2.4
Quality4.2
Difficulty9%
Would Retake104
Reviews9%
Would Retake
104
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
21
4
9
3
13
2
17
1
44
What Students Say
“" or "sort of" with points taken off”
SOC200 - 3.0 rating“I have never seen a syllabus with so many made up rules showing how power hungry an instructor truly is”
SOC200 - 1.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
99%
Textbook Required
25%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-2.12 avg changeRatings by Course
SOC253
5.0
(1)SOCSECT
5.0
(1)CLASSSECT
5.0
(1)SOCMANY
5.0
(1)SOC480A
5.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
SOC300
5.0
SOC101
5.0
WGSS384
5.0
WGSS353
5.0
SOC380
4.9
Reviews (104)
she is a good professor if you are willing to read and you are partially intelligent. she is fair and the lectures are required, so its a good thing that what she has to say is interesting and worthwhile.
I've taken many classes with her and she is fantastic. She's a great teacher and prepares you well for her exams. There is quite a bit of reading but it is interesting and worthwhile. One of my favorite professors.
Excellent professor.
Not clear. Not helpful. Boring.
excellent professor. One of the best I've had
I'm currently in one of Roth's classes and I think she is great. She is funny and sarcastic as well as a fair professor. I recommend taking a class with her!
VERY ARROGANT AND WHITE CENTERED PERSPECTIVE. DOESN"T LIKE TO BE CHALLENGED
if you take LACAS AFST COLI AAAS ARAB (the more multicultural classes) in addition to SOC classes, then dont take her. shes 'liberal' but very middle-class white centered. but her tests are not that hard so that's a plus.
She is very bright and witty, and takes a look at the world from all angles. She brings a more fun tone to the class, and is positive but honest. She is one of the best professors I have had, and I always take something from her class.
She is a tough cookie when it comes to grading, but i will say that she is fair, and not extreme. I got a B, and pretty much deserved that. You better come to class, and come on time. She is an attendence freak, and will scold you in front of the whole class if you are 5 minutes tardy. she likes to make u feel dumb for walking in late.
easy class, very clear and straight forward with her lectures, even though her final, which was a take home paper was kind of crazy, but if you do the readings and go to class you will get an A.
RESPECT!! I learned alot from this way cool, way smart prof. I am Latina and I don't get this s**t about her being white-centered. I just don't see it. I think it is sad. Thank you, Prof. Roth.
Great Professor. She is very well prepared for class. Her classes fly by. Extremely fair. Tolerant. I learned alot in her class- as a history/Arabic major I thought this class would be a drag. Turns out she is one of the best prof. I've had at SUNY.
I've taken 3 classes with her, she's a good prof and very intelligent but if you screw up in the beginning with an assignment or test she will hold it against you for the rest of the semester, if you do well in the beginning she will give you the benefit of the doubt if you screw up later on. Be on time, go to her office hours, be friends.
a boring lady who is full of herself and thinks she's great cuz she knows some words in yiddish. i thought this was gonna be a decent class but it was boring and time stood still. if you enjoy napping, take her class.
Stay away if possible.
She is not a push over prof but she is a great sociologist prof. I would recommend her to anyone wanting to take sociology or feminism
stay away!! this lady picks a handful of people to coddle the entire semester and everyone else is treated like dirt! dont plan on speaking up or asking for clarification someone made that painful mistake in my class and was totally cut down and literally called stupid for asking a question... total B*%#!
don't take her hard grade
Roth is great. You have to appreciate her dry humor and just laugh at her when she makes her quirky comments. Theres nothing really to complain about, shes not that hard, and the material is really interesting. I got an A without reading any of the material just working from her notes. Make what you can out of it.
Roth is awesome. Extremely intelligent woman, very willing to try to transmit this to you. If you are afraid of interaction, don't take her. If you are willing to take some challenges, and challenge her (which she takes remarkably well) then take her courses. She offers support after you graduate and genuinely cares about your future.
Incredible teacher, great lecturer and genuinely interesting. Class was always worth going to.
just read the text book and go to the discussions and you will be fine, class is interesting sometimes depending on the topic, and she is pretty funny, it was not a hard class. just make sure you DO YOUR READINGS!
