Neill, Dawn  

Dr. Neill\'s Cultural Anthropology class was easily one of the most entertaining classes I\'ve taken at Poly. She is always upbeat, knows a whole hell of a lot about the subject, and doesn\'t just stick with the lecture material; she augments almost everything with a welcome tidbit from her personal experience. (If you want to know anything about Fiji or Bangladesh, she\'s been to both.) She also plays a song for the class at least once a week and somehow ties it in to the subject of the day, and though I\'ve had teachers do this in the past, it was often just an excuse for them to play the same tired old Eagles songs they liked when they were 25. Oh by the way, the class is really easy. There\'s a lot of reading, but it\'s not a dense textbook, it\'s more of a collection of 5-15 page accounts of, well, anthropology. There are five SHORT writing assignments (easiest A\'s in the history of grading), plus an easy (multiple choice) midterm and (also multiple choice) final. I would definitely take Dr. Neill again.

Dr. Neill is an amazing professor. She mixes up lectures with power points, videos, songs..etc. I had this class for 4 hours once a week on Wednesday nights and I still never hated going to class. Grade is based on 1 midterm, 5 blogs and a final. The exams are a very fair representation of the lectures and readings. The blogs are about readings from a book and they are really not hard if you space them out throughout the quarter. Too bad Dr. Neill is going to Thailand for like a year, but take her once she returns. She

This teacher is basically retarded. She talked during lecture non-stop although she did have a break in the middle. She makes a boring class seem even more boring and she is basically just reading straight from the book. Any questions people have she answers like a politician answering nothing. The tests do not accurately test you on the material and instead include bullshit questions. If you do not like your brain melting do not take this teacher.

Class was a total bore. I don't really care about what other people are saying because she has changed her style of teaching. Yes, every once in a while she throws some tidbit of information from her life but everything she says is just fluff around the information on the slides. She has the POSSIBILITY of being easy if you put the time in to read all the short stories and memorize the details on the slide, BUT DO NOT PISS HER OFF (AS A CLASS) BECAUSE SHE WILL CHANGE THE DIFFICULTY OF THE CLASS BASED ON HOW MUCH SHE LIKES THE CLASS. She got pissed off about people being on facebook during her lectures and it was all down hill from there. I got an A on the first midterm and a C+ on the second with the same amount of studying. Also, she graded our blogs harshly. If you want to risk it, by all means go for it. It's not calculus or anything people.

Great class, very interesting and cool. Even better teacher! Dawn was super awesome and I definitely recommend this class. She's really hot too. (just had to throw that in there). I learned a lot about different cultures and she kept us interested for the full 2 hours. Pretty easy, I should have gotten an A but ended up with a B. TAKE HER! Only problem I had with this class was the religion lecture...as a christian I feel that she took a somewhat cheap shot at christianity in that lecture by basically saying that all religion is made to fulfill the needs of man. She's definitely a liberal, but she does a pretty good job of keeping the class unbiased.

Honestly, I don't know how Neill's rating was so high. I had first rotation when I took this class and her polyrating was so high and made her seem like such a great teacher I figured it'd be an easy B and if I worked enough I could get an A. 2 hour lectures were long, and all we did was fill in the blank which seemed like enough until you got to the midterm on week 5. It was so specific and there were so many details (Especially about these family tree things that you only go over in one lecture). Your grade is composed of 25% cultural readings blog, 25% midterm, and 50% final. A lot of people didn't show up since it was a lecture and she kept getting upset about that. Uh look, it's college. She seemed to know a lot about material, but didn't always present it in the clearest fashion. She's clearly busy doing her own anthropology work in Fiji, and teaching just isn't her first priority. Maybe I just had too high of expectations for the class, but someone needed to post that Neill shouldnt have a 4.0 poly rating.

Neill was alright. The grade was made up of three tests, video write-ups, and 4 short essays that really made the grade that you got fair. I barely even opened my book, except for the short essay topics, and just have to study the power points for the test. Make sure you go to class to get the notes though! They are key in studying!

Dr. Neill is an excellent professor and her lectures were compelling for the most part. I always enjoyed coming to this class. We had four short blogs based off readings in the book due at the end of the quarter which were pretty easy and interesting to write about. However, make sure you review the notes and chapters before each exam. The tests are multiple choice with some true/false and a few short answers, but she puts a lot of pretty detailed questions on there. As long as you attend class regularly and pay attention during the lecture it's a good GE to take.

