Sangeetha Madhavan

This professor has taught: AASP189I, AASP230, AASP299I, AASP360, AASP396, AASP398D, AASP400, AASP400H, AASP402, AASP479, AASP499C, AMST498E, GEOG398A, GVPT359F, HNUH288B, SOCY380, SOCY398Y, SOCY498F, SOCY699B, WGSS498R, WMST498Y, WMST698R

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Sangeetha Madhavan HNUH288B Expecting an A Anonymous 03/27/2024	Dr. Madhavan is extremely knowledgable about the course content, but she was unable to explain the assignment clearly enough. It was very unclear what the assignment entailed and how to complete it and when asked, she didn't seem to answer the question that was asked. We also had 2 "midterm" papers, 1 final paper, 1 final presentation, and a final exam, which seemed excessive for an honors course, given that the other honors courses did not have a final project AND a final exam. Also, when asked by the class for a rubric or details of the final exam format, she got frustrated with the class and resorted to a very minimalistic rubric that she hesitantly agreed upon. The assignments towards the end of the semester definitely could have been spread out a bit and perhaps she could have taken a little bit more time and consideration in explaining the assignments to the class.
Sangeetha Madhavan HNUH288B Expecting an A Anonymous 01/29/2024	Dr. Madhavan is passionate about the subject and is knowledgeable about stratified reproduction. There wasn't too much work in the class, there were several weekly readings and a required discussion post every week. There were 3 response papers during the class and a final Op ed paper and presentation. I enjoyed the thought-provoking discussion in the class, and it made me think more about marginalized communities in healthcare. It was one of my favorite classes last semester, and I looked forward to going to class. The bad reviews in this class are mostly attributed to people disagreeing with Dr. Madhavan's policies and workload. Some feedback I have is that the class could have encouraged participation in a better way and made it more flexible for students to discuss their opinions.
Sangeetha Madhavan HNUH288B Expecting an A Erniebubba 12/23/2023	She was absolutely terrible. She barely gave any work throughout the semester, then decided to give us a final project and a final exam. The only honors class that had an exam. She made the class difficult for no reason and got annoyed at us when we asked questions about assignments. She truly did not look out for us and did not care about the students at all. Do not take this class.
Sangeetha Madhavan HNUH288B Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/22/2023	does not make the class engaging whatsoever, reads off of slides, gives little direction and feedback on final projects, will only review half of your work, does not follow the grading of the rubrics
Sangeetha Madhavan HNUH288B Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/22/2023	Dr Madhavan is a very unique professor. Of course, like most professors, there are pros and cons. One pro is that she is passionate about what she teaches. However, there are cons. She doesn't explain instructions clearly on assignments, which can make you lose a few points. She assigns long readings that can interfere with other classes if you're full-time or have a job and she picks on people who don't want to contribute to class discussions, which makes people uncomfortable, especially regarding these hard topics. Some possible things to expect are three essay papers, three scholarly readings every week, one presentation, one op-ed, and a final exam. If you're as passionate as Dr. Madhavan, this class might be for you.
Sangeetha Madhavan SOCY699B Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/26/2023	Dr Madhavan is tough, but also passionate and an expert in her field, and is worth taking if you have an interest in the topic she is teaching. I found that she assigned a normal amount of reading each week, but more than usual in writing assignments throughout the semester. She led very engaging discussions, and while she did call on people who weren’t participating once i al a while, she wasn’t rude as previous reviews have mentioned, and she didn’t seem to be trying to make anyone feel bad if they didn’t have a response to share right when she called on them. Like I said - discussions were engaging, exciting, and really broadened perspectives on the topics. Her grading is tough but she is available for feedback and seems to really care about offering constructive criticism and helping her students grow. Overall, if you’re looking for an easy A, definitely not for you. But if you’re looking to really learn and be challenged to grow intellectually/academically, she’s a wonderful professor.
Sangeetha Madhavan AASP189I Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/07/2016	The previous negative reviews are completely right! She is the worst professor I have ever had for a GenEd. She was not clear for what she specifically wanted for each part of the project and then graded very harshly. Our rough draft papers grade average was a 11/20. Which is incredibly low. I would not take her again.
