John Sharpless - University of Wisconsin - Madison

Professor: John Sharpless

Department: TBD

College: University of Wisconsin - Madison

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: HIS306
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

If you have any interest in American history, 306 with Sharpless is one of the best decisions you could make. Lectures are interesting, minimal assignments (1 in class bluebook and 2 take home essays), grading is fair. He is also retiring soon (next semester?) so if you're looking for an elective, take one of his classes.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: HIST600
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Had Sharpless for Politics and Film and honestly the best class I have ever taken. This one lets you write free and creative in your analysis of the films for class. Lots of political experience he uses to explain concept and ideas. Really chill guy. Pro tip, make sure to include the readings. Don't be intimidated in the amount of work on the sylab

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: 201GEO
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Sharpless is one awesome guy. He loves going on tangents about zombies and stories from his travels. He also has a great grasp on history- ranging everywhere from biblical to Native American. It's definitely a class worth taking. I do recommend skimming through the texts, however, because it's a lot of reading. Either way, Sharpless is tremendous.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: HIS201
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

For his 201 class, there is a lot of reading and writing. Most of the books you just need to skim and get the main idea, and the papers are mostly two pages. Has a few attendance pop quizzes throughout the semester, so its a good idea to attend. No final exam but a final paper that was 8-10 pages that you work on progressively throughout the class.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: HIST600
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

John Sharpless is easily the best professor I have ever had at UW. I took Imagining American Politics in Hollywood Film and it is hands down the best class I have taken here. The syllabus is well put together, he gives amazing lectures , he will write a recommendation for anyone and he took us all out for beers at the end of the semester. Great guy

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: HIS101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

The class was mostly ran by the TA who was pretty hard this semester. The class was a lot of work for a 100 level class. A lot of reading and both in class and out of class essay exams. Material talked about in lectures and discussions was often times different. Lectures were very boring and attendance was unnecessary.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: HIS101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Sharpless is a funny guy but his lectures seem to drag on forever; about half his students fall asleep at any given time. His TA was really tough this semester and gave out a ton of bad grades. Both of them expect too much for a 100 level course. The readings also take forever and are the most boring things ever. Definitely not an easy course.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: HIST306
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

Sharpless is one of the best professors I have had at UW. His lectures are entertaining, but informative. He made me want to go to every lecture. I would take this class again, and would take any other class offered by Sharpless.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: 201AND699
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Sharpless is absolutely hilarious and honestly one of the best people I've had the privilege to know. He cares very deeply about his kids and will always be there when/if you need him. He's also very funny and adds a lot of dry humor to his lectures. Not to mention, he's incredibly knowledgable about his subject matter. Take his class.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: HIS398
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

I'm not a history major but History 398 with Sharpless was my favorite class at UW. He's incredibly entertaining, intelligent and passionate about teaching. The reading is difficult to keep up with but it's totally worth it. TAKE HIS CLASS.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: 201
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Hilarious. Best professor ever

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: HIST398
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Professor Sharpless is easily one of the best lecturers I've had at UW. He is hilarious, but also presents material that could be boring in an interesting manner. Only one midterm (in-class essay), one take-home essay, and a final. The one downside to this class is a LOT of reading. Around 200 pagesweek.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: HIST101
• 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:

Professor Sharpless was a captivating lecturer, mostly because he had a great dry sense of humor. For some reason he loves to talk about zombies. His tests were super easy, just essay questions that we got beforehand. However we had to purchase a lot of textbooks, only two of which I actually opened. I would recommend him for sure though.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: HIST
• 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:

I would absolutely not recommend him to anyone. He goes off on tangents in lecture about his opinions which have nothing to do with the course material at all.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: H101398600
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Sharpless is by far the best professor I have ever had. Not only does he make things interesting, but also he truly cares for his students. Anybody with a sense of humor will love his lectures. I recommend meeting him outside of class too, he is super resourceful!

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: HIST101
• 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:

Sharpless for president. Best professor I have had so far. Very good speaker and very intelligent.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: HISTORY101
• 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:

Sharpless is the man! Very passionate and very knowledgeable about early US history. Humorous (and sometimes wacky) asides during lecture here and there help keep you awake and laughing, hopefully. As mentioned in earlier rating, he does pretend to be heavily conservative but it's mainly for humor's sake, keeps material very objective. Great prof!

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: HIST398
• Grade Received: P
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

This was the third class I have had with him and he is by far my favorite prof. Yes he is funny, but he also one of the best lecturers I have ever had. Despite his personal political leanings he kept the class very objective. I highly recommend any of his classes.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: HIST398
• 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:

Sharpless is one of my favorite professors at the UW. Hilarious, extremely knowledgeable, and equally critical of politicians of both parties (he isn't as conservative as he makes himself sound on the first day of class). Highly recommend a class with John, if you have a sense of humor you won't regret it.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: HISTORY398
• 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:

Sharpless is great. Everything you hear about hilarious lectures is true. First entertaining power lec of my college career. Finally a conservative teacher at super liberal UW Madison that isn't afraid to speak his beliefs. Great class, take lec notes, read the books, write decent papers and you will be just fine.