Dr. Neill was a fine lecturer, except that a lot of people asked the same questions over and over and she would still answer the same question again and again. Some people probably liked that but I wish she would have referred people to the syllabus rather than wasting my time. What really bothered me though was her lack of organization. She cancelled multiple classes after we had been there for 30 min because of technology issues. She had to leave town the day of our midterm and accidentally gave us the wrong version of the exam that had material we weren't responsible for (she gave us back the points but made for a stressful test taking experience). This was around week 4. Then she didn't get our exam grades back to us until the end of week 8, so basically for the entire quarter I had no idea how well I was doing in the class. We ended up skipping a ton of the class material because she was gone so much and we just never covered it (I understand that she missed for personal reasons that quarter in particular but it just made my experience with her as a professor a bad one). Overall, her class wasn't hard or horrible, just really unorganized.

She honestly is not that bad. She knows what she is talking about and is very passionate. She is slightly disorganized but other than that she makes the class pretty easy. Get her notes offline and just fill in the blanks. IT HELPS SO MUCH. There are 2 midterms,4 essays (you have so much time do to them), and a final. There are also video summaries but those are interesting and easy to take notes on in class. This is a nice easy general ed class that I would highly recommend if you don't want a heavy work load! She is also really helpful in office hours when she is in her office... That's her only downfall.. Other than that she is cool!

Shes an excellent professor. Easy class. The material is pretty important to know too so even though it gets kind of boring sometimes it does help me get a hold of some interesting societal ideas.

This isn't a hard class. Lectures can get boring at times, but Neill is very reasonable on the tests that are mostly based off in-class material. I received A's on both midterms and a D on final (C with curve), which was due to seshing it the night before the final and after a hard week of studying for other classes. Overall, not a bad class, definitely one you can cram if you don't keep up to date on the readings, but being in class or getting notes from someone who goes is definitely vital for victory.

This teacher is awful. She is totally contradictory and thinks she's the shit. I barely got a B in the class, even when I studied everyday. She told us the final would be non-cumulative, yet it definitely wasn't. I emailed her about it, and her response was that she did say that, yet, "everything we covered was fair game." So..I was very annoyed with her teaching style. Her lectures are boring and pointless to attend because of how dry the information is. Though I did have her at 8 AM, I never felt intrigued by what she said. She was also always in a mood, and randomly treated us like shit. Overall, it was just a bad experience and I would definitely not recommend this professor.

I loved Professor Neill! I took Anthropology with no prior knowledge on the topic and was so happy with the class. She was so informed and had so much field experience in Anthropology. She told stories about her own experiences which made the class so much more enjoyable. It was quite a bit of work for a GE, some mandatory reading that you have to do because you have to write a minimum number of reading summaries for the end of the quarter. I studied very hard for her final because it was Friday and I had time but I got almost 100%. It was matching, fill in the blank and multiple choice. The class consisted of lots of movies too so that was nice. I recommend this class for sure.

Mediocre teacher. Knows a lot about Fiji. Basic professor. The only reason I'm even bothering to submit a review here is because she brings her personal politics into the classroom all while masquerading a facade of neutrality and open-mindedness. Its pathetic. She slams people whom she obviously does not know anything about (let alone how to pronounce their name) and encourages students to protest certain events (like the 2016 election) and offered extra credit to students who participate. She low-key encouraged protesting a speaker coming to campus (who admittedly has some incendiary rhetoric) but ultimately this is tantamount to protesting free speech. If she would not bring her obvious reeking political bias into the classroom I would enjoy the class more and respect her. She parrots whatever media outlets she subscribes to and expects her students to agree with her. Your politics have nothing to do with the learning objectives outlined in the syllabus. I do not pay several thousands of dollars a year to listen to your political drivel. Stick to the subject matter, not your feelings. All that to say, she seems like a nice person...I think.

I never submit a PolyRating, but this needs to be known. She had to audacity to offer the class extra credit points to attend an alternative event in her attempt to dissuade class to attend a conservative speaker that happened to be on campus... disgusting. Otherwise, she seems nice I guess.