Sangeetha Madhavan AASP189I Anonymous 05/08/2016	I actually made a account just to warn you, DO NOT TAKE HER. Unless you're an African American Studies she's going to screw you. Things like other classes, time constraints, etc don't matter to her, 30+ pages of reading, weekly paper, and a vague term project that she didn't really know what she wanted. She's under the impression that no-one takes classes to fill up electives/requirements, and anyone who signed up has a fervent interest in this and gives you shit if you don't. TLDR: Bad professor, harsh grader, 9am class that takes attendance.
Sangeetha Madhavan AASP398D Anonymous 04/16/2016	In my experience, Sangeetha Madhavan is the worst professor at UMD. I'm honestly surprised she's rated 2 stars on here, that's a little too high. I agree with the lower rated reviews here, she plays serious favorites and makes no apologies for it. She's extremely rude and disrespectful. In my 4 years here at Maryland, she was overwhelmingly the worst part about my time at this school. I had the displeasure of having her for 2 classes (forced to due to scheduling around my full time job) so I've seen the best and worst parts of her. Her goal isn't to make the material enjoyable to learn. It's more of a brute force, curt, and strict "teaching" style. She thinks that the only thing students have to worry about is her class so it's fair to expect all Ph.D. level students that learn everything on their own by reading 100s of long JSTOR research papers. If you don't agree with her, she will not be a nice person to you. She will call you out and embarrass you in class making things very awkward. She made my life in her class an absolute hell. She doesn't understand that people have different learning styles. Personally, I did not learn anything from her. Her rudeness along with her "teaching" style turned me completely off. She needs to realize that we are not one size fits all. You know how some professors just have "it" and they can make the driest subjects the most riveting and interesting? They treat you with respect and are actually fair in their grading. Well this is absolutely not Sangeetha Madhavan. She's the complete opposite of a good professor. Her militant views on treating students is very outdated. She needs to be flexible, we are not all trying to get a Ph.D. In fact, we are all humans that have other classes, other real life problems, jobs, and the world does not revolve around her pointless class. She needs to stop being an a-hole to students that are not her favorite. My advice if you have to have her like I did and can't avoid it: try to be one of her favorites. Kiss up, do whatever. But still do your best to avoid if you can. I don't know what it's like to be her favorite but I'll assume her treatment of you isn't any worse than if she hates you. On a lighter note: the rest of the African American studies department are awesome. Just really great group of professors and lecturers. Seriously everyone is amazing except for Sangeetha Madhavan, who is the worst. I wish she would leave the department and go to Rutgers.
Sangeetha Madhavan AASP189I Expecting an A Anonymous 05/21/2015	I am an engineering major who took AASP189I as a Gen-Ed elective, and came out of it more interested in the topic and more engaged by the course than I expected to be. I would say I agree to limited extent with the below reviews on a few points: 1) She is a serious teacher, in that she cares a lot about the subject and expects students to care too. She is not averse to putting students on the spot (though she will call on others if a student is truly stumped). In that vein, she assigns decent amounts of reading, even to this Honors Seminar class. We had a 15 page paper culminating a community project, and about 25 pages of reading per week. The first assignment she hits you with a 34 page paper by Dr. Sangaramoorthy (also in the AASP department), I think to get everyone into the flow of things and/or scared of the work to come. That being said, the material is usually not too difficult conceptually, and the first week's piece is the toughest you'll probably face. 2) I think she does play favorites to a limited extent (and I say that as someone who probably benefitted from that tendency). If you speak more in class, and if you raise cogent points, she is more likely to look upon your work a little more favorably. Again, though, this is not some huge thing as far as I can tell; I am merely speculating that my grade might have benefitted a point or two here and there from the benefit of the doubt. I did not notice what below reviews described as 'disrespectful,' 'rude,' or 'demeaning' behavior. While I happened to agree with her on most points, I think that either she read the below reviews, or took a slight edge off, or was more relaxed with the Honors Seminar (or what have you), because while she freely challenged what students would say, she never did so in a blatant "You are wrong," or "What?" kind of way. She would bridge to something else and tie in a reason adding nuance to or perhaps contradicting the point, but not disrespectfully. In summation: Work is moderate (some of the readings are dry), but not too bad: Weekly readings (3) with summation, Project w/Paper (15 Pages), and Mid-term/Final [my year made a big open-source Google Doc reviewing everything and it worked well]. Course is more interesting than (I) expected, and Prof. Madhavan is in my opinion not what the below reviews make her out to be. For three Gen-Ed's especially, this class is well worth it.
