We’ve all had that professor — the one who determines grades in a seemingly subjective way, favoring specific students at their whim; the one who seemed like such a space-case that you could hardly decipher the lesson plan; the one who was so enthusiastic you could barely make it back to your dorm before you began reading course text.

At a campus as large as the UW, there are easily enough professors to cover every eccentricity known to man. Some are amazing: easily accessible for outside help, personable with students and staff alike, and so organized that the lessons are easily understood. However, some professor’s idiosyncrasies, like difficult grading strategies, unclear expectations, or disorganized lesson plans, may deter students from taking their classes.

Wouldn’t it be nice to know information like this before registering for the next quarter’s courses?

Luckily, Web sites like ratemyprofessors.com can clue us into which professors are organized and helpful, whose class to take if you’re looking for an easy “A,” and whose classes to sign up for if you’re looking for a little eye candy.

At ratemyprofessors.com, students from all over the United States and Canada can create a report card for professors they have had in the past or are currently taking classes from. Students can grade their professors on average clarity, average easiness, average helpfulness, and overall quality as well as, just for kicks, how attractive the professor is, called the “Hotness Total.” In addition to this, they can leave comments for other users to read about the professors.

Warnings, such as “this class = essays” and the straightforward “do not take this class,” are commonplace, and while this information is helpful, it must be taken with a grain of salt.

Consider the people who place these reviews: students. While some may be reliable reporters of the quality of a class or professor, others have failed classes or not put in enough effort into the course assignments. Perhaps the professor’s expectations merely differed from what the student had formerly perceived. Either way, the reports from students vary so drastically from one rating to the next; it is impossible to get a definite grasp of what kind of teacher you are going to be spending the next quarter with.

When registering for classes, it is first and foremost important to register for courses that explore topics interesting to you and fulfill requirements for your major. Hopefully, those categories coincide. More reliable, perhaps, are recommendations from your fellow students or even professors and TAs, especially from those within your major.

Web sites like ratemyprofessors.com can be helpful for new students, especially those who are unsure of what areas they would like to pursue. While it can be helpful to gauge a professor’s quirks before you sign up for their class, is it really important if your anthropology professor is hot or not?

Reach columnist Emily McFadden at opinion@dailyuw.com.