She is very experienced in the field of anthropology and the personal stories she incorporates into lecture make the material a lot more interesting. Lecture is easy, she gives you fill in the blank powerpoint slides and she will fill in the answers during class (you need to be in class for the answers which kind of sucks but it's motivation to go). Several videos which are usually interesting and manage to keep most people's attention. She says she wants a video summary after the in class videos but about halfway through the quarter she got lazy and just had a sign in sheet (easy points). There's readings posted for every lecture, but I only read the ethnographies (which are referred to on tests) and was fine. 4 one page essays due throughout the quarter, but you pick the due dates...don't cram them though. They're not difficult but if you do 4 in one night it's just a pain. 2 midterms and 1 final. *important: A lot of the material covered seems to be common sense. But honestly, when you get to the test you will realize it's not. Even if some of the material seems unnecessary to study, trust me you will want to study it anyways. If you don't you will easily bomb the tests. Overall, interesting class with a reasonable amount of work. Prof. Neill is a really sweet and intelligent woman who is always respectful of differing cultural views. Would recommend.

Not only did I find this class interesting but it was also just a great straightforward GE. Your grade consists of Inquisitives (study modules) which take some time but are an easy A, 2 midterms, and a noncumulative final. The tests were all based on the lectures, show showing up to class and taking notes is a must, but the material is explained in depth and easy to understand. I also found Dr. Neill to be such an interesting professor because of her passion for the subject and how she relates a lot of concepts to her own fieldwork. I would definitely recommend this class!

Lectures: usually went the full two hours :( but she had a lot of material to present. Homework load: Good amount of reading. We have to post 10 blogs through out the quarter about the readings....so you kinda have to read. Plus she has a question from each reading on the test. (easy though) Tests: Questions weren't super direct...More critical thinking kind of tests...but if you were there for the lecture you don't have to study that much out of class time. You can do a C or better from just lectures. Quizzes: none...jus 2 midterms and the final. Teacher in General: Really nice and loves answering questions! Good teacher!

Dr. Neil is an exceptional teacher. This class was very interesting, covering the history of ANT, evolution, the fossil record and everything in between. This course IS hard and demands that you not only do the reading (which isn't that much) but also take time to THINK about the concepts taught in lecture and in the book. In addition there are 12 "tutorials" that are handed in on the day of the final exam- they are NOT difficult to do and if you spend 5-10 mins a week on them you will surly get an A. Be sure to attend the lectures, they account for up to 90% of the exams (which are non-cummulative). In conclusion, I think the best thing about Dr. Neil is that she is always willing to help you. She is very approachable and if you take the time to go talk to her (office hours) you will leave not only glad that you did but also a bit smarter.

I went into the final with a high C, came out with a D. Dawn reads straight off her powerpoints, yet expects you to know more than she covers about the material. The class is 3 tests and "tutorials", as opposed to the section with online midterms and a zoo paper. She is a nice person, however, does not understand the fact that she is hard to follow and the tests are relatively difficult. I recomment taking Rucas.

Her lectures were clear, but even if you did show up to every class and go over the lecture notes it's difficult to do well. If she is in a bad mood she will show it in class. In my opinion she is not approachable and if you ask for help to explain the material more clearly she is in no way helpful. Not everybody that takes this class has the background knowledge and it's a GE to some of us! Do yourself a favor and don't take this teacher.

Wait, people like her? Her lectures are unorganized and she's quite pretentious, if you ask me. She constantly assures that she's being politically correct, so much so that it interferes with getting a point across. She'll catch herself saying "man" and correct it to "human". Like, really? We get it. Who cares? Keep teaching. She could talk about a slide for 10 minutes and say nothing worth noting. She'll dumb some things down so much that it's insulting while grazing over others. And don't bother asking questions; her answers likely won't help. She assures you that this entry level ANT class will prepare you for more Anthropology classes in the future. I've taken probably 10 ANT classes in my time at Poly (this was my last) and yeah... none of this shit matters in any later classes, at least in my experience. Anthropology as presented as a science, as in this class, is laughable. How do you combine the topics of racism, mitosis, and the human skeletal system? You'll find out if you take this class; the material is disparate and hodge-podged together. She'll test you on minutia points and expects way too much memorization for a 200 level GE class. The first test was easy and the second was bad. She considered giving us 2 points on questions that SHE wrote to be muddy and unclear to be a "curve". No. Not a curve. Everyone I know did significantly worse on the 2nd test. I got an A on the first and a C- on the second. Don't even get me started about the "tutorials" she assigns. She assigns the most ambiguous assignment I've ever had in my college career and then acts perplexed that students could be so confused by it. She gives you so much freedom that it's impossible to tell what the hell she actually wants. "Do whatever works for you" is what she always says. Well, flipping through lecture slides 100 times is what works for me, so I waste hours making "study aids" that don't help me and end up being busy work just so that I can get a grade on an assignment that she complains about grading. So basically, 2 midterms, a final, and this unhelpful tutorial bullshit, which you don't turn in until the final... so half your grade is undetermined when you walk in the classroom at the time of the final (the final is 31% and the tutorials are 19%). That's way too much of your grade to be determined on one day. And she doesn't believe in extra credit, so don't even bother. Take this class with Rucas if you can.

