The required readings were very engaging and interesting. Participation matters in this class so be sure to do the readings and be aware of all information.
She is a tough grader. Simple reading responses (mainly essays on your opinion) she grades for content. Also, for her essays she grades VERY hard. The class average for our first essay was a "C" and she was proud of that. Personally, I have very high standards so I was a bit upset when she stated that. To do well on essays, I highly recommend to get additional support. Go to the Undergraduate Writing Center or Writing Success Program, book an appointment and be sure to carefully edit your essay before you turn it in. She is very picky about formatting, grammar and just everything. In the beginning of the quarter, she did signs of favoritism which made me feel uncomfortable however as the quarter was ending, I just got over it. Also, she doesn't really respond to emails BUT
She is a good professor and passionate because she supports you by having workshops (grammar, MLA format, word choice, passive voice) and mandatory office hours.

You honestly get what you put into this class. Really enjoyed the introspection and chatting with her but if you aren't into it it can get quite boring sometimes. Would recommend taking it later if you can so you can work on your resume with her!

Overall, I found this class to be boring but it was really easy. Professor S is super nice and really aims to connects with students. Discussions were very interesting every class period and involved a lot of personal reflection. Workload was decent and graded super easily; basically if you do it, you'll get 100. You create 2 blogs, 1 personal, 1 group, a few written responses, 1 project and final is an e-portfolio. Professor S was great but this class was boring. Easy A though and you meet some really great people.

Man, I loved this class so much. The start of the course was very intimidating because I felt like an airhead compared to all the scholars in the class. It is super intimate and generally chill though, and I found everyone to be very sweet in the class. We honestly just had open discussions on most days about UCLA and our goals. So wholesome!
The readings aren't entirely necessary to do, I would just call them supplementary. The workload was definitely the most for me, but it was all self reflective and creative stuff. It was very manageable.
Professor Samuelson is the nicest woman ever! She is a genius and very understanding. She deserves it all!
I would 100/10 recommend this class!

She picked really relevant topics to write about throughout the course which I think was better than what I heard from other ENGCOMP 3 classes. She is really interested in film, so I found the topics she chose really interesting. Easy to approach and took the time to read all of my rough drafts but is a harsh grader in the end and I rewrote most of my papers. Prompts were open-ended which I found difficult personally.

Don't listen to people who say she is a bad professor. Those who say she is bad are probably just lazy. She was wonderful. I had her at 8am and I went every single time because I really looked forward to her class. Her lectures were always great and being a smaller class off 20-something you really connect with her. Participation counts in her class so it can really help your grade if you participate and if you are shy she calls on you so you HAVE to participate and don't miss out on those points. I will admit she is a tough grader; however, she is not unfair. She grades honestly and so people get upset that they do not get a higher grade. She is aware she if a tough grader so from the start she informs you of 5 different opportunities to earn extra credit throughout the quarter. She also cares that you do well in her class so because many people were borderline c+/b- b+/a-towards the end of the quarter she allowed us to answer questions from past readings for extra credit in order to boost our grades. I thought my final paper was great so I didn't do the extra credit and ended up with a B+ but that is my own fault.

Prof Samuelson was kind, helpful and extremely knowledgable. I find her lecture and class discussions to be engaging and thought-provoking. The topics covered in class were interesting. The reading materials were simply excellent.

Like most writing I class, in this class, there was 3 major papers to write. The topic of the first paper was American Dream. The second was about Art and Identity. The third was about social media and millennial's online behaviors. In addition to the three papers, we had to write one weekly journal, responding to questions about the assigned readings each week. Believe it or not, I actually found the readings to be fascinating and extremely well-written. I, as a lazier-than-a-sloth individual, did not mind even doing the readings because I honestly felt smarter every time I finished the assigned readings.

The workload for this class was not light, but it was doable. I took this class during summer; we only had 6 weeks to cover 10 weeks worth of materials, and I, as a slow writer, still managed to get all the work done on time. And, honestly, I felt like the knowledge I gained from this class was all worth my time and energy. Not only that I learned to be better communicate my thoughts on paper, but I also learn a lot about American capitalism, modern art history and social media. I came out of this class feeling like a better writer and a well-educated individual.

Bottom line: this class offers the quality education that we're here in UCLA for. TAKE IT!

Mary is an awesome professor, gave me such an appreciation for writing. She's very democratic, and isn't afraid to hide it, but it works because of the location of our school. However, I would say if politics aren't something you love discussing, consider a different professor. The topics covered in class are very current and relevant, so it was easy to pay attention in class. Mary doesn't really lecture, its an active discussion with the entire class. She grades pretty hard, but knows what she's talking about and definitely helped me improve my writing. The class is basically three essays, and a few homework assignments but participation is important too. Highly recommend Professor Samuelson.

I truly enjoyed ENG COMP 3 with Professor Samuelson. She's very down to Earth and very approachable. I found her advice during our 1-on-1 meetings to be very effective in helping me plan out my essays. While I took this during the summer, I still took the class seriously and did all the readings. Those who did not do their fair share of work usually found it harder. Definitely not fair to blame the professor, who was not only kind and helpful in this class, but also very experienced in her field.

I definitely recommend taking ENG COMP 3 with her, especially in the Summer!

Samuelson was an amazing English teacher who truly wanted her students to engage with the text and love the subject!