Dr. Roth is an extremely informed professor in her subject, and it really shows through her lessons. Class involved a ton of reading and a substantial amount of writing... but it was a "C" course. She strongly encouraged discussion but also devotes a lot to lecture. Grading was strict and sometimes harsh, but fair and constructive.
She makes very unnecessarily harsh comments on essays. She seems to enjoy making people feel bad and inadequate. Learned some interesting things in class though and books were interesting. She made it intimidating to participate.
Attendance is mandatory but there isn't much participation. There are a lot of books and readings which she covers all of in class. She really knows her stuff so lectures are interesting.
shes definitely a tough one, but shes one of the ones that you learn a lot from. her classes make you question things that you take for granted. so interesting.
Don't take a class with her unless you're 150% interested in the subject she's teaching. If you don't do the readings you won't pass. Harsh and rude grader, belittles you in a way. She's very sarcastic and funny, which was the only good thing about going to her class. Took this class as an elective and it brought down my grade bc the course load.
She is very knowledgable in her field and explains it very well. She expects a lot from you but it's not too bad. I liked her class. The reading is a huge part of the class but she explains it in class so not necessary. I never read one book and got an A
She is a great professor. Reading is a must, which is fair. Downside: she is fairly condescending in person and in her grade notes, and she says things like, "I have real, but limited authority over you while you are in this class."... which never strikes me as something a good leader would ever say in a million years.
Professor Roth is by far one of the best professors I have had so far at Bing. She is very knowledgeable and challenges you to think beyond the bubble you have grown up under. Her lectures are engaging and the discussions are exciting. She is tough and can be sassy but don't take it personally. Follow the syllabus to the T and work hard.
Roth is one of BU's bests and funniest. Reading is required for the most part (although I did well without doing half of the readings) and attendance is a must. Lectures were usually fun and full of stimulating conversations. IDK if it was due to my interest (bio major tho) but i found political sociology pretty easy (reading should be expected)!
One of my favorite classes I've taken at Binghamton (I'm a senior). At the end, I feel like I learned a lot. You can tell Prof Roth feels very comfortable with the subject and with teaching in front of a large class. The subjects were difficult and encompassed a lot of different points and ideas, but she explained them really, really well
She's way too note heavy and lectures are way too much and too fast. Everything sounds the same and is confusing to decipher through. Grading is unnecessarily harsh, with the only feedback being "huh?" or "sort of" with points taken off. I didn't need this specific class so I dropped to make my life easier, if you don't need this I don't recommend
Great professor. She is super funny and knows her stuff. She grades fairly and is very clear in what she expects. I really liked this class a lot and would definitly take a class by her again.
My grades are pretty good in this class but she can favor a lot of students over you and I have experienced some hostile responses from her when I've asked questions in lecture
Okay honestly, I thought she was a pretty great professor until thefrickin take-home final she dropped on us a week before it was due, and pretty much demanded a minimum of 12 pages written???? She's a hard grader but seriously I didn't read a single book and did fine on the midterm so just pay attention in class.
She is incredible! I took her class on Gender and Work and it was extremely inspirational and useful for your everyday life. There is a solid amount of reading, but she always goes over what she wants you to know from each reading for the exams. She is hilarious and sarcastic, yet also serious and so intelligent. Take her class if you can!!!
Extremely rude lady.. thinks that she is so funny and all that but she has an extremely short temper and on the first day she took pride in the fact that she has the ability to fail people... dont even borher walking into her class 1 minute late even after getting t boned in the parking lot........
awful. avoid at all costs. super unfair and makes your grade a competition between the other students. very miserable person
It says a lot about someone when you are taking two of their classes and they expect you to complete 2 take home exams in the same day (each of which consist of multiple long essay questions) I am in college and I am an adult so I should be able to handle it? She is very rude and condescending, unrealistic expectations.
Does not care about her students, just sharing her research. If you miss one question on a test of hers she accuses you of not paying attention or reading. She can be funny and make class entertaining, but her expectations are somewhat absurd. She is super condescending and takes points off without explanation. Just avoid.
mediocre teacher who is full of herself. clearly tenured or else she would not be so horribly rude to students. very heavy reading and specific test questions. grades like youre a phd student. is inconsiderate of the fact that students have other classes. i would only reccomend her if you wish to focus on the course title/concentration.
