GVPT459D | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Allison Berland GVPT459D Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/31/2023	She was a good professor and is extremely nice, but she was almost TOO nice. I never thought I would say that about a professor, but it’s true for her. She was so excessively nice that it became really annoying in my opinion. She seems to constantly be afraid of hurting someone’s feelings and that worry consumes her. It actually gets in the way of her teaching a bit. Some people might love this style and her loving personality, but I personally hated it coming from my professor. I don’t think she could be strict or give exact directions if she tried. If you get annoyed by overbearing professors who constantly ask if you are okay, I would avoid her. But if you like that, then she is a pretty decent professor. But for me it was really draining.
Allison Berland GVPT459D Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/18/2023	Excellent Professor. Knowledgeable, especially about India, but about comparative politics in general. She wants to see all of her students succeed and will move mountains for them. I highly recommend her!
Allison Berland GVPT459D Expecting an A+ Anonymous 02/07/2023	She is a really sweet person that loves to see her students participate. Her class consisted of one paper, a final paper, and an online final exam. Highly recommend her. 100% you won't regret it.
Joel Simmons GVPT459D Anonymous 05/14/2013	I try to be objective with my evaluations of classes but I hated this class. I'm not an econ person, it's been like 2 years since I've taken macro or micro, this class is basically econ all over again with a little political science thrown in. BE WARE. The class description said NOTHING about this and by the time I figured this out, there was nothing I could do to change my schedule. It's 3 hours long which can be excruciating because the room they used for this class was unbearably hot and 3 hours for an econ class is too long. He does let the class out like 20-30 min early most days, which is nice because my body is usually numb from those stupid desks by then and so is my mind from all the econ. Joel is kind of erratic in his manner of speaking and it takes time to get used to his bouncing around and talking way too fast. Not saying it's impossible, it's just frustrating when you're trying to follow what the fresh hell is going on. There's 2-4 LONG readings for each class period and 4 surprise reading quizzes which are graded not for effort or showing up but for content, so if you did you reading early in the week, you better refresh your memory or do all the reading on the weekend before the class. If you're REALLY into conflict resolution and international development, I guess you could handle this class, I thought I was interested in this subject too, but this perspective on it just wasn't what I expected.
Joel Simmons GVPT459D Expecting a B Anonymous 01/08/2013	Prof Simmons keeps things interesting even in a class that goes for almost 3 hours. He's very engaging and goes out of his way to make the material more accessible. The class itself is more focused on economic theory than it would initially seem though.

Allison Berland
GVPT459D

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/31/2023

She was a good professor and is extremely nice, but she was almost TOO nice. I never thought I would say that about a professor, but it’s true for her. She was so excessively nice that it became really annoying in my opinion. She seems to constantly be afraid of hurting someone’s feelings and that worry consumes her. It actually gets in the way of her teaching a bit. Some people might love this style and her loving personality, but I personally hated it coming from my professor. I don’t think she could be strict or give exact directions if she tried. If you get annoyed by overbearing professors who constantly ask if you are okay, I would avoid her. But if you like that, then she is a pretty decent professor. But for me it was really draining.

Allison Berland
GVPT459D

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/18/2023

Excellent Professor. Knowledgeable, especially about India, but about comparative politics in general. She wants to see all of her students succeed and will move mountains for them. I highly recommend her!

Allison Berland
GVPT459D

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
02/07/2023

She is a really sweet person that loves to see her students participate. Her class consisted of one paper, a final paper, and an online final exam. Highly recommend her. 100% you won't regret it.

Joel Simmons
GVPT459D

Anonymous
05/14/2013

I try to be objective with my evaluations of classes but I hated this class. I'm not an econ person, it's been like 2 years since I've taken macro or micro, this class is basically econ all over again with a little political science thrown in. BE WARE. The class description said NOTHING about this and by the time I figured this out, there was nothing I could do to change my schedule. It's 3 hours long which can be excruciating because the room they used for this class was unbearably hot and 3 hours for an econ class is too long. He does let the class out like 20-30 min early most days, which is nice because my body is usually numb from those stupid desks by then and so is my mind from all the econ. Joel is kind of erratic in his manner of speaking and it takes time to get used to his bouncing around and talking way too fast. Not saying it's impossible, it's just frustrating when you're trying to follow what the fresh hell is going on. There's 2-4 LONG readings for each class period and 4 surprise reading quizzes which are graded not for effort or showing up but for content, so if you did you reading early in the week, you better refresh your memory or do all the reading on the weekend before the class. If you're REALLY into conflict resolution and international development, I guess you could handle this class, I thought I was interested in this subject too, but this perspective on it just wasn't what I expected.

Joel Simmons
GVPT459D

Expecting a B
Anonymous
01/08/2013

Prof Simmons keeps things interesting even in a class that goes for almost 3 hours. He's very engaging and goes out of his way to make the material more accessible. The class itself is more focused on economic theory than it would initially seem though.

Reviews for GVPT459D