Neill honestly could not give two shits about any of the students in her class. If that isn't bad enough she's a boring, unorganized (understatement) teacher with a horrible 'better-than-thou' complex. If you really like memorizing dental patterns of monkeys and apes as well as other useless facts then take this class. Study all you want but if you have more than 12 units you're probably not getting the grade you should be, let alone the grade you want.

To start off with her god qualities, Dr. Neill is very articulate and very good at making herself clear. She will not move on in a lecture until she's asked everyone if they understand. It can honestly get a bit irritating because she does it after each slide, but at least it is for a good reason. She has a nice demeanor but also somewhat intimidating. The class is definitely a challenge- do not take this lightly. So much information to carry and a lot of it will be on the exams. Not an easy A by any means. In fact, a C is more likely. But other than that, I now understand why some students shy away from it. Concepts are difficult to grasp here.

I took this class as a freshman and it is an easy A. even though the powerpoints are long they tell you 80% of what you need for the tests. there's also reading but it really isn't bad especially if you break it up like she does on the syllabus and if you like anatomy/biology type subjects. the class is really straightforward and Neill is so good at teaching you if you have the attention span to listen to her. she does a really good job of answering questions and is so frickin nice.

I had Neill for ANT 250, which is biological anthropology...it should be called overwhelmingly complex and irrelevant primatology. Unless you want to memorize endless facts about primates and their scientific names, do not take this class! It's extremely time consuming and dull material. I barely passed. And one thing - be sure to put in a decent amount of effort on the integration project. It's the only thing in the gradebook besides her exams and it'll save your grade - it's the only reason I passed.

Neill is an awesome teacher. This is one of the best classes I've taken here. She is so nice and helpful and the class is absolutely fascinating. Definitely take her if you are into history, evolution, and just the human race in general. Her class is easy to keep up with and the way she organizes the information makes it so easy to learn and remember. Take this course! Amazing teacher!

Neill is one of the worst teachers i've had at cal poly. I fall asleep in almost every one of her lectures because they are so boring. Her test are IMPOSSIBLE and are fill in the blanks. I would not recommend this class to anyone. There is too much pointless information to memorize for a GE. DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS.

Doctor Neill's class was extremely engaging and interesting. She has conducted a variety of research in her field work in Fiji and her passion for her career definitely shines through during her lectures. She does not read off the slides, and she offers extremely useful side-notes-- so make sure you pay attention & take down notes when she is not reading bits off the slides. Dr. Neill is always willing to answer questions, especially after class- so take advantage of that if you did not understand something during the lecture. Ant-250 is extremely fascinating if you enjoy learning about human evolution and the adaptations that have developed due to our behavior. One tip I have for this class is to take notes in a notebook during class & after class, print the lecture notes off of Poly Learn. Although it's expensive to print 20-30 pages, it is so worth it. Being able to fill in the blanks of her power points after the lecture helps to test your knowledge & determine how much you actually absorbed during class. Overall, Dr. Neill was a great professor.

Overall, I had a good experience with Dr. Neill. Her lectures were oftentimes a bit dry, but that's mainly due to the nature of the subject. She's very clear, precise, and knowledgeable and she tries her best to make the material accessible to students. I would say attending class is vital to your grade, as a lot of the exam material is from lecture. With that said, exams tend to be primarily memorization (something I'm not fond off) and no study guide is given. Because of that, the midterms+final lean a bit on the difficult side. Ultimately I learned a lot, but I wouldn't consider this an "easy" class.