Dr. Roth is knowledgeable and I learned a lot from her courses. I took her fall semester for soc of reproduction and this semester my experience with her is just way different. Her teaching assistant does all the work for her and she does not give any feedback on how to improve and handles things in a nasty unprofessional manner. Needs to retire.
Nice professor, there is lots of work and reading you cannot slack off in her class but it is manageable and she is very helpful in office hours
By all means, Professor Roth is a nice lady but expects WAY too much for an undergrad course. So much reading, and throughout the semester she constantly reminded us that this is her first time teaching the course and that she is unfamiliar with the material herself and she is learning with us. How is that fair to us at all? My advice, do not take
Dr. Roth is hands down the worst instructor I've had in my entire time of learning. She is the complete opposite of what you think a professor should be: wanting students to do well. She will never be lenient or understanding of a student's circumstances (sick, busy, stressed, dead, etc.) Grade is 75% based on impossible tests. AVOID HER
This was by far the worse course I have taken in Binghamton. Professor has little to no consideration for her students. Even noted that she loves having the ability to "fail" students. Don't even try to ask her clarification questions or for help because she will not help you! And if you do, expect a rude response in return. Would not recommend.
She would not be so bad if she were not so downright rude and belittling. She does not seem to have ever grasped the concept that her students are STUDENTS, not fellow experts in her field. Grading is 100% opinion based, points will be taken off randomly and no explanation as to why you lost points, just comments such as What? Huh? Uh... No?!
DO NOT TAKE HER CLASS.
Roth has a lot of nerve being so judgmental and making us feel stupid when she teaches a class on a topic she knows nothing about. The majority of the time when theres a question, she says that this is my first time teaching this class and reading these books so I dont really know....
I wish I never took her class. She is very hard to reach outside of the classroom and degrades students by making shady remarks. There are a lot of readings and most of the time you will be teaching yourself in the course. She literally looks for reasons to take points off of your assignments. She doesn't know the answers to a lot of questions.
No comments
words cannot describe the severity of regret that i have for taking this lady as a professor.. she is a blemish on an otherwise great faculty in the soc dept. all she cares about is ranting about her extreme liberal feminist opinions to a group of students who want to do well but she makes it impossible. so much reading and writing for a non c/j/w
Though Dr. Roth seemed to be a nice person at first, when we shifted to distance learning due to corona she had made the course 10000% harder. That says a ton about the person she is, since 90% of students at Binghamton are from the NYC area whose families are struggling and we are forced to have our lives dictated by her no matter your situation.
Benita Roth is the most opinionated, pompous, sometimes rude, and LEAST helpful professor I have ever been taught by. She simply will not answer e-mails, her own political beliefs take over her unbearably long lectures (NOT a good quality for a Sociology professor to have), and doesn't listen to her students much. Avoid her if you can.
I CANNOT EVEN WITH THIS LADY. 300-500 pages of reading between class meetings and class is always behind and never follows the syllabus because she is supposedly so overwhelmed and overworked teaching 2 classes. Maybe it would help if she knew a single thing about a topic before teaching it? If I had to stay more semesters to avoid her I would !!!!
She has no compassion or care for her students. She wants her students to do bad in her class because she looks for ANY reason to take points off. She makes tons of rules significant to her class since she is on a grand power trip. Benita Roth, I hope you read this and find a new profession.
Behold the center of the earth: Benita Roth. You must dedicate 100% of your time and life to her since the world revolves around her. If you take a course with her you will truly suffer, she is nothing but rude to students and goes above and beyond to ensure students do poorly in her class and makes several degrading remarks.
horrible. she does not follow a syllabus, lectures are all over the place and test questions and assignments are so random. her grading system seems to be based on the phase of the moon.
She's not very fair in how she operates. Hates you for no reason even after you participate and show interest in the subject. Seems to have other priorities and doesn't answer e-mails promptly. Very sarcastic and abusive in her responses and refuses to see any other point of view but her own. Would not recommend.
Dont take. This lady has a graduate school mindset and structure. The class is 100% reading based and expects you to remember the most specific details and what exact reading they came from from 3 months ago. Loves accusing students of slacking off, not reading and cheating. Loves the power aspect of teaching.
Nice and funny person but at the same time is strict with high standards
worst professor at all of bing. do not take under any circumstance
Makes everything as hard as possible. Shows no compassion or care for her students.
