Nancy Lineman | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Nancy Lineman PLCY201 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/08/2024	Lineman is the epitome of a tough-love teacher. The course has a lot of work but it is totally manageable. A lot of people don't like her course because of the workload but she puts a lot of effort into the class and expects you to do the same. The class can get a bit boring at times since it's 2.5 hours, but Lineman tries really hard to get interesting guest speakers-- including the Senate President of Maryland. For anyone looking for connections in public policy, TAKE THIS CLASS. She's very tough on grammar and formatting errors but only for the sake that it will help you in the long run, which it absolutely does. She may be a pain sometimes, but I don't think I've learned more from any other gen-ed, you genuinely get what you put into this class. Another little note is that the final consists of giving a 2:30 min. testimony on a policy issue in the state of Maryland that you've researched throughout the semester. If you're not huge on public speaking, I may reconsider this course, but it's really very short in the grand scheme of things. Would absolutely recommend it to anyone who truly wants to learn more about policy issues!!
Nancy Lineman PLCY201 Anonymous 05/03/2024	Do not take this class with this professor, she makes the class so much harder than it needs to be. Talks to students like they are in high school, and then grades assignments like this is law school. Absolutely ridiculous for a 200 level class. The TAs don't even really know whats going on, and half of the class you just do random assignments or have guest speakers that have little to no relevance to the class. She will literally fail you on an assignment if you have some minor gramatical errors, which is complete bogus and disregards the hard work that students put into schoolwork. I honestly don't think she's qualified to be a professor, do not take.
Nancy Lineman PLCY201 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 01/01/2024	Interesting class with a lot of very cool guest speakers, but a very heavy workload. Expect to be doing a lot of writing, as well as listening to podcasts and audiobooks (it's possible to find transcripts/texts, but definitely not a great class if you're hard of hearing and/or don't have 30+ hours to dedicate to listening to audiobooks). The guest speakers were definitely the highlights of the class. Expect there to be more of a focus on people's independent experiences solving policy issues in the real world rather than any sort of "textbook" learning about the legal aspects of policy/its history/etc. She's a little bit intense, but incredibly well-connected. Also very good at chasing down people if they don't answer your emails for the final project. She's also very willing to write letters of recommendation if you ask her, which is great if you're looking for internships. Cons: Spelling/grammar. Oh boy it is Rough. She penalizes incredibly heavily (0.5-1% per issue, depending on the project), and on the discussion posts, you'll get a 0/5 if you have any errors at all. Getting people to proofread your work is an absolute must for this class (and absolutely don't rely on grammarly/other AI, it'll let you down). The class is only 100 points, so mistakes add up real quick. If writing isn't your strong suit or you don't want to dedicate a significant amount of time to checking your work, I wouldn't recommend this class. Lots of "shame" lectures about grades or people messing up assignments, I wasn't a fan. Basically, if you're prepared to put in the work, it's a great class. If you want something with an easy A, this is not the class for you.
Nancy Lineman PLCY201 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/24/2023	Pros: Responds to emails, especially if they're about clarification an assignment, very quickly. Ask questions about assignment formats even if you think they're stupid, formatting is a lot of the grade! Adds sample formats for basically every assignment which makes figuring out what to write fairly easy Really interesting guest speakers! They're most of the class, honestly, which is good since it was one of the highlights of the class Good at leading discussions and leading people through thinking things through No exams! Cons: Kind of intense about her class. Expects you to put a lot of effort in and isn't always fair about it. She gave us a lot of "shame lectures" where she would spend class time lecturing us about how we needed to do better and work harder, which got irritating fast since she was spending time doing that instead of teaching Bad grammar is penalized very heavily. Get someone to read through your essays and throw them through grammarly, you lose a lot of points for grammar The course is only out of 100 points (we had a leadership essay, 6 discussion questions worth 5 pts each, and the final is an essay worth 30 points and a presentation worth 20), and the smallest assignment is worth 5 percent of your grade, so stuff goes bad fast Lots of writing, pretty much every assignment is a good chunk of writing, don't take the class if you aren't good with that Kind of mean sometimes? Nothing too intense but sometimes I got a little freaked out tl;dr: interesting guest speakers and she knows a lot about public policy, but she's also really intense about certain things relating to her class (especially grammar and formatting) Expect a lot of writing
Nancy Lineman PLCY201 Anonymous 11/08/2023	rather intimidating but gets nicer as the semester goes on. final project is a little heavy in terms of workload but still doable.
Nancy Lineman PLCY201 Expecting a B- Anonymous 01/11/2023	Kind and Knowledgable professor but grades very harshly on minor things like typos and formatting errors. Class is only out of 100, Expect a discussion post every week that is worth 5 points, and a few papers that are worth 20-30 points each, and one final project where you have to get in contact with a government official.

