PLAP 3610

The course material was juvenile and basic, and yet somehow, this ended up being my lowest grade of the semester. Rachel Potter clearly has passion for her discipline, but three things kill this class: 1) the course structure (many pointless "short assignments" that don't work to reinforce course material, take a ton of time, and count for 20% of your grade) 2) Potter's inexperience-- she clearly WANTS to teach, but her lecture style is just not super effective yet. 3) it won't be what you expect it to be-- this isn't a public policy or leadership class. It is very simply and exactly a course on how American bureaucracy functions, and that's disappointing.

Bottom Line: Only if you're interested in American government and interested in learning something different, then this might be worthwhile. Otherwise, no. I wouldn't recommend it. (It isn't an easy A course either.)

Strength: Personal passion and mastery with the subject and material.

Weakness: Method of delivering the information. Although, frankly, the material on the bureaucracy is dry as it is, Professor Potter's presentation style kept it from being engaging. There were certain lectures that stood out as more interesting (including the field trip!), but the overall feeling of the semester was banal.

Rachel is an interesting professor. While the subject matter can be boring , her personality makes it engaging. Beware though your final grade may not be what you expect in a bad way even though she grades relatively easy