Lecture was very boring but at times some what interesting. The exams and final were multiple choice and fill in the blank. It's crucial you attend each class to do well on the exams. She does post her notes on Polylearn but they are left with blank spaces and incomplete. It's a lot of memorization and a tough GE course.

I don't know if Professor Neill just wasn't my type of teacher, but I really struggled with this class. I don't really get science, which obviously didn't help, but the way she presented the material was just awful. It was so dull and boring and at 8am I found myself falling asleep quite often. The grade consists of a short essay, two midterms, and a final. I feel like if she had homework or some assignment to help me study, I could've done better in the class. If you're the science type, she might be fine for you, but I had a really hard time learning from her.

I'm normally not into science, so I was dreading taking biological anthropology, but it ended up being one of my favorite classes. Neill's lectures are very straight forward and she makes them interesting.

Probably the most interesting and intellectual person I've ever had the pleasure to learn from. She knows her stuff, but more than that, cares a great deal about it. 100% recommend attending office hours, if not just for your grade, but to truly grasp her intellect and interest in her line of work. You'll need to dedicate yourself to this class to get a good grade because she does not mess around. She wants you to do well, but expects you to do your part in the process, as any great professor should. Definitely recommend her class. Sad that it's over.

This was hands down the worst GE I took at Cal Poly. It was a lecture of 200 or so people and she made this class so hard. Why do I need to know the classification of all the primates from the dawn of evolution to present day? I studied so much and didn't do well on the tests. Also she was really unhelpful in office hours when I went in to understand how to study more effectively. Avoid at all costs if you're taking this for a GE.

Dawn is my favorite teacher. You can just see how much she loves her job as an anthropologist and she uses her current work in Fiji as a learning tool in class. It is neat seeing the subject matter put into effect. Some may say her lectures are boring, and initially she does seem quite business-like, but you can hear her get excited during her lectures and I find it quite endearing. There are two-midterms and a final which consist of multiple choice and short answer questions. These tests are hard, but if you go to class, pay attention to the lecture/powerpoint, take notes when Dawn reads off of her side-notes (which are extremely helpful), and READ THE TEXT then you will do well. Last, she has this quarter-long project called the Integration project which consists of study guides from each section that you will turn in before your final. I procrastinated, and that's why I got a B, because I ended up doing the project instead of studying for the final. I'm a little bitter, but it was self-inflicted. All in all, I think Dawn is a great instructor: 10/10 would take again.

I was placed into this class fall quarter for a GE, and all I can say is AVOID THIS CLASS. There are so many better GEs you can take in place of it. Unless you are extremely interested in anthropology, this class is irrelevant to you. It's full of a lot of memorizing (words you have never heard of before) and in the end you are expected to be able to name the genius and species of random skulls she puts in front of the room for the final. Mind you the tests are hard! I do well in school and I could barely speak out C's on each exam. She is a nice woman, and seems sincerely into anthropology, but it really should be a class only anthro majors take. It was a such a horrible class that here I am-- 6 months later writing my first poly rating just to save a few souls next year.

Neill is one of my favorite teachers at Cal Poly so far. Her class can be pretty challenging for some, but anyone who attends lectures and takes good notes will do well in this class. I took the class as a general ed requirement, but ended up changing my major to anthropology because I found it so interesting. It did take a lot of studying for the exams, but her tests were well-structured and consistent. The exams all had similar formats, so they were pretty predictable. Her class notes are easy to follow along with, and she posts them online. Do the readings and go to class if you want a good grade. I highly recommend actually talking to her and going to her office hours, as she has a lot of fascinating stories and experience. You can never have a dull conversation with her. Don't trust the negative reviews - I honestly don't know why she doesn't have a higher rating. I look forward to taking another of her classes in the future.

