Mark Brawley - McGill University

Professor: Mark Brawley
Department: Political Science
College: McGill University
Rating # 1
Overview:
  • Course: POLI243
  • Grade Received: A-
  • Overall Rating: 3.0
  • Course Difficulty: 3.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: No
  • Would Take Again: Yes
  • Attendance: Mandatory
Comment:
Grading criteria was non-existent for the papers and TAs seemed to all have different expectations, lectures were generally interesting, long readings
Rating # 2
Overview:
  • Course: POLI346
  • Grade Received: A
  • Overall Rating: 4.0
  • Course Difficulty: 3.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: Yes
  • Attendance: Not Mandatory
Comment:
About a good a choice you're going to get in POLI at McGill. Not as harsh as Profs like Nando/Levy, but just about as knowledgeable. The class is still challenging, and you need to really read and flesh out your understanding of the material to do well - it's a matter of figuring out what he's looking for. But an A- or A is very doable imho.
Rating # 3
Overview:
  • Course: POLI354
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 2.0
  • Course Difficulty: 4.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: No
  • Attendance: Mandatory
Comment:
Shallow is right. I found him and his class to be pretty shallow and superficial. Wasn't the worst class I've ever taken in my life, not by any stretch of the imagination but not exactly a transformative learning experience either. Grading criteria left lots of room for "open interpretation".
Rating # 4
Overview:
  • Course: POLI445
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 3.0
  • Course Difficulty: 2.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: No
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
Professor Brawley is ok. He is clearly a very kind person and the grading criteria was clear. However, he is also quite cold. He didn't even give us his email or that of any of the TAs on the course syllabus or anywhere else. This made it extremely difficult to ask questions about the course.
Rating # 5
Overview:
  • Course: POLI445
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 5.0
  • Course Difficulty: 4.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: Yes
  • Attendance: Not Mandatory
Comment:
Such a kind person, always available to help and answer and questions. Very knowledgeable and clearly passionate about the course material.
Rating # 6
Overview:
  • Course: POLI346
  • Grade Received: B+
  • Overall Rating: 1.0
  • Course Difficulty: 3.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: No
  • Attendance: Not Mandatory
Comment:
There is no clear grading criteria. I ensure that I follow every requirement set out in the question, but I'm told after the paper that I should have known that I had to do something else. And the something else changes from paper to paper. I do not have this experience with other professors.
Rating # 7
Overview:
  • Course: POLI354
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 4.0
  • Course Difficulty: 2.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: No
  • Would Take Again: Yes
  • Attendance: Not Mandatory
Comment:
Honestly, he's OK. I hear a lot of hype, but my main takeaway was that his lectures felt a bit shallow and slow. We didn't go super into depth into a lot of things, and it felt more like an overview of political econ since its inception. Makes me wonder what 243 was like. Very nice, but not an amazing lecturer by any means.
Rating # 8
Overview:
  • Course: POLI243
  • Grade Received: B+
  • Overall Rating: 5.0
  • Course Difficulty: 5.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: No
  • Would Take Again: Yes
  • Attendance: Mandatory
Comment:
An overall great class with very clear in-depth lectures resulting in students learning a lot. The material can be tough and challenging however with difficult tests so if you're into simple predictable classes stick to Douek's powerpoints.
Rating # 9
Overview:
  • Course: POLI243
  • Grade Received: A-
  • Overall Rating: 5.0
  • Course Difficulty: 4.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: No
  • Would Take Again: Yes
  • Attendance: Not Mandatory
Comment:
Reshaped my approach to international relations with his clarity of thought and sophistication of ideas that he presents in the lecture. Most importantly, he understands what it means to introduce an IR course to students. A small suggestion would be that his testing methods could be less exam centered, possibly an essay replacing 1 of 2 midterms?
Rating # 10
Overview:
  • Course: POLI346
  • Grade Received: A
  • Overall Rating: 5.0
  • Course Difficulty: 4.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: No
  • Would Take Again: Yes
  • Attendance: Not Mandatory
Comment:
Brawley is one my favourite professors at McGill. His lectures are always very well structured and informative and the exams are challenging but very fair. The way he organizes his lecture slides also makes it easy to take detailed notes. If you have been to lectures/done the readings you can do well in his classes.
