Review:
He's great.

Workload:
Really.

Review:
The best.

Workload:
Good workload

Review:
Legitimately the worst professor at Tufts Medical. Actively holds malice towards students. Does not care about student opinion or mental health. Zero organizational skills and inept as a course director.

Workload:
Little actual workload. Terribly spaced out. Illogical assignments

Review:
The class is difficult because there is a lot of information covered in a short period of time. The professor often came unprepared to class and would lecture (sometime incorrectly) about some of the topics that will be on the test. His classes consistently score lower than the rest of the Calc 2 sections. Whatever you do, do not take this course with this professor.

Workload:
Difficult class but the homework is not excessive.

Review:
She is an arrogant woman and that comes to the fore during her lectures. She dismisses students like thy were her servants. I would never join a course under her.

Workload:
very high workload as she doesn't do anything herself

Review:
A real gem! A super intelligent teacher with an incredible sense of humor. What a teacher!

Workload:
N/A

Review:
Honestly, Kimelman is occasionally funny and kids like her for that. In terms of actual economics explanations she does explain things well when she gets around to it, but overall the class is so incredibly unstructured which does not work when there are 400 people taking it. Tests are worded horribly, grading unclear. The mandatory myeconlab assignments were not even in line with testing in class meaning we were doing assignments with information that was irrelevant to the test, while missing assignments that were helpful.

Workload:
Not much work at all, myceconlab is a joke. There was one writing assignment which should not have been difficult but the instructions were so incredibly unclear people were left doing so much extra work just to cover all the possible interpretations of the instructions. The tests started out being incredibly difficult to understand but towards the end improved. The online test again had unclear instructions and questions with many possible answers making it really challenging to show one's understanding.

Review:
Professora Tano is the BEST professor I have had at Tufts. She cares about her students an unbelievable amount not only in the classroom, but in all aspects of their lives. She is so understanding, helpful, and is always available if you need assistance or don't understand something. She is very enthusiastic and is able to get everyone to participate and feel comfortable without being afraid of sounding dumb or messing up. I enjoy going to class everyday, and if it were possible I would choose her as my professor for the rest of my Spanish courses. Take her class, she's awesome!

Workload:
Workload isn't too bad- there are a few compositions and online assignments through SAM, but totally manageable.

Review:
Professor Haas was an extremely nice man, very knowledgeable and great to talk to in office hours about basically anything chemistry related.

That being said, he didn't seem well adapted to teaching an intro class, and spent much time divulging on other topics well over the level of the course, and our grades suffered for it because topics wern't thoroughly explained.

The textbooks great tho at explaining things.

Workload:
Workload was typical for an intensive science course. Though no amount of work could really prepare you for the randomness of the exams as compared to what was taught in class.

Review:
The class was extremely interesting - genetics was fascinating and Gaudette was extremely knowledgeable and her enthusiasm was evident.

That being said, she NEVER explain how to apply the things she talked about in lectures to test situations and so the tests were impossible. In retrospect, the material would have been much easier to understand had she spent 10 minutes during a 90 min lecture to focus on this. She seems to not care about our grades, and refused to scale our first exam when the average was a 60, saying we should have worked harder.

Bottom line - take this class with Gaudette if you're extremely interested and don't need to worry about keeping a GPA for med school. If that's important, i'd find another instructor who will help you be prepared for tests.

Workload:
Problem sets were assigned but not graded or collected. Minimal work because they couldn't be figured out since answers were provided but no explanations to the problems, essentially making the psets useless.

Review:
Great course, enthusiastic professor made it fun and enjoyable!

I would highly recommend the course.

Only issue was she tended to spend a lot of time divulging about how smoking is bad - im sure we all know that by now and don't need to be reminded 5x a lecture.

Workload:
Lighter than average for a course - if you're a decent writer and put in the effort you'll get an A.

Review:
This course was co-taught by 3 professors.

It was a great class, lectures were engaging and interesting. It was one of my favorite classes to attend at Tufts.

However, the tests were just cruel and took random pieces of information from the textbook that wern't relevant to showing if you were understanding the material, making it extremely frustrating. I knew everything relevant in the class and didn't do great because I couldn't remember random dates from the textbook. Don't take this class if you care about your GPA.

Workload:
A heavy amount of reading. 2 short papers, 3 exams.

Review:
It's a big class. So in that sense, it's not going to be great like other classes but Norman's pretty awesome and handles it relatively well. If you don't understand something, he'll talk you through it well and he knows how to make introductory economics suck as little as possible. Everything is pretty straight forward. There's a couple problem sets and two midterms and a final. The final's actually pretty hard but the two midterms are pretty basic and easy if you do the practice problems he give you.

Workload:
N/A

Review:
Professor Johnson has been one of my favorites. She is hilarious, knowledgeable, and treats you like you matter. I loved that she was an expert on this subject because of personal experience in addition to research and historical background. This class was always engaging and relevant, and I felt like I was taken seriously. Johnson is awesome and wants to get to know her students!

Workload:
We read a novel a week and watched a movie a week. It didn't feel like a lot because Johnson picked fascinating companion pieces that I had always wanted to try out anyway.

Review:
Rabab is an easy A. You won't learn as much as you would with another professor, but this class is much more relaxed (literally everyone gets in the 90s on tests and she never collects homework). The trick is that you can get by without doing a lot, so it's unlikely that you will become much more proficient with Rabab.

Workload:
N/A

Review:
So this class really just touched upon the subject of North America and really mostly focused on Europe. Of course you have to take into account that the class was very much left up to us and I don't mean it in a bad way. Prof. Marrone was one of the few teachers who really encouraged me to take my own learning into my hands. I've been a high school history teacher for the past 8 years and my passion for continuing to improve my history knowledge comes from Prof. Marrone. He is a great guy whose passion for the subject is incredible, and I really stress the part about him being a great guy.

Workload:
Not too hard. No more reading than usual if you're a history major, and it's mostly writing assessments. I don't know about you guys but that's always money for me. Ka-Ching!

Review:
Daniel Abramson is an incredible professor. His lectures all have clear themes and are very well organized. He is always willing to talk to students after class or during his office hours. This is one of the best classes I have taken at Tufts.

Workload:
It is a lot of work at the end of the day. There are short papers almost every week, plus exams and a term paper. The assignments were all very straightforward but they just take a lot of time and there's no getting around them. It's very hard to get an A in this class.

Review:
Oh man, I don't know where to start here.

This class was terrible. The worst class I've had at Tufts for a few semesters and possibly one of the bottom three I've ever taken. The material was presented poorly, reviewed poorly, tested poorly, and in the end I learned very little.

Sameer is a good guy who needs to refocus on how he teaches the class. I realize that the material is considered basic, but throwing equations on the board for an hour does not teach the material. I would have been better off skipping class and instead just reading the book. I did most of my learning from Indian university videos online.

This class made me despise analog and I know at least two people who actually switched majors from EE to CompE because of this course. Tufts, please fix this course. At this rate your future EE classes will all be converted to computer engineers by Prof. Chang's and Prof. Panetta's far superior instruction Junior year.

Workload:
The workload was absolutely insane and inconsistent. I spent hours on end doing the homework, and I didn't learn much because when it came down to it, I would be out of time with 5 problems left and at that point it was the solutions or nothing. I never felt like I was on top of the material and I don't think that anyone else in the class did either. The best instruction came from our TA who seemed just as baffled by the bureaucracy of the class as the rest of us.

Expect about 15-20 hours a week for homework and another 3-5 for the labs. Completely ridiculous and totally unrealistic.

Review:
In short: this professor knows what he is talking about, but does not talk about it well.

Prof. Ioannides' teaching style leaves much to be desired. First off, he spends the entire class sitting down, so he cannot capture or hold the attention of the class. He also constantly takes notes on the lecture slides by writing on his tablet, which is slow and takes up valuable time. His manner of speech is also problematic: filler words such as "uhhhh" and "ahhhh" take up a significant portion of the lecture (I am not exaggerating), which make it even harder to concentrate on what he is saying. It can be a miserable class to sit through, even though the professor has an interesting and informed perspective on the Euro crisis.

I would not recommend this class simply because the style of teaching is excruciatingly drawn-out and unclear. Over half of the students use their laptops to distract themselves during lecture, and if you take this course, you probably will be doing so soon enough as well.

Workload:
In terms of workload/difficulty, Prof. Ioannides is fairly easy. There is a chapter of reading assigned per class, and other than that there is a presentation, a term paper + presentation, and two exams, so few grades and little work in between.

Review:
Professor Lemons is not the most interesting lecturer I've ever had - far from it. The classes are also very vague (it is philosophy after all) and there isn't much structure, it's mostly discussion about the readings. However, Professor Lemons genuinely cares about her students grades and understanding, and if you approach her during office hours, she will be more than willing to help you with your papers.

Workload:
A lot of reading is assigned, but most students just skimmed it. She assigned mini "thought" reports per week, but those were neutrally graded (meaning you could basically write anything and still get a check). Try to pay attention in class, go to her office hours, and you will have all the material you need to survive the papers.

Review:
Very good class. Morita-sensei is also one of the most caring professors I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. You learn a lot in her class, and also with little fear of meeting deadlines - she is very lax about these. Take her class, you won't regret it.

Workload:
There is a fair amount of work involved, including almost daily quizzes, but these are fairly standard for language classes. Just do a little every day, and you'll be fine. Tests are no big deal either.

Review:
One of the most boring, but easiest classes I've ever taken at Tufts. Classes were incredibly boring, because all we did was look at each others' stories and comment, or READ SHORT STORIES TOGETHER (by passing the book) and talk about it. Insanely, deeply boring. I spent the whole semester on tumblr. HOWEVER, the professor is very helpful with her suggestions, and understanding about circumstances. She is lax regarding deadlines - and so long as you have some skill in writing, and try to show effort in class (basically, by actually writing a good-sized length in your drafts), you will get an easy A.

Workload:
Practically no workload at all. You were technically supposed to read from the textbook that's assigned in the class, but I never read a single page from it (and regret buying it, since I never used it) and I did fine. Just make sure that you write at least 5-6 pages in time for your workshop day - writing up two paragraphs is not going to impress her.

Review:
I found the class incredibly boring, and the discussions typical of the spoiled and predominantly white population here at Tufts. Professor Marrow reads off of her slides, so there is actually very little point in paying attention. Do go to classes however, since she does take attendance.

Workload:
Not much workload. Have to write some papers (actually have to read a book too, but I hear that some people don't even read the book and get a good grade on the paper) and do an annoying group project, but those are fairly easy. The tests are also very easy to study for - her powerpoints are available for download online. DOWNLOAD all of them and just memorize every single slide. Guaranteed an A.

Review:
One of the best classes I have taken. Professor Gupta has real industry experience and has run a venture fund and a start-up . He is very professional and willing to share real life business experiences. His insight about venture funding and assessment of the industry is excellent. The class work is relevant and interesting. You will know your away around a financial statement by the end of the semester.

Workload:
The work load is reasonable with numerous projects and homework assignments. He is a tough grader but fair. He expects a lot and doesn't take excuses.

Review:
Don't listen to the negative reviews. While her personality can definitely be polarizing, she's a very good teacher and a hugely entertaining lecturer. Hers is the only English class I've taken so far at Tufts so I have nothing to compare it to, but nonetheless I thought it was great.

Ronna's passion for the literature is contagious. She has strong opinions on literally everything, literary and otherwise, but I don't see that as a problem. It certainly kept me engaged with the class. I found that her style encouraged us to develop similarly strong opinions on the texts we read. Yes, she is very liberal and that certainly affects her analysis of the texts. Maybe this is my liberalism talking, but I didn't find it detrimental to the class. She has a sense of humor about it.

And contrary to what some of the other reviewers would have you believe, she loves alternative opinions on the texts, as long as you can back it up. She encourages student involvement and does want to hear students' ideas.

This class really helped me become a more critical reader and a better writer, and gave me a new appreciation for texts that I'd previously found inaccessible.

Workload:
The workload is pretty standard for a survey English class. You read about a book a week, there's one 5-6 page paper, a midterm, and a final. Nothing terrible.

Review:
She really encourages class discussion, it's almost impossible to say something wrong in class as she finds a lot of what her students say to be interesting. She is obviously interested in the subject and extremely open to all views. Reading wasn't too bad. If you have to finish off your English requirement, I highly recommend taking this class.

Workload:
N/A

Review:
She is an amazing professor, bringing in current examples in many of her lectures. Don't expect it to be a class with no work - there are a decent amount of readings but I enjoyed many of them. I will be taking more classes with her, I thought lectures were very interesting and interactive.

Workload:
Group project, 2 midterms, have to submit reading responses, but not for all of the readings.

Review:
Professor Carlisle is a very lenient and pretty fun teacher. She is a fair grader on papers, but is very lax when it comes to completing small assignments or homework. She picks interesting topics for a class that can be very dry. She's also a bit loopy at times which makes the class fun to be in.

Workload:
Assignments and the workload are pretty average - not too difficult but definitely significant.

Review:
Intelligent professor, however, pulls a lot of unnecessary tricks for the exam. the course already covers so much material it was unfair to ask the most esoteric IDs and have that count for the majority of the grade. a lot of smart, hardworking students got completely screwed over. oh, and does not give near enough indication for what might be on exam--eg. final included, essay that could be anything from the whole year. really? thats teh ENTIRE history of the middle east/ conflicts.

Workload:
a lot of reading, not everything is needed obviously. bought a couple of books i never touched.

Review:
He is clearly a very smart engineer but has trouble comprehending that not everyone knows as much about engineering as he does. He never stops to explain what he is talking about and assumes everyone understands. His tests are unrealistic in difficulty and length and after having him for 2 semesters, I believe I have learned nothing from him .

Workload:
The assignments were straightforward, however they do not prepare students for the exams at all.

Review:
This was an awesome class, Professor Beaulieu is very enthusiastic and occasionally funny. Lots of class involvement and encouragement, different interpretations are welcome. Sometimes the text can get boring, but Professor Beaulieu brings in a lot of interesting anecdotes from Greek history. Take this class!

Workload:
There's a lot of homework, but after a few classes it feels like much less. A weekly quiz, a paper, and two tests.

Review:
I liked this class, but it sometimes got really boring. The subject matter is interesting, and Professor Hirsch is a great lecturer, but the class requires very little participation, so it's easy to fall asleep. I liked the structure of the class, and the informal attitude of the teacher, I would recommend it to a friend.

Workload:
A pretty standard amount of reading, usually interesting. Three papers, 3-4 quizzes, two tests.

Review:
This is a really interesting class. Professor Gardulski is a great lecturer, but occasionally the amount of information is overwhelming and makes it easy to forget certain things. I think this would be interesting for majors and non-majors alike, and a good way to fulfill half of the natural sciences requirement.

Workload:
Readings are a little on the heavy side, occasional homeworks, and two tests. I wish there had been more small quizzes and less emphasis on the tests.

Review:
This is a unique course, because it's team taught, so every couple lectures, sometimes every lecture, you get a new lecturer. This is a good and a bad thing, some are much better than others. The information can be really interesting or really boring, the recitation is helpful. I took the first semester of this course, and I kind of wish I'd taken the second semester, all the prehistoric and early history art gets boring.

Workload:
Standard amount of reading, two papers, two tests.

Review:
One word of advice, do not take this class. The topic may seem interesting, and in fact it is, but this professor manages to make even the most interesting readings awful. She is a horrible lecturer, it is impossible to understand anything she says and she is incredibly disorganized. She has no grasp of what students can physically do for the course and assigns a ridiculous amount of readings that are then never discussed.

Workload:
There is a midterm, a 'local-epidemics' project, and a take-home final. The midterm was graded inconsistently and even on the multiple choice portions the answers that were said to be right according to her and her TA differed. The local epidemics project requires students to find an immense amount of information on an epidemic that took place in Boston, very difficult to do as there is not much information available, and write a 10 page paper and do a poster-presentation about the epidemic. This means that the entire class had to come and listen to two and a half hours worth of presentations in addition to class lectures, this session was very poorly structured. Lastly, the take home final, which was a 12-15 page essay was the only thing in the class that seemed moderately sane to assign, yet the professor was very unclear about her requirements for the essay even after students asked a number of very specific questions in an attempt to understand what was actually desired of them. The professor, it seems, did not really understand what it was that she was assigning.

Review:
The class was actually ridiculously easy, in my opinion. I didn't study for the first two tests, and got As on both of them. And that's not because they weren't difficult, it's that linear algebra isn't hard. Prof. Walsh is very sweet, and always willing to help outside of class, but her lectures are very dry. Still, though, as long as you're thinking about the material and following along during class it's not something to dread. The few times I've been unable to focus, though, she doesn't really pull you back.

Workload:
One assignment due per class, but it only took 45 minutes, tops. And that was only due twice a week. If you don't want to go in for office hours, we still spent the first 15 minutes of class going over the difficult questions. You automatically get at least half-credit on your homework for doing it, then the TA randomly grades two (easy) problems. The tests, again, were pretty easy, but I think that's the nature of the material. If you need a math credit or a low-stress class, this one is pretty nice.

Review:
The lectures are always interesting, and the time flies by in class. I look forward to attending class each day. This say a lot for me! Very interesting readings, relevant to society today.

Workload:
When work is assigned, easy. She isnot always "on the ball", so people get back work months after it is assigned. but fair grader.

Review:
I am humiliated on Tufts' behalf that a Tufts student would attribute Professor Aymer's presence at Tufts to affirmative action. Although I agree that her teaching style can be confusing and her grading difficult to predict, it's unbelievably racist to believe (as the previous reviewer indicated that s/he did, albeit in a veiled way) that she is only teaching at Tufts because of affirmative action--if she were a white male, as the previous reviewer mentioned, her presence at Tufts would never be connected to the "affirmative action"--family connections, etc--that helps white people get jobs every day. Secondly, Tufts hires professors based far more on their research than on their teaching, like most research-based institutions. Professor Aymer's research is brilliant, and to top it off, she is an amazingly compassionate professor who cares deeply about the progress of her students.

Workload:
N/A

Review:
Excellent teacher. Patient, good-humored, and kind. He is very good at explaining and engaging. Wish I could have him for next semester.

Workload:
Chinese is a lot of exercises, drills, and character sheets, but the busy work is necessary to absorb the material. It wasn't too overwhelming.

Review:
AWFUL. AWFUL. AWFUL. Unorganized, unkind, uninterested in teaching.

Workload:
Average to high.

Review:
I took his class "Dante's Inferno" and he is easily one of my favorite teachers. A true intellectual, he knows what he's talking about, and there is no mistaking this fact. He insists on a serious learning environment so no eating, drinking, gum chewing, you address him as Professor Pollina ect, but he is very kind and respectful. He tries to make jokes that are a bit nerdy which i found very entertaining and cute.