Dr. Neill was awesome! I found her lectures to be very engaging and interesting. I highly recommend her. My biggest piece of advice in the class is to use your computer to take notes. Her lectures are available online with missing words and phrases on the slides that you fill in. DO NOT write your notes in a notebook - do them on the powerpoint slides you download. I did took notes for the firsts exam, and got a C. The next two exams I scored over 20 points higher. THE BREAKDOWN: 400 points total - 100 points for the first two exams. 125 points for the final exam. 75 points for the "Integration" project - an easy 75/75 assignment to create study aides for all 3 exams which provides a cushion for your final grade rather than a curve. THE STYLE: Dr. Neill is a "classic" anthropology professor - seems very excited about the subject, has progressive/liberal views, but is still relatively traditional in grading and lecture style. She will occasionally talk about current political/social issues which sometimes deviate from the course content, but I don't think she can help herself in molding the next generation of leaders.

Dr. Neill's class is challenging - there is a looooot you have to memorize. That being said, the concepts are pretty interesting. Your grade is made up of 3 exams and an "integration project" which is essentially just a study guide that is actually very helpful when it comes time for exams. I found the first concept area uninteresting (it was basically just biology) but as the class went on, the material became much more interesting. I actually began to enjoy lectures once she moved on to the human skeleton and primate traits. I wouldn't necessarily recommend this class if you're looking for an easy A, but it is a good way to get a biological science out of the way if you, like me, really dislike general biology. Neill can seem a bit intimidating at first but she is a nice lady with a wealth of knowledge about the subject she teaches, and one can definitely learn a lot from her.

Looking at previous reviews of the class, I had a way different take on the class versus the majority of these reviewers. But here's my take on the class. Don't even bother buying the textbook. I bought the e-version for $60 suggested by Dr. Neill, and I made the point of taking notes on the chapters before we covered in the class and it was a total waste of time - the readings are 40 pages a night and if you want to get a better knowledge of the class, I guess buy the book and just read the chapters beforehand but I quickly realized after the first test that 98% of the questions on the test are solely based on her lectures and I spent too much of my time taking notes. So take it from me, don't buy the book unless you think you need an extra hand. And for the questions that weren't on the lectures, the always had multiple choice so got to guess. The only difficult part I guess was the fill in the blank portions but those questions were super easy and pretty big ideas important to the chapters. There's true or false, tons of matching questions (easiest points there!), multiple choice, fill in the blank, then bonus points. There is a lot of material to memorize for the test, but the test is fairly easy and straightforward - the questions aren't complex or difficult to understand (pretty easily phrased), but only if you actually looked at the lecture material. For every one of the three tests, she offered extra credit in the form of tons of bonus points, sometimes around 7 points! She is pretty knowledgeable on the material. If you want an A, take the time to really, like really, know the material on the lectures and do well on the project. The project was easy - just follow the directions and you'll be fine. Do part of the study guides that correspond to the test before the exam, because it helps you study and so you won't get overloaded before the final. And the study guides on the project are so easy - don't overthink it. She seemed pretty nice - I never went to her office hours or asked questions so I can't really offer a perspective on her personality. Make sure to attend the lectures since what she talks about will be on the test even though attendance isn't graded. Either print out the lecture notes and fill in the blanks as you go during the lecture or download the slides onto your laptop. Just put in the work, memorize everything, and you'll do great in the class. Also, if you liked the subject of the course as I did, it's easier to put in the work.

Neill is overall a very educated professor and knows most of the material she presents very well. She's pretty dry to listen to in lectures though, almost like she's literally reading a textbook. She's NOT tolerant of student's needs or difficulties or at least she was not with myself and other classmates. She showed a video in class that was not even released to the general public yet and told us that if we didn't come to class on the day she showed it you can watch it on amazon. Later when students emailed her saying the movie would not be released until later that year she basically said "not my problem" and handed out zero's. I'm a good student and i bust my butt in class, basically if you're someone who thinks they can take this class then take it, its a good class and laid out very clearly and easy to follow, but if you think you might get sick or have to miss a class (even if you discuss it with her before hand) i would choose a different class.

There were 2 essays, 2 midterms, and a final. She also tells you there's no extra credit opportunities but there are usually some on the tests and she gave us the option to write essays for a couple points too. Overall, she is a pretty good professor but there is a lot of info to memorize that will in no way benefit you except for in this class. The first test is mostly what you would learn in bio in high school. The next test was all about apes and you need to memorize all their characteristics and be able to tell them apart. Same with the final except it was about early humans instead. If you're good at memorizing a shit ton of stuff, you'll do fine. If not, good luck.

