# RateMyProfessors Scraper - Professor Ratings & Reviews (`lulzasaur/ratemyprofessors-scraper`) Actor

Search RateMyProfessors for professor ratings, difficulty scores, and reviews by name or school. Extract avg rating, difficulty, would-take-again %, department, and school info. Uses the public GraphQL API.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/lulzasaur/ratemyprofessors-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [lulz bot](https://apify.com/lulzasaur) (community)
- **Categories:** Other
- **Stats:** 6 total users, 0 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $10.00 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## RateMyProfessors Scraper

Scrape professor ratings, difficulty scores, reviews, and tags from [RateMyProfessors](https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/) via their public GraphQL API.

### Features

- **Multi-query search**: Search by professor name, subject, or keyword
- **School filter**: Narrow results to a specific university
- **Individual ratings**: Optionally scrape student reviews with comment text
- **Top tags**: Professor tags sorted by frequency (e.g., "Caring", "Tough Grader")
- **Pay per result**: Only pay for the data you actually get

### Input

| Field | Type | Default | Description |
|-------|------|---------|-------------|
| `searchQueries` | string\[] | `["computer science"]` | Professor names or subjects to search |
| `schoolName` | string | `""` | Filter by school name (e.g., "MIT", "UCLA") |
| `maxListings` | integer | `50` | Maximum professor profiles to return (max 1000) |
| `scrapeDetails` | boolean | `false` | Fetch individual ratings/reviews per professor |
| `proxyConfiguration` | object | - | Optional proxy settings |

#### Example Input

```json
{
    "searchQueries": ["computer science", "Dr. Smith"],
    "schoolName": "MIT",
    "maxListings": 25,
    "scrapeDetails": true
}
```

### Output

Each result contains:

| Field | Type | Description |
|-------|------|-------------|
| `firstName` | string | Professor's first name |
| `lastName` | string | Professor's last name |
| `department` | string | Academic department |
| `schoolName` | string | University/college name |
| `avgRating` | number | Average quality rating (0-5) |
| `numRatings` | number | Total number of student ratings |
| `wouldTakeAgainPercent` | number | Percentage who would retake |
| `avgDifficulty` | number | Average difficulty rating (0-5) |
| `topTags` | string\[] | Professor tags sorted by frequency |
| `ratings` | object\[] | Individual student reviews (when `scrapeDetails` is true) |
| `sourceUrl` | string | Direct link to professor's RMP profile |
| `scrapedAt` | string | ISO timestamp of data collection |

#### Example Output

```json
{
    "firstName": "John",
    "lastName": "Smith",
    "department": "Computer Science",
    "schoolName": "Massachusetts Institute of Technology",
    "avgRating": 4.5,
    "numRatings": 42,
    "wouldTakeAgainPercent": 89,
    "avgDifficulty": 3.2,
    "topTags": ["Caring", "Gives Good Feedback", "Inspirational"],
    "ratings": [
        {
            "comment": "Great professor, very clear lectures.",
            "date": "2024-01-15 12:00:00 +0000 UTC",
            "class": "CS101",
            "helpfulRating": 5,
            "clarityRating": 5,
            "difficultyRating": 3,
            "grade": "A",
            "thumbsUp": 12,
            "thumbsDown": 1
        }
    ],
    "sourceUrl": "https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/12345",
    "scrapedAt": "2026-04-26T12:00:00.000Z"
}
```

### Use Cases

- **Students**: Compare professors before registering for classes
- **Academic research**: Analyze teaching quality patterns across departments
- **University analytics**: Benchmark faculty ratings against peer institutions
- **EdTech products**: Power professor comparison and course planning tools

### Cost

This Actor uses pay-per-event pricing. You are charged $0.005 per result returned.

### Limitations

- The RMP API returns a maximum of ~10,000 results per search query
- Individual ratings are limited to the 20 most recent per professor
- School name matching uses fuzzy search; use the full official name for best results

***

### Run on Apify

This scraper runs on the [Apify platform](https://apify.com/?fpr=lulzasaur). Sign up for a free account to get started.

[Try Apify free ->](https://apify.com/?fpr=lulzasaur)

### Related Scrapers

More data tools by [lulzasaur](https://apify.com/lulzasaur):

- [Google Scholar Scraper](https://apify.com/lulzasaur/google-scholar-scraper) -- Academic paper data
- [Coursera Scraper](https://apify.com/lulzasaur/coursera-scraper) -- Online course data
- [Goodreads Scraper](https://apify.com/lulzasaur/goodreads-scraper) -- Book ratings and reviews

# Actor input Schema

## `searchQueries` (type: `array`):

Professor names or subjects to search (e.g., 'computer science', 'Dr. Smith').

## `schoolName` (type: `string`):

Filter by school name (e.g., 'MIT', 'UCLA'). Leave empty for all schools.

## `maxListings` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of professor profiles to return.

## `scrapeDetails` (type: `boolean`):

Fetch individual student ratings/reviews for each professor. Slower but provides full review text.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Proxy settings for the scraper.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "searchQueries": [
    "computer science"
  ],
  "schoolName": "",
  "maxListings": 50,
  "scrapeDetails": false
}
```

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "searchQueries": [
        "computer science"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("lulzasaur/ratemyprofessors-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "searchQueries": ["computer science"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("lulzasaur/ratemyprofessors-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "searchQueries": [
    "computer science"
  ]
}' |
apify call lulzasaur/ratemyprofessors-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,lulzasaur/ratemyprofessors-scraper"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/k7L9cqLWU7Ez07Oo7/builds/zaAQhR8cafKvjLoqr/openapi.json