Rating # 11
Overview:
  • Course: POL343
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 1.0
  • Course Difficulty: 4.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: No
  • Attendance: Mandatory
Comment:
Hes pretty average. No transformative learning experience here. Lecture heavy, dont bother with His office hours, just go see your TA especially if theyre available outside of class. I dont see myself taking another one of his classes.
Rating # 12
Overview:
  • Course: POLI243AND346
  • Grade Received: A
  • Overall Rating: 5.0
  • Course Difficulty: 5.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: No
  • Would Take Again: Yes
  • Attendance: Not Mandatory
Comment:
For all the negative reviewers, maybe you should try getting to know this prof. He is a fantastic lecturer, extremely knowledgeable in his specialities (American foreign policy, monetary relations, ipe) and is extremely approachable. He has a real passion for teaching and truly supports the students who put in effort and interact with him outside.
Rating # 13
Overview:
  • Course: POLI445
  • Grade Received: A-
  • Overall Rating: 5.0
  • Course Difficulty: 4.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: No
  • Would Take Again: Yes
  • Attendance: Not Mandatory
Comment:
Brawley is the best prof I've had. I've taken two of his classes (Poli243 & 445) and they were my favorites. During my last year I'll take two of his other classes 'cause I know I'll love them. He is very knowledgeable & accessible outside of class. His lectures are amazing but heavy (great explanations): u'll have to work^^ Totally recommend!!
Rating # 14
Overview:
  • Course: POLI243
  • Grade Received: B+
  • Overall Rating: 2.0
  • Course Difficulty: 4.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: No
  • Would Take Again: No
  • Attendance: Not Mandatory
Comment:
I really don't understand why people seem to enjoy his class. While he lectures decently, everything in the course is bogged down with way too much theory for an intro course. Exams, especially IDs, were graded harshly and borderline unfair. I found him to be pretty unhelpful during office hours too, luckily my TA was good and helped me out.
Rating # 15
Overview:
  • Course: POLI243
  • Grade Received: B
  • Overall Rating: 4.0
  • Course Difficulty: 5.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: Yes
  • Attendance: Not Mandatory
Comment:
I find POLI243 more inspiring than my pure-econ courses, b/c it looks at how poli, econ and hist backgrounds interact. Applying theories to real-life cases is a good way to study. The Prof is also very patient during office hours and always encourages his students (a lot!) But the grading is really tough and exams are difficult (at least for me)
Rating # 16
Overview:
  • Course: POLI346
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 1.0
  • Course Difficulty: 1.0
  • For Credit: No
  • Textbook Used: No
  • Would Take Again: No
  • Attendance: Not Mandatory
Comment:
He is notorious for giving bad grades for students who do not agree with his views. Although he is a lecturer with mediocre talent who takes a lot of old ideas and puts them into a sort of mental kaleidoscope, he is proud of his knowledge.
Rating # 17
Overview:
  • Course: POLI243445
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 4.0
  • Course Difficulty: 4.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: Yes
  • Attendance: Not Mandatory
Comment:
A lecturing pro. Readings assigned are dull but he does a good job at summarizing (some of) them during lectures. Material can get a bit dry, but he explains things so clearly that you truly feel like a political economy scholar when you finish his courses.
Rating # 18
Overview:
  • Course: POLI445
  • Grade Received: A
  • Overall Rating: 5.0
  • Course Difficulty: 2.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: No
  • Would Take Again: Yes
  • Attendance: Mandatory
Comment:
You don't need to do the readings. Just skim through one reading for each topic and mention the author in the exam and you're guaranteed an A. IDs are marked in colours in his powerpoint slides, so they're easy to guess if you look at past exams. Great lecturer, explains things very well in a simplified matter
Rating # 19
Overview:
  • Course: POLI346
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 2.0
  • Course Difficulty: 3.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: No
  • Attendance: Mandatory
Comment:
I didn't like his class.
Rating # 20
Overview:
  • Course: POLI346
  • Grade Received: B+
  • Overall Rating: 2.0
  • Course Difficulty: 4.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: No
  • Attendance: Mandatory
Comment:
Did I even have the same prof that everyone else here is raving about? Maybe I was in an alternate dimension or accidentally stepped into the Bizarro version but I had a hard time following all the theory and no the prof isn't all that accessible at all outside of class. Crazy grading curve.
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