Reviews of professor Darren Penn

Rating: 3.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
Very tough grader that isnt clear on his grading criteria. He does not thoroughly clarify the assignments or essay prompts yet expects you to have a perfect idea of what he wants. Very slow to respond to emails or give feedback.

Rating: 5.0/5, difficulty: 3.0/5
Dr. Penn is great, super caring and nice, loves poetry and really helps you understand how poems work. He's really smart! It's a writing class (WR), but he explains everything, and checked in on us every class to make sure we understood everything. He gave really helpful feedback! He's just an awesome person. Couldn't imagine a better professor.

Rating: 1.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
Hes very nice, but when it comes to writing, he is very unclear as to what he wants. Hell tell you one thing and expect another thing. DONT TAKE HIS CLASS!

Rating: 5.0/5, difficulty: 3.0/5
Dr. Penn was an incredible professor to have during the semester of BU's campus shutdown. He was extremely accommodating for us and very understanding in a way I wish all professors had been. I genuinely enjoyed his WR150 course and found it very helpful unlike the WR120 I took the semester before.

Rating: 5.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
Couldn't have asked for a better prof. He pushes you to work hard, but in your best interest. Very charismatic and always positive (I would die if he saw the other reviews - I don't know what they are talking about / they don't represent him well) Penn is down to earth and eager and that made his class worth it.

Rating: 3.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
Dr. Penn is a very kind person with a nice, distinctive voice. However, he is a very tough grader. He is unclear on what he looks for in your writing and gives vague feedback. I'm usually not one to struggle in English, but this class felt like it was a lot more work than it should have been. The class is also very discussion heavy.

Rating: 2.0/5, difficulty: 5.0/5
This was a required, bottom-of-the-barrel, only WR150 left, class that I had to take. I was bummed bc it was about Poetry, which I admit is not my forte, but I went in w/an open mind. Shouldve dropped it. He comes across as nice and funny, but doesnt understand students schedules and work loads. Hard grader and lots of reading. Try to avoid...

Rating: 3.0/5, difficulty: 5.0/5
Personally, I think the way Penn teaches is very confusing. He doesnt know how to connect to students that dont understand poetry. It would have been helpful if he led discussions asking each person what they interpreted from the poem and why each person thinks a poem is relevant today. Instead, he just lectures on how to write an essay.

Rating: 4.0/5, difficulty: 5.0/5
One of the smartest guys at this University. He really does want you to become a better writer and succeed in every facet in life. Become his friend, as conversations with him are entertaining and nurturing. With that said, his WR150 class is intense, but if you put in the work, expect an A.