In recent years, registering for classes has become its own science with many tips, tricks and tools to aid students in their class selection process.
With just a simple web search, students can find sites that offer professor ratings, course descriptions and more recently, course breakdown of grades assigned.
Myedu.com functions like ratemyprofessor.com by offering students ratings of professors by subject. But unlike other sites, myedu.com also provides university records of grade breakdowns in each course.
Students can see how many As, Bs, Cs, Ds and Fs that were given in each course, and can avoid certain courses where there may be a lower percentage of better grades given out.
On their website, myedu.com states that their purpose is to build products and deliver data that help make the world a smarter place ”” one college graduate at a time.
For the Fresno State students that use their services and websites similar to myedu.com, there have been mixed reactions.
Agriculture major Frank Roche said he often plans his class schedule choosing certain teachers over others because of a teacher’s reputation.
“I do mostly because of people I know that have taken certain teachers before and have warned me about them or suggested them to me,” Roche said. “I use ratemyprofessor.com and myedu.com to get a final judgment before I enroll in the class.”
Although Roche likes the grade breakdowns offered by myedu.com, he feels sites like this may not be what’s best for a student.
“I think they may hinder students because sites like this encourage us to find easier teachers,” Roche said.
Freshman Cameron Lord feels that these sites only help students and does not think that teachers with easier ratings teach less than others.
“The teachers with the better ratings are not teaching an easier class,” Lord said. “They are teaching in a way that is easiest for the student to understand.”
Public relations major Lauren Taylor said she, too, has picked certain classes due to feedback about the professors for that class.
“I used my older siblings and sorority sisters for advice, but I haven’t been to myedu.com and have only used ratemyprofessor.com once,” Taylor said. “It’s nice to have these resources, but with all my friends and other students in classes I don’t really need them.”
According to their research, myedu.com states students who use their services have higher GPAs, graduate faster, and as a result, save more money on tuition.
While these claims have yet to be examined, Cameron Lord feels that sites like these do help.
“Using these services, I can find a teacher with a class that I feel I can be more successful in,” Lord said.