This is such an interesting class! Highly recommend, but only if you like taking notes for the whole lecture, which I don't mind. It is a lot of memorization of monkey species and parts of bones and stuff but it's interesting and honestly just dedicate the day (or two days) before the test to doing it and you should be fine. She answers everyone's questions very well and is highly knowledgable, making sure everyone understands before moving on to next lecture. This was the only A I got despite it being a "difficult class." Just show genuine interest and pay attention and study and you'll be ok. Also, the reading is not as important, just pay attention in lecture.

Very interesting topic, not a very interesting teacher... She is extremely rude to her students and when someone asks a question she treats them like they are stupid. She takes her "having a bad day" anger out on the class. Her lectures are boring and the tests are very hard. It is multiple choice, true/false, and FILL IN THE BLANK (yes, spelling counts). The first midterm is definitely the hardest. For the second one, as long as you know the primate chart (*rolls eyes*) you'll be fine. The final is a little harder but still KNOW THE PRIMATE CHART. Just hope you get an amazing TA like I did, which makes a study guide for you. Overall, just really try and get a different teacher.

I loved Dr. Neill! She is very intelligent and deeply understands all aspects of anthropology which can seem overwhelming during her lectures because she sometimes goes off on extremely informational tangents. However this shouldn't scare you away because the way she runs her class is super effective. There are online "quizzes" you must take for each chapter but they are completely open note and allow you to keep trying until you reach the grade you desire. These are helpful because they cover a ton of information from the book and they count for 25% of your overall grade so they definitely will boost your grade. In terms of the tests, there are 2 midterms and a non-cumulative final that each cover 4 chapters. She does clarify that about 80-90% of the tests will be on the curriculum she lectures on and the rest will be things from the textbook (and this is definitely the case so go to all the lectures and take notes directly on the slideshows she provides on poly learn). Overall she was a great teacher and the structure of her class made it very possible to do well.

HATE THE CLASS but more because the subject is just boring. you can tell she actually likes what shes doing its just not a fun time. nothing against her but the subject is BORING! she does ask after every lecture if anyone has questions. a lot of the midterms are memorization so if your into that this class is for you

I'm not sure why there are so many negative reviews for Dr. Neill. She is an intelligent professor and I think she does a good job of meeting student needs and answering questions to clarify the material. The class is 2 midterms + 1 final + several online quizzes. You don't need to read the textbook (Neill will tell you this too) except to answer the quiz questions, which are open book. You can pretty much get an infinite amount of questions wrong and still get 100% on them as long as you get to the required threshold of points. The material on her tests is like 90% lecture material, so print out the slides and pay attention during lecture. I understand why a lot of people don't like this class, as the lectures can get dry and boring at times especially if you're not generally interested in the material, but you can tell that she is enthusiastic about this class and that helps. While Dr. Neill may initially come off as slightly hard to approach, you'll soon find out that she is a super sweet lady so I would give her a chance. My biggest tip: if you have a TA for the class go to the review sessions for the exams! My TA was awesome and told us exactly what we needed to study to do well.

She is an ok professor, but it seems like she is constantly trying to use words that are unnecessarily complex. I understand that this is college, but she will pause looking for a difficult word when there is an easy and obvious synonym she could use. Also, she will ask the class questions during lecture that they could only know if they had taken a higher level class, so there is a lot of awkward silence while she is waiting for an answer that no one has. On her exams, her questions are very specific so you need to be an expert on the material in order to do well. It's nice to see that she is excited about what she is teaching, but unless this is the kind of class that really interest you, it is hard to share her excitement because the course material is so boring.

Dr. Neill presents material clearly and is not a bad teacher. Print out the notes or pull them up on your laptop, she goes through them very fast but adds a lot of interesting info if you actually listen. You HAVE to go to class, she tells you what to memorize there, and when she says to memorize something, memorize it verbatim, be able to write it down point blank. not awful, just a ton of work.

