I dont understand why Kipen's rating is so low on bruinwalk. He assigned only 3 or 4 papers throughout the quarter without any finals. He is nice, funny, and very helpful with questions you may have for him.

Great professor, take him if you can. Only 3 essays through the whole quarter: the first one is 4 pages, second is 5 pages and the last is 6 pages. The first two papers are graded in a 'conference' which is basically where you sit with him as he goes through it giving you real-time feedback which I found to be really helpful. Additionally in each class you write a paragraph and read it out. Overall, not much work at all, and can help balance a hard quarter. 10/10 would recommend you take him if you can, he's also a really nice guy!

I feel like this class was not beneficial in my learning and at the end hurt my gpa. I tried learning and doing my best to succeed, but he did not care. He indirectly called me a bad writer and did not want to help me improve my writing. This class was only two hours long, but felt like forever since he doesn't stop talking. He goes off on random tangents and does not actually teach you anything you need to know. His writing prompts are always confusing and make no sense. I think he is a nice guy, but did not have time to nurture each students desires and needs when it comes to writing.

Loved this class. Nearly two hour "lectures" never felt like it. He absolutely adores good writing and gets everyone else to love it too. Also has an incredible range of knowledge on literature/film. Ask him about any writer, screenwriter, or director since the beginning of time and he's sure to have stories to tell about them.

This class was not helpful. Do not take if you want to get into a recipe for disaster. I do not recommend, if you need one on one help. Take another writing 2. Trust me.

Worst teacher ever. Highly do not recommend taking him. If you want to get screwed over, then take him. He puts his life first and doesn't care to help nor teach the students . Do not take.

Kipen is a very interesting guy, often found dressed in an Ivy League style, hanging out either sipping coffee or reading a book at YRL. We read great essays by even greater essayists. He tries to make his classes fun and engaging while involving everyone to participate. His essay instructions are almost always "write what you want to write" (within a given scope), which does make his assignments more enjoyable. He does grade your first two essays in front of you, which while nerve-wrecking, is very helpful for me to improve my writing.

Professor Kipen has been my favorite professor at UCLA. His lectures are super easy, and he's a funny guy. He goes through the quotes from the readings he assigned for the first part of the lecture, and then gives a prompt for a short response that you email to him, which he then reads out loud (it's actually quite funny watching him try to figure out how his computer works.) It was really casual, and typically one or two comments were good enough.
His class had 3 essays: a 4-paged journal, 5-paged guide about your hometown, and a 6-paged argument about inclusion of a writer not already on the syllabus. They didn't feel like a task at all. I'll admit, the prompts are a little vague. But from my experience, he didn't really care if you answered the prompts to the T. He was more interested in seeing you develop as a writer. Don't be scared to ask him for advice (about the essays or otherwise), because he's always so helpful.
One caveat: If you're coming into this class thinking you'll walk it and get an easy A, you might want to reconsider. Kipen pushes the depth of your writing ability, albeit in fun and intriguing ways.
Basically, if you're a student Kipen doesn't know well and someone who just sits silent, you might struggle. But if you develop a relationship with Kipen, he's going to do everything to help you as a writer (and get an A). For me, at least, he's been more than a professor; he's been a mentor and a friend. Highly recommend.

Kipen is a wonderful professor. His class almost felt like a breather between difficult major-prep classes (not saying you should treat it as such!) The lectures are very engaging because he actively involves the class in his discussion. It generally starts by him asking for a quote from the reading (in a course-reader that's about $21), talking about the quote, then about halfway into the class he asks everyone a question that you answer by email. These questions could be about the essays you write (I'll expand later) or even about what you ate for dinner last night. If you feel embarrassed to speak in front of everyone, you might want to get over that because you have to read what you email to the whole class at your seat (though usually, the emails are as long as about one to two sentences). Anyways, the class was engaging the whole way through. There's no midterm or final for this class, just three papers that are due about three-four weeks apart. The first paper is three pages, second is five, and third seven. For someone with frequent writer's block when it comes to writing essays, I never found myself pushed for time when finalizing my essay. The best part about this class was the live feedback he'd give while grading your papers on the due date. Take him if you can, he's a really nice guy open to any questions and isn't uptight about anything when it comes to the lectures.

I think that my writing style improved tremendously with this class. Not only did the professor help me take risks in my own writing, but I better understood how to connect with an audience through my words. The classroom portion of this class, besides the writing, was very worthwhile, as we reviewed the real writing skills of various authors that I then transformed into something I could use in my assignments.