Professor
Russell Burgos
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Most Helpful Review
I don't usually evaluate professors but I thought this would be helpful to future GS1 students. Burgos is a very good lecturer. The concepts he teaches are nothing you ever learned. They are abstract and sometimes vague. His opinions diverge from the author of the GS1 textbook and you have to keep track of who agrees with what. The toughest part of this class is taking notes. He puts up very broad headings on the slides and discusses each of them thoroughly. So I suggest you record lectures or write down most of what he says. Ultimately though, your grade depends on your TA. As a Global Studies major, I took this class very seriously. I never missed section or discussion, always sat in the front, read the book, paid close attention, studied everything and left the final confidently. I ended up with a B. The point is that as smart as you are and as much as you study the tests are tricky. They're not hard, it's just you never know what is important to study most. And then when you're confident and expect at least an A-, you're surprised to find out you got a B. I advise you to become pals with your TA and go to office hours, because he or she will decide your grade.
I don't usually evaluate professors but I thought this would be helpful to future GS1 students. Burgos is a very good lecturer. The concepts he teaches are nothing you ever learned. They are abstract and sometimes vague. His opinions diverge from the author of the GS1 textbook and you have to keep track of who agrees with what. The toughest part of this class is taking notes. He puts up very broad headings on the slides and discusses each of them thoroughly. So I suggest you record lectures or write down most of what he says. Ultimately though, your grade depends on your TA. As a Global Studies major, I took this class very seriously. I never missed section or discussion, always sat in the front, read the book, paid close attention, studied everything and left the final confidently. I ended up with a B. The point is that as smart as you are and as much as you study the tests are tricky. They're not hard, it's just you never know what is important to study most. And then when you're confident and expect at least an A-, you're surprised to find out you got a B. I advise you to become pals with your TA and go to office hours, because he or she will decide your grade.
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Most Helpful Review
I had Burgos for both GS1 and 100B. I had very mixed feelings about him. His approach to teaching Global Studies is mostly conceptual, so that his lectures ended up being a little too vague to effectively get the point across. GS1 was fairly easy and straightforward though--just do all your reading and pay attention in class and you'll be fine. GS100B, on the other hand, was a little bit harder for me. There were no definitive ideas that I felt I learned in class, which, though I think might have been his point, left me unsatisfied, and I never really got to understand the point of the class. Burgos is a witty guy and a fair grader. Just be warned of vagueness.
I had Burgos for both GS1 and 100B. I had very mixed feelings about him. His approach to teaching Global Studies is mostly conceptual, so that his lectures ended up being a little too vague to effectively get the point across. GS1 was fairly easy and straightforward though--just do all your reading and pay attention in class and you'll be fine. GS100B, on the other hand, was a little bit harder for me. There were no definitive ideas that I felt I learned in class, which, though I think might have been his point, left me unsatisfied, and I never really got to understand the point of the class. Burgos is a witty guy and a fair grader. Just be warned of vagueness.
Most Helpful Review
I don't understand why people blame professors. This is not a community college. I think students who they really should blame is the TA's. Bruinwalk should have a TA section instead of a Professor one. They are the one's who grade our work, have their personal opinions and give us our grade. Yes Professors can be boring, but they don't grade papers nor are they to be judged completely. I took Prof Burgos for Glob 1 and it was the worst experience I ever had. The class is too broad, too much for a lower division class and if you have a stupid opiniated TA than your out of luck. Professor's lectures are very disorganized, but I can't say he's hard because he doesn't grade our exams, it's the TA's who do so. Overall, not recommended whatsoever unless the TA is nice and easy grader
I don't understand why people blame professors. This is not a community college. I think students who they really should blame is the TA's. Bruinwalk should have a TA section instead of a Professor one. They are the one's who grade our work, have their personal opinions and give us our grade. Yes Professors can be boring, but they don't grade papers nor are they to be judged completely. I took Prof Burgos for Glob 1 and it was the worst experience I ever had. The class is too broad, too much for a lower division class and if you have a stupid opiniated TA than your out of luck. Professor's lectures are very disorganized, but I can't say he's hard because he doesn't grade our exams, it's the TA's who do so. Overall, not recommended whatsoever unless the TA is nice and easy grader
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Most Helpful Review
I took MENAS 191B with Burgos. I was so disappointed with this class, especially since I had heard such great things about him as a global studies professor. My only explanation for this is that the Middle East is too personal of a subject for him to do an effective job teaching a class on it. He was extremely rude and condescending in his remarks on our papers. I consider myself fairly good at taking criticism and growing from it, but the comments he wrote went beyond constructive criticism. He was also rude during office hours and impatient with us during class. On top of that, he actually made several factual mistakes during the course of the class. I think it's possible that he caught his mistakes and that they were just slips of the tongue, but that he is just too cocky to be able to admit when he is wrong. Not recommended for any Middle Eastern related research seminar. Unhelpful. Cocky. Rude. But according to my friends he is fantastic in global studies. Maybe he should just stick to that.
I took MENAS 191B with Burgos. I was so disappointed with this class, especially since I had heard such great things about him as a global studies professor. My only explanation for this is that the Middle East is too personal of a subject for him to do an effective job teaching a class on it. He was extremely rude and condescending in his remarks on our papers. I consider myself fairly good at taking criticism and growing from it, but the comments he wrote went beyond constructive criticism. He was also rude during office hours and impatient with us during class. On top of that, he actually made several factual mistakes during the course of the class. I think it's possible that he caught his mistakes and that they were just slips of the tongue, but that he is just too cocky to be able to admit when he is wrong. Not recommended for any Middle Eastern related research seminar. Unhelpful. Cocky. Rude. But according to my friends he is fantastic in global studies. Maybe he should just stick to that.
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