Paul Manna - College of William and Mary

Professor: Paul Manna

Department: TBD

College: College of William and Mary

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: GOVT351
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Professor Manna is one of my favorite professors. He is clear with his expectations and wants you to do well. He is well respected and offers great advice. You will work for your grade, but you will leave the class feeling as if you've learned something.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: GOV351
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Prof. Manna is one of the best professors I've had at w&m. He's a super nice and genial guy, he really wants his students to learn and do well in his class and in life. I did not find that he was too tough on my writing. He definitely expects you to do the readings but you can get away with skimming. 10/10 guy, even asked him to be my advisor.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: GOVT301
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Manna is a nice guy and really means well, but not the most understanding or reasonable with his expectations. However, those expectations are pretty clear as he is very well organized. Readings are not burdensome. Research methods isn't the most fun class but he did a decent job with the material.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: GOV351
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Professor Manna spoke very highly of himself on the first day of class - how accomplished he was and how difficult the class would be. He initially sounded helpful to students, but the course clearly showed that his class was far too demanding even with his help. This is a required class for public policy majors; don't take it otherwise.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: GOVT301
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Prof. Manna is a very kind person and his lectures are very well organized. However, his grading expectations were ridiculously high for a class consisting mainly of sophomores. I learned a lot, but it felt nearly impossible to do well in this class.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: GOVT301
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Professor Manna is AMAZING  definitely one of my favorite professors I've had at W&M. Take one of his classes if you get the chance. I find that classes go by super fast  starts at 5 and the next time I check the clock it's already 6! Lectures make a ton of sense, cares a lot about students, and gives a very reasonable amount of reading. 10/10

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: GOVT351
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Professor Manna is a GREAT lecturer. However, beware of his writing expectations, which are probably better suited for graduate students. I've never had any professors in college criticize my writing style except him, and others I talked to who felt like they were good writers felt the same way. Still, the class was definitely worth it.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: GOV351
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Professor Manna is an amazing professor and I feel lucky to have taken one of his classes. That being said, he grades papers extraordinarily harshly and his class requires real critical thinking. Bureaucracy was my hardest class of the semester and I'm still not sure how I could have done a full letter grade better on my paper.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: GOVT351
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Bureaucracy wasn't the most stimulating class, but Manna's passion and great lectures made it interesting enough. Do the readings for the test. Participation is 25% of the grade, which sucks, but definitely encourages me to engage with and understand the material more. He's a nice, funny, and well-respected guy and is worth chatting with.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: GOVT302
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Professor Manna is really caring and supportive of students. He is really enthusiastic about the subject and will make corny jokes. Open-note, take home HWs and tests but you have to know what you are doing. Quantitative Methods is not ultra-hard, but do use the textbook whenever possible. You learn STATA and many different types of regressions

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: GOV351
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Tied with Howard and Clemens for best prof in the Gov department. He managed to make "Bureaucracy" more interesting than most classes with sexier titles. Manna is passionate, organized, and fair. If you think you write well, take one of his classes to learn how much you can improve. Goes well beyond his job description to help students learn.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: GOVT201
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Don't bother reading the book. Lectures summarize everything in the assigned reading anyway. Professor knows everyone by face and name, so attendance is important, but he won't call you out if you miss a class or two. Lots of discussion/participation focus. Overall, a very interesting lecturer!

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: GOVT351
• 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:

Thought he deserved a rating. Manna is genuinely a really great guy, and a super committed and organized professor. In terms of helping and informing his students, he doesn't miss a beat. Be wary of his paper grading though - he isn't arbitrary but at times he can be over his head with expecting students to actually write like scholars.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: GOVT391
• 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:

Q. methods is a useful class to take. You'll learn how to perform various statistical tests in Stata. Little actual math is involved and there's no proofs. Grade consists of 4 HWs and 3 take-home exams. Syllabus says the HW is graded for effort, but it's actually graded for accuracy. Grading occasionally seem arbitrary but isn't too difficult.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: GOVT351
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Good professor! Very organized and clear. The class was very interesting, and I learned a lot about Bureaucracy. The texts were also very useful, interesting, and worth reading. The mark of getting a good grade, as in most Gov classes, it to be a good essay writer and study for exams.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: GOVT351
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

30% participation 30% midterm 40% final. Midterm and final are half in class half essay. In class part is all short answer and that's pretty easy but the essay -- he grades kind of hard and I didn't know what I was doing. In class and office hours he is so nice and helped me find an internship for the summer. Interesting class.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: GOVT351
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Extremely friendly and helpful during office hours. Presents material clearly and tests are relatively easy. His grading of essays, however, seems entirely arbitrary and he gives little guidance as to what he actually wants to include in his ambiguous prompts.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: GOVT351
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Manna is a very nice man, however, unlike most I am not a fan. Tests are fine and class is bearable. Essay topics are uninteresting and essay grading is bizarre. How I can write very well in other classes, yet receive low essay grades with Manna remains a mystery to me to this day.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: GOV351
• 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:

He's an awesome professor. I always knew exactly what he wanted from us with papers/exams. Take notes on literally every single thing he says in class, because the books can be confusing but he breaks down the concepts really well. I would definitely take another class with him!

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: PUB391
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

In this class he did not actually teach, all he did was grade papers, which he graded with a passion for passive voice and grammar more than content. He is very enthusiastic and will help if you ask, but you must ask, and you must participate in the class. Also he gave a lot of reading from other professors(up to several chapters or papers a class)