciding between courses rather than professors, Rate My Courses is a useful complement.
Budget is rarely an issue since most rating sites are free to read. However, if you want to download past exams or access premium features on Koofers or Course Hero, you’ll need to pay. Decide whether that extra data is worth the subscription.
The main trade-off is between volume (Rate My Professors) and depth (Koofers, Reddit). A site with many reviews gives you a statistical average, but a single detailed Reddit comment can be more insightful. Use both.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are professor ratings reliable?
They are a useful signal, not a guarantee. Students who post reviews tend to have stronger opinions (very good or very bad), so the average may be skewed. Look for patterns across multiple reviews rather than a single one.
Can professors see who rated them?
No. On Rate My Professors and similar sites, reviews are anonymous. Professors cannot see your name or email, though they may recognize a specific class or semester from your comments.
Do professors ever respond to reviews?
Some professors do, usually on Rate My Professors. The site allows professors to claim their profile and post a public response. This can be helpful, but it’s not common.
Is there a site for online course ratings?
Rate My Courses is the best dedicated option. For MOOCs or platforms like Coursera, Class Central has user reviews of courses, but they don’t focus on individual instructors.
How can I spot fake reviews?
Look for reviews that are overly vague (“great class!�) or overly emotional. Check if the reviewer mentions specific assignments or lectures. A cluster of reviews posted on the same day may indicate a coordinated campaign.
Should I choose a professor based only on ratings?
No. Ratings reflect student experiences, which vary by personal learning style. A professor rated “difficult� might be perfect for you if you want a challenging course. Use ratings to shortlist, then check the syllabus and maybe attend the first class.
Bottom Line
For most college students, Rate My Professors is the best starting point because of its sheer volume and ease of use. Supplement it with Koofers for grade data and your school’s subreddit for candid advice. For K-12, Rate My Teachers is the only dedicated option, but use it cautiously. No single site is perfect, but combining two or three sources gives you a solid picture before you commit to a class.
Related
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