Reviews for GVPT331

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Michael Spivey GVPT331 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/20/2023	He is an educated and hard-working professor, but he is not the most organized. As a gvpt major I really enjoyed the material and structure (at times) of this unique course, however the appeals process for grades was a mess. I also had to take time out of my day to appeal for my grade and usually got some points back. Additionally, the workload is a lot, especially around finals times and they take a long time to get back to you on exam grades which are most of the class. I don't want to give too much of a bad impression however, the information is interesting, and my professor and TA were great, but the organization was poor.
Michael Spivey GVPT331 Expecting a B- Anonymous 05/10/2023	Professor Spivey is a great professor and definitely runs this course as if it were an actual law school course. Do not take GVPT331 unless you are planning on going to law school. It definitely is an interesting and challenging course but does not leave much room for error. The tests are worth literally all of your grade, if you don't do well on the tests, you won't do well in the class. He does offer an appeals process for exams and extra credit if you do the case briefs but its not exactly an easy course, you really have to earn your grade.
Michael Spivey GVPT331 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/07/2023	I love the way that Spivey lectures and manages his class. He is very lenient with in-class participation, but exams are quite strict and difficult. I would recommend this class only if you are willing to put in the extra time for success, then you will really enjoy it.
Michael Spivey GVPT331 Expecting a B jennab 05/01/2023	Dr. Spivey is a great professor and a good lecturer, but if you don't care about law, don't find it interesting, or don't plan to attend law school his class will be challenging if you do not put in extra time and effort to understand the material. The law reading and cases are generally a lot of info and pretty dense so you do have to dedicate a significant amount of time outside of class to the readings and case briefs, however, there is no formal homework which is nice but 90% of your grade is exam based so that's also a bit hard. In general not a terrible class just a lot of info
Robert Koulish GVPT331 Expecting an A- thejaybird2013 01/28/2012	The class definitely was not my favorite and I was not what I thought it would be. Koulish teaches with slides so its easy to follow along and take notes, but the way he teaches this course apparently is really different than how others teach it. As with any class, some material was really interesting and other stuff was really dry. Best advice always go to class because he does not post slides and above all always go to discussion, participate and get close to your TA because they do all the grading.
Robert Koulish GVPT331 Expecting an A Anonymous 07/27/2011	After the first day of this class last semester, I was really excited and felt sure that it was going to be an interesting course. However, after that first day, the original professor resigned, and Koulish stepped in. Then the class became a joke. I don't blame the course material, I blame Koulish. He is not an effective professor. His power points are often uninformative. Which would be fine if the words he spoke were informative. But they're not. He constantly puts down the legal profession and talks negatively about lawyers as if he is trying to talk his entire Law class OUT of becoming attorneys. Which doesn't make since if he is a law professor. I don't think Koulish is a bad person, he just shouldn't be teaching a 300 level GVPT class. Lectures are almost pointless, he posts everything on ELMS. Discussion isn't really worth it either but I think you get participation for going. There was a short paper (easy) and a research paper (also easy) as well as a midterm and a final. I may have gotten an A but it was not a fun experience.
Robert Koulish GVPT331 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/21/2011	This was my least favorite class in my four semesters at Maryland. I had a lot of problems with Professor Koulish, although I must first say that he wasn't originally intended to teach this class. The intended professor had to leave after the first week, so Professor Koulish stepped in. Nevertheless, he did a poor job with this class. His class is not particularly difficult, yet I wouldn't consider it fair. For his exams, he provides a powerpoint "review," however none of the topics were on the test. He gave us a 10-12 page paper near the end of the semester, and a final exam. The paper was assigned too late in the semester, and he gave very little guidance about what to actually write. My biggest problems with Koulish came from his lectures. Not only were his powerpoints messy and hard to follow, but they were also covered with grammar and spelling mistakes. He rarely seemed prepared. In addition, his own political beliefs were evident throughout. He wants you to believe that lawyers who work for the private sector or with the goal of making money are terrible people. If you're looking for a LAW class, this is not it. It is focused primarily on sociology and Koulish's beliefs. The topics are somewhat related but not cohesive, and the readings are a little random as well. In addition, he often would not post the reading until the day before it was due. He never responded to a single email I sent him. Overall, he was unorganized and not a good lecturer. I gave him the benefit of the doubt at first because of the exceptional situation of having to step in at the last minute, but by the end I realized that he is an overall bad professor.