| Information | Review |
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Monica Cushnie
PSYC354 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/16/2025 |
this is my first review because i am so surprised at how low she is rated. i took psyc354 and thought it was totally fine. yes there are in class mandatory assignments, but just like go to class its fine. she's a nice teacher and the exams were take home online. the final project was also chill and the class was interesting. |
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Monica Cushnie
PSYC354 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/06/2025 |
A professor so bad that I'm finally making a planet terp review. I wanted to save this for the end of the semester, but I need to warn people before class registration. Oml PSYC354 has the honor of being the worst class I've taken at UMD and maybe one of the worst classes I've ever taken. There is not a single thing I can identify as being purely good with no asterisks. I like how there is a class that talks about the "psychology" of racism and oppression and privilege. But a class called "multicultural psychology" being focused on this a huge miss opportunity. So many psychological studies are focused on America and psychology, in general, is a very Eurocentric field of study, so a class focused on different psychological theories from around the world would've been so much more interesting to me. Not only that, but this class is barely a psychology class. We never really delve into the psychological causes and effects of bigotry besides a surface level "we live in a racist society and people feel sad as a result". Even beyond the conceptually, this class is just not good in terms of grading. Every assignment is graded either a 10/10, 5/10, or 0/10: No exceptions, no other grades. And the way assignments are graded are super restrictive. Assignments are less about doing a thorough exploration of the topic and demonstrating understand, but solely about fulfilling the rubric. This is especially hard in this class where so many assignments are about exploring subjective experiences and identities. I've straight up had to lie about who I am as a person to satisfy what she wants. The grading feels incredibly antithetical to the mission to the class. Dr. Cushnie also introduced a semester long "Do Good" project which feels like a disaster. Essentially, what you need to do is be in a group and come up with some initiative on campus to support a marginalized or oppressed group. However, you must work with some kind of outside stakeholder. This means that your grade is dependent on so many factors outside of your control, let alone all the headaches that come with a normal group project. Nobody wants to help a group of students who are not only doing something for a grade, but also doing something that requires a lot of effort and collaboration. Directing and creating a project is fun, but not like this. The last thing I wanted to mention is that this class is very uncomfortable. I'm trying to explain this in a tactful way so my points don't get misrepresented. I feel like Dr. Cushnie takes a pretty blanketed approach to her teaching, where everything is just surface level and doesn't have room for much expansion. This type of content is important, but the solutions to these issues are incredibly de-emphasized in her work. It feels more like she's focused on fitting phenomenon and describing people in ways that fit her lens. I really don't want this to be seen as me being "anti-woke" or something like that (so many of my political and social beliefs align with the class). However, her style of teaching just does not facilitate anything positive. Please take any other psych class if possible. |
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Monica Cushnie
PSYC354 Expecting a B Anonymous 11/02/2025 |
This is personal Monica. Genuinely such a stupid class and grading system. It is not difficult but the assignments are tedious and the grading is incredibly inconsistent. Grading is also based on completion but not really. If you miss one rubric item (sometimes there are like 20), it is an automatic 50%. In class paper assignments every lecture. She seems like the type of person to want to trick you or trap you into getting a low grade and justifying it with some vague statement about how it's in the syllabus, indicating her sneaky and arrogant personality. She clearly needs people to fill her class so she gets that satisfaction because she knows all the material is so surface level, if attendance wasn't required, no one would need to be in class to understand it. This semester she added a long-term social justice/advocacy project which sounds like a neat initiative, but volunteering and doing community engagement should not be required for classes. It would be great if that was extra credit, or if she simply provided resources for those interested, but making it 25% of the course grade is ridiculous. I have a lot going on outside of school (and I already volunteer on my own terms) so I really don't feel the need to do extra volunteering for a class. Forcing people to volunteer takes away the intrinsic motivation that makes volunteer work so powerful, because the motivation becomes "I need to do this for the grade," not "I want to help people," demonstrating that the entire point of required volunteering for a grade is poorly thought out. I do not feel like this project was advertised in the course description on Testudo. She needs to be much more transparent with students who are registering before she imposes her high and mighty belief that everyone needs to engage in advocacy work on 135 people. If you are a psyc major that needs the multicultural course requirement, you have options and you don't have to take this class. Info here: https://psyc.umd.edu/undergraduate/psyc-courses-psyc-syllabi |