Workload:
There are four books mandatory for this class. A more artful translation with a few pages worth of a note at the end of each canto (very helpful), another more accurate translation which he recommends but you don't actually have to read (haven't touched it once but still getting A's), the Vita Nuova (another text by Dante we spent a week on) and a very thick ultra scholarly book of commentary that is required. The reading is very fun and easy for the main book used (hour and a half tops) but the scholarly commentary is tough to get through at first because it goes line by line through the inferno and often goes into more detail than you need to know for the class with bits of original latin and italian text exerpts thrown in. Once you learn to skip through the unnecessary parts it isn't so bad and it answers a lot of questions.

Review:
Prof. Baz is an excellent lecturer with a gift for talking just enough to provoke excellent discussion, and then following that up with great discussion leadership. His selected reading materials and assignments guided us very helpfully through Hume's, Kant's, and Mill's ethical theories with an eye toward helping students draw broad and substantive comparisons. His subtle sense of humor keeps class lively even when the material is very challenging. This was my second course with Prof. Baz, and I would take another if I could fit it into my schedule.

Workload:
The reading load was quite reasonable, but the material requires serious attention. The four writing assignments were directly related to the reading material and were very helpful in requiring us to be able to concisely summarize major ethical theories -- surely a worthwhile result of the course.

Review:
She is inattentive, off-hands, awkward. Don't recommend taking any of her classes.

Workload:
N/A

Review:
The previous reviews of this professor are unfair. The class was interesting, allowing tremendous room for discussion and interpretation. Despite the fact that it was a lower level class, it was conducted more in a seminar style, allowing for a better understanding of the concept of race. That being said, it is difficult to get an "A" in the class. At points, the professor does not clearly indicate what exactly she is looking for with papers and projects. Students must be tremendously thorough to cover all that she wants to in graded assignments.

Workload:
Lower than other classes. A lot of reading but as said class is largely discussion based.

Review:
He is by far the best professor I've had at Tufts. He is only a graduate student, but is an excellent teacher. He's kind of a quirky guy, but overall quite funny.

Workload:
The workload is the same for all sections of math 13. Nightly homework that is graded based only on completion.

Review:
She was by far one of the worst professors I've ever had. I felt discouraged to participate in class because my Spanish was not perfect. Often when I would arrange to meet with her, she wouldn't show up or was late. I didn't learn very much, and I definitely would never take another class with her.

Workload:
Average.

Review:
Yes, Leah Abraham is an excellent writer, making her own reviews sound like a commercial for her classes.

Workload:
N/A

Review:
In addition to teaching, she enjoys reviews about herself on jumboaccess

Workload:
n/a

Review:
In addition to teaching, she enjoys writing reviews about herself on jumboaccess

Workload:
n/a

Review:
Excellent class! Leah uses tons of examples from industry. Unlike many other classes, there are lots of case examples from real product applications. Leah's integration of real world experience and great teaching style make for an excellent Formulation class.

Workload:
a bit more challenging than many Tufts classes, but not unreasonable for a graduate class

Review:
I never thought I could like a statistics class, but Dr. Abraham's presentation of Design of Experiments and Statistics was excellent. The Taghuci and process optimization information presented by Dr. Abraham allowed me to re-evaluate data at my job and recommend a process change that saved my company over $100,000 every time we run one process column (about twice a month)!

Dr. Abraham added slides as we came up with questions, and added examples to lecture on topics from our work areas. It was a really inventive way to make tough material interesting to us. Cool Prof.

Workload:
You need some statistics, so be prepared to study.

Review:
Not from this year, but check out these reviews:

Karen Duca, Associate Professor, KNUST

?I first met Leah Abraham about ten years ago when she was doing her PhD in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Tufts. She had entered the program from a job in industry and brought a very interesting perspective to the biotech group where I worked as an Assistant Professor. Although she did not work directly for me, we had some interaction around seminars and other departmental activities. She was quite friendly and helpful and always could be relied upon to follow-up with a paper or reference after scientific discussions. Her presentations were always professional and I learned much from her. I then crossed paths with her again after she finished her degree and was employed as a lecturer at Tufts. By that time I was working in Africa trying to build scientific infrastructure in Ghana and she graciously allowed me and my students to audit her course in statistics and experimental design for grad students/upper division undergrads. This is where I really got to see her style. She was a superb teacher and I loved how she interacted with the students ? tolerant, respectful, and patient. Although she was teaching the course for the first time, she was very well-prepared with lots of relevant hand-outs and references on the class web site to supplement the lectures. She conducted the class as a ?work-in-progress,? soliciting student input at every stage for improvement. She never tried to hide something when she didn?t know, but was very up-front about it and never failed to come back during the next class period with the answer and references. Both my students and I really profited from the lectures we attended. Moreover, when I was going to back home to Ghana she gave me lots of teaching material on DVD (both for this class and other topics in bioengineering she teaches) to use with my own students. She also consented to be interviewed on videotape about her teaching philosophy, her own scientific journey, and advice for students. I really appreciated her help, as we are so resource-limited. In summary, Leah is a valuable asset to any organization, academic or industrial. If she were interested, I would recruit her in a heartbeat to work in my department and our research institute in Kumasi. I hope she?ll visit us sometime and do a workshop so our students can profit first-hand and not just "virtually".?

August 8, 2009



Rachit Ohri, Senior Scientist, Boston Scientific Corporation (business partner)

?I attended an evening course taught by Leah, and have always been impressed with her skills at communicating technical concepts, and at stimulating discussion based learning. She makes it a point to provide real world examples from her experience in industry. I have always learnt a lot by interacting with her? July 27, 2009

Workload:
N/A

Review:
Overall this years course was not very enlightening as the entirety of your grade depended on 3 take home group midterm/finals and 4-5 online problem sets. Overall the course was quite easy due to the take home nature of the course. But because of the lack of need to keep up with readings and the course you never had to go to class

Workload:
Every two weeks there was a problem set that took 2-3 hours and the midterm and finals are very challenging!! But they are take home... so go figure

Review:
David Art, or fondly referred to as "Dart" is a great prof. He really engages with the material and the class- really attempting for class participation (he knows names!! he reads some papers!!) Although you really don't need to attend lectures to do well in the course (its more about the outside reading), I always went to class because he not only went over the reading material, but made the class interesting and informative.

Workload:
The workload was very manageable. Yes, there is a TON of reading, and I suggest that you do it all (you will learn to hate that huuuge course booklet). However, the course is designed to reward those who do the work, and that means the average in the course is very high (B+). Two quizzes that are just 5% of the final grade are great to make sure you are comfortable with the questions asked, plus it keeps you on track with the reading. A midterm and final, all questions are essays and you have a topic choice and they are very broad. A really annoying paper that is a critique of a piece of work, but graded fairly easily.

Grading is done by TA, and they are REALLY GOOD. Oh yea, GO TO RECITATION!!! They go over all the readings and do a fantastic job. Especially if you have Irina. She's the best.

Review:
SHE IS THE GREATEST. From the very beginning, she is totally enthused about the course and brings that excitement every day to class. She has blackboard discussion board questions that she uses to lead the class, and she does a great job pointing out important sections and letting us argue against each other (and even her!) I can't emphasize enough her personal commitment to every student. You can see it in the thoroughness of her essay grading- not only does she write comments all over the paper, but she gives you a whole response to your work that instills confidence (she loooves to praise) but also gives important feedback. For example, I had mentioned I wanted to work on transitions and she kept note of that and made sure to keep a special focus on that for future papers. I could honestly go on forever about what an amazing, amazing lady she is.

Workload:
There is a significant amount of reading, plus questions to answer for every class. However, it is nothing unreasonable at all. There are 4 papers, and you have the chance to do a re-write on one. She seems like she would be an easy grader, so you might be surprised on the first essay back. But I can't imagine her giving lower than a B-, and I think its typical that the grades improve. Honestly, she wants to give you a good grade, and as long as you talk to her and put in the work, she's going to help to give you what you want. Oh yea, she met with us multiple times for the 3rd (research) paper and the 4th one. Like on her own time, giving extensive feedback and helping with ideas and everything. DID I MENTION SHES AWESOME?

Review:
Terrible class. I mean, better than bio for a science credit, but its such a cool topic and they just ruined it. First of all, class is totally useless. Powerpoints are just their notes from the textbook, they are put up online, and they just read off of them in class with hard to understand accents. So class is useless, and then they put random questions on the exams! Like what?

Sajina is also really bad about responding to emails in a timely fashion.

Workload:
Do more than 6 observations!! Study the midterm questions for the final, they are tweaked a little, but some are word-for-word.

Doing the mastering astro might help you for the test, but cheating off a friend will get you a better grade. So that sucks.

Review:
Berte is so so so nice. I know about 5 people in the class I just had that signed up to be in a course with her next year too. She's straight from Argentina, so her accent is legit- plus when she speaks English, I LOVE the accent. Bottom line, she cares about her students and is very available for help after class. In class, she often checks in with struggling students and never gets frustrated. She's a stickler for grammar on tests and essays, but will never call you out on it in the middle of class, which makes it easier to volunteer to speak. Can't recommend her enough.

Workload:
The quizzes are harder than the tests, but that's probably because I never bothered to open the grammar book (waste of money!!)

Study the vocab, it gives a huge bump on the tests. Pay attention in class to what is going on in the stories, or know someone who can explain it to you in English later.

If I were to retake the class, I would try to put aside a hour to do the Mosen Millan reading. But this isn't necessary- she gives the essay topic out beforehand, and you can ask help from friends. However, when I went through important passages with friends in preparation for the essay, and tried to read it out loud in English and looked up words I didn't know, it was a huge difference in the experience and I wish I knew what I knew for the essay for the in-class discussions. Spoiler alert: Mosen SUCKS. But Berte doesn't. She does a great job teaching the book and the class :)

Review:
Incredibly disorganized and confusing lectures. I began the class with some understanding of basic biology, but her lectures actually made me more confused and I often understood less after the class than before it.

Workload:
Light workload.

Review:
Professor Winn is pretty entertaining and obviously really knowledgeable about this topic. His lectures are interesting and sometimes organized. You have to take good notes which can get exhausting because he packs so much into each one. SO MUCH reading, way more than humanly possible. The papers were not horrendously hard, but not easy either.

Workload:
The amount of reading assigned is literally INSANE. You get by not doing it all, but it makes writing the papers kind of difficult. There were three 2-page reading responses, a midterm which consisted of a 4-page essay and an 8-page essay, and a final which consisted of two 2-page essays and one 8-page essay.

Review:
Don't take this course if you do not have artistic talent. While the teacher claims the grade is based on effort, she will tell you at the end of the semester that your work is not A work if you cannot write like a professional calligrapher. Additionally, the class is six hours a week and she rarely lets you out early. While there is no homework, it is not worth taking an easy class if it is difficult to get an A.

Workload:
In class assignments mostly, unless you don't finish them in class and need to work on them at home.

Review:
The other two professors in this course are great but Francie Chew is consistently rude and does not want students to do well. She purposely puts questions on her tests that 80% of the class will miss and when you go for extra help, she makes you feel horrible about yourself. If you can take this class elsewhere, do so. Additionally, the lab portion is very frustrating. The lab TA's are terrible and were never willing to help. They grade everything extremely harshly without making their expectations clear beforehand.

Workload:
A lot of work, but manageable. However, even when you spend all of your time studying there will still be questions on Francie Chew's tests that are misleading and nearly impossible to answer.

Review:
Directions not clear. Never know when to hand things in. Plays favorites way too much. I didn't learn anything with Julian. I would not recommend this professor if you are at all serious about learning french. Always talks about stuff that doesn't apply to the class.

Workload:
There was no real homework.

Review:
Feldman appears to be a nice man. But this is about the only positive thing I can say about this course.

I would encourage people to avoid taking this class if at all possible. I took this course as a senior to fulfill a related fields requirement for my major and I absolutely regret it.

Feldman acknowledged the first class that he has a tendency to ramble and go off on tangents. He recognizes this but does not feel it necessary to attempt to change. Lectures consist more of his reflections, idolizing Piaget, and rambling about his feelings than any actual substance.

Time taking going to lecture would be better spent staying home and (perhaps) reading the material instead.

Workload:
This class requires an unnecessary amount of work that contributes nothing to your understanding of the course material.

You are expected to buy 4 books and a course packet (and one more book is recommended) and readings will come from all of them. Daily readings come from any of them and are poorly organized.

You will have to choose a "Metahobby" the first week of class (too early) and you will have to "learn something new". He said he expects about three hours of work per week for the Metahobby and this joke continues for eight weeks. You will later have to write a 10-15 page paper about it. The entire process serves no purpose.

There are two quizzes instead of a midterm (pick two of three essay questions to answer) and a final (one hour long essay and two 30 min long ones).

Review:
Each class felt like the previous class. I learned nothing except a few definitions and how much Matt Gregory loves to talk about himself. I took the class my freshman year with a lot of enthusiasm for the material initially and am coming out of it with complete and total disrespect for the field of Peace and Justice Studies as illegitimate and pointless, although I'm sure there's more to it than intro. This class (scratch that, this professor) has removed any desire I ever had of being a Peace and Justice Studies major.

To all PJS majors or those considering it, avoid Gregory at all costs. He might be a cool guy, but not a good teacher.

The TA is much more helpful.

Workload:
Random reading assignments. Readings are not discussed in class but might be relevant to the papers(?)< this is still unclear.

Review:
Professor Denby takes great care in explaining the material in a clear and concise way. While it is true you do not have to do the readings to do well in the class, do the readings! They aren't overwhelming and they contribute a lot to the class. Denby has a great sense of humor and is very patient with his students. Even though it was a large-ish lecture class participation was encouraged and easy. I hope to take every class Denby offers. He's truly one of Tufts best.

Workload:
A few readings per week through Blackboard or one of the three text books for class.

The grades were mainly focused on 5 papers, the last one is optional

Review:
Great teacher! Very nice, helpful, does a great job explaining the material,and so funny! 100% recommend!

Workload:
Not very bad at all. She usually gives a couple exercises from the book for homework to do for the next class (doesn't grade it, just to go over in class) , as well as the workbook due before tests. There are 3 tests plus a final. The tests are all fair and she goes over everything you need to know in class. She also gives quizzes every once in a while, which equal to 1 test, but she lets you throw out your 2 or 3 worst ones. Also a oral test, which she grades pretty generously.

Review:
Felice seems to have no understanding of the typical college student. She does not define terms, and relies on guest lecturers to get away with no discernible lesson plan. The only redeeming factor of this class was the pressure, which seems equal to that of a real business.

Workload:
The first half of the semester is fairly casual, with about one case-study per week. Once the students are split into groups, there is an inordinate amount of work to be completed before the final presentation. All groups seemed to be scrambling to get things done as the deadline ticked closer.

Review:
Sobieraj is concerned with all of her students' performances. Back when it was 40-50/class she tried to learn everyone's name which is really great. She's totally enthusiastic about the material she teaches, and conveys her ideas articulately and coherently. If you ever have a question, she always stays after class and gives you a full answer.

Workload:
There's a decent amount of reading to be done but the way she grades it is very convenient. She assigned about 17 but only averaged your best 9 into your grade. Very fair.

Review:
The greatest. I had her two semesters in a row. She makes the transition to college level math easy. She goes over homework and explains examples thoroughly. She never skips steps on the board.

Workload:
An hour or so of problems. Not a waste of time.

Review:
Really Difficult person (personality).

The first review with five starts was probably written by him. Every semester, more than half of the students drop the class after first class- the instructor cuts people off while they are speaking and almost never finishes his sentences. Books that we read are amazing but class is not

Workload:
Reading is all we do. Grades are participation, midterm and Final. You don't really learn how to write at all. Its just reading and understanding literature in "his" way, what he thinks is right. If your idea contradicts his in your essay you will receive low grades

Review:
Who loves his or her students and job more than Proctor? No one. Proctor's one of us (in fact, a triple Jumbo!) and a fantastic professor whose priority is (gasp) teaching. The courses he teaches - like this one - tend to be large survey courses, so obviously, there's lots of material to learn and some falling behind at times. That said, Proctor is ridiculously prepared, knows the course inside and out, and adjusts the pace as he needs to. He makes the material interesting and accessible - hey, you might decide history and classics are awesome after being his student. He handles recitations himself and holds multiple review sessions and super-extended office hours in the lead-up to exams. Snowstorms and vacations won't stop this man from being in his office, ready to help you out.

Paper/exam turnaround is slow, but that's because the class is sizable and Proctor checks papers multiple times to ensure fair grading. Besides, he's great with deadline extensions; so if you like those, consider it a trade-off. He also gets bonus points for dressing well, bringing food to share with the class, leaving candy outside his amazing office, and just being a nice, nice, NICE guy.

Workload:
3 Papers (varying lengths, but not more than 7-8 pages), midterm and final. The reading was heavy at times, but not bad for a history course and definitely manageable if you do the readings as assigned. Tons of review sessions and no surprises on exams - Proctor tells you what to study. The exams can be exhausting, but you'll be prepared.

Review:
I personally loves Susan. She's one of my favorite professors at Tufts. She is obviously passionate about what she does and puts her theories into action through her community work. I have taken 3 classes with her and loved all of them. I will admit, however, that she is very adamant about her opinions. You either agree with her or you don't. If you don't, then you will not like her. Just try to approach all the material with your opinions in mind while still being open to others.

Workload:
The workload was not unbearable. There was reading for every class but it was enjoyable and engaging. I have used her readings for future classes and the theories will stay with you for some time afterwards.

Review:
Professor Ostrander is a great teacher, but for this class it really doesn't matter because the work is all on you. The point of the class is to do your own research. That being said, Susan is great about giving feedback and help if you ask for it. She is not going to seek you out so you have to go to her. She was very helpful to me.

Workload:
SOOO MUCH WORK!!! It's required for the major so you just have to bite the bullet and do it. At the end, you are very pleased with your work and have a solid body of material to point to and say: "Yeah! That's mine!" You will be committing at least 10 hours a week to this class so don't overload your schedule with other classes.

Review:
Susan is great in this section. Although I didn't really learn much that I didn't already know, she helped me conceptualize it and put it on paper. That being said, this is not her best class and she could probably do without it in her course load. Overall, she's very knowledgeable and communicates that knowledge well. She's just a great teacher.

Workload:
The class was just alright. I would go with another one in hindsight. I didn't learn very much but that is probably because this was my 5th or 6th class in the department.

Review:
By far the worst professor at Tufts. I got an A in the class, so I'm not bitter. He is just simply bad. He knows his stuff but is completely unable to communicate that knowledge. If I didn't have to take Quant. from him, I would never take an Ennis class ever again.