FREAKING AMAZING!!! I looked forward to this class, she was such an engaging instructor, it was not a lecture but more of a class discussion. It was totally the best class of my quarter It consisted of 3 papers, and like 9 quizzes. Not at difficult at all, but EVERY class was super interesting even the stuff i didn't care for. She is such an interesting prof. I found her amazing, even developed a crush on her. 100% recommend her

I felt bad for Dr. Neill in this class, because it was a MW 8-12 Summer Quarter lecture. There wasn't much participation because we were all dead inside. Not because of her by any means. Dr. Neill really knows her stuff, and is obviously passionate about a lot of it. But she ended up just talking at us for 3 hours, even though she clearly didn't like it. She encouraged more participation but it just wasn't there. The readings she assigned weren't too bad, they were just wordy and repetitive. I'm sure that in a normal 10-week quarter the course would be much more enjoyable, but over summer it just wasn't the experience it could have been. Dr. Neill as a professor is pretty great, and is really willing to help with anything that anyone doesn't understand, or if help is needed on the papers. I'd definitely take her during the normal school year.

Dr. Neill prefers to emphasize discussions in her classes and thus expects students to be on-top of readings (averaging about 40 pages per night). There are reading quizzes about once a week but they're easy points if you do the reading. The majority of the class grade comes from writing assignments, which she takes quite seriously, but you have plenty of time to do each outside of class and if you take advantage of it you'll do just fine. Unlike other discussion-driven courses, Dr. Neill does an excellent job of drawing students into discussions rather than having to call on/force students to contribute. In other words, she maintains a very friendly and productive class atmosphere and seems to masterfully guide the class toward her lesson goals without ever having to interrupt the flow. There's a reason she's such a popular teacher among anthro students.

This is less of a commentary about the professor, but more so on the class. Just a shout out to any engineering majors out there: don't take the class unless you're really interested in human evolution and don't mind reading a lot. It's not that this class isn't worth it (it was somewhat interesting), but because of your likely intense workload, you cannot afford to be reading 30-50 pages of really dense Anthropological research papers a week for a damn GE. Other than that, it's an ok class, with an ok teacher. She makes you do a lot of group discussions about the readings too, so if you don't like that this isn't for you. I find this class pretty interesting and only wish I had more time to understand it.

Professor Neill is a wonderful instructor but this class was hard! There is a looot of reading that you must read in order to complete the essay assignments and quizzes. However, I do feel like I learned a lot from this course. Would recommend, but know its a hell of a lot of reading.

I went into this class dreading what grade I would get because I\'m only a second year but the class is 400 level and my whole class consisted of senior-standing students. The professor went out and said that she had high expectations for all of us. However, as the class went on, it wasn\'t as bad as I thought it would be. There are no boring powerpoints or lectures. She simply assigns study questions that you answer...which you don\'t really NEED to answer for homework as long as you know the general material and participate you\'ll do fine in terms of participation points. Professor Neil is an excellent teacher! Shes really flexible and interesting. There are no in class exams which is pretty awesome. The midterm and final are essay style and quite long. My midterms usually were around 10 pages so prepare to be able to write and know how to research things because her critera is partly based on outside sources. Anyways, overall she was really helpful and she occasionally relates discussions back to her field work in Fiji, which I thought was interesting, but if you don\'t really like hearing teachers talk about how they went where and how they did this or that then I wouldn\'t take the course.

I was quite intimidated by her midterms because I didn't do so hot on the first one. However, I went to talk to her during her office hours and she gave me some great advice about my writing style (which helped a lot!) Talking to her during her office hours made all the difference in my grade. She talked most of the time in class and assigned readings with study questions(you didn't have to answer them though) The couse consisted of 2 midterms,1 Group Project and 1 Final.(midterms and final are take-home) She expects a lot from you since she gives you a week to work on the tests, but if you answer them thoroughly and have good sources, you'll be fine. The group project was not bad either, it's split into 4 sections so you have plenty of time to do everything. The class was very informative about health problems in the world and she's very knowledgeable of the subject. Overall, great professor. Take her if you get the chance!

The class is challenging because there is a lot of reading in this class. I have to admit that the readings were very interesting. Dr. Neill is an excellent professor, she makes the class interesting and is very knowledgeable about the subject. There are 3 take-home midterm essays that are 6 to 10 pages long. My advise is to start the essays right away. Also, there is a group project and class participation.

Nutritional Anthro with Dawn Neill was awesome. My favorite course I took in the fall. There were no midterms, the course was based on essays and participation. It is easy to participate in discussions as long as you do all the reading. Dr. Neill is super knowledgable and passionate about the subject! Overall very informative and enjoyable class!

BOYCOTT!!!