Sangeetha Madhavan AASP398D Expecting an A Anonymous 08/08/2012	She's tough- like, look up the definition of a 'tough professor' in the dictionary, and you find a picture of Madhavan. However, she's not pointlessly mean, or unjustly difficult, and she doesn't assign a large workload (it's substantial) just to spite her students. She wants you to learn- that's the bottom line. In other classes, if you slack off/come to class late/ forget to hand things in on time, it's not a big deal. The thing with Madhavan is that, because she is so enthusiastic about these topics, if a student doesn't share her passion (and work to show it), she can come off a bit harsh. If you really want to learn about African Development, and are willing to put in the work, this is the prof for you. Lectures are great, guest speakers are great, structure of classes works really well.
Sangeetha Madhavan AASP398D Expecting a C Anonymous 04/28/2011	Sangeetha Madhaven is a rude person who likes to demean her students. She picks on people and definitely makes her opinion known. It's her way or the highway. She is terrible grader and is very unfair. She's inconsistent and is a 20 page research paper. Don't take this class as an elective or core...it's requires a lot of time (and weekly readings) and unnecessary stress Good luck!
Sangeetha Madhavan AASP398D Anonymous 04/06/2011	I am writing this before I even get my final grade because i don't want anyone to assume I am saying this because I am bitter. She is really rude. I was absent once and I sent my classmates and email to make sure there wasn't anything to turn in that following week. She sent me a nasty email that discouraged me from writing to my classmates again. Instead she wanted me to read the slides which never ever mentioned materials we needed to turn in. She bully's students into participating even when it is clear that they don't understand or haven't read the material. She does it with a smile. She is a very hard grader and shows a lot of favoritism. I understand that by writing this I am risking my grade because it is easy to to see who I am from this review but I honestly feel like she should learn to be nicer. Education is not a field you get in to make people feel like idiots.
Sangeetha Madhavan Anonymous 06/30/2009	Her class was interesting but as a professor she's very unpleasant. Her grading is inconsistent and arbitrary. I would avoid her unless you really love this topic and don't mind risking your GPA.
Sangeetha Madhavan nicole1215 05/15/2009	She is not a good teacher. She treated the class like it was a graduate class. She gave a 20 page term paper and a final that consisted of 20 short answer and 2 essays. She is very hard to please and expects everyone to care about Africa as much as she does. She does not make anything easy so if you want a challenge then take her class. You will regret it tho.
Sangeetha Madhavan AASP400 Expecting a B NobodyKnows 01/28/2009	I am shocked to see such low reviews, but not too shocked as Prof Madhavan isn't any easy professor. She is really nice if you come to class and do your work. To me she was not all that hard, we had a short paper every other week. I didn't think she played favorites, but come to think of it she did show attitude to a student that was always late and disagreed with her a lot. She encourages you to think harder and more critically. I just did exactly what was on the syllabus and got an A on most the papers. The students each taught 2 classes each so it was hardly boring, mostly discussion, although some people may not like the heavy African reading (vs AfricanAmerican), and they are not books that you'd be familiar with, like the other profs who do AASP400or402 do. Still, good reading. She does that b/c she clearly loves Africa. Don't take the class if you aren't going to work a little. Not an easy A but you definitely within reach, and will get a new perspective on Africa and gain a lot of knowledge. I would be getting an A but I screwed up something in the end. Luckily I could care less about grades.
Sangeetha Madhavan AASP297 Anonymous 05/27/2008	She is a terrible professor. She has been the reason why many aasp majors have a decline in their gpa. No matter how hard you work in her class, it won't matter if she doesn't like you. Plays favorites among her students and grades unfairly. Anyone passing through Maryland without having to take her class should consider themselves as lucky! Because she is terrrible!
Sangeetha Madhavan AASP297 Anonymous 12/27/2007	If I could give her a 0, I would. She is awful. The worst professor of the African American Studies Program. She is an unfair grader, boring, and plays favorites. She isn't a nice person outside of the classroom either. Total nightmare of a professor.