Workload:
Coincidentally, also one of the worst classes at Tufts. I learned less than nothing. I think my sociological knowledge actually decreased because of this class.

Review:
Professor Ennis is among the worst teachers at this school. I've gotten A's in all his classes that I've taken so it's not that. He spends most of the class time going over what we thought about the readings rather than actually teaching. Going to class was actually painful. He made an otherwise interesting topic absolutely the driest thing on the planet. To conceptualize James Ennis, think of the driest, most dull thing on the planet. Now make it drier and duller. Done.

Workload:
All I can say is thank God for Facebook. This class was the bane of my existence for a very long semester. If it wasn't required for the major, I would have dropped it very quickly. I got a good grade so it's not the anger talking here. That being said, if you are not a Sociology major, avoid this one like the plague. If you are a major, tough cookies.

Review:
This is the worst professor I have had at Tufts. DO NOT, under any circumstances, take any class that he offers.

He is decrepit and does not have any enthusiasm for the course. His enthusiasm is such that going to his lectures is like watching paint dry. Honestly, he is way too old to make any course exciting, even if he had some excitement within him in his earlier years (I highly doubt it). His lectures are terrible, he'll just put up projector images of charts from the textbook half of the time. I did not learn anything from going to the lectures, and had to teach the material to myself. You will have to teach all the material to yourself--don't expect to learn anything in lecture!

If you want a professor who is concerned for your progress, you don't want Stolow. I attempted to get help from him during office hours, and he did not even attempt to explain the subject in a way that I could understand it. Additionally he was not concerned by the fact that I was doing subpar on the exams and worried about my grade in the class. At one point, he even insulted me, which I thought was extremely inappropriate.

Workload:
Insane amounts of textbook problems...expect to do all of them. However, his exams are harder, so you won't be well prepared.

Review:
Prof. Pollina was horrible. I had him as a professor and as an advisor and every second with him made me miserable. He seemed nice at first and my interaction with him was the only reason I signed up for his course. When the semester began, however, he was cruel. By the time I realized this, it was too late to drop the course and, as the acting advisor for graduate students at the time, I had no choice but to work with him. I am not a native French speaker, and I suspect he would have treated me better if I were. I was nothing but nice to him and tried working with him to improve but he did nothing but belittle me. His class was not helpful at all either - he asks for people to do presentations and then, if you don't do exactly what he's looking for (which is not at all clear), he will humiliate you in front of the whole class. The good news is that most people experience this so the class shares this experience and it becomes less humiliating over time, but I think it's fair to say he is harder on some than on others. He has broken down several students to tears, both in class and in his office. To be honest, apart from his terrible relationships with students (which can be a small part in the decision made to hire a professor) I wonder how he has the position he does - granted he seems knowledgeable about medieval and Renaissance French poetry, but he has essentially no publications that I can find, which seems strange for a tenured professor ... (for the sake of comparison, google Prof. Naginski or Prof. Hakim and see how many hits you get!) In any case, I am so disappointed that Prof. Pollina is acting as a representative of French at Tufts. I'd hope that Tufts would want professors who encourage the study of French and my experience with Prof. Pollina made me want to quit altogether (after having studied for 10+ years)! I strongly discourage anyone from taking a class with him. I've never had a teacher make me feel so bad about myself as a student and as a person and I would hate to see anyone else suffer because of this man.

Workload:
N/A

Review:
Had him for 1 week. He posted a textbook and the week when school started he changed the textbook . Totally wasted money. Also His syllabus does not make sense, and I realized he went by the first posted textbook chapter. The new textbook that everyone had to Re-Buy was in slightly different order and of course whoever studied with that one didn't get what the class was about. Many times we don't understand what he is talking. Absolutely NEVER replies to student emails!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Workload:
N/A

Review:
HORRIBLE> I read one of the review that was 5 star. Probably he wrote it himself or his assistant wrote it. Okay, so first of all, he mumbles. He speaks, stops and says something else without finishing is first sentence. During discussion he points at a student who begins talking and then while the student is still speaking he points at another person and cuts the first student off. Absolutely waste of time to take his class. Whatever he says makes very little sense. I can't believe he is a literature instructor. Well, I figured Tufts is a school full of pretense and they hire a lot of bad instructors. One of the Japanese teachers has a Piano BA from Japan and doesn't even speak English.

Workload:
N/A

Review:
I really enjoyed this class. Professor Penvenne is very knowledgeable and seems to be at the forefront of African Studies research. She is concerned with her students' progress and I never felt intimidated asking for examples or clarification in class. She is fair and encourages students to take advantage of office hours, which can be useful if you would like to discuss an assignment or even just to get to know her better. I learned a lot in this class, and if my concentration was in African Studies I would definitely take another class with this professor.

Workload:
A considerable amount of reading, but manageable. Four discussion antes (short write-ups reflecting on selected readings), three exams.
Professor Penvenne wants to see her students succeed. She provides students the format of the exams beforehand and goes out of her way to try to help students do well.

Review:
This class was interesting and I feel that I learned a great deal. Professor Mcconnell, however, came off as a very short-sighted person in terms of what he accepts as right or wrong in philosophy. Many times in class we were discussing abstract his ideas and he would shoot them down because they didn't fit into his "conventional" ideas about philosophy. Overall, I enjoyed the class but just wish he could have been more open-minded and more accepting of alternate viewpoints.

Workload:
Almost non-existent. Four 5 page papers, almost no reading.

Review:
If you think that Prof. Garant is fantastic in class, well then you should go to her office hours and prepare to have your mind blown. She would not only help me in my math problems, but also listen to my babble about life. And get this, actually seemed interested. She really cares about all the kids in the class, not just me.

She is beyond a good math teacher, she is a great human being.

Workload:
Consistent, challenging but not very doable.

Review:
I thought I'd branch out and try a class not in my major - worst mistake ever. Matthew Gregory was a complete asshole, an awful grader, very unorganized, unintelligent, and offensive. Lectures were for the most part spent "brainstorming" definitions of vague concepts, or watching videos. Assigned 10 page papers on random topics, for the most part unrelated to class. Gregory is a horrible teacher that I expect will be unemployed in the near future.

Workload:
Lots of reading, 30+ pages of essays. Vague assignments that set you up for failure.

Review:
Prof. Rice is a great professor! I highly recommend taking a class of hers! She came to class everyday incredibly enthusiastic and organized. She was always willing to answer questions and help students both in and out of class. She wrote one of the textbooks we use, and her knowledge and passion for french films was clearly visible in how she led class discussions; it was almost contagious.
Take a class with Professor Rice if you have the chance!

Workload:
Although she graded a bit on the tougher side, assignments and were always straightforward, and usually didn't take too long to complete each night. She was a stickler for grammer in the compositions, and generally had high expectations, but she was also always willing to help.

Review:
Ms. Orton does a great job of correcting your essays. She points out anything and everything that you could fix and improve upon. However, she is TERRIBLE about returning papers on time. She at first had a rule of not making us hand in papers before getting back the previous paper, and would continue to push back deadlines. When she did return papers before the due date of the following assignment, it was often only a few hours before the next assignment was due, leaving little to no time to look at corrections and apply them to the next assignment.
This seems to be the case with all English 001 courses, but getting an A or A- from Ms. Orton is essentially impossible.

Workload:
Manageable; four 4-6 pg papers and one 5-7 research paper spaced out evenly over the semester.
Some tedious exercises from a workbook

Review:
This was an interesting class, yet often seemed at times quite esoteric and superficial. Class discussions were at times quite fascinating, yet sometimes quite boring and not seeming to have any relation to the outside world.
Professor Patch was very knowledgeable about all of the topics we discussed.

Workload:
About 20-30 pages of reading per class, but the kind of reading that takes about 5 minutes to read one page. However, we only really used the main points of the readings as discussion topics.
One 4 page paper and one 16 page ethnographic study that felt like the most pointless essay I have ever written in my entire life.

Review:
Kagawa is an excellent teacher. She thoroughly corrects everything you submit and lets you resubmit all homework assignments for a better grade. She is quite a perfectionist yet helpful for those who want to really learn the Japanese language.

Workload:
Two page worksheet per class, three short essays, and a bit of studying for tests (often very little required)

Review:
This course was extremely interesting and I learned a great deal of information. Professor Mufti really covered a wide range of material, tying in history and theory, over the course of the semester. The first half of the semester was much more straightforward- he would put terms on the board and go over them during the class. The second half of the semester he stopped writing on the board, however, he encouraged more class participation.

Workload:
There was a lot of reading in this course. Probably close to 150+ pages a week. Mufti does a good job going over a majority of the readings. We went over the readings more in recitation.
The midterm was 4 or 5 words (IDs) that was either a word that he wrote on the board or an author that we read. There wasnt much guidance for what exactly we were supposed to write for the IDs.
The final was the same set up with an additional essay. The essay was pretty broad so you could include as much information as you wanted from the class.

Review:
This course and Prof Alonso were so amazing that I find myself still thinking of the books read in this seminar and the comments and insights made by Prof Alonso almost 20 years later! (I took this course in 1991 and have since done an MA in Literature-in great part inspired by this course). Professor Alonso was, by far, the most thought provoking professor I had whilst at Tufts.

Workload:
The books are fabulous and all great reads (and most of them short). The assignments were straightforward.

Review:
Dr. Kenny was an interesting professor. I found his teaching style very enjoyable and right for me. He explains the theory and derives all relevant equations. The fact that he put up all his lecture notes helped TREMENDOUSLY. Problem sets were reasonable usually. On one occasion, questions were difficult and not covered in class, but the best part about Kenny was the fact that he listened to students. He constantly sets up tower meetings to chat with students and he invites you in to talk to him (about life, not chemistry) if he sees you and has time. He also had us fill out evaluations several times throughout the semester and adjusted accordingly (he never assigned homework that was not covered after one evaluation where people commented on that.

Dr. Kenny is surprisingly inviting and available and I would take another class with him.

Workload:
Ok workload. There is assigned reading for each class and it's meant to be done before class (though the concepts are all explained, he does fly over some basic stuff that's well explained in the reading quickly).
Weekly (or so) problem sets that were difficult but very helpful for test preparation. Recommend working in a group on the questions.
3 tests, non cumalitive, and you get a cheatsheet for each, so that's not too bad. There's an inherent 5% or so curve and no further curve was ever necessary. Attending class is necessary to do well.

Review:
Professor Rice is an excellent professor- one of the few French speakers I have met who can actually explain grammar. She creates a comfortable atmosphere for discussion and conversation in class. Her quizzes and tests are difficult but there are never any surprises. I also enjoyed the French film component of the class, which she taught very well.

Workload:
Like a language class- some busy work, but she tells you what's being collected in advance, so you can do as much or as little as you like. Quizzes and tests are difficult but understandably so. My French improved so much!

Review:
This is very exciting class to go and learn the basics about bridge aesthetics and civil engineering in general. The Class meets only once a week and the professor is hilarious. You do learn a lot from the class and it persuaded me to stick with civil engineering. There are no office hours but you can reach by email. This is great class to take for your EN elective or architectural requirements.

Workload:
Work load is not much not more than half an hour per week on the typical homework assignment. however they are 3 project assignment which are fun and easy the first two are the hardest of them all which is to build a truss bridge out of manila folders this will take at least two hours and patience but great activity. The second making individual tension and compression and tension pieces about an hours work. the last project I did not take part of because just assign it to a group member its about 10 min to 6 hours of works depends on how many iteration you are willing to make. One two page essay to read throughout the course and everything is on the power point except truss analysis .(find a junior CEE student to explain it to you the class TA was helpfull.)

Review:
Well everyone else loved him except for me. Found him hard to understand not because of his cool accent but because of the way he teaches math. Class was dictated by the Kids who knew it or hot the concepts easy. I constantly had to get tutors and I did okay but not well in the class.

Workload:
Homework id assigned and never checked, make sure you do them or you will fail. 3 test total and test problem since this is a unique class are drawn from homework. good luck nice class was not for me.

Review:
Professor Karlins is a great who is truly interested in the well-being of his students. He encourages class discussion and is very tolerant of all view points. If what you have to say is out of the ordinary at all, he'll love it. Granted, some of the readings are really strange, which you should keep up on because he's prone to single people out. Easy enough to b.s. if it comes down to it.

Workload:
Compared to some other courses, the work load is light. Four 3-5 page papers and a 5-7 page research paper. No final. Some in class assignments that aren't graded.

Review:
Smirnova is a great professor. Not only is she incredibly nice, she's very clear in her instruction. There was never any confusion, and she was always willing to work with students when they were struggling.

Workload:
A set of questions with each chapter. There are also daily workbook exercises. A few small written assignments and regular quizzes.Work load is fair.

Review:
This class is HARD,especially for people who never watch movies except adaptations like Harry Potter or Percy Jackson or Narnia Chronicles ... The films for sure are difficult to watch as they are "New Wave" films, but I did get good art exposure watching them: how they differ from Hollywood productions etc. certainly develop a "Taste" for films. I didn't know how to write essays in the beginning but Prof. Zhong makes it clear that we are welcome to talk to her during office hours. I go almost every week and read a lot of great work by other students. This definitely helped. This is a discussion-based class, so don't expect the professor to teach you everything or give you notes. It's the others' perspectives that make this class worth going. I got some fabulous classmates who are not amateur film watches. So that helps me learn how to appreciate cinematic techniques. All in all, prof. Zhong is very very helpful - if you want to try something new but quite unsure if you can handle it, talk to her and see what she thinks.

Workload:
Not really a lot of readings - but because screening and discussion is just one day apart, a little reading can become intense when you have other work to do. Plus you have to write a journal entry after each screening, though it's 1 - 2 pages long. 2 5-6 page paper and 1 final 9 page paper.

Review:
What can you expect in a language class? This class is about making your OWN effort - since you do most learning on your own (watching videos, doing work), how much time you're willing to spend after class will determine your grade in class. Professor Smirnova is great, approachable though sometimes a little unclear when explaining grammar points. You need to prompt more questions to get her answer what you want to know. But students tend to pose ambiguous questions, anyway. We are responsible too. Her French is great. Again, talk to her if anything bad happens.

Workload:
As mentioned just now, work hard if you want to get a good grade. You can choose to watch the videos once before class, but that's not going to make you fluent in French.

Review:
I curse the day I signed up for this class. Professor Carp was simply dreadful, and the TA Aly Mulrow was even worse. Instead of engaging and interesting discussions about the causes of the revolution, we spent much of class time listening to the professor drone on about his book.

Every time someone dared to ask a question, the TA would furiously scribble down the person's name. I suppose that was our only class participation grade, as Carp only knew the names of his advisees in the class (everyone else was referred to as "you" or "yeah"). Our questions often went unanswered, as Carp would instead ramble on for ten minutes about an unrelated topic, and somehow always manage to return to the most important subject at hand--his book about the Tea Party.

The TA's logic to grading our papers was, quite simply, illogical; Carp didn't grade our papers because he was much too busy. She graded with a purple pen, often misspelling simple words and writing questions on a paper only to write "Oh, I see" after reading the next sentence.

Unless you absolutely need to take this class for a history requirement, I would avoid this class and professor like the plague. And if one of your history classes has Aly as a TA, drop it before it is too late. You have been warned.

Workload:
There was approximately 100-150 pages of reading per week, which in theory wasn't too difficult to manage, but in reality was incredibly boring. Kierner was a great book, but I wasn't a fan of Griffin or Onuf.

Assignments were vague--for the papers we had to come up with our own prompts. But once we actually wrote the papers, our TA always found multiple issues with them. People who have never gotten below an A minus on a history paper got B minuses or C pluses. For our final exam, Carp decided it would be brilliant to choose the questions by flipping a coin. All in all, don't take your chances on this class. It's not worth the heartbreak.

Review:
If you are into learning about concepts, guiding principles, and looking at problem-solving techniques, this is the class for you. If you are into learning hard core, scientific, tangible facts about the health of communities, this is not the class for you, and it therefore wasn't the class for me. Pr. Balbach is great at explaining things, she's passionate about the subject, and she lets out class twenty-five minutes early every day, but I just didn't get enough out of the class.

Workload:
You'll read two books, do two research papers, and put off your readings until the end of the semester.

Review:
No one will deny that Daniel Dennett is one of if not the most esteemed and accomplished professor here at Tufts. Here's out guest celebrity so to speak, so at first, taking a class with him is exciting. They year begins with him blowing you away with his insightfulness and grandeur. But then they year wades on and his lectures become more rambling and the readings esoteric. The class takes an exponential dip during the tale end of the year. It's a good class especially if you've never taken a psychology, computer science, or philosophy class before. I recommend all Cognitive and Brain Science majors take it.

Workload:
Very very little. A final, two problem sets, an eight page paper, weekly readings, and a midterm that only counts if you do well on it.

Review:
Dora Older was the sweetest, most helpful, and overall kindest teacher I have ever had. She passed out candy during class multiple times a week. She told really funny and amazing stories about her life and home country, Cuba. I really struggle in Spanish, but I never felt uncomfortable in her class. She was incredibly helpful and kind, I wish I could have taken all 6 semesters with her.

Workload:
All Spanish classes are basically the same, she doesn't give out extra work like some teachers do.

Review:
Paola Servino is fantastic. One of the best Italian professors I've had here! She's so enthusiastic and fun and the class is never boring. Definitely take a class with her if you can!

Workload:
You go through a lot of material in the class, but it's still a lower level language class so the workload is minimal but consistent. Compositions and mini presentations are common.

Review:
I'm shocked to find such negative reviews for Drusilla Brown. Maybe she is different in Intermediate Quant Micro, but for International Economics she is very nice. When she teaches, she a a very warm, almost maternal demeanor. She is calm and clearly knows the material, everything is organized and she hands out the powerpoints in class. She cares deeply about students understanding and makes sure everyone understands the material completely before moving on. She is also very understanding, if you have a scheduling conflict she will accommodate you.

The only gripe I have found with the course was that it was sometimes difficult to get a great idea on what specifically was going to be covered on the quizzes. However, as long as you went to the classes, or understood the powerpoints, a majority of the material covered on the quizzes was easy.

I liked her so much I asked her to be my major advisor.

Workload:
There is some reading, but most of it is too technical to be included on the quizzes, so all you have to do is skim for historical contexts and overall description of theories. The technical material is simplified in class and looks exactly the same in class as it does on the quizzes.

Review:
I cannot stress enough at how horrible this professor is. I would never take another class with him, nor wish that anyone have to suffer through this class. It is by far the worst class I have ever taken at Tufts. He is completely unreasonable and has very little concern for students' progress. The class is pretty basic- he lectures and then expects you to ask him questions, so he can just tout his opinions.

