As a first-year transfer, I was placed in this class after the original class I signed up for was canceled last minute. At first, I was concerned about this class but then I said "why not" and decided to give this class a shot. That was the biggest mistake I have ever made. During the first weeks, I didn't think much that this professor rarely lectured or went over readings, however, as time went on, I came to realize that this was constant. The only material I remember barely being mentioned in this class was when the Supreme Court was built. Other than that this professor was more concerned with pre-law advising and grading her other students at a different school rather than teaching this course. Vague grading and point allotment, the only assignment that was done in this class was the final project, which itself was pushed so many times past the due date because this professor was horrifically unorganized. I bought all the books for me to utilize none of them. It eventually reached a point where the whole class had to talk to the political science department chair to address our concerns. After this class ended, I wanted to drop out of the UCLA political science department and never look back, this class was a horrible introduction to the department and the major itself. Do not take courses with her.

Run! Professor Schuele didn't teach a thing in this class. She admitted to not being a subject matter expert but said, "I read the news and am a bit of a political junkie, so we'll figure it out!" She never graded anything, never provided any feedback, and changed due dates and details of assignments constantly, including after they were originally due! Ultimately, everyone in the class earned an A, because so many folks complained to the department that they required her to issue those grades (I heard that directly from Professor Schuele after the quarter ended). She spoke at length about her own interests and background than anything about Congress. Ultimately, she couldn't have been less interested in this class and it showed. It was a horrible introduction to UCLA.

Run! Do not take any course with Professor Schuele. Unless your interest is in learning about her own personal history and dealing with a professor who really, really, really wants you to like her - this isn't the class for you. She constantly moved deadlines, changed assignments (several times AFTER the due date, and some students had already submitted their work), and was unclear about her expectations. She assigned over a half-dozen books, but not a single one was needed or useful. It was a total waste and horrible introduction to UCLA instruction. Schuele shouldn't be teaching high school civics courses, let alone at a place like UCLA.

I'm gonna be a bit of a loner on this one, but this class wasn't that bad, and while Schuele wasn't the best she isn't horrible. Her lectures are a bit random but the course as a whole is really dry. There's not much you can go off of when it's a rehash of 11th-grade government, (what is congress what does it do, etc.) I learned this stuff in PS 40 and it was dry there as well. Schuele is pretty nice and while I agree the course assignments were changed super frequently, it seemed like it was a result of miscommunication between Schuele and the department. I know people emailed the department asking for certain things, and I think, honestly, people overreacted for not having everything handed to them. It seemed like everyone was being super snarky towards Schuele and while I wasn't that interested in the class I passed with an easy A for doing the bare minimum. Sometimes it isn't always about the professor (I agree she wasn't the best), but sometimes people's egos need to be deflated.

Want to feel degraded and constantly stressed look no further. You’re basically signing up to be tortured by having her as your professor.

Got placed in this class when my original one was cancelled. To be honest I stopped going to class after I realized how disorganized it was. Half of the class was spent talking about law school and not the actual material, which didn't interest me as someone who is not on that path. It was a whole lot of boring. I think Donna might be a nice lady outside of class (she once sent out a canvas announcement saying the first person to text her would get her 2 disney on ice tickets for free which was slay) but I didn't gain anything from her as a professor (or from this class in general). She was not clear on the assignments, couldn't tell us if they were even going to get graded due to the strike, and was not very understanding or lenient in light of the situation. Taking this class during the strike definitely amplified a lot of problems with Donna's teaching style and course structure. This class was a STRUGGLE for no reason. The material wasn't hard, it was just the unclear assignments, harsh grading, and lack of communication in light of the strike that made the class unbearable. I feel bad for the woman but she needs to do better. I can tell she's smart she just needs to get it together and have some empathy for her students. We are not the robots she thinks we are lol.

Do not take any courses with Professor Schuele! I cannot stress this enough.

This class lacked structure, and lectures seemed to be about whatever Professor Schuele felt like talking about that day. There was very little use of visual aids, which would have been helpful in highlighting key concepts, and the professor often went on long tangents that were interesting to her but not pertinent to the class.

It was clear Professor Schuele was not adequately acquainted with the course readings, because she planned a project around a book (A Matter of Interpretation) and, when presenting the assignment guidelines, stated incorrectly that the book was about Scalia's originalism, rather than his textualism.

Prompts for assignments were given late, and the professor even made the Matter of Interpretation assignment optional because she didn't want to deal with grading it. Additionally, new information about assignments was added up to two days before they were due (particularly the final), and I know some of my peers had to edit and re-submit work that they had already completed to comply with the new information.

Overall, I did not feel that I learned much in this class due to its complete lack of structure and would not recommend this course to others if it is taught by Professor Schuele. (Please note that for Fall 2022, all students got an A in this course because Professor Schuele did not have time to complete grading and turned grading over to the department who issued all As.)