Professor
Michael Colacurcio
1 of 2
Most Helpful Review
Prof. Colacurcio is really knowledgable about his field, doubtless, but unless you have an insatiable passion for hundreds of pages of Puritan thoughts on religion, do not take his class. He is one of the driest lecturers I have ever listened to and despite his protests that he has never mumbled a day in his life, there are many things that he says for only his podium to hear. His dry sense of humor does alleviate some of the boredom, though. If, however, you find yourself stuck taking his class (as I was), it's nothing to be concerned about. You can easily get an A without doing any of the reading if you take thorough notes in lecture. I did. Write down even the random things he says that seem irrelevant, because they sometimes pop up as trick questions on quizzes. His quizzes are fairly easy as long as you write down what he says in class and go to his review sessions. He's a pretty easy grader on the papers and the final.
Prof. Colacurcio is really knowledgable about his field, doubtless, but unless you have an insatiable passion for hundreds of pages of Puritan thoughts on religion, do not take his class. He is one of the driest lecturers I have ever listened to and despite his protests that he has never mumbled a day in his life, there are many things that he says for only his podium to hear. His dry sense of humor does alleviate some of the boredom, though. If, however, you find yourself stuck taking his class (as I was), it's nothing to be concerned about. You can easily get an A without doing any of the reading if you take thorough notes in lecture. I did. Write down even the random things he says that seem irrelevant, because they sometimes pop up as trick questions on quizzes. His quizzes are fairly easy as long as you write down what he says in class and go to his review sessions. He's a pretty easy grader on the papers and the final.
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2013 - Professor Colacurcio is an outstanding professor. This man is a GRADUATE level professor. The students complaining on this page are just upset that he is not holding their hands every single day. He is very clear and helpful. He is teaching undergraduate level with the excellency of his graduate level knowledge. These 22 year old students just want to be guided because they do not know how to be independent.
Fall 2013 - Professor Colacurcio is an outstanding professor. This man is a GRADUATE level professor. The students complaining on this page are just upset that he is not holding their hands every single day. He is very clear and helpful. He is teaching undergraduate level with the excellency of his graduate level knowledge. These 22 year old students just want to be guided because they do not know how to be independent.
AD
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2017 - Do NOT take classes with Colacurcio. If you can avoid him, do so. The class might as well be called "Emerson's entire collection." If you're into that, congrats. Colacurcio would probably give Emerson a handy if he could. But if you wanted like other authors??like it's not happening. He assigns other readings but doesn't go into as much detail as he does with the Emerson readings - which are pain in the ass. His quizzes (Three quizzes with average 80+ True/False questions) are hard as shit. He had to make them take-home bc my class was so bad at them, but he usually gives 15-20 mins to answer them in class. His essay prompts are unclear. His syllabus is unclear as hell, you don't know which reader to use, the readings aren't clearly labeled at all, adn sometimes he would assign readings not in the readers and not tell you. He doesn't use slides so you just have to put up with 2 hours of BS being spewed out of a 80 y/o man's mouth and HOPE you don't space out for the 10 minutes in total of actual material. The final for this class was so hard he actually had to drop some of the portions of the test bc everyone failed. Yeah, he's an easy grader but it's only because he knows after one quarter with him he made you suicidal. And even then, like I'm pretty sure my solid B is one of the higher grades in the class and that's because I had a study group of like six people and none of us knew what was going on. Don't take him. Not worth the "easy A"
Spring 2017 - Do NOT take classes with Colacurcio. If you can avoid him, do so. The class might as well be called "Emerson's entire collection." If you're into that, congrats. Colacurcio would probably give Emerson a handy if he could. But if you wanted like other authors??like it's not happening. He assigns other readings but doesn't go into as much detail as he does with the Emerson readings - which are pain in the ass. His quizzes (Three quizzes with average 80+ True/False questions) are hard as shit. He had to make them take-home bc my class was so bad at them, but he usually gives 15-20 mins to answer them in class. His essay prompts are unclear. His syllabus is unclear as hell, you don't know which reader to use, the readings aren't clearly labeled at all, adn sometimes he would assign readings not in the readers and not tell you. He doesn't use slides so you just have to put up with 2 hours of BS being spewed out of a 80 y/o man's mouth and HOPE you don't space out for the 10 minutes in total of actual material. The final for this class was so hard he actually had to drop some of the portions of the test bc everyone failed. Yeah, he's an easy grader but it's only because he knows after one quarter with him he made you suicidal. And even then, like I'm pretty sure my solid B is one of the higher grades in the class and that's because I had a study group of like six people and none of us knew what was going on. Don't take him. Not worth the "easy A"
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2021 - Professor Colacurcio is definitely old school. His lectures are fantastic and thought-provoking. His quizzes are tough and long, but he only assigns three. He gives you three days to do them and drops your lowest score. He is lenient with grades and with deadlines. His final was 10 IDs, but he gave 16 passages to choose from... not tough at all if you've reviewed notes. Even though he's gruff, his class is well worth taking. It's important to keep up with reading as much as possible and take detailed notes. Altogether, I would recommend this class to a friend. I learned so much!