Workload:
The workload is a lot for a below 100 level class: 2- 6 page papers, 1- 10-12 page research paper, an in-class midterm, and a final PLUS 150-200 pages of reading a week. If you like getting completely vague assignment, then take this class. He tells you to write papers with no standards of what is expected. The midterm is about "important topics" of the course. No direction as to what that might mean. And he grade deflates. I don't know of anyone who has received an A/A- on an assignment in this class. His expectations are completely unreasonable.

Review:
Do not take his class. The papers are very tedious and boring and he is very opinionated. He is a tough grader and is very specific about how is students write.

Workload:
Five papers, including a research paper and a lot of analyzing photographs.

Review:
Never take this class, or any class with this professor. He is a very difficult grader and also is very opinionated. His projects are very boring and none of them are interesting in any way. I dreaded class every single day and would watch people as they fell asleep.

Workload:
Five papers all dealing with why photographs were taken, including one research paper

Review:
amaaaaazing course! He's hilarious and has the best, craziest stories to share. The music is incredible and the class feels like a break from the rest of school- I never wanted to leave! I would highly recommend the course.

Workload:
Workload is not bad at all. If you don't treat it like a breezy course and actually take notes in class and study for the exams, then you will do really well. There are 2 exams for which you need to know 70 songs each (a lot of songs, but the music is awesome so it's not bad), and 2 relatively short and straightforward papers.

Review:
Remick is great, a very clear and engaging lecturer, but just be warned, this class is EXTREMELY HARD. By far the hardest class I've taken at Tufts so far. The papers are extremely complex, require tons of preparation, and are almost impossible to write successfully. Don't take this course unless you have a lot of time to devote to it. If you do, then great. You will certainly learn a lot of information about about a lot of revolutions, and about theories of revolution in general. In my opinion, it was too much to be crammed into one semester.

Workload:
A LOT of reading, which you need to do to find evidence for your papers. 3 papers: a 5-page paper, a 6-page paper, and a 12-page research paper. Again, these papers make you want to die.

Review:
I love Professor Debold. He's really clear, very reasonable in what he expects of students, and incredibly knowledgeable about the field of biopsychology. One of my favorite professors at Tufts. I highly recommend taking this course. Very interesting material too.

Workload:
Very easy. 3 tests with an optional final. The tests are all multiple choice and draw mostly from his lectures. He assigns reading from the textbook to go along with each lecture. The text helps clarify and expand upon things said in class, but you will probably be fine if you only study from your lecture notes. You must go to class though. He says things that aren't in the book. Easy A though if you study!

Review:
I love this course. Very interesting and the professor really knows what she's talking about. Would definitely recommend it to anyone interested in medicine.

Workload:
The homework consists of a very manageable amount of reading. The reading must be done because her tests require that you cite outside sources. There is a midterm split up into 2 classes so it counts as 2 separate grades. There is also a final and a really cool paper where you get assigned a patient and have to treat them as if you were a doctor in ancient Greek. This paper is worth 50% of your final and it's an easy A as long as you do the work.

Review:
Professor Leavell is extremely enthusiastic about the course and really cares about her students. She makes individual conferences with them to make sure they're progressing as they should, goes over their papers, and helps them think of ways to better their writing. I got the sense that she really cared about me as a student as well as the rest of our class. She's really warm and outgoing, and teaches the class really well. She creates an extremely warm learning environment.

Workload:
The workload was pretty moderate. Readings for every class, but not an insane amount. 4 essays throughout the semester. Everything is crystal clear.

Review:
She loves Africa and is very knowledgeable, but lectures are hard to follow since she simply reads her notes. Prior knowledge on the issues is very necessary

Workload:
Hundreds of pages of reading each week which are difficult to connect to in class lectures.

Review:
Milan is here to help all the rich little twats like you and me get a clue. If you hate him, there is a good chance you are scum. He is everything that a Tufts educator shouldn't be, which makes him everything that we need.

Workload:
He doesn't care about papers, even if he assignes them, you could literally spit on computer paper and he'd accept it. In fact he'd love it. The work load is internal?are you ready to surrender yourself? To say things you've never said to anyone, to rethink your world, to piss people off with your body?

Review:
Professor Zabel is great. He knows the material very well and expresses an enthusiasm for it that rubs off onto his students. He is readily available to provide extra help and definitely cares about his students. I will sign up for whatever class he is teaching next semester.

Workload:
There was a considerable amount of work, but it all ensures that everyone understands the material prior to tests. The STATA problems can be frustrating and tedious though. There are 3 tests, many problem sets and a large paper.

Review:
As said in the review above, Schmalfeldt is a dream professor. She is charming in her dedication and sincere concern for her student's understanding and success. She is very prompt and detailed with emails and help; at times, she is almost painfully clear. Be warned though, that this is not an easy class. She has high expectations and grades pretty hard. However, she is sensitive to students asking for help, putting in a lot of effort, etc. so if you're feeling desperate on an assignment, go to her and she will help you out. Overall, you learn a lot, get a decent grade, and get to experience the wonder of Schmalfeldt weekly.

Workload:
It is really not worth buying the textbooks- although she assigned readings at times, she would often just give us clearer, better handouts. The assignments are 1-2 a week, and they take a substantial amount of time.

Review:
Professor Mulholland is so fantastically old-school that every lecture was a pleasure. He makes the occasional dry joke and creates a good ambiance in class. Even my notes were eloquent. On the flip side, this old-school quality makes him fairly detached as a professor. He slaps a decent grade on the papers and doesn't welcome much class participation. I did get the impression that he was a nice guy outside of class though.

Workload:
4 or 5 5-page papers- that's it! A hefty amount of reading, which only really helped to clarify lectures if I was confused. However, he really does just pick out the best bits and tie them together.

Review:
Unreasonable with grading without good feed-back. Grades like a 600 level class. This one is a GPA buster with the most work you will ever do.

Workload:
N/A

Review:
Peterson is on point!!!!! As a matter of fact, I love Peterson!!!!! He's madd cool and down to earth; to the point that I was overjoyed to go to his class. Peterson is a writer; so he encouraged his students to be authentic and true to themselves when writing(I call this the "keep it real factor"). He wants each student's work to reflect that student. Peterson's essay topics are catered to the students. When an essay topic was given it would relate so much to what I was going through that more than likely I would write about my week or profound events within my life. Peterson really cares about his students progress and is understanding of the college workload. The class mostly entailed of a group reading their essays and the students "peer revising" the essays. His class feel is very laid back and comfortable. He also encourages office hours and will always try to fit you into his schedule. I would recommend every freshman to try to enroll in his English 1 course. Peterson is simply amazing!!!!!!

Workload:
There were no test or quizzes. An essay(around 3 to 4 pages doubled spaced) usually every week or week and a half. One final paper(around 10 pages - basically an extension of an existing paper).

Review:
This professor is a great guy. He knew exactly what he was talking about and always seemed to be happy to be teaching. He is very approachable.

Workload:
The workload was definitely manageable. You could drop one test. Easy to do well. Some of the material seems like a repeat of things you have once learned but the material does go deeper.

Review:
Best Professor and mentor I have had at Tufts. You are lucky if you take a class with him. Brilliant man and fantastic sense of humor.

In terms of what you learn, you seriously get out of class as much as you put into it. So do the readings so that you can participate. It's worth it.

You must seek him out. He won't make the effort unless you make the effort. Take him to coffee. Talk about the big things in life.

He knows his English, Music, and has a good perspective of the Big Picture for students. Talk to him about it! What more could you want?

Workload:
N/A

Review:
Prof. Foster delivers her lectures in a very organized and interesting manner, often with a hint of sarcasm. She knows pretty much everything about European history and assigns really compelling readings. She helps students see a seemingly well known subject in a completely different light and employs a sense of humor while doing it (many Stalin and Khrushchev jokes). She willingly helps students after/ outside of class.

Workload:
Her expectations are very clear. Midterm and Final are mostly in class essays, not too challenging, but they do require you to study the readings. There are two papers (5-7 pages each), and seeking help outside of class is especially helpful.

Review:
Don't take this class!!! Prof. MacDonald is very kind, but she is absolutely incomprehensible. Her expectations are extremely unclear for seemingly easy assignments. Unless you follow the model essays she hands out in class EXACTLY, you won't get about a B-. She does allow rewrites, but doesn't mention that until the very last week of the semester.

Workload:
About an essay a week; no room for creativity; unusually harsh grader; grades only for structure, not for content or critical thinking. English 2 was a breeze compared to this class, and much more interesting.

Review:
Professor Goldman teaches this one course a week for 3 hours, so he wants to engage the handful (~10 students) of students in the class. It may not be the most structured class, but it is certainly informative. Don't take the course title too seriously as the subjects discussed don't really have much to do with how the three interplay. Instead, the class provides a framework under which to discuss American culture. Goldman covers subjects like evolution vs. intelligent design, culture of fear, feminist revolution, civil rights, and the Supreme Court.
The readings are compelling and very light on technical analysis. You won't find many political science terms addressed here. But you will find yourself wondering exactly how this country has changed, and how to change it. The best part of this course is undoubtedly the section on the Supreme Court, the one branch of government that no other pol. sci. class at Tufts even approaches. Goldman assigns the book "The Nine", a quintessential read on the modern Supreme Court, and by far the best book assigned in a class.

Workload:
Readings are long, but easy reads. Don't fret about finishing them. Only really the first half of each book is necessary for class discussion and tests. But the books are fun to read.

Exams seem difficult. Just follow Goldman's advice: "If you study what I tell you to, you will do fine." He gives a list of subjects to study. And if you study them, you will ace the tests with ease. And if you miss a couple questions, don't worry. He gives a lot of credit for answers.

Review:
Very bad teacher. I feel like he shouldn't even be teaching. He hardly knows anything. It was a total waste of time.

Workload:
Same here. Not satisfied at all.

Review:
Very bad teacher. I feel like he shouldn't even be teaching. He hardly knows anything. It was a total waste of time.

Workload:
Same here. Not satisfied at all.

Review:
Great class. Woodin is engaging and knows the material cold. He may depart on tangents from time to time, but these tangents are either interesting, funny, or at least loosely related to the material. He makes interesting material even more interesting. Class periods flew by and I was genuinely disappointed that the class had to end. Take this class, regardless of whether or not you are a major in one of its 3 cross listings.

Workload:
Weekly Readings, although they weren't really necessary to understand the material. Prof even bashed the book a few times.

3 Problem Sets, 2 Exams that take two 1 hour-and-fifteen minute blocks each, although one exam ended up being take home for us. And a study critique paper at the end. All straightforward if you put in the time to know the concepts.

Review:
Ming is an absolute joy. He's the funniest guy. The class is about how to create a successful video game. Lectures could get confusing, but since it's comp. sci. it was totally acceptable to play online flash games during class (in fact, it's often recommended). This was my favorite class at Tufts--Ming is a great guy!

Workload:
Fairly simple. Assignments were sometimes difficult for Comp 10. folks, but Ming was always willing to help--he responds to e-mails within ten minutes of them being sent. There were six graded assignments over the course of the semester, three quizzes, a group project, and a final project.

Review:
Ning Ma is a great professor, and the material in this course was very interesting. However, she does tend to encourage needless discussion in the class. She is pretty much the easiest grader ever, and who wouldn't want to take a class in which your homework includes watching Mulan and Kung Fu Panda? She is genuinely interested in the material and students' progress. Just make sure you speak up in class!

Workload:
The workload is very consistent--you have a goofy homework assignment (short answer based on the readings) and a comment you have to write on blackboard (a short paragraph). There are two 3-4 page papers, as well as a final quiz that is matching with a word bank. You also have to do a final skit. The work is definitely substantial, but she is seriously the easiest grader ever. Do the work, and you get an A.

Review:
Joe is the best professor ever. He is such a thoughtful, wonderful, guy who is very interested in each students' individual progress. The course is based mostly on workshopping, in which you read out your work and have it critiqued by the kids in the class. Joe grades based on effort, and said that everyone was doing well in the class consistently. TAKE THIS CLASS--trust me.

Workload:
Very simple. You have a few short reading assignments and writing responses in the beginning of the semester. For your final, you submit one longer story and two instances of

Review:
This is a large, lecture-style class that was at 8:05 in the morning. We used iClickers. Professor Troy was an OK lecturer, but there were constantly guest lecturers who weren't very good. No one really seemed to care about students' progress. THE TAS WERE THE WORST--especially Jessica Hoschstadt. She was consistently hostile when there was no reason to be. The material was interesting, but that was about it--I'd try and take it with a different professor, or at LEAST different TAs.

Workload:
Three tests, one awful diet analysis, and a final. Each worth 20%. I got an A, but I worked my ass off for it.

Review:
Professor Fey is easily the worst professor I've had at Tufts. His teaching style primarily involves utilizing the power point slides from the textbook, but he rarely discusses more than 10 of the 50-80 per chapter, and many of them are shuffled through so quickly that students have no time to process or write down the information. The vast majority of class consisted of Professor Fey telling the class about his own predictions and ideas in economics, sometimes boasting. Told us that in the past he made students write a paper on one of his theories that turned out to be wrong. On several occasions, he explained a concept incorrectly and had to be corrected by students, after which he quickly changed the subject and brushed off his mistakes. Professor Fey certainly has done a lot of research in the fields of macroeconomics and international finance, but he couldn't care less about his students, and the course was lacking as a result of his apathy.

Workload:
No real workload whatsoever. 9 chapters to read, two quizzes (originally supposed to be five), a midterm worth 35% and a final worth 50%. As only a small minority of each chapter was discussed in class, the majority of exams and quizzes were on material that had to be self-taught No incentive whatsoever to come to class.

Review:
This class was definitely interesting, but is not an easy arts credit. Professor is great and is always willing to meet up with you to talk about class or even other stuff - he's a pretty cool guy!

Workload:
Somewhat straightforward assignments, talking to the professor helps. Relatively simple quizzes, but the papers were not easily graded. He expects profound thinking. If you take the time to do the work and show that you've put in effort (going to office hours, etc), you should get a grade in the A-range. If you're mediocre, expect a B.

Review:
Belansky is not an easy grader, but is very eager to help her students. She's kind and is always open for questions. Office hours are helpful. However, she does not teach well. If you don't have a strong Spanish background, do not take her. If you don't really need a great teacher and just like the time slot she's teaching in, take her.

Workload:
Lot of homework but it's rarely checked unless she warns you ahead of time. Tests are medium, not hard not easy. Just study and you'll be fine. Lots of assignments though! Hard grader.

Review:
Professor Ellmore is absolutely hilarious and incredibly interesting. I originally took this course because I needed it for the major, but it was my favorite class all semester and one of the best classes I've taken in biology. Lectures are always interesting and Ellmore is always well-prepared for class. He really knows his material and gets you excited about plants, which says a LOT about how good the professor is.

Workload:
We only had 2 exams and a final. All exams were a very fair test of our mastery of the material, and I did well on all of them. He also scales grades if necessary. Definitely take this class!

Review:
I have never written a review of any professor in my two years at Tufts. However, after taking History of Rock 'N' Roll with Professor Pennington, I felt it necessary to comment. History of Rock 'N' Roll was, by far, the best class I have ever taken and the best professor I have ever had. Professor Pennington is extremely enthusiastic and really seems to love what he is teaching. The class is large, around 70 students, but he makes it seem as if he is talking directly to you and is constantly asking for class involvement. He is very welcoming and extremely approachable.

And, maybe it was just because the topic was so interesting, but I learned much more than I normally do in courses. If this class is taught by Prof. Pennington, it would be a shame to miss out on it.

Workload:
The work for every class was to read a selected chapter in a text book and listen to 6 songs about a certain genre. The class is graded on 2 short writing assignments, a mid-term paper, a mid-term exam, a final paper and a final exam. And all of the assignments are very interesting and not an annoyance to write. And the exams are directly based on lectures in class, so it is necessary to actually attend class. Although class was not mandatory to go to, I did not miss one (and I am a student who is prone to skipping multiple classes during a semester) because I enjoyed the class so much.

Review:
One of the best English classes I've taken at Tufts. She's terribly eloquent and offers up provocative and challenging ideas (but isn't pedantic about it... open to disagreement). Made fascinating cross-disciplinary connections (science, art) with the texts and really changed the way I thought about British literature. Has a clear passion for the material and a deep concern for her students.

Workload:
Lots of reading but manageable if you keep up and don't try to do it all the night before. Weekly journal entries to be turned in at the end of the course in addition to a final.

Review:
TAKE THIS CLASS!!! Prof. Patch is an engaging and passionate lecturer, and flat out one of the coolest professors I've had at Tufts. He is extremely down to earth and goes out of his way to update his material?one class he discussed the Grammies, Lady Gaga and Beyonce before getting into Traditional Indian Music.

He is also extremely approachable and eager to learn about his students. Go to his office hours to spend some time with an intelligent professor who can also be just a cool dude.

Workload:
About 30 pages of reading per night?some more dense/theoretical but most straightforward.
Three 2-4 page concert reports due at the end of the semester plus a longer final paper.
Prof. Patch will offer extra credit for attending faculty lectures and writing up a paper summarizing salient points and expanding upon them?take advantage of it!!!

Review:
Dale is an extremely laid back professor. His motto for giving you an A on your essays is, "As long as you entertain me, you get an A". He loves creativity and clarity. He's available to his students. Class discussion does get awkward at times, since it's generally a small class and he doesn't encourage participation as much as he could. Great Professor!

Workload:
About 5 essays and one final research paper

Review:
She was a great professor. She made my French 3 experience awesome. She is French herself, so that adds a valuable touch to learning the language - she's able to tell you what exactly the french say now or don't say any longer. Also, she is full of interesting anecdotes about France. She explained the concepts well and she makes you feel very comfortable. I would totally take French 4 with her was it being offered.

Workload:
Regular amount of work for a language for this level.

Review:
He's a great prof. and he is very helpful. although, he sometimes assumes a background in south asia on the part of the students - that can throw off some american students. i would take a class again with him. he has a really good dressing sense.

Workload:
50 pages of reading/week.
1 midterm, 1 quiz, 1 final and 1 book review

Review:
She is a great prof, really funny, humorous and thoroughly well-versed in the subject matter. Although, she is not that good at conveying the concepts of the material that well, esp if you dont have a background in phil. will i take phil with her again? Probably not.

Workload:
3 papers, 2 short responses and about 50 pages/week reading.
not that bad.

Review:
she was a good prof - used to come to class in a huff alot of the times. kind of a weird lady, but she knew her stuff about writing. critiqued my papers well. she was helpful and pretty flexible about deadlines if you had decent reasons.

