Jay Mechling - University of California Davis, Davis, CA

Professor: Jay Mechling

Department: Humanities

College: University of California Davis, Davis, CA

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: AMS50
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

I took his class in 1991. Terrible.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: IST8B
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Professor Mechling is a great lecturer. He expects a lot from his students, so be prepared for a lot of reading and writing for his classes. But he does give credit where credit is due. He is very personable - he held his office hours in the dining commons.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: AMS100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

One of the Best Professors at UCD. Definitely recommend if you like cultural, american, or religious studies. Very easy to approach

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: AMS1A
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

He is a decent professor, very personable, and his lectures are long but he does a good job making them more conversational than just reading off the powerpoint; it will help to focus on the comments he makes, rather than what is written on the overhead, as his comments are most useful in writing the essays assigned. oh, beware of awful TAs!!

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: AMS1
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Like others have said welcome to hell. Major reading 7000 words plus, my upper division ENG classes were less. If you don't write what the teacher preaches in class you will get marked down on papers. No opinions outside what he and the TA's think. For the final you had to prepare 4 essays and write two topics. WTF prepare 4 essays thanks alot

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: ISTWAM
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Interesting professor. Often gets off topic or "on a roll" and it can be hard to get a word in. A LOT of work (a book of week and a thorough written response each week, plus a few projects)Often difficult to tell what he expected in our work because he outlined his expectations vaguely. If you take any class with him, be prepared for a LOT of work.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: HUMWAM
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Nice guy, gave us very interesting texts to read, and I learned a lot from them. It was hard to have an engaging discussion in his class; we often got off topic, so far off that his lectures were hard to get through. The homework wasn't too bad because a lot of it was reading and the reading was good. Still, hard to know what he expects from you

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: AMS199
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Jay is my advisor, and honestly one of the coolest professors on campus. He is in extremely high demand, so OH can be hard to reach. He has been the most helpful and insightful professor I have had at UCD, and recommend anyone do individual work with him. Straight up a great guy to get to know/do serious research with.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: AMSAMS1
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

This professor is a complete ****. His lectures are pointless and his grading is extremely harsh. I recommend everyone avoid him, I enrolled in his class against what this website told me and I regret it, the low rating is dead on.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: AMS1C
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Nobody but freshmen who don't know what they're doing or seniors looking for a GE would ever consider this class. I'm a senior - this class was ridiculous for a GE!! Over 7000 words of writing, 3 hour lectures in which this idiot preaches his politics the entire time. I agree with most of what he says but i still think he's a prick for the way h

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: AMS30
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

His lectures are very long and boring. The paper are very hard in terms of grading. there were total of 4 papers throughout the course and the final itself had 4 topics, which was not realated very much to the papers. Anyhow, this was a hard course for a GE credit. It is not an easy A class, you have work hard.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: AMS30
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Lectures were usually pretty interesting, although 3 hours is a long time to sit through anything. Lectures didn't have much to do with papers, but the readings did. Prompts for papers are very vague, which makes it EXTREMELY difficult to write on them since you don't know what is expected/desired.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: ISTFOODINUS
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Worst teacher this year, god his class was awful. His reading was useless and long. His assignments were idiotic and he graded harshly. No one clapped for him on the last day they hated his class that much. I'd recoment avoiding him at all costs. There's bad, very bad, horrible, and then there's Mechling

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: AMS30
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Prof. Mechling provides a good atmosphere for lecture as well as plenty of visuals. Lecture was 3 hrs and hard to sit through due to its length. Some interesting info but lectures tend to present info that isn't too helpful for the essays assigned. Make sure to talk to TA's from the start, will help with essay grades. Not too many assignments.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: AMS30
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

this class sucks bad. the lectures had no point to them. i would have done the same in the class if i didnt go to class. class is pointless. do not take his class, wait for another teacher. TAs are horrible too. this is probably the worst class i have taken

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: AMS30
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

I adored Mechling but hated the class itself. I probably would've preferred spending all of those Monday nights ripping patches of hair from my head. The material in lectures didn't relate to the essays and the essays were graded very harshly. In conclusion, Mechling is a good man but needs to focus his time elsewhere.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: AMS30
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

He is a great professor, head of the department. He dicusses very interesting topics, knows how to relate to students, is really just awesome. Cares about students if they go to OH. However, BEWARE the TA's, they grade VERY harshly and if you want a good grade make sure to work hard and go to TA OH's because the writing in this class is hard.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: AMS10
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Mechling has been one of my favorite professors thus far. He makes his subject so interesting, uses different mediums like film, music, and art in his classes, and really goes the extra mile to make sure his students succeed. I am taking another one of his classes this coming quarter because I enjoyed AMS 10 so much.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: IST8C
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

The Japanese/American Youth Cultures class was very interesting and most of the reading was pretty good. Mechling is a cool laidback teacher who knows his stuff. He loves to make us write essays though, so nonwriters beware! But great class overall.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: AMS1
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

unclear, boring, pointless lectures. always fell asleep but never missed anything because the essay questions are unrelated to lectures. he's knowledgeable, but is very abstract. my TA didn't seem to know anything either