<p>Which history classes and professors are good to take or avoid?</p>
<p>Exceptional:
Ruiz
Corey
Woods
Waugh </p>
<p>Very Good:
Hunt
Norberg
Mellor
Langdon
Gantner
Summerhill </p>
<p>OK:
Ryan
Yeager
Garavente </p>
<p>Avoid:
Phillips
Urdank
McClendon
Frank </p>
<p>Good/Great TAs:
Z. Abu-Rish
H. Carter
E. Katz
K. Thanasakis
K. Glasgow
K. Wilson </p>
<p>Bad TAs:
M. Vartavarian</p>
<p>Classes to Avoid:
- Constitutional History
- History 1A (material is just boring IMO) –> go for 1B/1C
- Hist. 20-21-22 (insanely broad; I prefer History 1B/1C) </p>
<ul>
<li>Just finished this major</li>
</ul>
<p>thanks for the great reply. do you kno anything about Boustan?</p>
<p>I’ve finished all the lower div requirements for the history major and have taken 4 upper divs, and I agree with qipao’s list with the exception of Professor Phillips being placed in the “avoid” category. I don’t know why Phillips seems to have such a bad reputation. His classes require a lot of memorization, but so do all history classes, and unlike a lot of history profs he’s very clear about his grading scale. He’s a stickler for dates, which is kind of annoying, but trust me, if you take a class with Phillips any history class you take thereafter will be cake. </p>
<p>I’d also add Professor Namala to the list of exceptional professors… she’s a lecturer, so she’s not at UCLA every quarter, but if she’s ever teaching a class don’t miss the opportunity to take it! Also, I don’t know what class qipao had Professor Hunt for, but I thought Professor Hunt’s History 100 class was exceptional… very unconventional for a history class, but still my favorite class that I’ve taken at UCLA (and I took that class my freshmen year).</p>
<p>Avoid Frank. He teaches Russian History. When I went to his office hours, he made me feel like utter crap. And as I was leaving, he even called me pathetic. :/</p>
<p>color me boggled - a prof calling you pathetic, that sucks will def avoide Frank. Anyone kno anything about Boustan? I think thats how its spelled. Thanks for the advise Raychul07. anyone else feel free to add.</p>
<p>Why don’t people like Phillips? His material is very dry. He’s an OK professor. However, for the midterm and the final exam, you NEED to take notes verbatim. He’s not going to be around anyway since he’s on sabbatical.</p>
<p>Another shout-out for Professor Ruiz - that guys is awesome!</p>
<p>is history 1a that boring? im stuck with it. and how is prof. geary?</p>
<p>Oh no. How bad is McClendon? Her reviews on bruinwalk don’t seem that bad and an old grade distribution of a class I’m taking this fall seems pretty decent…</p>
<p>McClendon’s okay- not horrible but not great, either. I had 1B with her, and based on my experience in that class you’ll definitely want to do most of the readings, because her lectures tend to be either really broad or insanely detailed about little stuff that doesn’t really matter.</p>