William Shadel - University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA

Professor: William Shadel

Department: Psychology

College: University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: PSY1215
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Great class. Weekly journal entries, only 500 words, and 3 discussion post questions. Final is 1000 words on the field of Health Psychology. Honestly, taking this class has altered my career path and I will most-likely be pursuing something in the public health sector. Interesting readings that really make you think about society and health.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: PSY1205
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Dr. Shadel is very informed on current health psychology issues. The class was actually very interesting, so attending lectures wasn't that bad. If not a lot of people show up, he will take attendance and give you bonus points. There's A LOT of readings, but no textbook is required. Tbh, if you skip the readings, you'll probably do fine.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: PSY1215
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Professor Shadel is someone you must take a class with if you are interested in psychology at Pitt. His approach to learning is based on discussion and experience. Lectures really make you think and you leave the class feeling confident you actually learned something. His knowledge about health psychology is amazing!

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: PSY1215
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Health psychology online is a pretty simple class. No textbook required, no tests, quizzes or any other form of assessment. Your grade consists of weekly journal entries and bi-weekly discussion board, that are graded very fairly. If you're looking for non-stressful PSY 1000 level course, definitely take health psych with Shadel!

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: HEALTHPSYCH
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

cool guy, really cares about students, no tests one paper on a topic you choose so that makes it even more interesting. A group debate which let me meet people in the class who i probably wouldn't have otherwise and on topics the class votes for. And circle time "group discussion" which I found really interesting. Definitely recommend this guy!

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: HEALTHPSYCH
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Previous commenter is exactly right. He's a nice guy, makes the topic interesting, shows a couple movies during the semester, and lectures most other days. Be sure to talk during the "circle time discussions", this probably brought me down to a B+.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: HEALTHPSYCH
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

Health Psych with Shadel is a sweet class. No tests, just one paper, the debates and class discussions really help you to learn the material for the long term more than any test would. He's a professor that if everyone shows up and contributes, everyone will get an A

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: PSY1205
• 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:

Awesome professor, very organized, and extremely knowledgable. He introduced a new way of learning without exams which I thought was very creative and interesting. Take Health Psych with Shadel and you will not regret it!

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: PSY1215
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Shadel is one of the best, if not the best, profs I have had at Pitt. No tests in class, just discussions and a group debate that wasn't bad at all. Even the term paper was easy as long as you put effort into it. He really makes you think about Health Psych from a clinical perspective rather than just theoretically like most profs

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: PSY1215
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Really enjoyed this class! We had a paper, debate, and group presentation, and the rest of the class was basically on overview of public health topics. He encouraged us to think about the issues in the field and discuss them in class, which involved more creativity and critical thinking than you get in most classes.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: PSY1205
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

I had him for Health Psych. He's a great professor and extremely helpful. He is willing to do whatever he can to help you out. He is also very reasonable on the grading spectrum. I didn't open the book once that he told us to get, and seeing as there are no exams in this course, there was really no reason to even purchase it.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: PSY1215
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

Dr. Shadel wants student to succeed and you can really tell. I guess he changed his format because I did not have any tests. Just three grades: group debate (fun!), group presentation and an individual paper, which was the hardest but he grades things very fairly and is very accessible.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: PSYCH1250
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Great teacher!! Only one test early on in the semester and it's very easy just study the book and pay special attention to what he talks about in class. Paper is easy because he lets you send him drafts to check over and he said the majority of the class got an A. The group pres. is not hard and he grades it fairly. Great teacher!!!!

Rating # 14

Overview:

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

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

Comment:

Dr. Shadel is a good professor. The 1st test that everyone is complaining about was on basic intro to psych principles (classical conditioning, modeling, etc.). If you make any type of effort in your other classes, it's easy. Also, he is very helpful on the paper. He tells you exactly what he wants in it, just send him a draft early & youll be ok.

Rating # 15

Overview:

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

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

Comment:

The only test that we had was a multiple choice one...and it was very ambiguous. If it weren't for an internship in health psych that I had, I wouldn't still want to go into it. Don't let him determine your career...but be careful, nonetheless. He's confusing.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: HEALTHPSYCH
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Only one test, which we were completely unprepared for. He questioned himself too much in class, even about his former patients. It really made me rethink going into Health Psychology.

Rating # 17

Overview:

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

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

Comment:

We had one single MC test, then a paper and presentation with basically any topic we wanted. He used case studies in his own practice as examples, which made for an interesting lecture/discussion style class.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: PSYCH10
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

His test questions come out of left field...there's no way to prepare for them! He questions himself in class a lot as well, which is very misleading. Avoid at all costs!

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: PSY0010
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

He seemed nice at first, and I guess he was. However, I went to get help from him and he told me point-blank that he "plays mind games with students." The other comments about tests are completely true; most of the questions are completely unp

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: PSY0100
• 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:

Tests were really unpredictable. Anything he tells you in class is useless, even though he tells you to study it more than the book. I still passed with a B-, but that's probably only due to my multiple-choice test taking abilities.