Introduction:

Across the nation 48 million students every year access RateMyProfessors.com (hereby noted as
RMP) to gain greater knowledge regarding potential professors (Rate). The website, a review type
system for teachers, is driven solely by the contributions of students. It provides information such as,
tags and ratings including “would take again,” “level of difficulty,” and “overall quality”; each measure is
clearly driven by their importance to students. This data is accessed by 81% of surveyed Tarrant County
College (hereby noted as TCC) students each semester as they begin the process of course enrollment
(Wright).

Source: RateMyProfessors.com, 2019. Source: Tarrant County College WebAdvisor, 2019.

Fig. 1. RateMyProfessor.com vs. TCC: The extended amount of information

provided by RMP highlights the starkness of TCC’s provided information.

The cause for such reliance on an outside source: lack of information provided by TCC about its
professors. As illustrated in Fig. 1 above, when accessing the course enrollment portal, students are only
provided a professor’s basic business information including: campus, department, phone number, email,
and office hours. Comparatively RMP, includes much more extended, thorough, often misleading,
information needed by students to achieve an educated decision when selecting courses. The question
then becomes how should Tarrant County College reduce or eliminate student reliance on outside
sources such as RateMyProfessor.com?

Research:

TCC student’s trust in RMP has led them to inaccurate information and representations of both
the school and its instructors, as well as experiencing a lengthy enrollment process. The dependence
begins with a student’s desire to affirm the school and its instructors are worthy of their financial
investment. It’s then strengthened by a belief, held by 85% of TCC students, that instructors are one of
the most important factors when choosing a course (Wright). When inquired as to why, a current
student at TCC Northeast stated, “your teacher is the person who will make you or break you and you’re
seeking someone with the tools and knowledge that is willing and able to take you to a higher level of
knowledge” (Rosky). Though a strong deciding factor, only 29% of students, as illustrated in Fig. 2 below,
believe Tarrant County College provides enough significant information about instructors to meet their
needs (Wright). This shortcoming leads students to invest an average of 1-2 hours selecting courses,
with 49% of those students spending half of that time referencing RMP (Wright). This extended
enrollment process often leads to frustration as students lose opportunities to enroll in desired courses
due to seats filling as they consume significant amounts of time attempting to ensure which professors
will meet their needs.

“Your teacher is
the person who
will make you or
break you”
Rosky, Aaron
Current Student at TCC Northeast

Fig. 2. Though a very important value to currently enrolled students, only 29% of those surveyed
felt TCC provides enough information about the professors in order to aid in the course selection.

This sacrifice of time proves the importance students place in RMP’s often inaccurate and
misleading information. A perfect, notedly extreme, example of RMP’s inaccuracy is apparent in the
website’s listing of previous TCC professor Daniel Mashburn. Mashburn was suspended by TCC in 2018
after bizarre and questionable actions in class forced students to call law enforcement (McPhate).
However, according to RMP, he is awarded the highest rating of 5.0 while praised by one student as
“amazing…everyone should take him,” (Rate). The importance being such ratings and misinformation
reflect not only on the professor but also the school.

Many universities have faced and addressed the issue of student reliance on websites like RMP
and its impact on their student body. The focus on TCC results from the surrounding communities’
reliance on the school for its ease of approachability for students of all ages within Tarrant County and
its outlying neighbors, as well as its reputation. Maintaining this approachability through easy
enrollment while retaining a great reputation is crucial for the pursuit of new enrollees and possible
investors for continuous revenue for TCC.
Conclusion:

The research clearly illustrates the issues that arise from TCC student’s reliance on RMP. The
President, along with the Dean of each location and the Board of Trustees should all begin to evaluate
possible solutions to decrease or completely negate student reliance on such sources. Subsequently
creating an easier enrollment process and maintaining an outstanding position and reputation within
the community.

Resources:

McPhate, Christian. “Tarrant County College Adjunct Professor Still Unsure Why Students Fled His
Classroom.” News, Dallas Observer, 24 Jan. 2018, dallasobserver.com/news/muslim-tarrant-
county-college-adjunct-who-frightened-students-still-unsure-why-10287959. Accessed 21 Mar.
2019.
Rate My Professors. Cheddar Inc, 2019, https://www.ratemyprofessors.com. Accessed 21 Mar. 2019.
Rosky, Aaron. Personal Interview. 21 Mar. 2019.
Wright, Eric. “Rate My Professor Use”. Survey. 18 Mar. 2019