While the final grade isn't confirmed yet, I think Gillespie is a wonderful professor and I would highly recommend his class as a GE. There is a lot of reading though, but the only things that go into the gradebook are the midterm and final essay. Hes very nice, very chill & makes his class engaging. Answers questions very promptly too. I only recall using one chapter of the textbook so it really isn't that important. The important readings are given as pdf's on Canvas. No gradebook, you will need to print out your essays and they get marked on the paper btw.

i really enjoyed this class. gillespie is a GREAT and ENGAGING lecturer. he does not post slides or record lectures (my downfall). but his lectures were so fun, the course content was deeply relevant and interesting, and it was at 12:30, so i came to class a lot. it is one of those classes where your grades are only comprised of a midterm and final essay, but it's not too bad.

i recommend this class for anyone interested in healthcare, medicine, or seeking to work in those fields. what you get out of the class really depends on what you put in - gillespie is a good person to ask questions and talk with abt class concepts. he is a bit hard to reach over email tho :')

One of the nicest professors ever! The lecture itself was super interesting. However, it could be a bit confusing at times. It is a lot of hypotheticals and philosophical questions, so when it felt confusing, I would go to office hours, which was a huge help. There are no tests, only essays, but definitely work hard on them since they count for nearly all of your grade. I would love to have him again as a professor, and I highly recommend this class!

I took Religion 55 with him, and his lectures were all very engaging, especially for a topic that can get boring very easily.
I’m selling required books for this class at less than new value!! (Balboni, Barnes, and Kidder books) Text at **********

Lectures are just all the professor talking, but you can get good information out of his lectures. He does technically keep repeating the same general idea, but it's not too bad if you're willing to sit through it. Lectures are NOT recorded and slides are not posted (but you don't really need them). There are participation points, but you just being in lectures is good enough (it's okay to miss a few as long as you let him know). There were three papers, but the prompts are well written so you should know what you have to write. There are lots of readings to do, but don't be intimidated by the list of the readings. I ended up not reading everything on the syllabus but just read enough so I could do the papers. If you ever have questions, don't be afraid to ask Professor Gillespie. He is very nice and accommodating, and is willing to help no matter what. He also goes over most of the readings in great detail.

Gillespie is a great professor. Honestly, I did not find the material super interesting. Had this been a normal professor I probably would have spent more than half of each lecture zoned out, however, his lecturing style is super engaging. He is super passionate about what he is teaching and this is what makes the class fun. If you are willing to work you will get at least an A- , but the material is dense. He is super helpful and will always be willing to work with you if you put in the effort. Overall, I thought he was a great professor. If I had of been more interested in the material it probably would have been one of my favorite classes taken at UCLA so far.

Professor Gillespie is great! He always came prepared to lecture and encouraged discussion of the material during class. The class moves pretty quickly and there was a lot of information to cover (some of it being kind of abstract and not as easy to follow), but Gillespie was always reachable either by email if you had questions or after class. There were not sit down exams, just two papers. The midterm paper was a lot of work but it wasn't difficult to do well on it and the final paper was actually not as long and the midterm. Overall, an enjoyable class with a wonderful professor who had a lot of energy and excitement about what he was teaching.

I had to drop this class because of a scheduling conflict, but since there are so little reviews about him, I thought I would still share my experience. This review is for religion 55 by the way

Ryan Gillespie is super engaging and you can tell he really cares about his students and our opinions. I have never had a teacher so eager to read one of my essays (he would go on in class about how excited he was to read our interpretations and opinions, and you could really tell that he was being genuine). Hence, he really is an engaging lecturer and I loved talking to him

One thing that I struggled with was how quickly he went over the slides in class and all in all the pace of the class was super quick. I love writing my notes by hand, but in this class, this was simply not possible if you wanted to gather a lot of information.

If I ever need to cover a GE again, I would love to take him again! I am not at all interested in religion, but his way of talking and his enthusiasm is contagious. He was really kind and I think that he also has a great grade distribution...

Ok this class was a bit weird. Not really because of the curriculum but the people in it. There were like a few girls who constantly flirted with the professors and it was just uncomfy. Like they took classes with him before and knew him or something and the rest of us were just like... ok. But yeah other than that weird part, this class was fine. There were a ton of difficult-to-read readings... so I just didn't do them. Don't be like me though because it really bit me in the ass later because you have to write papers on the readings. He doesn't post any recordings of his lectures and also doesn't post his slides so you have to go to lecture. Also, he goes really fast so you can't even get the info down. So it's pretty reliant on these difficult readings. But other than that, this class was not that bad because you can easily BS your way through.

Professor is engaging and funny, however makes it difficult by not posting any slides. He also loves going on funny tangents which can be entertaining but can get a bit boring. If you miss a couple lessons like I did you can fall behind easily. Luckily you only need to do 3 essays throughout the quarter which with common sense and a bit of material can get you an A pretty well. Sometimes material can get a bit long. Overall would recommend if you are interested in philosophy and the various methodologies of healing over the years. It was definitely a rewarding class to finish