Workload:
TOO MUCH WORK!
3 scenes, 1 research paper, 10 summaries/responses

Review:
She knows a lot about the topic but presents all of the material in rambling, disconnected lectures so you have no idea really what is going on. She loves her students but the class is so incredibly tedious and poorly structured that her 'love' does not make up for it.

Workload:
10 page papers every couple weeks

Review:
McHugh was the worst professor I have ever had at Tufts. It disappoints me that Tufts would extend a teacher job to such an unqualified individual. His lectures often had nothing to do with the assigned course work and he exhibited zero effort in explaining the material. Just an awful class.

Workload:
Pages in the textbook were assigned and problem sets were due every two weeks. His exams are 6 questions long, with 5 of the 6 questions referring to material that has nothing to do with the class. Only take this class if you are forced to. Beware.

Review:
Dore is good at teaching you how to use your camera/equipment, etc, and is very encouraging to beginners. She is a little eccentric, but overall I liked the class. She is helpful and knows her stuff, and I liked that she introduced us to a lot of photographers. She is very outspoken and blunt though, and often can be a little harsh during critiques. She gets very uptight when you miss class when there are student presentations going on, and doesn't like it when you miss class in general. The TA was a big help, and I think the class would have been impossible without an extra person there to help.

Workload:
This class is a lot of work. You have two three hour blocks per week, and depending on your efficiency, you may often need to go into the darkroom to work outside of class. There is one roll of film due per week and she is not very understanding about how busy student's schedules can be with other classwork, which was aggravating. We had Tuesdays were usually work days and Thursdays were critique days and when we received our new assignment. You are required to do a presentation on any photographer you choose, which isn't bad, its mostly just to introduce work of a photographer. The last month or so of the class is dedicated to your final project, which is 10ish prints of any subject you choose. We didnt have nearly enough time to finish this, however, and I had to come in a lot outside of class. I learned quite a bit, and I like photography a lot, so I enjoyed the process but I wouldn't take this class unless you are willing to put in the effort.

Review:
Professor Urry is very fair and concerned with student's understanding and progress. She threw out 8 questions on our first exam because they were worded poorly, and offers quite a few opportunities for extra credit. However, no one would take this class if it weren't required for the major. The material is the most boring information in the world, and it is a lot of work. I would like to take a different class with her because I think it would be really good.

Workload:
About a chapter of reading per week, though I never read the material and buying the book was a waste of money (it is on reserve in the library if you really want to read it). One 2.5 hour lab section per week was annoying and a lot of work. We had two long, and very aggravating APA format papers that were written on the two studies we ran ourselves. The papers were graded harshly, but you get a chance for rewrites. The second study we had to design ourselves and had to run 60 participants ourselves outside of class, which was terrible. You have to make a poster that you present to the class at the end of the semester. There were two exams, but no final. I really hated this class

Review:
Laurel clearly cares about the class and students. On the first day of class, she discussed the main object of the class: to make all of us great writers. While I had not written many papers before this class and was a little hesitant because of that, Laurel made the class and writing fun. We would read interesting articles on race, sexism, and we read Toni Morrison's "Song of Solomon." We would write short papers on different material covered in class.

Class was definitely the best part of the class. We would face each other in a circle with one student assigned to lead class discussion on the homework readings. The discussions/debates always held my attention and I enjoyed participating in them. I learned a lot from them.

Laurel always comes to class organized and prepared. There are never any surprise assignments. GO to office hours and talk to her if you any questions about the class or how to improve your writing. She helped me improve my writing greatly and she gave interesting prompts that made the writing fun.

Workload:
The readings only take about 20 minutes. SOmetimes, we would post a Blackboard post that ony needed to be a couple of paragraphs. So, usually, only 2 hours of homework a week I would say for a class that meets only two days a week. We did have 4 papers (based off of homework readings/book) and 1 research paper (analyzing any media story we wanted). Papers were spread out well throughout the semester so we never felt overwhelmed. Laurel is a big fan of drafting so she would break up the writing process and have us bring a few rough drafts to class before we could submit our final draft. All in all, not bad in terms of workload at all. Most of the class is based upon paper grades, so unless you've already mastered the writing process, do not expect anything higher than a B+ on papers. But the grade is not the point, my writing and paper grades improved over the semester. Take this class if you can. Great teacher and great course material give this class an A in my book.

Review:
I highly recommend taking a class with Beckman. He is VERY enthusiastic (animated even) and concerned with students' progress. He will spend over an hour with you talking about a particular paper (both before and after) if you need help and he grades very fairly.

Workload:
One or two short reading assignments (or films) with journal entries per week. Five papers per semester. Very manageable. Interactive writing workshops in class sometimes.

Review:
Chechile teaches very little real content regarding the subject instead he cites studies all class period, every class period and most of the studies are his own.

Chechile seems like a nice guy but his lecture style is disorganized, difficult to follow and he presents no visual aids (aside from writing Chechile et al (1989), etc on the board, apart from the occasional color pencil drawing on paper, or a rare transparency)

Workload:
There was no homework, but a fair amount of reading from a dry book. The readings ultimately have almost nothing to do with the class (although they will teach you more on the subject than he will) and the tests will barely ask questions based on them (if at all).

Grades consist of two 30 question exams asking about his own studies in detail and which were worth 80% of your grade together. 15% of your grade is a paper that does not feel worth it and 5% is based on a presentation you probably will not be given much time to prepare for.

Review:
Denby is a great professor, funny engaging, but the popularity of the class is ultimately its downfall. In such a big class, discussion was nearly impossible with literally the same two students chiming in once in a while. Without discussion the class is straight lecture, which is fine, but not great for figuring your own ideas and views on the subjects.

Workload:
Not bad. Four short papers. Graded by the TA, who tend to be pretty accessible.

Review:
TAKE THIS CLASS WITH SOMEONE ELSE.

In case that wasn't detailed enough, let me just say I literally learned nothing from the man. Not only were his lectures useless and notes confusing, he got nearly every example problem wrong. He used to berate students for asking simple questions, then make their questions harder because "anyone could do what you just asked." The class isn't horrible, but you end up teaching yourself everything. Oh and the book kindof sucks too.

Workload:
Typical for a math course.

Review:
Marcie was awesome. This was by far my most enjoyable class at Tufts so far. It was a lot of fun. The class was actually one of the small ones that they lie to you about on tours. The professor promoted everyone in class knowing and befriending each other and was always available to talk about writing. She was a little bit of a hard ass but in a good way. I would definitely take another class with her. This was the only course I've taken in two years where the professor takes an interest in knowing the students. She gave great feedback on papers.

Workload:
Assignments could be difficult in that you had to let ideas come to you. A couple of longer stories (5 pages and 7 pages) were done at the end while several short 500 word stories were written in the beginning. Very few constraints on writing, you could be as creative as you wanted.

Review:
Professor Starks is one of the best professor I've ever had, although his class at 8:30am, I have yet to fall asleep during lecture, however is difficult to focus on the material at such an early time.

Workload:
N/A

Review:
In terms of Chemistry Professors, Kryatov was pretty great. His lectures were clear and organized, and he printed lecture notes for his students. His tests were very clearly on the information covered in class, and while they were incredibly hard, he gives you a lot of study material prior. I enjoyed the class greatly, and he is entertaining and relatively funny, and intersperses simple chemical demonstrations in his classes. He does have a Ukrainian accent witch takes a little getting used to.

Workload:
This class has a lot of work, weekly paper and online problem sets along with weekly labs. All of the work is difficult but manageable.

Review:
Anne has changed. Yes, she could have been bad in the past, but she is easily the best professor I've ever had. She is patient, friendly, concerned with students' opinions, and takes recommendations as to how to improve the class. She still grades tough, but let's be real: you are in spanish 22, you obliviously want to learn spanish, and she makes you learn.

Workload:
Short readings for every class. Movies, compositions, quizzes, etc. from time to time., Yes, it can be a hassle, but it really isn't that bad.

Review:
If i could, i would take this class again. Norman made the class an absolute pleasure. He is completely honest about the material--he acknowledges the difficulty of the more complex concepts and is more than happy to spend the necessary time explaining them. He makes a class with an enrollment of 300+ students feel like a 20 person class. Not to mention, he is hilarious. I dont know anybody who took the class with him and had a bad experience. TAKE EC5 WITH GEORGE NORMAN, anybody else would not do it justice.

Workload:
The problem sets (about 5 total) are challenging but very reasonable. If you have a question ask a TA-thats what theyre there for. The exams are more challenging than the problem sets but completely fair. Also, Norman is happy to answer any questions you may have about an exam that was difficult for you.

Review:
Great class! Very knowledgeable professor and the three hour class is broken up by group presentations and speakers so it never gets too boring. Great overview of businesses.

Workload:
Not too bad. Reading and memo due almost every week but plenty of time to do it. Two quizzes that are open note and not bad at all. One final business plan presentation with a group that is a lot of work but not bad.

Review:
Awesome professor. Very passionate about the Earth and its oceans, and has traveled the world in pursuit of this passion. It's a lot like a bio class in that you have to memorize a bunch of information, but the flip-side to that is the minimal amount of math.

Workload:
Pretty easy (5 or 6 homework assignments that took between 20 minutes to an hour) and a 6-page research paper that she guided us through. However, you had to study pretty hard for the midterm and final. Overall, I got a B+ without doing a terrible amount of work.

Review:
I think I made the best decision taking Econometrics with Professor Zabel. He is very passionate about Econometrics and thus is very concerned about his students' progress. His notes are very clear: he posts them online before class, so you can follow him while he goes over them in lecture. He will always ask if he needs to go over concepts, so if you don't understand something, he'll slow down.

We had to write a research paper in the end, but Professor Zabel had deadlines well before the paper was due, so you basically write the paper as you go along in the course. He is also very available in office hours, and will actually make you sign up for a time slot to go over the progress of your paper.
He can sound kind of dismissive at times, but that's because he can smell from miles away people bullshitting and going to his office hours just to get the answers and not actually understand the material. I can understand why for Statistics he may not be the best professor because he can be kind of intimidating, especially for freshmen.

He is your best option for Econometrics though, guaranteed.

Workload:
The work load is insane, but that's because it's econometrics. We were stuck every Thursday night in the computer lab doing problem sets on STATA. They take forever to finish, but again, that's the only way to understand econometrics.

Bottom line, I would recommend Professor Zabel.

Review:
Professor Irwin may not be the most thrilling lecturer, but that's largely due to the complicated subject of the US health care system. He's an incredibly nice guy and super approachable. He knows a lot about CH because he's had significant experience in the field. I wouldn't necessarily take this class if you're not a CH major (I think CH 1 is better for the general student), but it's a good class.

Workload:
The workload was doable. A small paper, a midterm, a debate, a policy memo, and a final. All of the assignments were short but required a good amount of thought and time. The midterm and final were very straightforward.

Review:
Wonderful professor, led gripping lectures and was keen to tie course material to current events. Course was well organized and overall enlightening, given how much material is covered in only one semester.

However, on a side note, he's a horrible advisor. Don't be seduced by his eloquence and knowledge, he's got a lot of shit to do. Look for somebody less brilliant but more available and sensitive to student's needs.

Workload:
Two short essays, a midterm and final paper each about 15 pages. Average IR workload. Tons of reading, but you can be selective with it and most of it was extremely interesting.

Review:
Dala Petterson is the most laid back professor you will have! His criteria on grading are, "As long as you entertain me, you get an A". He is very willing to help upon request, and also gives you specifics on what he wants you to include in your essay, making it even easier to get a great grade. His classes however are extremely boring, though he has a very (very) dry sense of humor. I would encourage everyone to try and take English 1 with Professor Petterson.

Workload:
About an essay due every week and a half. There's a total of 6 essays. The final one is a research paper.

Review:
Professor Richards is a pretty bad professor. I would not say he's the worst, but his lectures are impossible to stay awake for and often go so far off topic that they are impossible to follow. His powerpoints are really complicated, and so are the problem sets. The test seems easy but is then graded really harshly. I would not recommend taking this class at all. Get EC5 done first semester.

Workload:
We did not have much work, but the book was really boring and the problem sets were really complicated.

Review:
Just remember when you take a course with Leupp, you're in for an interesting ride. He's very passionate about his classes, but it doesn't always shine through during class.

Utilize his office hours; it helps immensely when writing your research paper.

Workload:
Assignments were very straightforward. One midterm, one final and one research paper (10-12 pages). Not a harsh grader and very fair

Review:
Professor Debold definitely clearly explained all the material for the class. He made his powerpoints informative and interesting, but you definitely had to go to class to get a lot of the important information that was only addressed in the actual lecture. His tests were very fair and representative of the material, and he held helpful review sessions before each one. The issues with this class is that the people really determine the environment much more than he does, and if no one wants to ask questions and are generally quiet, then the class can be a little dull.

Workload:
There are 3 tests throughout the semester and a final during the finals week, but your lowest test score is dropped. You can opt not to take the final if you are happy with your grade as is. It was about 20 - 30 pages of text book reading a night, but there were a lot of pictures and it was really interesting so it goes pretty fast. Reading the text isn't essential because so much of it is covered in lecture, but giving it a once over before exams as a review was definitely helpful.

Review:
Prof Frumosu is the best teacher I have had at Tufts. Aside from being clear and very intelligent, he cares if the students actually understand what is going on. He made an otherwise difficult class relatively easy. He keeps the lectures interesting and has a dry sense of humor that can cause a whole class to laugh ridiculously. Sadly, I could not get him for dif eq. Alas.

Workload:
Standard math assignments, two midterms, one final. Make sure you do the homework.

Review:
Prof. Lane is extremely passionate and knowledgeable about the subject matter, but don't let that fool you, the class is horribly boring. Unless you are seriously passionate about french film i would stay far far away. The class is held in the depths of Olin where the sun doesn't shine and I had a horrible time trying to stay awake. The class is fairly large and everyone has to do one presentation a semester which takes up large chunks of the class, and as you might expect, these presentations aren't exactly thrilling.

Workload:
There wasn't too much work. We had a mid-term and final paper, a short presentation and some random reading responses. There's a movie shown each week but honestly you only need to see the ones you write a paper on.

Review:
Terrible professor. Obnoxious and not accepting of alternative views. Lectures are often painful to sit through.

Workload:
Manageable, but does not make up for how bad and obnoxious the professor is.

Review:
Professor Stolow is perhaps the most caring and conscientious educator I have encountered in my 9 years aa GRADUATE STUDENT AT tUFTS. hIS SUPERB TUTELAGE ENABLED ME TO COME CLOSE TO PASSING MY ORALS 4 TIMES AND TO COME REASONABLY CLOSE TWO OTHER TIMES. i RESPECT AND ADMIRE THE CONSISTENCY WITH WHICH HE HAS OFFERED ADIVCE AND TUTORING THAT HAS ENABLED ME TO COME SO CLOSE. i HAVE RELIED ENTIRELY ON HIS EXPERTISE AND UNIQUE ABILITY TO COMMUNICATE COMPLEX concepts WITH ALMOST CLEAR EXPLANATION AND SOMETIMES ADEQUATE INFORMAION FOR ME TO EXCEL , MORE OR LESS. i THOUGHT THE SESSIONS IN WHICH mR. mACgREGOR PLAYTED A LEADING ROLE WERE ESPECIALLY ENGAGING AND ENLIGHTENING. PROFESSOR STOLOW IS ESPECIALL ADEPT AT DRAWING COLORFUL DIAGRAMS OF COMPLEX COMPOUNDS AND CONVEYING THEM IN THEIR CULTURAL CONTEXT. i pERSONALLY BELIEVE THAT SCIENCE WILL BE IMPORTANT TO OUR NATION'S FUTURE AND THEREFORE i INTEND TO TAKE HIS CLASS AGAIN AND AGAIN UNTIL i COME CLOSE TO MASTERING THE MATERIAL.

Workload:
i ENJOYED pROFESSOR STOLOW' PROBLET SETS SO MUCH THAT i WOULD HAVE CHOCEN TO DO THEM MULTIPLE TIMES EVEN IF I HAD NOT BE REQUIRED TO DO SO, BECAUSE i FAILED SO MISERABLY. i ESPECIALLY LIKED THE DOT TO DOT AND THE WORD SEARCH. THE READING LOAD WAS REASONABLE THOUGH I THINK REQUIRING MORE THAN ONE DOCTOR SEUSS PER WEEK IS A BIT MUCH.

Review:
She is really nice, but not very proactive as a teacher. She tends not to call on particular people but look around and expect students to offer answers, receiving awkward silence when they don't and not quite knowing how to engage them. But I generally liked her and would like to have her again. She is accommodating to students who arrive late to class and it helps that she is a native Italian.

Workload:
Assignments were not overwhelming and very straightforward. We went over the material that we had been assigned in class; if anything the class was taught too much from the book.

Review:
Professor McConnell can be a monotonous lecturer, and it wasn't out of the ordinary for many people to fall asleep during class. However, if you do stay awake during class he gives you necessary information to understand the material you have to read. The movies for the film section as a whole are awesome to watch. He provides a great range of movies in terms of time span, ranging all the way from Psycho, to Memento. He's definitely willing to help if you are willing to go into office hours and ask questions. But, if your looking for an upbeat, wildly interesting professor, he's not for you.

Workload:
There's one or two readings assigned a week, very very do-able amount of work. 4 essays over the semester, each 5-7 pages. A pretty average amount of work I would say.

Review:
I got a bad vibe from her in the beginning of the semester, but it is obvious that she knows a lot about art and she can be helpful in giving tips on improving a painting. Her grading, however, doesn't seem to have any basis, and it is hard to tell how you are getting along in class, as least from her standpoint.

Workload:
There weren't really outside of class assignments, except one presentation we each had to do on a particular artist. In class we started out with some basic assignments - painting bottles and an apple - and then dove right into figure painting for most of the semester. I've never painted with oils before, but I felt like the class really helped me develop some skill.

Review:
The course material is very interesting and up to date, but if your not interested in reproductive technologies this class is not for you. The professor's tend to be pretty helpful, although essay grades aren't super easy to understand. She definitely involves the students in class, there are many debates throughout the semester. The professor wasn't incredibly available because she doesn't actually work at tufts.

Workload:
The workload is absolutely absurd for an experimental college. 70-100 pages of legal reading a week. Very hard to complete in the time span allotted just because of how dry it can be. 3 essays over the course of the semester.

Review:
I am not an engineering student, and I did not realize what I was getting myself into when I signed up for this class, but Professor Noonan encouraged me to come and see him for help and always made himself available. He is very knowledgeable, and was very excited about the material and concerned about the progress of his students. I definitely would not have gotten through this course with a less enthusiatic teacher.