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Monica Cushnie
PSYC432 Expecting a B- Anonymous 10/28/2025 |
I hope to god she sees this. Worst professor I've ever taken a class with. Grading is entirely unfair; she has different TAs review drafts and final papers, so your feedback is never consistent. She also grades some assignments herself, but lets her TAs give scathing reviews to everyone else. There is genuinely no point in putting in effort on assignments with drafts, as they will be graded based on someone else's opinion the second time. She refuses to change grades despite having a regrade policy, and has some BS system where if she loses your paper participation work, you don't get points because SHE lost it. I feel completely lost in this class in a way I never have before, as theres truly nothing you can do to ensure a good grade on some of this work. At least her tests are easy. |
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Monica Cushnie
PSYC336 Expecting an A- Anonymous 10/23/2025 |
This course has a lot of potential, but the instruction and assessment methods were frustrating and discouraging. Grading criteria were often unclear — students lost points for things not mentioned in the rubric or directions, and clarification requests were sometimes met with dismissive responses. Expectations should be transparent and consistent. Exams were also poorly structured: 35 questions in 40 minutes is not reasonable, especially when labeled “open-note” but requiring a lockdown browser that prevents access to notes. This setup disadvantages students who rely on accommodations or lack access to multiple devices. Feedback opportunities felt limited, and many students perceived grading as subjective or inconsistent. The course often emphasizes inclusion and awareness of bias, yet the classroom environment and grading practices didn’t reflect that message. Overall, much like many of the other reviews under Kearney before she recently changed her name, her class certainly feels more focused on control and presentation than genuine learning. |
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Monica Cushnie
PSYC354 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 10/07/2025 |
She requires handwritten in-class assignments that are turned in at the end of every class. This is the SECOND time I’ve received a 0/5 for an in-class assignment that I actually completed. I recommend taking pictures of all your work if you have this professor, as she tends to misplace or overlook in-class assignments, which is very frustrating. |
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Monica Cushnie
PSYC354 Expecting an A- Anonymous 06/11/2025 |
She’s comes off as nice at first and understanding but really isn’t. Don’t be fooled, if you’re taking this class because you have to then I understand but if don’t have to just avoid her class in general. Doesn’t care about your genuine life struggles. Her classes were mandatory and had in class assignments to complete for attendance proof. Not a hard class but professor is just genuinely not a kind or understanding person |
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Monica Cushnie
PSYC354 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/29/2025 |
Dr. Cushnie changed her name (after marriage I'm assuming) but I'm sticking this review under her current name instead of the old one. I looked at the feedback on the other page and I do think that sometimes the topic went a bit too left for my preference but not enough that I wouldn't say do not take this class. An old review also mentioned that they didn't like that Dr. Cushnie would ask a student who volunteered something really vague and broad to "say more." I honestly respected that a lot as I think too many people are comfortable saying something without any backing. I perceived Dr. Cushnie asking that as her wanting the student to think more critically and deeply about what they were saying. This kind of speaks to a broader issue about people getting offended that their ignorant or uninformed opinion gets some pushback. I believe in stating opinions that have something to stand on. Attendance is mandatory as there is an in class assignment that will destroy your grade if you miss a lot. She does excuse them if you have a note. I ended up having some health issues at the end that required a hospitalization and other visits and Dr. Cushnie was very sweet and accommodating to my situation. I did have notes to excuse my absence but I really appreciated her humanity and extensions to a few big assignments. She even asked me how I was doing when I was able to make it to the last day of class after missing a week and a half. I'll never forget her compassion. |