Check Out Your Professor's Rating

When planning your schedule for the coming year, first pick the classes you need to take, and then check to see who teaches them. With that information in hand, visit www.ratemyprofessor.com. This site lets students search by school for ratings submitted by past students of any professor. The profs are rated on a scale of 1 to 4 for overall quality, easiness, helpfulness, clarity and hotness. Be sure to read through the individual comments because they list what course the student had with the professor.

Don't be too alarmed by bad ratings or too reassured by excellent ratings. If the course is tough, the ratings are usually bad regardless of the professor. The opposite is generally true for easy courses. Just try to get an overall feel for the professor and the class from the comments.

By Brandi M. Seals