Workload:
We were assigned several chapters to read over a period of a few weeks, which wasn't too bad, but the book didn't correlate very well to what we discussed in class.

Review:
Dora Older is the best professor I have had at Tufts. She cares so much about her students and is a great professor. If you go into office hours she is incredibly helpful, and is very insistent on helping her students learn. She is incredibly fair in her grading, and is very flexible about late assignments and personal conflicts. She brought candy for the class almost every day. The class is very conversation driven, so speaking skills are definitely improved. I would take spanish with her for the rest of my spanish career... unfortunately she stops at Spanish 3.

Workload:
The workload is incredibly do-able. Keep up on the workbook and you should be completely fine. Tests are fair, and accurate to the material you should be learning from the books and the lectures.

Review:
Professor Norman was a great lecturer - he knows a lot about Economics and always made his powerpoints interesting and engaging. I would definitely recommend taking this course with him!

Workload:
There were four problem sets throughout the course. The book is pretty straightforward if you follow along in it, but he also posts all of the slides on blackboard, and owards the end of the course he actually cautions against following the book in lieu of what he teaches in class.

Review:
I liked Professor Joseph a lot. He was very nice and always prepared for class; he often showed interesting videos or discussed something current relevant to what we were learning. I felt like I got a lot out of the class, and would definitely want to take another class with him if I was to take something in the Peace and Justice Studies department again.

Workload:
We had a few 8 page essays throughout the course that made up our grade, which he graded very fairly, along with the final, for which he offered the option of writing two 6 page papers. There is a lot of outside reading as well, which some students deem unnecessary and don't do, but personally I think if you take this class you should get all you can out of it.

Review:
McConnell seems to know a lot about the material, but is not entirely tolerant of alternate views, much less than I expected a philosophy professor to be. His class can be very engaging - it's almost entirely discussion based.

Workload:
We had about three papers to write. McConnell was lenient about assigning them, but very slow to grade them and get them back to us.

Review:
Professor Mastraccio is a great teacher and is very enthusiastic about her work. She is very inviting to new ideas and class discussion. However, I worked very hard on papers and submitted many drafts of essays to ensure that I was successful in the class and I found it hard to achieve the grade that I wanted. Her grading isn't that bad but I warn pre-med who are looking for the "A" that it might be difficult to obtain.

Workload:
Workload isn't bad at all. 5 papers in total. 1 research paper and blackboard assignments on class readings and discussions. Grades mostly based off of essays.

Review:
Professor Probst is wonderful, truly wonderful. His class was so interesting and I didn't even know I would find it interesting! I went to every class without question simply because going was such a delight. He is sweet, interested in his student's progress, takes their comments and points of view to heart and is always available to discuss anything. He is a warm, kind man and wonderful professor. Take this class!

Workload:
N/A

Review:
Professor Penvenne knows how to teach.

Workload:
Moderate load of weekly readings for class discussions plus individual projects.

Review:
Professor Gallagher was one of the best teachers I have ever had at Tufts! His clear Powerpoint presentations coupled with occasional iClicker multiple choice questions he addressed to the class really made electricity and magnetism interesting and clarified many of the difficult concepts. He changed the format of the course, especially with respect to labs and recitations. We no longer had to write lab reports; all the data analysis was done in the lab section itself (a huge plus!), and rather than reviewing homework problems, the recitation consisted of additional practice problems (it was also mandatory!). Personally, I found that the additional problems helped, but attending the section was, for the most part, a waste of time. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the course itself, no doubt due to Gallagher's enthusiasm and teaching style.

Workload:
There were 12 weekly problem sets, each of which consisted of 10 online problems and 2 written problems. You could always count on one of the written problems to require some difficult calculus, but he would usually go over it in class anyway. There are 2 midterms, each consisting of 10 multiple choice questions and 2 long problems, and a final containing 20 multiple choice questions and 5 problems. At first glance, 5 points per multiple choice question (all or nothing) seemed a little unfair, but if you pay attention in class (study his powerpoint lectures) and know how to approach the practice multiple choice questions, you will do fine. I found the midterms to be a little on the easy side (especially considering the material and the difficulty of the homework); the final was a little harder, only because some of the questions tested multiple concepts (for example, one of the questions involved displaying simple harmonic motion for a system exposed to an electric field), but it was not that difficult. There was never a question that went above and beyond what we had seen before. As long as you do all the work, it should not be that difficult to do well in the class.

Review:
Most of the reviews and talk you will hear from people will tell you to steer well away from Professor Dewald's class, and I can see why. First off, he is the definition of "old-school"; since he does not bother with computers, his lectures are all written on the chalkboard. Sometimes, he has the annoying habit of filling all the boards with notes before class, forcing you to copy like crazy while he skitters through the material. And skitters he does; Dewald is definitely not a clear lecturer and does not do the best job explaining basic concepts, and while you do not have to take AP chemistry beforehand, it really helps to have some background just to keep on track with him. That being said, his notes are comprehensive and well-written, so it's not a total loss if you do not understand him during lecture. Much of your learning however will come from the problem sets. The key to doing well in Dewald's class is to know how to approach the problems on your problem sets and the previous years' problem sets (which he has on Blackboard) as well as old exams. Many times, they are tedious and somewhat difficult, but the end result will pay off once you do well on the exams. The TA is an excellent resource for help on any of the problem sets; I frequently emailed him for help, and he responded, sometimes within minutes. Definitely take advantage of that. Also, while I myself never did it, I heard that Dewald is very approachable and helpful outside of lecture. Ultimately, how well you do in the class depends on the effort you put in, which is exactly what Dewald's "old-school" philosophy is.
Outside of the course, Dewald is actually a really friendly person and has a wonderful tendency of jumping off track to talk about his years in the military, ending with a tirade about the corruption of West Point cadets and the government. His anecdotes are always humorous and really sometimes make the 8:05 AM class that much more bearable. The lab portion of the course is easy; labs usually took 1- 1 ? hours, and the write-ups were straightforward, if not tedious, and were graded easily. I wish the easy grading would have translated over to the problem sets, but homework is not worth that much. Finally, once a week, we have a guest lecturer from the Chemistry department come to talk about his/her research; some are genuinely interesting and inspiring, while others come across as boring due to the fact that much of the material goes over our heads. Still, it does give you an idea of what a Chemistry career might entail.
Overall, the course is challenging, mainly due to the difficulty of the problems and Dewald's inability to explain the concepts clearly. However, these issues can be remedied by seeking help with the TA and Dewald outside of class and working on old problem sets and exams. While Dewald was not the ideal lecturer, he still made some of the lectures fun and gave me a quote that will define my standard of excellence: "Close enough for Tufts" He is also really lax about due dates for problem sets as well as grading; you can usually get some points back for a problem if you go to Dewald and demonstrate that you know how to approach the problem. I guess he's been teaching so many years that he does not really care that much anymore...

Ultimately, if you enjoy Chemistry enough to devote a lot of time outside of class, I would say go for it. The problems definitely are challenging enough to teach you valuable problem-solving skills, and the seminars can give you possible undergraduate research opportunities. As long as you know what to expect from the class beforehand, you should not have too much of a problem with it.

Workload:
-11 Problem Sets, most of which were due every week. They start out simple (1-2 hours) but gradually get more and more difficult and lengthy (I spent 5-6 hours on the last problem set!). Try to start in advance so you don?t kill yourself the night before.
-10 labs and 8 lab write-ups, which can take anywhere from an hour to three hours. Overall, the reports serve just as an exercise in tedium.
-3 exams, which have the pleasure of starting at 7:00 AM? These consist of six multi-part problems and one long conceptual part (consisting of questions from his lecture). Generally, the exams are not very difficult as long as you have looked at all the problem sets and old exams and know how to approach each problem.
-1 final. He changed the format to 40 multiple choice questions and 5 multi-part problems. Some of the multiple choice questions were really specific and tested nitpicky points in the notes. Read and re-read the notes if you want to ace this section. If you get an A in the final, you get an A in the class, regardless.

Review:
Pr. Urban seems to know everything about everything in the playwriting world. He's smart, funny, and isn't afraid to critique you. His critiques are never mean spirited or excessive-rather, they're always focused on making the play better. This was a great class.

Workload:
There's very little work. Over the whole semester, one writes four two-page essays (assigned two at a time), two one-minute plays, a two-minute play, and a ten-minute play. For reading, he assigns a handful of ten-minute plays to read over the course of the year. None of the work takes very much time at all.

Review:
This was a wonderful intro level class. Coming into the class I really knew nothing about community health, and now, after taking this class I am seriously considering majoring in it. Professor Balbach teaches in an incredibly clear manner, making sure everyone in the 200 person class understands what she is saying before moving on to the next slide or topic. She manages to be really funny and engaging despite the size of the class. She is always willing to chat after class or during her office hours. While the material is not terribly hard, many of the assignment are graded toughly.

Workload:
The material is pretty straightforward. There was never that much reading-- some nights it was only half an hour of reading, and others up to an hour, but rarely more than that. Pay close attention to the readings though, she takes a lot of her nit-picky exam questions from them.

Review:
This was a wonderful intro level class. Coming into the class I really knew nothing about community health, and now, after taking this class I am seriously considering majoring in it. Professor Balbach teaches in an incredibly clear manner, making sure everyone in the 200 person class understands what she is saying before moving on to the next slide or topic. She manages to be really funny and engaging despite the size of the class. She is always willing to chat after class or during her office hours. While the material is not terribly hard, many of the assignment are graded toughly.

Workload:
The material is pretty straightforward. There was never that much reading-- some nights it was only half an hour of reading, and others up to an hour, but rarely more than that. Pay close attention to the readings though, she takes a lot of her nit-picky exam questions from them.

Review:
Professor Norman is hilarious! He is a great teacher. He takes the time to make sure everyone in the huge 300 person class understands each slide. He keeps tabs on everyone's understanding of the material by using the Clickers to have the class answer multiple choice questions during lecture. He is very clear in lecture and helpful when you ask questions. He promptly responds to any questions via e-mail if you are confused about the material.

Workload:
There was not too much work. You really don't have to do the textbook reading-- just know the slides and problems sets and you will be fine. There were four problem sets and three exams, all non-cumulative.

Review:
This class started off a bit slowly with rather dry readings about China and the Ottoman Empire, but by the end of the semester the material became really interesting and relevant. Professor McCabe is a very sweet, helpful woman, though her lectures can be rather scattered. The class met twice a week, one day we would watch movies (when the projector functioned, which was pretty rarely) and the other day would half be spent listening to Professor McCabe lecture and the other half listening to students present summaries of the readings.

Workload:
There was about 200 pages of reading a week, but most of it can be skimmed. There are two generously graded take-home exams and one in-class presentation.

Review:
Viola Thomas is a very sweet, helpful woman. I did not learn much of anything new in her class, but it was a good chance to practice my French and read a few good books. Professor Thomas is always willing to meet with students outside of class. There is not much structure to the class so she is generally willing to let students discuss random topics freely during class.

Workload:
There are daily assignments, but never anything too tough. There are about five written papers, but she grants students a re-write of each of them. There are three non-cumulative exams.

Review:
This course is difficult, but after it's over you really feel like you've learned a lot. Professor Art is definitely passionate about what he teaches. He packs a lot of information into his lectures, but they're extremely organized and easy to follow. Every once in a while, he pulls up an interesting website to ease the dryness of lecture material. In general, he's a very interesting guy to listen to.

He really encourages class participation and there were a few heated debates over the course of the semester. He does have office hours, but I didn't get the feeling that he was particularly available for help. His TA Irina (who is amazing and extremely helpful) was more of the go-to person. He gives you everything you need to do well in the course, but didn't seem overly concerned about whether people were doing well or not.

That said, if you do all the reading, go to lecture and recitation (not mandatory, but do it), and study hard, you can definitely do well.

Workload:
There is a TON of (very dense) reading and almost all of it is necessary to do well in the course. Quizzes and exams are all essays based on the reading. There are 3 quizzes, a midterm, and a final. After the first quiz, they really just keep rolling. You have to put in serious studying to get a good grade. There's also one ten page paper.

Review:
Professor Penvenne is very passionate about her subject, and expects everyone else to be passionate about it too. She's very straightforward; you know right from the beginning everything that's expected of you. Her lectures are are kind of difficult to follow. There is so much information to absorb and she keeps switching from transparency to transparency, which makes it easy to get lost. Lectures are extremely important, though. Basically 50% of each test is lecture-based.

Overall, she's not too harsh of a grader. She clearly wants everyone to do well and she's very available for help. You can always email her if you have a question before a test and she does review sessions before each exam.

Workload:
There are 5 "antes," short essays about the books you read and 3 exams that are all the same format and worth the same amount (no huge final). The antes aren't too hard once you know what she's looking for, but it takes one or two tries to figure that out. Even then,they take some thought. There is a TON of reading; it's practically impossible to do all of it. But you can get away with not reading it all. The tests aren't hard if you prepare for them, but they take an enormous amount of preparation and you need to have taken good notes all semester long. Each exam has is half identifications, where you explain who or what, give dates, and explain the significance of a term or name. There are 12 terms on the exam (out of about 200 possibilities)and you answer 5. The other half is an essay, which you can prepare beforehand (a big help, but still not totally easy). I'd say the workload is a bit above average but not too bad.

Review:
Professor Oppenheim is a friendly, helpful, and effective Spanish teacher. She's very straightforward and follows the syllabus to the letter, so you always know what you're in for. She's very clear and tries to make sure everyone understands. She also does some funny activities to help liven class up once in a while. She's a pretty lenient grader. As long as you do the homework and put in a little bit of effort studying for the exams, you'll do well.

Workload:
Not bad at all. There were 4 short compositions, 5 exams, an oral exam, and a skit. None of them were too difficult. She gives you a review sheet for each exam.

Review:
Professor Norman is amazing--definitely the best professor I've had at Tufts so far. He is so, so nice. He a great teacher; the material could have been confusing but he taught it so clearly and thoroughly that it wasn't hard to understand at all. His lectures are clear and he will go over things again if someone doesn't understand. He also makes jokes throughout class to keep everyone entertained. You don't need to read the textbook, just know what he teaches in class.

Workload:
Fairly light. There are 4 problem sets, which aren't too long, 2 midterms and a final. The problem sets and exams are straightforward and the TAs are really helpful.

Review:
Great professor and great class. Your writing will improve a lot. Many of the assigned writing pieces are fun and interesting.

Workload:
Typical workload for Tufts. 5-page paper due every other week and revisions to those papers due after. Weekly short readings.

Review:
I agree with the other reviewer. She grades extremely hard and subjectively on writing assignments. And she speaks a surprising amount of English in a course geared for learning SPANISH. My conversational skills did NOT improve at all. I felt that she was unenthusiastic about the course material and about the students. I guess my grammar improved a bit, but not much. She is usually not available after class and a few times she brought her children to class. She tried to ask the class what she could do to improve, but I don't think that she changed anything in her teaching/grading style.
I love Spanish, but her class made learning un-enjoyable.

Workload:
Lots of reading---she followed the syllabus, or at least tried to. There usually wasn't enough time to finish anything in class.

Review:
She's fine- kind of high strung, but you get used to how fast she speaks really quickly and it helps with your listening skills anyways. I think she's loosened up a bit since the other reviews were posted. I learned a lot of grammar really well, and I think my speaking improved, too.

Workload:
a lot of work, but it's really interesting stuff that you'll be able to talk to people about if you want to seem impressive.

Review:
This is the first real electrical engineering class. You get a lot of good practice with circuits and various types (RC/RL, high/low pass filters, etc). Over the course of the semester, not a whole lot of material is covered. Really the same principles just get applied to different types of circuits. Here you start to see the application of differential equations, but you never have to rely on it. The labs usually last at least an hour, and the TAs are okay at helping. For engineers that have to take ES 3, DEFINITELY take it with Lasser. He is by far the best for this class.

Workload:
ES 3 usually has problems due once every week, but Lasser breaks it up into just a couple problems every class (which is much better). Sometimes the homework takes 2 minutes, other times an hour. If he doesn't go over the homework material in class, you are not responsible for the homework, but it's unclear when this actually happens. MATLAB assignments due about every other week or so. He does a good introduction at the beginning of the semester on this, but it's never really taught in depth (they should teach this in ES 2 instead of MathCAD). Labs due every other week which definitely take a while. Speaker project due at the end of the semester accompanied with a writeup certainly requires advance planning. It's not difficult, just takes a lot of work. Lasser gives 3 term exams, none of which are technically cumulative but you utilize previous material. The exams are really easy if you keep up with all the work as it is assigned. Overall, this class has quite a bit of work, but it is completely manageable if you break it up.

Review:
Classes were extremely helpful and Edgers is a pretty good professor. Usually he would answer any questions about the homework, even going over most of the problem before it was turned in. Next was a PowerPoint presentation that he usually breezed through in order to get to practice problems. The PPTs are good for general principles but it's great to go over in problems during class that can help with the homework. Going over things in the book is also helpful, especially the practice problems in there (they tend to be the same that he uses in class). If you have the choice of getting Mastering Engineering, do NOT get it. It was nice to have the eBook and do the homework online, but that's all there was. It's definitely not worth the extra money.

Workload:
A couple problems due every class. Sometimes they take just half an hour, sometimes they take 2 hours. Some of it depends on the material being covered. Labs and quizzes about every week or so, very straightforward and can really help your grade. 2 term exams and 1 final. The term exams were pretty easy, but the final was a real challenge.

Review:
Do NOT take this class if you are looking for an easy arts credit. The professor is good but the course material is absolute bullshit. For an introductory class there is way too much work: midterm, final, 3 response papers, 2 other "soundscape" papers, a concert report, and a final research paper. Lots of reading also. Biggest regret of my academic career.

Workload:
N/A

Review:
Class met twice a week for 75 minutes each. This made it very difficult to get through lectures on VERY dense material, which was often. Some classes consisted of just learning how to prove various theorems. Professor Boghosian does his best to make it interesting and applicable. Very accessible through office hours, which would help with the homework. This class is actually beneficial for COMP 15 (Data Structures) so consider taking it close to that.

Workload:
Homework due about once a week. Very important that you start ahead of time to ask questions in class. Some assignments were particularly lengthy and extremely challenging. Only certain problems from each homework are graded for points, and there's not way of telling which ones. Exams are a piece of cake compared to homeworks. 1 midterm and 1 final.

Review:
This seminar was very discussion-based with lots of reading. Material was very interested and Professor Manz encouraged a very comprehensive and lively class discussion. I learned about Western legal tradition as well as the development of Islamic law and the different stages of Islamic history.

