Professor
Gail Lenhoff
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Most Helpful Review
I took Russian 124D with Professor Lenhoff, though it's not listed here so the review will say I took 125 as that is the closest number. She is a great professor. The amount of reading was very large, roughly 2,000 pages, but she chose very interesting novels and I actually enjoyed it. She is very willing to answer questions, no matter when I emailed her I would get a response quickly. Also, she was willing to read the essays before turning them in and gave wonderful feedback. If you're willing to go back and forth with her a bit it shouldn't be too difficult to get an A. Professor Lenhoff is a very good teacher, I enjoyed this course overall and recommend it to anybody with an interest in Dostoevsky.
I took Russian 124D with Professor Lenhoff, though it's not listed here so the review will say I took 125 as that is the closest number. She is a great professor. The amount of reading was very large, roughly 2,000 pages, but she chose very interesting novels and I actually enjoyed it. She is very willing to answer questions, no matter when I emailed her I would get a response quickly. Also, she was willing to read the essays before turning them in and gave wonderful feedback. If you're willing to go back and forth with her a bit it shouldn't be too difficult to get an A. Professor Lenhoff is a very good teacher, I enjoyed this course overall and recommend it to anybody with an interest in Dostoevsky.
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Most Helpful Review
A rather boring professor & lecturer, but an easy class to get an A. The plays we read were interesting, some were outright boring, some I didn't read at all. But if you just attend lectures, take notes, and do what you're asked, you'll get your A. She also dismissed class 20-30 minutes early almost all the time, so that was really nice. I'd rather take a class with somebody else, I'd only take another class with her if i absolutely had to.
A rather boring professor & lecturer, but an easy class to get an A. The plays we read were interesting, some were outright boring, some I didn't read at all. But if you just attend lectures, take notes, and do what you're asked, you'll get your A. She also dismissed class 20-30 minutes early almost all the time, so that was really nice. I'd rather take a class with somebody else, I'd only take another class with her if i absolutely had to.
Most Helpful Review
Nutshell: do not ever, ever take a class with this woman. If you are in her class, drop it. If it's too late to drop it, withdraw. If it's too late to withdraw, welcome to the party. Unlike other reviewers, I quite liked Professor Lenhoff...up until I got my midterm back, the day after the drop deadline. So long, 4.0! Quite frankly, your grade will be completely independent of the quality of your work. It will depend entirely on whether you pass Lenhoff's bizarre tests of character. Generally this means if you're a man, you're screwed. Lenhoff's lectures are essentially content-free repetitions of the material in the textbook, with her own "brilliant" interpretations of the historical record. Oh, yeah, you'd better write down every one of her "corrections" to Riasanovsky, who only LITERALLY WROTE THE BOOK ON THE SUBJECT, whereas Lenhoff has personal insight into THE TRUTH. But like I say, the worst part isn't that she's a terrible lecturer, or that she's an idiot. Those can even be features, in certain classes. The worst part is merely that what you write on the midterm, what you write on the essay, what you write on the final, do not matter and will not play any role in your grade. Taking this class is like playing Russian roulette with all the chambers full.
Nutshell: do not ever, ever take a class with this woman. If you are in her class, drop it. If it's too late to drop it, withdraw. If it's too late to withdraw, welcome to the party. Unlike other reviewers, I quite liked Professor Lenhoff...up until I got my midterm back, the day after the drop deadline. So long, 4.0! Quite frankly, your grade will be completely independent of the quality of your work. It will depend entirely on whether you pass Lenhoff's bizarre tests of character. Generally this means if you're a man, you're screwed. Lenhoff's lectures are essentially content-free repetitions of the material in the textbook, with her own "brilliant" interpretations of the historical record. Oh, yeah, you'd better write down every one of her "corrections" to Riasanovsky, who only LITERALLY WROTE THE BOOK ON THE SUBJECT, whereas Lenhoff has personal insight into THE TRUTH. But like I say, the worst part isn't that she's a terrible lecturer, or that she's an idiot. Those can even be features, in certain classes. The worst part is merely that what you write on the midterm, what you write on the essay, what you write on the final, do not matter and will not play any role in your grade. Taking this class is like playing Russian roulette with all the chambers full.
Most Helpful Review
I took Russian 25. I really enjoyed the class because its assignments were just to read (and enjoy) Russian literature: it was my first time reading most of the novels (especially Crime and Punishment and Anna Karenina), and Professor Lenhoff's discussions helped me appreciate the structure and themes of both works. I also felt that both works gave me a more worldly and wise point of view of life, which made them even more enjoyable. The reading does get really long at the end, but the novels are quite long themselves, and the length should not be the reason to not read it. Take the class and be exposed to some great works that you might not have time otherwise to read.
I took Russian 25. I really enjoyed the class because its assignments were just to read (and enjoy) Russian literature: it was my first time reading most of the novels (especially Crime and Punishment and Anna Karenina), and Professor Lenhoff's discussions helped me appreciate the structure and themes of both works. I also felt that both works gave me a more worldly and wise point of view of life, which made them even more enjoyable. The reading does get really long at the end, but the novels are quite long themselves, and the length should not be the reason to not read it. Take the class and be exposed to some great works that you might not have time otherwise to read.
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