Madison Powers - Georgetown University

Professor: Madison Powers

Department: Philosophy

College: Georgetown University

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: PHIL144
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

Powers is the easiest grader. Lectures are brutally boring but I just spent the whole time on my laptop not paying attention. I did the necessary readings for the papers and ended up getting As on my first 3 and didnt have to do anything else for the last month. if you need an ethics class that doesnt make you work, take this.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: PHIL099
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Madison gives 7/10 lectures, but leaves way too much freedom to TAs with respect to lecture attendance (40%) , paper prompts, and section discussions (repeats of lectures but w/much useless freewheeling by uninformed students). Occasionally he engages and lets you ask questions/comment but I also had to caffeinate before most days. Soothing voice.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: PHIL099
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Prof Powers clearly knows a lot about philosophy, but the way he presents it in lectures is usually very confusing. TAs do all the grading, and some are much easier graders than others. I'd recommend looking elsewhere to fulfill this requirement.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: PHIL144
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

Powers is a great professor. If you pay a lick of attention his lectures provide all the material necessary to do well in the class. Also, he lays out the class in a very logical order and sets aside full days to meet with students before assignments are due. Worth taking if you have any interest in global justice or human rights.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: PHIL099
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Powers is extremely intelligent about philosophy. His lectures can be confusing, but if you can muster the ability to pay attention he gives you all of the material for the papers. Grading is done by TA's, but Powers is really nice. Definitely go to office hours because he is a genuine man

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: PHIL099
• 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:

I agree with the other ratings that say professor Powers's class was unstructured and really hard to learn from. Though he knows the material really well, the way he presents it is very confusing. Taking notes from him is near impossible. The TA lead lectures were much more useful and comprehensible. Overall I would not recommend his class.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: PHIL099
• 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:

Prof. Powers definitely knows his stuff. However, the way he conveys that is unstructured, hard to interpret, etc. In addition, the TAs do ALL the grading, and some of them can be ruthless. If you want an easy A, go with Douglass, or any of the other philosophy teacher. If philosophy isn't your thing, don't take his class.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: PHIL099
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Prof. Powers knows a ton about philosophy and puts it in a context relevant to what we do in SFS/government courses. His lectures can be hard to follow only because he knows so much about the subject that he can talk about it conversationally, but they're still interesting. The TAs run the show, though, and some are (much) better than others.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: PHIL099
• 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:

A horrible, horrible, horrible professor. Has the most rambling and unstructured lectures ever. Avoid at all costs!!

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: PHIL127
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Law/Morality/Liberty was fairly interesting, but Prof. Powers lets some students talk too much, who often have no clue what is going on. Not real hard, and you don't really have to do the reading, except to reference it on papers (which is good, because the readings are a pain).

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: PHILOSOPHY127
• 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:

Means well, but I wanted to fall asleep in every single class. In Law/Morality/Liberty, read 3 authors (Aristotle, Locke, Mill) and wrote 3 papers each of equal weight (25 percent). The other 25 percent was class participation. No final. Nice man, but insanely boring.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: PHIL357
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Class: Individual Liberty. This was a great class, with only a couple of other people in it. Only two papers all term. Powers cared more about the content of my papers than their timeliness.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: PST
• 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:

good nap he should treat insomnia

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: PHIL099
• 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:

Simply terrible. This man has no idea what he's talking about. I used to enjoy philosophy. However, the grading was awesome. I had an 8 page paper due, I turned in a 7.5 pager with 9 block quotes and i got an A-. If you don't care about learning and want an A, go for it.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: PST
• 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 lectures are fairly boring and not always clear on how they relate to the readings which are also kinda boring. but he gives outlines which are helpful in writing the 3 papers that determine the grade. discussions are more helpful on focusing than lectures.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: PHIL099
• 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:

The lectures put you to sleep. However, the reading material is rather interesting. Only three papers, no final. If you get a good TA then you are in like flint, otherwise, pray.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: PHIL099
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Oh SO boring. I expected more out of this course. I do think he's a very smart man and knows what he is talking about, he just needs to learn to, um, be interesting instead of talk in a monotonous tone for and hour plus

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: PST
• 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:

If you're looking for a good nap, go to lectures.

Rating # 19

Overview:

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

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

Comment:

awesomely smart guy with a slight southern accent... a wholly interesting yet sometimes boring lecturer, but if you listen you'll learn something. grading depends basically entirely on the ta, so good luck with that... powers has an interesting perspective and is worth a try

Rating # 20

Overview:

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

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

Comment:

He stole my heart, then my GPA