George Barlow - Grinnell College

Professor: George Barlow

Department: TBD

College: Grinnell College

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: AMS130
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Nice enough and held good discussions, but went off track easily. I also wasn't sure exactly what I was supposed to learn or if I learned it by the end of the semester, but that might just be part of the ambiguity of American Studies. He also felt a tad disorganized and kept rearranging the syllabus because we couldn't fit in all planned projects.

Rating # 2

Overview:

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

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

Comment:

Has preconceived notions about y i ur intellect. So you get what he thinks you deserve regardless if the work you put in. Not very focussed and dedicates. You get a good grade if you do your paper the way he wants you to do it. Would not take him.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: ENG111
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

He was alright. I was interested in English before taking the class and this was a basic requirement for the english major. Kind of repeated a lot of information and readings that we covered in AP lit. Class was very poetry driven, only read one novel all semester. So that could be good or bad depending on tastes.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: ENG206
• 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:

Barlow is an awesome professor. He is kind and brilliant. I had him for Tutorial my first year as well. He tends to get on tangents, but is always there when one needs help. He has certainly got a bad reputation from this site, probably because of his harsh essay grades, but he is a wonderful professor.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: ENG206
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

Well, I now know a great deal more about the random firings of this man's brain ...but not so much more about poetry. While he may be friendly to most students, he didn't contribute anything to my education.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: ENG200
• 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:

Professor Barlow has been rather severely underrated by a bunch of useless first years. He is a somewhat enigmatic professor, but his classes are positively challenging, and can be quite engaging when students put in the effort. You have to be more diplomatic when you take a class outside your subject area, I guess.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: AMS130
• 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:

Barlow's a great guy, and he loves to help students on papers. His help, though, is worth little. The class is one unstructured ramble and paper topics have nothing to do with anything. He's a terribly nice guy but a bad teacher.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: AMS120
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Had obvious favorites -- but even for them didn't really do a great job.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: AMS120
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

Still not sure what the point of the class was

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: AMS120
• 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:

There is almost no point in doing the readings he generally just rambles on about whatever topic comes to mind. Paper topics had nothing to do with the discussions or the readings and came out of nowhere. I wouldnt recommend this class if you like any structure at all!!

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: LON123
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Took his class in the London Program. Barlow was useless. I did about 25% of the reading and I think I did more of it than he did. He was frequently unprepared for class and was incapable of leading a good discussion.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: AMS130
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Alright so the class should have been very easy because he missed 10 days of class. However, he graded like a mad man and when you went in to see him would ramble on about stupid stuff. Since he missed so many days the assignments were not clear and he should have given anyone who showed some effort a decent grade. I regret taking his class.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: AMS130
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Really interesting course with good readings. Barlow's a great guy - he's friendly and caring and really smart.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: ENG206
• 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:

Took creative writing with him, & it was alot of fun. A really nice guy with constructive criticism; he creates a really nice workshop atmosphere.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: THRYMTHD
• 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:

George is just a hippy poet at heart. Gave few comments on papers, which made me feel cheated. Wasn't hard but hard to crack an A. Chooses great material. More a facilitator than professor, though.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: ENG206ENG386
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

Also AMS 130... i took AMS because i had craft of poetry with him and i found his tangents about black america and jazz to be really interesting. But now that i'm taking the class i have to say that i wish i hadn't.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: AMS100
• 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:

No Comments

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: AMS130
• 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:

He NEVER answers the questions you ask, just bounces them off other members of the class. Often that just made me more confused. The workload is low 90% of the time, but his take-home midterms and finals are MASSIVE. Leave plenty of time fpr them.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: AMS101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

very interesting material in the readings but not very challenging in class. few people do the readings, leading to disunified discussions. barlow encourages these tangents. i was interested in this class only bc i was already interested in ams.