Carol Gerster - University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA

Professor: Carol Gerster

Department: Literature

College: University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: MERR80B
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Super intelligent and very funny, not sure why so many have given her bad reviews. She is always helpful and easily accessible outside of class. I would definitely take another course by her if she taught more.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: MERR80B
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

she is very liberal and intolerant of beliefs of students with ideas other than her own. She made me re write a six page paper related to immigrants. I ended up with an A in the class because i would participate a lot during class and do all the assignments. lots of work outside of class but nothing important is done during class.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: MERR80B
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Gerster as easily been the worst professor I've had at the University so far. Her essay prompts are structured around a liberal ideology, and are unable to be answered in a way that disagrees with Gerster's personal beliefs. If you have this class, may the God that she hath forsaken long ago have mercy on thy innocent soul.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: MERR80B
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Prof. Gerster has her own view points and if you write from a perspective that is not the same as hers be prepared to suffer for it in your grade.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: MERR80X
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

i was not a fan. gerster has a particular way of writing that contradicts most of what other writing teachers have taught me. if you write to HER standards, you'll be fine, and just pretend you agree with her. basicually she was unknowledgable and boring. good luck if you're taking her class... find something to keep yourself awake

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: MERR80B
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

She seemed nice enough at first, but towards the end of the quarter it became obvious that she had favorites. She does not give good feedback, and when I asked for help she brushed me off. On two of my papers, she wrote rude comments that were completely unnecessary. if you can, avoid this teacher.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: MERR80B
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

She was a very hard grader and truly believed that a C was a 'really good grade in college'. She will judge you if you disagree with her and she definitely had favorites in the class. Try to get a different teacher if you can, this class was kind of hell.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: MERR80X
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Tough to please, and if you have a different opinion on a subject, she'll strike it down and grade you accordingly for not agreeing with her. Learn to please her standards and not neccessarily your own. Grades based on how you've progressed, but does not give your essay grades until the last essay. Try not to take her.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: MERRI80B
• 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:

Be prepared to read a lot. She is very hard on grading the essays, but don't let the comments fool you, you probably did better than you think. Meet with her a lot for your essays and you'll be fine.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: CORE03
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Evil professor. Do not take this class. I recall days when my peers were too afraid to speak up in class because she's so crazy. Unfortunately writing skills can not improve in 3 essays as is the result with most of the class. I do not recommend this core teacher. Stay away from if possible. If you cant, take this pass/no pass. do your self a favor

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: MERR80B
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

a socialist, who's very proud of it. an okay professor, she helps with writing a lot. I think she hated me though, so she wasn't very helpful towards me although she didn't grade me very hard. overall a B-

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: STEVENSONCORE
• 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:

She is a very traditional formal teacher. Comes off as somewhat cold, but if you listen to her and allow her to help she will improve your writing greatly. She is a great teacher who is a little old-fashioned, but truthfuly I think a few more teachers like her here at UCSC would be a very good thing. Facilitated great classroom discussions. A++

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: STEVCORE2
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Gerster is a little slow to warm up, but once you meet with her, she is really friendly and great to talk to. She is really helpful, and is difficult only to help her students improve. My advice is to meet with her about your ideas, and you'll do fine.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: MERR80B
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

She has students lead the discussions, but you can still get by with never reading the texts, most of my core class didn't. At first she seemed very rigid and uptight, but by the end she was making SOME jokes. She writes a lot of comments on the papers and she is helpful with coming up with a thesis, meet w her at least once.

Rating # 15

Overview:

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

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

Comment:

A little dense. A little worthless. You know. Very Santa Cruz.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: LIT80
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

I thought she was an average professor, but she runs her courses like high school classes. I liked the material and she did help me to a better understanding of it, though I believe she overemphasized the prevelence of phallic symbols in the literature.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: STEVENSONCORE
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

gerster really helped improve my writing. if youre already a good writer, take her, youll improve. if youre not good, youll like her less. she starts good discussions and keeps the class going. id take another class with her in the future.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: STEV80A
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

hs level essays wont cut it anymore, so listen up: gersters crazy when grading/reviewing essays but if you want to learn how to write better, take her comments seriously&use a WA. she can be stringent but learning how to write>any good grade. good teacher, more effort you put in-more youll get out.

Rating # 19

Overview:

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

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

Comment:

Very interesting subject matter. Do 100% of the reading bc she expects students to lead discussions. Get to know the RA for help with papers, and discussing your thesis with Carol helps bc she can be very particular. Most difficult prof. for Merrill Core.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: MERRCORE
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

The texts and discussions are interesting, but Gerster is a very strict grader and is far too critical of students. If you can, take any other professor for core- everyone else loves core, except for those who had Gerster.