Workload:
Reading response papers were assigned every week, but they only had to be 1-2 pages per question. There is a 25-30 page research paper which is challenging, but Professor Manz asks for drafts before the final due date which helps to smooth out the paper writing process and give each student some feedback on the direction of their paper.

Review:
Mark was incredibly friendly and helpful during poetry workshops, though of course that varies depending on your outlook on poetry. The class meets once a week and the assignments basically consisted of reading ~10 poems, reading a short essay/article, writing comments on your classmates' poems, and writing your own poem each week. Overall I really enjoyed the course and it's a pretty easy arts credit if that's what you're looking for.

Workload:
N/A

Review:
The lectures were just Powerpoints with information taken right out of the book, graphs and everything. The material was not well presented. I found that the "class discussions" were too hypothetical given that it's a science course, and didn't add much to my knowledge of the subject. There were two problem sets, one midterm, an oral presentation, a literature report, and a take home final (which averaged over ten pages of solid writing). Everyone did pretty badly on the midterm.

The course was taught by Colin Orians and Erik Dopman, both of whom were nice and very easy to reach. The course is fairly new and they seemed genuinely interested in improving it.

Workload:
One chapter covered each lecture.

Review:
A really great class! Very Interesting material that you wouldn't necessarily learn about in other areas. The Professor is extremely enthusiastic - especially when she delves into her field of study, anti-tobacco research - and is always amenable to talk to students. The class started with theories on public health and later dealt with tobacco laws/smoking's societal effects, the growing rates of obesity, and then the uncertainty of environmental health. Definitely take this class with Professor Balbach while at Tufts.

Workload:
Not a whole lot of reading. There was no textbook but readings were posted on Blackboard weekly. We had to read three books: The Tipping Point, Mountains beyond Mountains, and excepts of When Smoke Ran Like Water. Manageable amount of work.

Review:
A passionate teacher and interesting readings. Professor Roy is quite a character; she would often tell the class random anecdotes or come in a few minutes late to grab a cup of coffee. Overall, she was always concerned with student progress and made sure that every student had the opportunity to speak his/her mind on the novel or topic of discussion. We ended up reading 12 books ranging from a graphic novel to obscure Middle Eastern literature. I loved the material and Professor Roy always gave us some historical background on the novels to add context.

Workload:
Completely manageable. We read 1 book/week that would range from 150-350 pages. Two 5-page papers and one midterm. No Final!!

Review:
Interesting material! We covered topics ranging from Interest Groups to Civil Rights to Campaign Finance. The presentations were always very informative and, for me, contained everything I wanted to know/didn't understand in American Politics. Also, the readings were always worthwhile and enjoyable. The "Lanahan" reader was especially interesting - I will be keeping it after the class!

The Professor is excellent. She is very open/welcome to have students talk to her in office hours or after class. She does a great job responding to students and often send out current news articles relating to the material in class.

Workload:
Manageable. There was midterm and a final, a 10-page research paper, and a 5 page paper, and class participation. There was a lot of reading from week to week, but a lot of the reading is extraneous.

Review:
Dore is amazing! I'm so glad I took photo with her. She's very caring and definitely becomes involved with her students as individuals. Her apparent absent-mindedness provides amusement, but when it comes down to it she provides really valid feedback.

Workload:
6 hours a week of class time, and you'll definitely need to spend time in the darkroom outside of class. A few small assignments at the beginning, one presentation on a photographer, and a final portfolio/project that you'll work on during the second half of the semester.

Review:
Stolow is the worst professor I have ever had. An unnecessarily harsh grader, an awful lecturer, and I always left class feeling like I un-learned what I had read the night before. I could not recommend more strongly that no one take this class with Stolow.

Workload:
N/A

Review:
Professor Hasselblatt is a great professor. He has a vast and clear knowledge of differential equations. At times, he can speak somewhat softly so it might be hard to hear, but I was always able to hear him in a class of 40+.

Course material is not too bad, certainly much easier than Calculus II. The 3 midterm exams break up the material well so that it is easy to focus only on specific material.

Workload:
Homework due every class from the book, standard for any math class. Some assignments can be particularly long, but nothing that isn't manageable. Plus the homework earns you an extra 4 points on your grade at the end of the semester.

Review:
Pollina is very concerned with student's progress and does not lack enthusiasm for the course, but his intolerance of alternative views and lack of individual student encouragement made this course extremely difficult. If you do not have a background or point of reference for this material, it is inevitable that Pollina will make it difficult for you in class as you are banned from using secondary and tertiary resources. I would not enroll in another class with this professor.

Workload:
N/A

Review:
Rosemary Taylor is perhaps the worst professor at Tufts. She has no concern for her student's progress and often suggests you drop her class if you are slightly confused. She seems enthusiastic about the course material but not the course itself. She seems disinterested when she is lecturing (for 75 minutes straight) and rarely asks questions of the class. She is disengaging throughout the entire class period. She often cancels her office hours and I would never take another class with her.

Workload:
I didn't receive a single grade for her class because they only thing that we had was the midterm exam. It took the entire semester to get the midterms back to us. It was after the final by the time she returned our midterms/1 grade.

Review:
I freaking love this Prof.. His classes are small; he loves what he teaches; he's very approachable as a human being; he cares about his students; he actually reads your papers, types up insightful comments on them and will even sit down and have an in depth discussion with you one on one. I've taken classes with robots and zombies before, and this guy is 100% H. s. sapien. Even if you hate reading 12 million page novels, you should give this class and any other that he teaches a whirl - it's worth the human experience alone. I enjoyed just popping in now and again for a chat with the dude - and I'm a complete loon - and I don't mean that I'm a bird either. Sometimes he can be a bit dry in the class room setting - although you have to admit it must be difficult to stand and lecture for two hours at a whack on material you've been teaching since Pushkin was sent into exile in southern Russia. So what, he more than makes up for it during office hours and unscheduled visits that turn into coffee or lunch, and eventually you figure out that this guy is probably one of the best damned professors at Tufts. I give him an A plus - great guy.

Workload:
Heavy reading - but the books are masterpieces - buck it up and realize that you're there to learn, and hopefully enjoy the reading too. Normally three papers a semester; 6-10 pages in length.

Review:
He is the most amazing Professor in the French department. Great sense of humor, wonderful interactions with students and extremely helpful when it comes to development of his students. Makes himself available outside of class and is overall a wonderful human being. I will take the opportunity to take any class I can with him.

Workload:
The workload is reasonable. Assigments are understandable, the reading is great and if you don't understand it he will go out of his way to make sure that you do.

Review:
I took this class and put up with having Spanish early on Fridays because I read rave reviews about Professor Older. Unfortunately, I would not recommend taking spanish with her. She is not concerned with her students progress and gets very frustrated when you don't understand something. She comes off as rude and inconsiderate when answering simple questions. If you are going to take Spanish 3 I would recommend taking it with another teacher who is more understanding towards their students.

Workload:
three tests, multiple quizzes, 3 compositions, diarios, final skit and workbook exercises. Workload isn't terrible but definitely more quizzes than in other spanish classes.

Review:
Pretty great teacher all around, although I've never really heard of a "bad" teacher in the Chinese department--personally I think it's pretty straightforward, the grammar sections in the book typically cover what's on the tests. Definitely encourages participation and is good at explaining things, and definitely is enthusiastic about the class. Also has a unique sense of humor. This, combined with the hilarious dialogue videos keeps the class interesting. I would definitely take another class with him, but I don't think he teaches in the upper levels.

Workload:
There is A LOT of work for this class. It's a two credit class that meets every day, and meets for a double block on Tuesdays. Mostly busy work and memorization, but it can take hours, especially if you have had no prior experience with Chinese. By the time second semester started (it's a full year intensive program), the majority of the non-Asian students had dropped out of the program. Definitely don't take this class if you have other classes with lots of work i.e. Chem 1, Bio 13, etc. I would say there's an average of 3 hours of work every day, and it can take a lot of time to prepare for the tests. However, as time goes on you get better at pinpointing what you actually need to study. You learn a lot of new vocab words every week but it's too time-consuming to memorize them all--it's a better idea to memorize the examples in the grammar section--those sentences are most likely to be on the tests.

Review:
Taliaferro may be a little arrogant and condescending, but he is a great lecturer in my opinion. Very clear at explaining things and is generally a pretty interesting lecturer.I don't think he really cares about the students' progress, but then again its a 200-person class so it's hard to really gauge. I never went to office hours, and you probably never will, as the TA's are pretty helpful and can answer most of your questions. That being said, I've heard he gets annoyed with freshmen going to office hours and such, so if you do decide to go, be prepared and don't ask stupid questions. He's definitely a realist, but isn't that biased towards it, and gives a pretty neutral explanation of the other two theories. However, if you try to debate him in class he will most definitely shut you down. A lot of people don't like him because he's pompous and arrogant, but I think it's understandable considering he IS on the Council of Foreign Relations.

Workload:
There is a lot of reading assigned for the class, and it's pretty dense, but over the course of time you start to realize that you don't actually need to do the reading. All of his powerpoints are posted on Blackboard, and they're all you need to do the exams, both of which are take-home. That being said, the exams can be pretty painstaking, and you do have to put a lot of thought into what you want to write. He assigned the exams on Fridays and generally it took the whole weekend to finish them. There is also a research paper, and it tends to be pretty painstaking as well, I think my paper turned out to be 20 pages or so. But generally speaking, although there is more work for this class than other polisci classes, it's not as hard as everybody says it is. As long as you put in the time and effort, you can get a B or B+, although A's are pretty rare. But, this is college and people, especially freshmen, need to accept the fact that they're not going to get A's in all of their class anymore like they did in high school.

Review:
Pretty great professor all around, energetic and enthusiastic about the class. Pretty concerned with progress of the students, and encourages them to go to office hours although most people never really need to. I definitely felt like I learned a lot in her class, and would probably take another class with her if I were a math or engineering major. The only downside is that she talks kind of fast and writes on the board kind of fast as well so it's easy to get lost/stop paying attention since you're furiously writing down notes. However, if you take the time to look back at your notes you can generally get the gist of what's going on.

Workload:
Pretty standard amount of work for a math class, an assignment due every class that usually varies from half an hour to 2 or so hours to finish. Homework is optional, but if you do them all you get two points on your semester average. You pretty much have to do them to keep up in the class, although if you miss one or two it's not that big of a deal. Assignments can be pretty hard though, and I found that I couldn't finish a lot of them without looking at the solutions manual. Luckily, the library has like 5 of them in their reserves so if you don't want to buy them from the bookstore, you don't have to.

Review:
Generally a pretty good all-around teacher, although in my opinion Chinese grammar isn't that structured and not that hard to explain. I've never really heard of a bad teacher in the Chinese department, and even then the book does a good job of explaining the grammar. She's a new teacher, pretty young (I'd say about 24 or 25), and seems to be enthusiastic about teaching. My class was only 7 people so class participation is unavoidable, but I tended to zone out a lot because I just find Chinese grammar boring and something that I can teach myself from the book. That being said, she didn't yell at me or anything for not paying attention, which is better than the other teacher (Li Laoshi), although the other one is more experienced. That being said, Professor Ye sits in on the other classes and generally models her class after Li Laoshi's, so I definitely feel like I get the same out of the class as I would from Li Laoshi's. Only downside to this course is that she speaks in Mandarin for basically the whole class, unless you specifically ask her a question in English(which isn't frowned upon like in Li Laoshi's class). However, all the Chinese 21/22 teachers speak in all Mandarin at this level, but I think being in Ye Laoshi's class is a little more relaxing.

Workload:
Workload isn't too bad, but I took the Intensive Chinese course last year(2 credit class) so it's no surprise that the workload felt lighter. Generally it takes a week (3 class sessions) to go through each chapter, and there's 4 tests throughout the whole semester (the last test substitutes for the final). There is one homework assignment for each chapter, which takes up about one page in the workbook and then you have to write some small paragraphs for the composition. There is also a dictation quiz for each chapter, and this can take a while to prepare for (I'd say 2 hours or so are sufficient). The tests, however, can be pretty hard, but you just have to pinpoint where you need to study because it's difficult to memorize all of the vocab words one by one. It's better to just memorize the example sentences in the grammar section, since that'll help you with the translating English to Chinese section. there are also 3 oral presentations throughout the course, which aren't really that hard (although I have had previous experience with Chinese at home). I suggest doing the presentations with a partner (dialogue-style) so that you can play off each other's words. You should also do the homework with a partner too, since it'll make it easier and you're supposed to go over the dialogue for half an hour each chapter with a partner anyways. Overall though, Chinese 21 isn't that difficult, just a lot of busy-work and memorization, although if you really want to improve your speaking you'll have to do more preparation and volunteer to participate more in class.

Review:
The professor is a pretty straight to the point professor, it's hard to get a sense of her personality since she rarely ventures off topic. Her enthusiasm is so-so, but it's a relatively large class (25 or so students) so it's hard to gauge. I don't think she's as great at explaining things as everybody makes her out to be, but that's because she has kind of an accent and I get kind of bored and zone out anyways. Generally speaking though, I found the material somewhat dry, and other people have said the same thing with other teachers as well, but I prefer macro to micro anyways.

Workload:
She didn't really assign readings, if you want to do them on your own it's up to you, but the problem sets and tests are generally straight from the lecture notes. It's kind of unfortunate that she only gives 6 problem sets and 2 exams (each of which only comprise 3 short-answer questions), because it's easy to fall behind and difficult to pinpoint what you need to study since the tests only focus on a few sections. I wish I took Luallen instead, I hear he's not that great at explaining things but he teaches more from the book and gives assigned homework every week (including both qualitative, short-answer questions and problem sets) so that you really get to learn the material. With Menegotto she only really focuses on the math and sometimes I forget what I'm actually looking at qualitatively. A big problem is that the tests are only 3 short-answer questions, so that if you make small mistakes they can often count for 10+ point deductions, so it's kind of risky compared to Luallen's tests where he gives you easy multiple choice questions that count as a buffer of like 60 points or so and then two short-answers that only count for 20 points each. Basically, it's easier to get lower grades in Menegotto's class, so you really have to keep up in the class on your own time. If you want a more structured class where you can teach yourself stuff from the book, take Luallen's class.

Review:
Pretty good teacher all around, enthusiastic about the course and for students' progress. Also encourages class participation which is rare for lecture-type classes. She's pretty available, although one of her office hours was at ten in the morning so that can be a little inconvenient. However she can be a little soft-spoken at times and hard to hear, or maybe it just seemed like that since the class was in a large room and I sat in the back of the class. Anyways, solid teacher all around and I would definitely take another class with her if I were a polisci or IR major, but I'm not.

Workload:
Decent amount of reading assigned. It's mostly dense policy analysis readings that can be a little dry, but she also assigns anecdotal stories which offer a first-person perspective of the history, which is pretty interesting. However, you don't really have to do the reading since they're basically a more in-depth coverage of her lecture notes. She does a pretty good job at pinpointing the important stuff. There are also a couple of movies that she assigns you to watch, some are interesting, others are not so interesting. You can find most of them online just by googling the titles, and I preferred doing that than going to the library to watch them since I tended to doze off. There's one midterm and one final, both of which are take-home and not too difficult (the midterm is limited to a maximum of 6 pages). She also gives you like a week to do them so that makes things a lot easier. There's a post-Mao era research paper to do, which is kind of a pain since you have to position it as a research puzzle like in Intro to IR and you have to go to the Harvard libraries to do research since Tisch/Ginn doesn't offer that much in terms of post-Mao resources. It's a step by step process though so it's not too overwhelming. Also, she's not too difficult of a grader, so as long as you do your research and back up your arguments, you should be set.

Review:
Although she runs the course, a lot of different teachers come in and lecture about a specific topic. The clarity of the lecture depends on the teacher giving it. Overall, it's an interesting class to take if you're interested in art history. It gives a good overview. The TAs are helpful in recitation to tell you what you need to take out of the lectures.

Workload:
There is a fair amount of reading but it is definitely manageable. You don't need to do the reading if you pay attention in class. two 4-pagers that describe a work of art each. 2 trips to the MFA to see these works of art. one midterm and one final.

Review:
Although the material is interesting, she presents it in a boring manner. It is hard to stay focused in class. However, if you manage to pay attention, the homework and exam questions are pretty straightforward.

Workload:
There are homework questions every week and aren't generally very difficult. There are 2 midterms and a final. There is also a final project that is 8-10 pages long at the end of the semester.

Review:
Downing's lectures are a bit rambly, and he has a nasty habit of giving enigmatic homework assignments without explaining what he's looking for. That being said, he is an incredibly nice guy who truly wants all of his students to succeed.

If you want to direct at Tufts, you really have no choice but to take Directing. While Downing's class isn't going to make you fall in love with directing or have some grand realization about art, it gets the job done.

Workload:
The class is very front-loaded. The first half of the semester you will work your ass off with large papers due almost every class as you perform a deep analysis of your chosen play. After the halfway mark things lessen up as you get into the nitty-gritty of blocking scenes instead of doing research and textual analysis.

Review:
Ayesha Jalal is a good professor, she definitely knows what she's talking about. I agree with the part about her being convoluted, but doing the readings really helps, especially from the main book-and that's all you need to get through the midterm as well. If you're interested in the topic, it's definitely a good course to take

Workload:
She assigns a lot of reading, but like I said, read the main book (don't worry too much about the blackboard links etc.!) - there's a literary review and a take home final-compared to tufts courses the workload is normal

Review:
Leupp is an amazing professor who definitely knows his history of Japan; unfortunately he can be a bit scatterbrained. Lectures tend to be very interesting, although slightly unorganized (but its not a problem if you type your notes; you can put them in the correct order after the fact).

Leupp also is there for you during your research paper. Obviously researching a topic on Japanese history that may have happened 800 years ago is a daunting task (especially since most sources remain untranslated). If you stop by during office hours he'll guide you the best places to research.

Workload:
- 1 In-Class Midterm (mostly multiple choice and an essay)

- 1 Take home final

- 1 10-15 page research paper on a topic of your choice

Review:
smartest most caring prof ive had at tufts

Workload:
pretty demanding but fun

Review:
Anne Gardulski was not only my Intro to Oceanography teacher, but she was also my freshman adviser. She is an extremely nice, caring, intelligent woman. Prof Gardulski left five minutes each class to inform her students about Tufts and transitioning to college. Once, a student mentioned going on a whale watch. She ended up organizing the whole field trip and, a month later, we all were on a boat together as a class. She is enthusiastic, a phenomenal lecturer, a great teacher, and she is there for you every step of the way. I would definitely take another class with Professor Anne Gardulski.

Workload:
The reading for Intro to Oceanography is not too bad. Professor Gardulski is a better teacher than the book, so sometimes you don't even need to read it. There are a few worksheets to bolster your great that, though not easy, aren't too bad. Moreover, she helps you every step of the way.

