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Neill, Dawn

Cumulative GPA: 2.79/4.00 with 19 evaluations
Presents Material Clearly: 3.05
Recognizes Student Difficulties: 2.58

Social Sciences Department, Cal Poly, SLO
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ANT 250 Freshman Grade Earned: N/A General Ed 5:48 pm, Mar 25, 2013 Report Evaluation		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.

ANT 250 Freshman Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 10:28 pm, Mar 19, 2013 Report Evaluation		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.

ANT 250 Senior Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 12:51 pm, Mar 18, 2013 Report Evaluation		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.

ANT 201 Freshman Grade Earned: B General Ed 7:06 pm, Jan 16, 2013 Report Evaluation		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.

SOC 402 Junior Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 3:35 pm, Dec 23, 2012 Report Evaluation		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!

ANT 201 Freshman Grade Earned: B General Ed 1:04 am, Dec 18, 2012 Report Evaluation		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!

ANT 250 Senior Grade Earned: B General Ed 1:13 pm, Sep 17, 2012 Report Evaluation		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.



ANT 250 Freshman Grade Earned: D General Ed 8:26 pm, Jun 15, 2012 Report Evaluation		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.

ANT 401 Junior Grade Earned: B Elective 5:00 pm, Mar 3, 2012 Report Evaluation		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!

SOC 401 Senior Grade Earned: A Required (Support) 12:49 pm, Feb 5, 2012 Report Evaluation		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.

ANT 250 Freshman Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 4:17 pm, Dec 29, 2011 Report Evaluation		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.

ANT 201 Freshman Grade Earned: C General Ed 1:30 pm, May 16, 2011 Report Evaluation		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.

ANT 201 Junior Grade Earned: B General Ed 1:04 am, Apr 15, 2011 Report Evaluation		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.



ANT 201 Sophomore Grade Earned: B General Ed 9:43 pm, Mar 22, 2011 Report Evaluation		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.

ANT 201 Junior Grade Earned: C General Ed 6:49 pm, Mar 21, 2011 Report Evaluation		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.

ANT 401 Sophomore Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 3:03 pm, Dec 5, 2010 Report Evaluation		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.

ANT 201 Freshman Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 1:00 pm, Mar 22, 2010 Report Evaluation		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

ANT 201 Senior Grade Earned: A General Ed 4:40 pm, Jan 12, 2010 Report Evaluation		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.

ANT 210 Freshman Grade Earned: N/A Required (Major) 2:49 pm, Dec 7, 2008 Report Evaluation		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!

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