Kristie Schlauraff

There were 4 essays – critical response, conversion, research, opinion editorial worth 20%, 25%, 35%, 20% of the grade, respectively – then smaller writing assignments (~1 paragraph each) due for majority of the class sessions that were required, but not graded. The papers had two separate deadlines – one for creating formal drafts that would get reviewed by Prof. Schlauraff herself and my classmates, and the final one due ~2 weeks later. Overall, I found the workload to be mostly manageable, whereas the only exception was for the research paper, which had felt fairly hefty considering the time span we had to work on its original draft. The grading felt fair and not too harsh for these, so I would say the class was fairly doable. The main thing I’d say to keep in mind when taking the course is to pace yourself well with the assignments so you don’t end up cramming everything in a minimal amount of days.

4 essays (20%, 25%, 40%, 15%). Three drafts per essay. Only the final draft matters as long as you submit your other assignments. She is happy to grant extensions. I think her grading is harsher than average, although it might just be my skill issue.

Professor Schlauraff is amazing! I took her contemporary essay UW section and found it engaging. She is always energetic and friendly in class. I liked free writing and panel discussions. She would review each essay at least once and leave detailed feedback. She was often busy, but was usually happy to squeeze time for me. She usually replies to her emails within 2 days. The only drawback is that she turned contemporary essay into medical humanities. I personally didn't mind, but if you don't like medical humanities, do not take this class. The readings included essays on pain and disability justice, which I liked, but many of my peers found unsettling or hard to relate to.

Prof Schlauraff made my UW experience engaging and I learned a lot. She cares about her students and is a really funny professor. She made Zoom summer classes engaging. She was a fair grader.

I felt that her grading was fair and that the assignments were helpful. I greatly appreciated her feedback since it helped me to improve as a writer.

Coming into this class I was pretty nervous about my writing abilities. I hadn't taken a writing course in years and as a STEM major did not find a lot of time to practice in other classes either. Kristie was amazing though and she helped me to fall in love with writing again even though I found it difficult. University Writing by its nature will be a heavy workload class, but I felt that all of the other assignment I did (usually in class if possible) helped me become a better writer. She is very passionate about her topic and allows students to write about their own passions as well, making this class more personal. I would highly recommend taking her class if you can!

Normal load, too many readings that were boring that you had to get through some of them being depressing asf. these assignments aren't graded. Your standard 4 essays.

If you are one strong writer and want to challenge yourself by all means take this professor. If your writing is not the greatest I would highly not recommend taking this class. This was medical humanities. I will say she's a nice lady. I worked very hard for this class and attended office hours EVERY week and have to say she was helpful but I never was able to go from that B to an A. I would also work in the writing center and try my best, but it was not good enough. She has super high standards for writing and it's not about improvements it's about having a spectacular essay. For the first essay write abt the knife, I can't remember the other paper but it was the last one and it's harder to analyze and everyone who wrote it on that essay got a worse grade. I also was in the hospital and Ironically for a medical humanities class I would think she was supportive but no. She refused to let me zoom into class so those days I missed I had to review all her slides on my own. She gave me extensions but if you have a chronic health problem I will tell you there are lots of other professors that will teach more effectively and yield better results. I also was warned about her by a student I had met but it was too late as it was the 3rd week. I was told she picks favorites and that you just need to kiss her ass. Just take another professor you will help yourself by reading this review…

I took UW (Medical Humanities) with Prof. Schlauraff in Spring 2022. She was an engaging instructor when it came to exploring writing about health topics through the lens of the University Writing course. We had class activities that didn’t feel very intimidating to participate in based on a fairly balanced set of readings. She was very approachable as a professor inside and outside of the classroom, and understanding when it came to writing the papers. I remember when we were working on our longest paper (the research essay), she reassured us not to worry about it so heavily since we had been writing it (and by extension, taking UW) at the beginning of our academic careers and that there would always be room to improve down the line. To that end, I would say I had a very solid experience.