Nancy Lineman
PLCY201

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
05/08/2024

Lineman is the epitome of a tough-love teacher. The course has a lot of work but it is totally manageable. A lot of people don't like her course because of the workload but she puts a lot of effort into the class and expects you to do the same. The class can get a bit boring at times since it's 2.5 hours, but Lineman tries really hard to get interesting guest speakers-- including the Senate President of Maryland. For anyone looking for connections in public policy, TAKE THIS CLASS. She's very tough on grammar and formatting errors but only for the sake that it will help you in the long run, which it absolutely does. She may be a pain sometimes, but I don't think I've learned more from any other gen-ed, you genuinely get what you put into this class. Another little note is that the final consists of giving a 2:30 min. testimony on a policy issue in the state of Maryland that you've researched throughout the semester. If you're not huge on public speaking, I may reconsider this course, but it's really very short in the grand scheme of things. Would absolutely recommend it to anyone who truly wants to learn more about policy issues!!

Nancy Lineman
PLCY201

Anonymous
05/03/2024

Do not take this class with this professor, she makes the class so much harder than it needs to be. Talks to students like they are in high school, and then grades assignments like this is law school. Absolutely ridiculous for a 200 level class. The TAs don't even really know whats going on, and half of the class you just do random assignments or have guest speakers that have little to no relevance to the class. She will literally fail you on an assignment if you have some minor gramatical errors, which is complete bogus and disregards the hard work that students put into schoolwork. I honestly don't think she's qualified to be a professor, do not take.

Nancy Lineman
PLCY201

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
01/01/2024

Interesting class with a lot of very cool guest speakers, but a very heavy workload. Expect to be doing a lot of writing, as well as listening to podcasts and audiobooks (it's possible to find transcripts/texts, but definitely not a great class if you're hard of hearing and/or don't have 30+ hours to dedicate to listening to audiobooks). The guest speakers were definitely the highlights of the class. Expect there to be more of a focus on people's independent experiences solving policy issues in the real world rather than any sort of "textbook" learning about the legal aspects of policy/its history/etc. She's a little bit intense, but incredibly well-connected. Also very good at chasing down people if they don't answer your emails for the final project. She's also very willing to write letters of recommendation if you ask her, which is great if you're looking for internships. Cons: Spelling/grammar. Oh boy it is Rough. She penalizes incredibly heavily (0.5-1% per issue, depending on the project), and on the discussion posts, you'll get a 0/5 if you have any errors at all. Getting people to proofread your work is an absolute must for this class (and absolutely don't rely on grammarly/other AI, it'll let you down). The class is only 100 points, so mistakes add up real quick. If writing isn't your strong suit or you don't want to dedicate a significant amount of time to checking your work, I wouldn't recommend this class. Lots of "shame" lectures about grades or people messing up assignments, I wasn't a fan. Basically, if you're prepared to put in the work, it's a great class. If you want something with an easy A, this is not the class for you.

Nancy Lineman
PLCY201

Expecting an A
Anonymous
11/24/2023

Pros: Responds to emails, especially if they're about clarification an assignment, very quickly. Ask questions about assignment formats even if you think they're stupid, formatting is a lot of the grade! Adds sample formats for basically every assignment which makes figuring out what to write fairly easy Really interesting guest speakers! They're most of the class, honestly, which is good since it was one of the highlights of the class Good at leading discussions and leading people through thinking things through No exams! Cons: Kind of intense about her class. Expects you to put a lot of effort in and isn't always fair about it. She gave us a lot of "shame lectures" where she would spend class time lecturing us about how we needed to do better and work harder, which got irritating fast since she was spending time doing that instead of teaching Bad grammar is penalized very heavily. Get someone to read through your essays and throw them through grammarly, you lose a lot of points for grammar The course is only out of 100 points (we had a leadership essay, 6 discussion questions worth 5 pts each, and the final is an essay worth 30 points and a presentation worth 20), and the smallest assignment is worth 5 percent of your grade, so stuff goes bad fast Lots of writing, pretty much every assignment is a good chunk of writing, don't take the class if you aren't good with that Kind of mean sometimes? Nothing too intense but sometimes I got a little freaked out tl;dr: interesting guest speakers and she knows a lot about public policy, but she's also really intense about certain things relating to her class (especially grammar and formatting) Expect a lot of writing

Nancy Lineman
PLCY201

Anonymous
11/08/2023

rather intimidating but gets nicer as the semester goes on. final project is a little heavy in terms of workload but still doable.

Nancy Lineman
PLCY201

Expecting a B-
Anonymous
01/11/2023

Kind and Knowledgable professor but grades very harshly on minor things like typos and formatting errors. Class is only out of 100, Expect a discussion post every week that is worth 5 points, and a few papers that are worth 20-30 points each, and one final project where you have to get in contact with a government official.