The website Ratemyprofessors.com is for students who are looking for unfiltered opinions from other students about classes and teachers. While UND does offer surveys and teacher feedback forms, there’s just something about websites that aren’t affiliated with the school that make people unafraid to say what they really think.

I haven’t been able to find any links on the UND website that show ratings or opinions of current professors made by students. I know it’s probably in bad taste to make surveys and suggestion forms about courses public, but it’s much easier and more convenient for students to read honest and non-sugarcoated comments from other people who have taken the class. Usually I have to hope the people I know have taken a class from one of my teachers and rely on their word.

When I found Ratemyprofessors, I found that it was like the online version of sitting at a table with my friends, dishing the dirt on what we really thought about our teachers. I was able to look up teachers I liked and compare their statistics to other teachers of classes I was considering taking.

Personal experiences, compliments and complaints were written by past or current students who had taken that teacher’s classes.

Was the teacher easy to understand? Did they smell like cigarettes and sadness? Had they made kids cry? Did they give timely responses to emailed questions? In a way the site is like a more honest version of a campus tour guide.

The UND website and articles mainly share positive reviews and statistics about the school, burying anything negative.

There’s nothing more annoying than signing up for a class with a teacher you’ve heard nothing about. It could be that none of your friends have taken a class with them, or they only teach small classes. Their opinions and learning style could also be totally different from your own, which would make class a bit more challenging.

There have been times where a friend of mine has said nothing but good things about a professor, so I sign up for their class and then find that I can’t stand the professor. That’s another benefit of hearing from tons of people, not just from a couple of kids you know.

The site isn’t even totally positive or negative about each teacher. There are different areas they’re scored on such as clarity, helpfulness and easiness.

There are also options that ask if attendance was mandatory, if the textbook was used and what grade the reviewer received. The only useless score is whether the teacher is considered hot or not, so if you have a crush on one of your teachers, this is the place to shout your love for them anonymously to the Internet.

I found the top five most positively rated professors at UND:

1. Joe Vacek

2. Paul Drechsel

3. Renae Myszkowski

4. Nick Wilson

5. Foster Ferraro

I would offer them prizes or something but I’m poor. Some might say it’s more constructive to fill out the online surveys the school sends out or to fill out the feedback forms the teachers hand out in class, but if you’re lazy and don’t like dealing with UND online unless it’s for something mandatory, or if you actually like seeing what other people are saying, then you’ll prefer this site.

We’re paying too much to go to this school just so we can get jobs in a crappy economy. I think it’s fair to say we should be able to get honest answers about our teachers and classes that cost hundreds of dollars. If you want to give your reviews and scores on the site, you can sign up for free and do so anonymously.

For my next article I’m looking for reader responses from you.

Who is your favorite and least favorite candidate for the 2016 Presidential Election? Please email me with your reply by Tuesday, March 15. Replies will remain anonymous and one person will be randomly picked for a $15 Pizza Hut gift card.

Alisabeth Otto is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. She can be reached at [email protected]