Spring 2021 - Professor Colacurcio is definitely old school. His lectures are fantastic and thought-provoking. His quizzes are tough and long, but he only assigns three. He gives you three days to do them and drops your lowest score. He is lenient with grades and with deadlines. His final was 10 IDs, but he gave 16 passages to choose from... not tough at all if you've reviewed notes. Even though he's gruff, his class is well worth taking. It's important to keep up with reading as much as possible and take detailed notes. Altogether, I would recommend this class to a friend. I learned so much!
Most Helpful Review
Professor Colacurcio is nothing short of a joke. He is a shining example of an inept uncaring simpleton who somehow rose to gain the mantel of "Distinguished" Professor which tells me that perhaps it might be much easier to obtain that honor that I had previously thought. He is scatterbrain, late for classes and a joke to most of his students. Avoid his class if at all possible because you will not only learn absolutely nothing but will be subjected to his childish tirades and fits of cursing.
Professor Colacurcio is nothing short of a joke. He is a shining example of an inept uncaring simpleton who somehow rose to gain the mantel of "Distinguished" Professor which tells me that perhaps it might be much easier to obtain that honor that I had previously thought. He is scatterbrain, late for classes and a joke to most of his students. Avoid his class if at all possible because you will not only learn absolutely nothing but will be subjected to his childish tirades and fits of cursing.
AD
Most Helpful Review
I strongly recommend that only 4th year/seniors take Colacurcio. He has dry wit and biting humor; he cusses in class and makes fun of himself, the authors, the students and anyone else under the sun. He does care about his students and he loves his job please be warned: THIS IS NOT AN EASY CLASS. He gives out "shitty little quizzes" (his term), essays, midterm, final and extra reading essay. The reading load is so overwhelming, you will feel like you're back in the 10-series. It's VERY DIFFICULT TO PULL OFF AN A. I think everyone should take at least professor like Cola before they graduate (especially if ENGL is your major/minor) but I can't imagine a first/second year surviving through his course without wrecking his/her GPA. Enjoy! He's a blast :)
I strongly recommend that only 4th year/seniors take Colacurcio. He has dry wit and biting humor; he cusses in class and makes fun of himself, the authors, the students and anyone else under the sun. He does care about his students and he loves his job please be warned: THIS IS NOT AN EASY CLASS. He gives out "shitty little quizzes" (his term), essays, midterm, final and extra reading essay. The reading load is so overwhelming, you will feel like you're back in the 10-series. It's VERY DIFFICULT TO PULL OFF AN A. I think everyone should take at least professor like Cola before they graduate (especially if ENGL is your major/minor) but I can't imagine a first/second year surviving through his course without wrecking his/her GPA. Enjoy! He's a blast :)
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2019 - This class was Sem 1 (Emerson). I thought this class was going to be very hard because of how much I had struggled with Emerson's writing before, but Colacurcio explained in such an elaborate way that I was able to finally understand his writing. Colacurcio is extremely knowledgable in this subject and this seminar highlighted all the information he possessed about Emerson's works. The reading is pretty heavy content-wise, but he analyzes and gives background info about it to help understand the text. Honestly the most intelligent professor I have ever had. He holds very accessible office hours and is always responsive over email. Also, he's pretty funny.
Fall 2019 - This class was Sem 1 (Emerson). I thought this class was going to be very hard because of how much I had struggled with Emerson's writing before, but Colacurcio explained in such an elaborate way that I was able to finally understand his writing. Colacurcio is extremely knowledgable in this subject and this seminar highlighted all the information he possessed about Emerson's works. The reading is pretty heavy content-wise, but he analyzes and gives background info about it to help understand the text. Honestly the most intelligent professor I have ever had. He holds very accessible office hours and is always responsive over email. Also, he's pretty funny.
AD
1 of 2
