Priscilla Meyer - Wesleyan University

Professor: Priscilla Meyer

Department: TBD

College: Wesleyan University

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: RUSS234
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

The toughest professor but if you are willing to not be sugar-coated, you can learn a million things from her. One of the most intelligent professors I have had. She gives incredible feedback and pushes you the most. I had to go to her office hours a few times, but she always helped me.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: RUS232
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

She is one of those professors that some people complain about and others love. I loved her. She's a genius in her field (she's the #1 Nabokov scholar in the world) and she'll make you think every day. I recommend her.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: RUSS232
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

This was the most strenuous class I've taken (entire books read in a week amidst papers), but I walked away having learned a lot. I've become a drastically better readerpicking up on motifs has become a thing of nature, and I've learned to write papers with authentic arguments and true-to-self style.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: RUSS205
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

She is a tough professor but a very interesting one. The class has a ton of reading, and papers are usually assigned on top of a 100 or more pages of reading. She will push you to become better at analyzing the text and if you are really interested in Russian lit then I think she is the best person to teach you more about it.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: RUSS205
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Prof. Meyer gets a lot of flack for being a tough grader and being opinionated. While it's true that she is both, don't let it stop you from taking her class. She pushes you hard, but does it with extreme clarity. And opinionated? She has the right to be - read her resume; she's brilliant, and she can back up everything she says. Very worth taking.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: RUSS232
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

P. Meyer runs an incredibly tough class. I had her for a seminar course my freshmen fall and it was the hardest class I have ever taken. We burned through a book or two a week and didn't slow down for essays at all. Unfortunately, while the material we read about was interesting, she was unclear about her expectations for essays and a tough grader.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: RUSS301
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Though she is very intelligent and knows the Russian language well, she was stifling and unclear and made class a miserable experience. Overestimated most of the students' abilities and needless to say, I did not do well. Very temperamental and unwilling to accept others' opinions. I didn't learn much and wasted a lot of time

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: RULE263
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

At first I was intimidated and frustrated. Then I realized that Priscilla is the most passionate, stimulating, expert, and magical professor I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing. She knows and loves Nabokov, and so will you.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: RUS232
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Excellent teacher, extremely sophisticated reader, but highly opinionated.

Rating # 10

Overview:

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

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

Comment:

Terrible, terrible teacher. One of the worst that I've ever had (and this is coming from someone who did very well in her class). She knows what she thinks, and that is the ONLY view she will accept. If you're considering a course with her, drop out now. If you don't, be prepared for several months of belittling.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: RUSS222
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

befuddling and also fabulous.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: RUSS263
• 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:

keeps you on your toes. a little terrifying, brilliant, hilarious, wonderful. not to be missed.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: RUSS222
• 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:

A little batty, and a tough grader (on one of our papers, not one person in the class got an A), but knows and cares a lot about her subject. I'd heard about her being very closed to alternate viewpoints, but she seemed to be at least willing to hear them. Always encouraged us to come by her office if we wanted to talk.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: RUSS222
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Meyer is a rigorous grader; a lucid lecturer; a curmudgeon. You realize 4/5 through the term that her jokes are on you. She knows everything about Nabokov et al, and so she has her own agenda, so to speak, at the expense of yours. That said, it's worth taking her class to discover one very intelligent person's approach to the books. Lots of work!

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: RUSS26354
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Priscilla's not going to coddle you. She may even - gasp! - challenge your opinions. If you're willing to sacrifice some ego, she will give you everything she has - and she's the most generous, warm-hearted person I know on this faculty. Hard thinking and hard writing a must, willingness to be open to new ideas also a must.

Rating # 16

Overview:

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

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

Comment:

condescending, patronizing, and seems biased towards overachieving girls. discussions slow, and don't dare have a different opinion than her. DO EXACTLY what she wants on the papers (as if you'll ever find out what THAT is) because she'll shoot down any alternative theories no matter how well researched. seems to dislike boys, esp if you are not in

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: RUSS254
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Professor Meyer is an extremely intelligent woman, but should not be a professor. She makes the classroom experience miserable with her condescending attitude. The class description and reading list were great but her teaching methods made it the bane of my existence. You will learn a lot, but be unhappy in the process.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: 2005
• 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:

As a student who go at D- in her soviet lit class, and then came back two years later, after having lived in russia, to manage a B in her third year russian class, I think I am qualified to comment. She is the hardest professor in the department by far. She is also very fair in her dealings with students. Always available to talk to students.

Rating # 19

Overview:

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

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

Comment:

I would never take another class with this professor. I thought the readings were fantastic. so why were the lectures so unexciting

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: RUSS222
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

She's sooo smart that you often feel totally dwarfed, but you quickly realize that she's not an old stuffy pedant. She's actually quite adorable, especially when she giggles because of some pun or other. She also allows rewrites.