You know the semester has started to fly by once you start getting those dreaded emails saying it's time to sign up for classes for the next semester. 

If you are well organized and committed to your studies, you already know what classes you need to take next semester. The question is...who's face is it going to be on the other side of the desk? 

Many college students, especially those at UA, hold Ratemyprofessors.com as their go-to source for advice on professors. While many of the posts do have their merit, here is why you may want to look twice before trusting what you hear on the site:

1) It's anonymous. Personally, I would much rather trust advice from someone that I know than random person typing away at their computer screen at the end of a semester.

2) It has the radical view of both ends of the spectrum. Either you have people who live and breathe a clas,s or who only show up on exam days.

3) You don't have a lot of info on who posts it. They could potentially be professors who are just trying to get more people to take their class. Or competing teachers who want their section to be fuller.

4) Not every teacher is on the site. Even though they might not seem like a huge deal, TA's that teach english classes or those random elective classes seniors take to fill up that last semester are rarely on there. 

5) Not everyone posts. Most students are too excited to be starting their summer or winter breaks to be worrying about posting a detailed and fair critique on Rate My Professors. Those who do have the energy are essentially representing the hundreds of students who have taken a class with the professor. 

For me personally, I focus more on class times than the teachers themselves. I also prefer to go to people I know that have taken the class and have similar study habits to me. However, I must concede and give the site some credit where credit is due:

1) The anonymity can help students be as honest as possible.

2) It's free to post and doesn't take as much time as a SOI. The students who do have opinions don't have to click nearly as many buttons and can just spew their thoughts on the person behind their grade in a class.

3) The teachers that generate the most student opinions and students are on there. Often times students think that when they get into a big lecture class that they are just a number. Rate my Professors gives them a chance to be seen as more than that and have a voice. 

So what will you do when you pick out classes? Go to rate my professor or to people you know?