As a senior in the sociology program, I have never dealt with a more critical and narcissistic professor. She makes tons of rules that are significant to her and loves failing students (she has literally said this) and she expects you to remember every single little thing from the readings and will chastise you if you do not. Avoid her if you can.
Dropped class the first day after she told the class she doesnt care how we do and that she loves making rules that only apply in her class.
I have never seen a syllabus with so many made up rules showing how power hungry an instructor truly is
She is unsympathetic towards students and gives no clear structure for her exams. She is very rude and belittling. She never answers your questions. She just expects you to know everything. We were ahead in our syllabus for our class but she wouldn't slow down in the course at all and even added things to the syllabus (which were more readings).
DO NOT TAKE!!! I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IS GOING ON IN THIS CLASS AND SHE IGNORES ALL EMAILS AND NEVER HELPS ANYONE!!
I have no idea how I managed to scrape by with a B. This course requires more readings and effort than my 400 level classes. She is far too immersed in a graduate school mindset. She thinks this is the only class students have. She is not very approachable and when I go to her for help I get get told to reread material and to pay better attention
I started out loving this course, but as weeks passed I realized just how awful it truly was. I am an honors sociology student pursuing a PhD, and this was the only class Ive ever gotten such bad grades in. Class average was below passing, and she spent more time making unfunny jokes and making people uncomfortable than actually teaching. Run!!!
Horrible experience with this woman. I am almost certain she has no real degree. All the class is based on is her own opinions and the supporting content for her arguments are those you can learn about by a simple Google search. Super strict about deadlines then takes forever to return assignments.
Stay away! Her entire class is based off opinions she has formed. She is unkind to students, does not give help, and belittles when trying to receive help. She grades extremely tough and expects you to write at the graduate level. The feedback she gives on her assignments are simply rude instead of instructive. Avoid this class if possible!
If you're looking for a professor that will inspire and encourage you to dive deeper into women's studies, keep looking. Dr. Roth doesn't tolerate anyone to question her lectures or opinions, and her feedback on papers is short, brash, and generally unhelpful in improving your mistakes. Read the assigned books without taking the class; trust me.
im not usually one to rate professors, however I feel like students should be aware of this professor. I am an honor student who has never received a C in my college career. I have TO TRY to get a 60 on a paper in this class. I give her credit for trying to teach but her grading is beyond harsh. I have never dealt with anything like this.
Her class is a complete and utter train wreck. She is super strict about deadlines and incomplete work and simultaneously is late to each class, takes months to grade assignments in which no feedback is given. How are we supposed to learn anything with no feedback? She makes anyone who has opposing views as her feel uncomfortable and unwelcome.
She is a good fit if you are more of an independent student and take good notes. The online lectures werent recorded so notes are important. Not so bad if you are able to balance the work load and are interested in the reading material. Not the most approachable
course content is based off of pure opinion and disproven theories as compared to actual logic and proven facts/statistics. you will only succeed in this course if you are or pretend to be an extreme liberal.
I have never been more stressed out by one class in my life and have never had a professor so degrading who takes pride in making students feel stupid.
Lots of readings: I only read 5% of them I took notes from her slides only, meaning I didn't pay attention to her lecture. 3 essays (exam) with thousands of words: you have 1.5-2 weeks to submit them, but to get an A you have to work at least 24 hours without leaving your laptop if you don't read and like to save work for the last minute like me.
Dont worry guys, according to her the only reason she has a poor RMP rating is because she is a woman
Truly a great professor, all three of the classes I have taken of hers have been my favorite and one of the most interesting classes at BU. Definitely a heavy work load but if you are interested in the subject matter it is not too bad. Ask questions and go to office hours for questions after receiving grade/feedback, she likes to see you trying.
She's literally the most boring prof. at the university. Every class all she does is sit there and brag about how well-off she is like students gaf. She expects you to buy several textbooks that cost like $40 plus. I'm almost halfway through the semester and I've learned absolutely nothing. Like nothing! She treats students like their in HS as well
She was my worst experience at binghamton. The material of the class itself is so fulfilling and interesting but she turns it into a nightmare with her lack of political correctness or just basic consideration for others in her lectures. Not empathetic towards her students at all. So condescending and expects the MOST. stay away!!!
She is a horrible woman, a very ineffective professor and her lectures and exams are entirely based on political views in which she tries persuading the class to think a certain way or else they will fail. She mentioned multiple times that she loves the fact she gets to make the rules and fail people to her leisure.
