Nicholas Bartlett

1 midterm + 1 handwritten final. Should be 2 midterms but the second one was switched to optional.

It’s pass/fail, so he doesn’t really give grades unless you ask for them. Most weeks, you can finish the readings in about an hour. And if the class thinks the reading is too long, he’ll shorten it—you just have to ask. The max is usually 30 pages per class, with a 5-sentence paragraph. There are 3 essays, which is a bit much for a seminar, but honestly, it’s all worth it given how chill and low-pressure the rest of the class is.

The content was great and informative. Would recommend for anyone interested in medical anthropology/East Asian studies. The instructor can be less organized from time to time but if you meet with him he is generous with his time and feedback. If possible, get Eason as your TA he is a gem.

HIGHLY recommend for first-year seminar. It’s super easy, and honestly, you could probably sleep through it (I literally fell asleep all the time, and I sat right next to him, haha). He’s not going to force you to participate, but if you do, it definitely makes the class go by faster. The content is somewhat interesting, though the readings can be kinda boring, but psych isn’t really my thing. Also, if the class brings up tough emotions or is hard for you that day, he’ll literally say you don’t have to go to class, which is pretty chill.

Very harsh grader despite the course itself does not reflect that. It felt like i never knew what he wanted from my work. Not the best at giving feedback that could help either.

He’s a really nice professor, but just not the best at teaching unfortunately. The class felt very unstructured and there was no real learning from him, more just the class led a lot of it, with him chiming in with his own experiences and etc. This class very clearly felt like you needed to have an immense background in China, and without its really hard to grasp anything. He is available for office hours though and is very willing to help you, but it honestly isn’t enough. The content also is a bit tedious.

Readings due every lecture and discussion posts. Readings are dull and dense and the professor makes no attempt at fostering conversation on our interpretations of the text. Much of the lecture is spent lecturing at us, with nothing meaningful coming out of his mouth.

This is my first and last class by Professor Bartlett. If you are taking this class to fulfill the global core requirement, please take any other class. Even if you have no choices and this is the only one open, wait a semester and take a different global core. This class was filled with pointless readings and ramblings by the professor. Many times, I opened my laptop to take notes only for him to ramble about something about the author or his personal experiences as an anthropologist. Furthermore, he is extremely nitpicky about grading and during office hours, and I feel that he was more discouraging about my perspectives and opinions, rather than encouraging dialogue. As a STEM person, I was excited to come to Columbia because of its world renowned humanities classes and I left this one extremely disappointed in the education that I pay tuition for. This is one of the worst classes I have ever taken, and frankly, this class just added stress onto my courseload. I recommend waiting until your senior year to take the Game of Thrones or Pokemon global core, because I actually don't know what the point of this class is.

The course was filled with excessive busy work that added little to my educational experience. Even the professor himself acknowledged this issue, as evidenced by making the second short paper optional. This recognition of the unnecessary workload came too late after students had already endured significant stress. The assignments felt purposeless rather than constructive, adding to my overall negative experience. I cannot emphasize enough how negatively this experience has affected me. Had I known the true nature of this course, I absolutely would have made a different enrollment choice. The emotional toll and wasted academic opportunity have been substantial.

The syllabus presented at the beginning of the semester was completely misleading and bears almost no resemblance to what was covered. This bait-and-switch approach caused me significant stress and frustration throughout the entire semester. I feel misled and disrespected as a student who invested time, money, and effort into what I thought would be a valuable educational experience. This was one of the worst experiences at Columbia. Avoid at all costs. The disorganization was unprecedented in my academic career; I have never encountered a course this poorly structured in either high school or college. What started as a genuine interest in the subject turned into complete disillusionment.