Columbia College Core · Columbia University
Very lighted-weighted LitHum experience! Professor Meisel asks for two 150-250 words response each week, graded by completion, one submitted to courseworks and one completed in class. Apart from that, two papers, one midterm, and one final. We get one revision chance for each paper, so we also get to enhance our grades by one or half a letter. The exams are, well, usual LitHum exams.
Professor Meisel is a super nice instructor in the first place. She never presses anyone even when we say something that is apparently wrong (like factually against the book). She also tolerates students slightly late to class or miss the deadline (like when I forgot the paper was actually due Saturday := not Sunday). I bet it would be easy to ask her for extensions. In teaching, Professor Meisel leads the discussion for us to get a good understanding of the text, the way I'd image the course to be.
Fair and very manageable. There’s the normal Lit Hum reading, two papers, a midterm and a final, but the class never feels stressful because she structures everything clearly and gives great guidance. Pretty sure she gives good grades across the board (and she gives A+s as well).
Professor Meisel is genuinely one of the best teachers I’ve ever had. She’s incredibly thoughtful, supportive, and sharp, and she knows exactly how to guide a conversation without dominating it. She asks the kind of questions that make you rethink the text in the best way, and she explains difficult concepts with total clarity. She cares about her students, pays attention to how everyone is doing, and creates a classroom environment where you actually want to participate. Lit Hum is a big lineup of foundational texts, but she makes them feel alive and relevant. Instead of just “checking off” classic works, she helps you see the structure, themes, and human questions running through them. It never felt dry, she connected everything in a way that made the course feel cohesive and meaningful. She is also just super kind and sweet. 10/10 class
No A+ unless you are a huge suck up :( and the readings are long though but that’s characteristic of all lithum classes. Do the work and you’ll be fine
Super nice professor. Brought pizza and dessert for us for final review and midterm could be dropped if wanted. Nice grading with reading responses that she gives you feedback on but isn’t graded.
short discussion posts before class, 2 papers, 1 midterm and 1 final
Can confirm after six years Maude is still God (see the 2016 review). Super knowledgeable and so understanding like probably over half of the class got extensions on their papers at some point. Never stressed about about this class but learned so much and Maude is extremely helpful when it comes to writing papers if you just schedule an appointment with her. Also really glad that Maude only assigns papers and no creative projects with sus rubrics which just make everything unnecessarily stressful. I've sat in lithum with four different professors and Maude is just honestly the best and seem the most experienced when it comes to leading class discussions.