I LEARNED NOTHING FROM HER BESIDES THE FACT I AM SUPPOSEDLY IGNORANT FOR NOT AGREEING WITH HER IN EVERY WAY, SHAPE AND FORM
Very impatient and condescending. If you have a simple question you are accused of not reading and/or studying hard enough.
she is very intimidating. expects you to remember very specific and random details from readings and lectures.
Instead of providing academic insight on the subjects at hand, class mainly consists of her bragging about how wealthy she is, how successful she is, the books she's written, and her authority as a professor. Talks negatively about her male colleagues. Unprofessional.
No surprises with this class however the professor is unreasonable, unfriendly and does not like giving full credit for anything. Ever meet a professor that doesnt believe in giving As? Shes one of them. Many professors at Binghamton dont even create the course and have no idea what theyre even teaching. I would give this prof a 0 if I could.
She lost mine and other students assignments multiple times, tests are nothing like her lectures, she is awful at writing tests which are very difficult. She doesn't care who passes and she doesn't teach right. I WOULD NOT recommend anyone to take her class.
today was the first day and i realized what a mistake i made taking her. i already dropped the class. she SCREAMED at everyone who had a laptop out, told us how we can fail the class for multiple reasons beyond exam and essay scores, she makes so many rules that no other professor makes! she said she has a bad reputation because shes a woman. AVOID
She runs the WGSS department and is responsible for its reputation and maintenance, and unfortunately doesn't are for anyone or anything but herself. She has complete disregard for the student experience and disallows anyone to think for themselves in her class. She claims to be all about freedom and equality yet runs her class like a dictatorship.
She is a horrendous human being. I am filing a complaint against her at Bing. There are questions that don't have an appropriate answer in her tests. I'm going to have her fired. I deserve an A. I took many screenshots of her dumb questions and will go on campus to have her taken out. She will be fired.
Do not take her. PhD level expectations at an undergraduate level. Very rude and impatient and is one of those who thinks the world of herself and her teachings. She has taught me that if she can get a PhD and act as immature and unprofessional as she does in the real world then so can I. Thanks Roth.
Professor Roth is very hit-or-miss. Although I do not agree with some of the things she has said in class, which are just honestly rude and unprofessional, I do like her class. It's very interesting, and the assignments are pretty simple in my opinion. There is a midterm, final, and one paper, and she and her ta are easy graders.
Do not take any class with her. This semester has been the most stressful yet solely due to her class and the fact that she loves being in charge of her own course and thinks the world of herself. She is the most terrible professor and hates her job and loves making students miserable. I am reporting her to the college.
Dr. Roth is clearly very knowledgeable and I enjoyed the content of the class. However, she is very condescending and does not show students equal respect. The assigned reading for this class is the same amount assigned in a graduate class, there is a lot of writing and no W credit. I would definitely get a beer with her, but that's it.
This professor was nothing but problems. A bunch of students and I reported her to the chair and dean and they took action against her. She does not practice what she preaches, she is all for equality but then berates the few male students in class as well as brags about her supposed wealth.
do not take her, i wish i listened to the reviews but i thought how bad could a 200 level class really be? she is so rude and problematic she brings all these issues upon herself then acts like she has a bad reputation because no one wants to work hard in college anymore. i dropped after a week. way too risky to take with her grading policies.
It is a shame that she is the only professor this semester for SOC200, a course required for many majors but she has made the class insufferable and left me no choice but to drop and fulfill this requirement another semester when she was not teaching it. Registrar stated many people are complaining about her and dropping as well. STEER CLEAR OF HER
Professor Roth has been one of my favorite sociology professors at bing. the way that she runs her class is very clear cut and, once you get used to how she distributes her exams and grades them, it is simple to do well in the class. i wish i could have taken a course with her this spring semester.
TERRIBLE!!! AVOID HER CLASS AT ALL COSTS!!!
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
99%
Textbook Required
25%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-2.12 avg changeRatings by Course
SOC253
5.0
(1)SOCSECT
5.0
(1)CLASSSECT
5.0
(1)SOCMANY
5.0
(1)SOC480A
5.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
SOC300
5.0
SOC101
5.0
WGSS384
5.0
WGSS353
5.0
SOC380
4.9