Review:
Honestly a ridiculous teacher. His ego flies high during lectures. He is an intelligent man, but doesn't seem to think anyone in lecture could ever prove his opinions wrong. Arrogant, he doesn't actually take students' opinions seriously (or so it seems). Lectures are important but half of his ramblings are irrelevant and don't follow a coherent structure. He is liked because he tries to learn people's names and cracks a few jokes. That is all. If this really is the right semester for you to take PS0061 and he's teaching it, do it. But if you can, avoid him.

Workload:
A lot of reading, but you really dont have to read everything to get by. Midterm and Final are based on regurgitating buzzwords. No true intellectual challenge in this class, only a set of skills which (i've been promised) will be useful in the coming years.

Review:
I cannot recommend this class enough! I took Intro to American Modernism during the spring '09 semester. Prof. Takayoshi made each class a pleasure to attend. I would rank this course in my top four classes that I have taken at Tufts in terms of enjoyability and amount learned. Prof. Takayoshi brought a multi-dimensional style to each class which included: music, video, and some of the most enjoyable and informative lectures I have attended in my years here (I am graduating May 2010). Prof. Takayoshi was always available outside of class and provided in-depth instruction, both written and oral, on what he expected from students. His grading was extremely fair. I would take this course again if I could without hesitation. I would rate the course an A+ and Prof. Takayoshi an A+. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Workload:
Workload was typical. Assignments were straightforward and EXPLAINED IN-DEPTH.

Review:
I cannot recommend this class enough! I took Intro to American Modernism during the spring '09 semester. Prof. Takayoshi made each class a pleasure to attend. I would rank this course in my top four classes that I have taken at Tufts in terms of enjoyability and amount learned. Prof. Takayoshi brought a multi-dimensional style to each class which included: music, video, and some of the most enjoyable and informative lectures I have attended in my years here (I am graduating May 2010). Prof. Takayoshi was always available outside of class and provided in-depth instruction, both written and oral, on what he expected from students. His grading was extremely fair. I would take this course again if I could without hesitation. I would rate the course an A+ and Prof. Takayoshi an A+. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Workload:
Workload was typical. Assignments were straightforward and EXPLAINED IN-DEPTH.

Review:
This was my first economics class and I really enjoyed it. Eventhough its a huge lecture and a lot of material he tries to explain everything as best he can. He definitely likes the class he's teaching. If you're going to be an econ or IR major then you almost always have to take this course, try to take it with this Mr. Norman. He's not that accessible for office hours and isn't that intimate.

Workload:
2 problem sets. 2 midterms. 1 final. its a lot of material for someone who hasn't taken an econ course before, but if you're familiar with the material it shouldn't be too bad.

Review:
Amazing teacher. Best spanish teacher I've had. She is very cute and comes up with all kinds of ways to remember and learn spanish.

Workload:
Same as all the spanish classes at Tufts, three test, turn in workbooks, compositions, final. Not bad.

Review:
This class is perfect if you need to fulfill an arts requirement, it is very similar to an english class. We read a play or two a week about 20 pages or so each play, not bad at all compared to intense english classes. Professor Cless is very light-hearted and it is a breeze to sit through. Definitely recommended.

Workload:
A play or two a week about 20 pages each play, sometimes watch the production of the play instead of reading it. Have to go to 3 plays over the course of the semester that are assigned.

Review:
Interesting class, Professor Wolfe is funny & very entertaining. Not too intense, if you are not interested in child development and need a social science class this one isn't bad. Only 2 tests over the semester and 1 take home final essay. Pretty interesting.

Workload:
A lot of reading, 2 chapters a week (70 pages) but given worksheets so some stuff can be skipped over since it isn't important and won't be on the test. TA's very nice, required section every week for 50 minutes to go over the chapters.

Review:
Although it was Professor B's first year teacher (graduate student at UMASS Amherst) I did not that she did a good job explaining everything to the students. Every class we came in and no one understood what was going on and she did not do a good job fixing that. I've heard that all philosophy classes are like this but if you can, get a different teacher!

Workload:
1 or 2 assignments of reading, usually about 10 pages each, (3) short 2 page papers & (2) 4 page papers over the course of the semester.

Review:
Easiest class, Professor is amazing, always laughing, about a chapter every week and a half with vocab quizzes and a test at the end on the chapter. Tests are extremely easy and easy points are given out. Definitely take this class!! I loved it!

Workload:
About a chapter every week and a half with a short vocab quiz a week and a test every other week on the chapter that was worked on. EASY !!!

Review:
Good and interesting discussions. I like what she has to say. Because of the relatively complicated and controvertial material, she constanly cites that we "may or may not be convinced." It's not that she does not tolerate alternate viewpoints, but rather that she can make a compelling counter-argument. We don't take classes from Professors just because we agree with them. Occasionally it's good to be challenged. Overall it's a good class. Susan could be a bit better but she seems on top of her game.

Workload:
Workload is relatively light. Reading intensity varies by week but no more than 3 or so hours per week of readings. The midterm was light (only a few short 1/2 page answers and one 3 pager). I had trouble keeping UNDER the limit. Not bad at all.

Review:
Good and interesting discussions. I like what she has to say. Because of the relatively complicated and controvertial material, she constanly cites that we "may or may not be convinced." It's not that she does not tolerate alternate viewpoints, but rather that she can make a compelling counter-argument. We don't take classes from Professors just because we agree with them. Occasionally it's good to be challenged. Overall it's a good class. Susan could be a bit better but she seems on top of her game.

Workload:
Workload is relatively light. Reading intensity varies by week but no more than 3 or so hours per week of readings. The midterm was light (only a few short 1/2 page answers and one 3 pager). I had trouble keeping UNDER the limit. Not bad at all.

Review:
Not bad. She does hold some pretty strong opinions. Any opinions contrary are not taken in offense. Rather she can just make a very compelling argument against them. She wants to make sure everybody is keeping up and encourages class participation. I learned a lot about the topic from her so I'd recommend it but only if you're okay getting your opinions about gender completely blown out of the water.

Workload:
Not bad at all. Readings are no more than 2 or so hours a week. Midterm was light at best. Final is yet to be seen.

Review:
Not bad. She does hold some pretty strong opinions. Any opinions contrary are not taken in offense. Rather she can just make a very compelling argument against them. She wants to make sure everybody is keeping up and encourages class participation. I learned a lot about the topic from her so I'd recommend it but only if you're okay getting your opinions about gender completely blown out of the water.

Workload:
Not bad at all. Readings are no more than 2 or so hours a week. Midterm was light at best. Final is yet to be seen.

Review:
Not bad. She does hold some pretty strong opinions. Any opinions contrary are not taken in offense. Rather she can just make a very compelling argument against them. She wants to make sure everybody is keeping up and encourages class participation. I learned a lot about the topic from her so I'd recommend it but only if you're okay getting your opinions about gender completely blown out of the water.

Workload:
Not too bad. No more than 2 hours of reading per week, usually less. Midterm was light at best. Final is yet to be seen.

Review:
Not bad. She does hold some pretty strong opinions. Any opinions contrary are not taken in offense. Rather she can just make a very compelling argument against them. She wants to make sure everybody is keeping up and encourages class participation. I learned a lot about the topic from her so I'd recommend it but only if you're okay getting your opinions about gender completely blown out of the water.

Workload:
Not too bad. No more than 2 hours of reading per week, usually less. Midterm was light at best. Final is yet to be seen.

Review:
Great professor, probably my favorite this semester actually. Detailed, reasonable, relevant material covered in class and good for re-enforcing content learned through home work. Only thing is he moved at a rather quick pace as there was a lot of material to cover so even elementary french I moved rather quick, which was fine for students who had had some intro to French but a little difficult for those who were true beginners.

Workload:
Really depends on how hard you want to work. Meticulous attention to homework, teachings, and videos makes tests easy. Fairly frequent quizzes and tests.

Review:
Ellmore's great. He is very knowledgeable about his topic and doesn't dumb down the material to a degree that it is painful but also is clear and easy to understand. His lectures are entertaining and informative and gave me a reason to wake up for a 9:30.

Workload:
There are no outside readings. If you attend class and review your notes before the exams you've nothing to worry about. The exam questions are straight forward and all information is covered in lecture.

Review:
She's extremely sweet it's true but during her class my Spanish skills actually diminished. If possible, I would get to know her but avoid her class. She is very disorganized and know Spanish intuitively as she Peruvian (and hence has an adorable accent), but can't explain it effectively.

Workload:
There is some assigned but no credibility for completion.

Review:
Wow, this guy is so crazy it's impressive that he even remembers to make it to class. Incredibly unclear and completely out-of-it. Not once has he answered a student's question - he doesn't just give confusing answers - he will say something completely unrelated. Even he is not enthusiastic about the material. He'll often begin to teach us something and give up minutes later because he finds it boring. Complete lack of focus and gets very emotional if the class does not seem to be understanding or if there are several absent students.

As far as the coursework goes, it seems to be a complete review of previous Russian classes.

Workload:
This class has a fairly easy workload. Very varied based on Sloan's mood. Some compositions which he grades rather harshly.

Review:
Professor Starks is one of the best professors I have had at Tufts. His view of teaching is very progressive, and his grading is fair (though firm). His passion for both his own research and everything going on in the vast field of Animal Behavior is palpable from the very first class, and builds though out the course. I am by no means a "morning person", yet I found myself waking up earlier than I had to in order to make sure that I didn't miss a second of this class. Students don't just memorize information in this class; they actually learn what animal behavior is all about. Dr. Starks is an energetic, funny, and brilliant, and that's a trifecta that is uncommon in professors.

Workload:
The workload was manageable. You must read the book, and you must come to class, and you must read the assigned readings, because all are important and all will be on the tests without fail. However, the assignments are completely do-able, unlike in some classes where you are expected to read two chapters in one night.

Review:
This class is probably one of my favorite classes at Tufts so far, mainly because Wang Laoshi is incredibly helpful, understanding, and hilarious despite him not realizing how funny he can be. Because you have this class 6 times a week (twice on tuesday), the class gets to know each other very well. Every week you read dialogues, memorize a passage to recite in front of the teacher, memorize countless characters, and watch videos of chinese students, a Canadian student, and an American student speaking chinese in order to comment on the story (and at times, laugh at the awkward acting). I didn't realize how demanding the course would be when I signed up, but I am truly glad I did! If you put in the time, it is so worth the effort.

Workload:
Be prepared to realize that most of the homework you are doing is Chinese. Since it is 2 years in one year, they are not kidding when they say intensive. Weekly tests, homework packets, and hanzi online quizes. Go to conversation night at the Chinese house for extra credit (very helpful). It is possible to get a good grade, just always be prepared and do the work. If you are entirely new to the Chinese language and have no experience to the writing of Asian characters and listening to the language, this course may be very difficult for you.

Review:
This class is probably one of my favorite classes at Tufts so far, mainly because Wang Laoshi is incredibly helpful, understanding, and hilarious despite him not realizing how funny he can be. Because you have this class 6 times a week (twice on tuesday), the class gets to know each other very well. Every week you read dialogues, memorize a passage to recite in front of the teacher, memorize countless characters, and watch videos of chinese students, a Canadian student, and an American student speaking chinese in order to comment on the story (and at times, laugh at the awkward acting). I didn't realize how demanding the course would be when I signed up, but I am truly glad I did! If you put in the time, it is so worth the effort.

Workload:
Be prepared to realize that most of the homework you are doing is Chinese. Since it is 2 years in one year, they are not kidding when they say intensive. Weekly tests, homework packets, and hanzi online quizes. Go to conversation night at the Chinese house for extra credit (very helpful). It is possible to get a good grade, just always be prepared and do the work. If you are entirely new to the Chinese language and have no experience to the writing of Asian characters and listening to the language, this course may be very difficult for you.

Review:
Prof. Halpern was my favorite professor at Tufts and ELS 107 my most useful course. He gave me killer recommendations for jobs and introduced me to a number of jobs. I learned SO much in the class - but it was a lot of work. Made great friends in the class and also gained a lot of confidence. 100% worth your time. Plus, Halpern is young and cute, so that doesn't hurt.

Workload:
Lots of work but I liked almost all the assignments.

Review:
Professor Sliwa's class was an extremely unpleasant experience for me.

It was hard to understand his Polish accent.He got really excited over demonstrating gravity but that didn't help me learn. The class was taught at a pace appropriate for kids who already had background in physics, which I didn't. He did not have the bookstore stock the solutions manual to our textbook. His posted solutions to problem sets were messy and too hard to follow. He didn't cover as many chapters as he meant to so we had to cram 2-3 chapters just for the final, on top of cumulative review study. He did not help students access any of the online material that was available for the textbook. He was half an hour later for hour final which was at 8 or 9 a.m., I don't remember, and the exam still had mistakes.

These bad factors far outweigh the positive factors that he is a great physicist.

Not all professionals should teach.

Workload:
Way too much work

Review:
I can understand why some of the previous reviewers are so offended. The material she teaches and presents challenge many notions we take for granted and could easily frustrate people unwilling to entertain controversial thought. But because Aymer doesn't lavish praise onto students who try to appear intelligent does not mean she does not "respect intelligence", whatever that accusation is supposed to mean. She is very friendly, approachable, and takes the time to clarify anything a student might not understand. She's incredibly well informed about sociological phenomenon across the globe and has a formidable well of historical knowledge from which she often draws.

The only thing that went against my grain was the pace of the class, boy does she take her sweet time when lecturing. It's true her classes are fairly unstructured. She does present a loose agenda at the start of class, but she mostly lets the students determine the course of the conversation.

Workload:
She assigns a sizable amount of readings every week, but it's never more than about 100 pages.

Review:
Cool prof. Knows his stuff and does a good job of linking the book and class to real world issues. This was great. Not just reading the book and studying unrealistic models, but how to apply it to the real world. Glad I took this section. I think it will help me in the real world, and in other courses.

Workload:
Problem Sets. Midterm. Final. One page paper.

Review:
Professor Simpson is by far the best Spanish professor I've had at Tufts and in my life. He's great with relating to students and takes individualized learning and improvement very seriously. He grades (in part) based on personal progress. His teaching philosophy involves a lot of group work so be prepared to do projects outside of class.

Workload:
The workload is normal for a language class. There's a lot of reading each week, but it's not too bad.

Review:
I loved Professor Garant. She was very approachable and always accommodating. She definitely cared about every person's success and was there any time you needed to meet with her. She made math class as interesting as possible.

Workload:
Math 12 is a tough class. The work load is just like any other math class. We had an assignment every class period, three exams and a final.

Review:
Amazing course: who ever thought we'd be reading Plato in just one year? The pop quizzes aren't as scary as people said if you keep up with the work. She explains grammer stuff really well. I took 4 years of Latin in high school and some of it never made sense until I took Greek because Mahoney cleared it up.

Workload:
Tons of work but worth it. Really, you have to do the work every night, but you get credit just for turning something in so it's fair.

Review:
The worst professor at Tufts

Workload:
N/A

Review:
Patrick is awesome! I was a little worried about being in a class with the advanced drawing class as well, but he was helpful and attentive to all students and never made you feel poorly about your work, no matter what your level. He always has something good to say about what you are doing, and he really cares about his students. We learned to work with all kinds of mediums and he encouraged us to try new things. We made trips to both the MFA and the Sackler museum during class time, which was enjoyable. He met with each student halfway through to look at all of their work and see where they needed help. As you get into the semester, Patrick lets you decide what you would like to work on. Many students left and went to various places on campus to do landscapes, or some students took a break from the live model to do a still life. It is a flexible class. He even gave us a couple days off here and there when he thought we were tired and needed a break! I would love to take another class with Patrick in the future!

Workload:
The final project is a series of three drawings or one really large drawing that you present to the class at the end of the semester (Patrick brought all kinds of food and made it a party). It is a lot of work, but he gives you plenty of time and gave extensions to about half the class so they could have enough time to finish. You also have to keep a sketchbook of outside drawings that you work on throughout the semester. Two three hour classes a week is quite a lot, but you get plenty of breaks, and often he would let us leave early. It should be noted that you will need a lot of materials if you dont own any art supplies, which can get a little pricey. However, most of the art stores in the area do give you a 25% discount if you show your student ID. I improved tremendously with the help of Patrick, and I highly recommend this class to anyone who loves to draw!

Review:
Professor Lynch was reasonably clear while lecturing - however, I found myself having to voice record her lectures and listen to them again to achieve the best scores on her tests. She really, really enjoys the small details - if you take this class I recommend memorizing every word that she says and reading the textbook accordingly (i.e. only the portions she has mentioned, everything else is useless)

Workload:
The workload isn't awful, but to get every exam question I would usually start studying 4-5 days in advance. The final exam was cumulative, so watch out!

Review:
Boy, did I make the mistake of not reading the reviews before enrolling in this "course". Enough Said.

Workload:
Confusing as hell and she makes mistakes...which does result into ridiculous situations.

Would rate a 0 but this site won't allow me.

Review:
I feel lucky to have had Prof. Leavell for English 2, especially after the fiasco I experienced in English 1. Though she can be a bit eccentric, she is extremely concerned with her students' progress and makes herself readily available outside of class to offer advice about essays, etc. She wields a firm grasp of the English language and was open to different writing styles. I spent many hours outside of class with her attempting to improve my writing and I am pleased to report that I succeeded. Be warned, The Supernatural is the primary focus of this course, which can be interesting and engaging at times but also boring and dull.

Workload:
Reading Assignments: There is a reading assignment for every class, ranging from 20 pages to nearly 200 pages! She also assigns blackboard questions pertaining to the reading for each class. Unfortunately these assignments can get a bit wearisome. I know that some of my classmates did not keep up with the readings, and their grades suffered accordingly.

Essays: 3 papers of 5+ pages plus one rewrite, plus one 7-8 page research paper. It's a good amount of work, but I would say it is rewarding.

Review:
I think she has beent he one writing those reviews. She is a mess; she is the worst professor I have ever had. Ask her why has she gotten fired from every single job she has had? she is very disorganized, always lost our papers, do not know how tor un a lecture, is always late for class, do not prepare her classes, she is just HORRIBLE. DO NOT TAKE HER CLASS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Workload:
N/A

Review:
Given that David Krumme is retired now, and that I was his student about 20 years ago, this is more of an accolade and a "thank you" than a review.

Professor Krumme was one of the best professors I've ever had -- he cared about his subject matter, his students, and managed to create a learning environment that was both fun and intense. He balanced theory & practice, and teamwork with competition.

David helped to prepare me for a fufilling career in computer science. I will always be grateful to him for that.

Workload:
Lots of work, but it was always interesting.