2.4
Quality3.5
Difficulty22%
Would Retake82
Reviews22%
Would Retake
82
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
8
4
13
3
13
2
25
1
23
What Students Say
“For freshmen, McCabe's courses will, no doubt, prove to be difficult”
ENG110 - 4.0 rating“Just avoid taking out your phone because he'll call you out”
ENG226 - 4.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
100%
Textbook Required
20%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.79 avg changeRatings by Course
COMM111
5.0
(1)ENG204
4.3
(4)ENG156
4.0
(1)ENG214
3.7
(3)ENG226
3.3
(4)Difficulty by Course
ENG110
4.3
ENG300
4.1
ADVANCEDCOMP
4.0
ENGLISH300
4.0
WRT188
3.9
Reviews (82)
Very good professor. He knows a lot about music. The class was worth it.
He is nice but a pretty boring teacher and class overall. I would not recommend taking him especially if you have a lot of class with a lot of work to do because he assigns A LOT tedious busy work!
The class was really tedious and long. And he didnt teach us about the essays, just read off the assignment from the sheets he handed out.
Good teacher, lots of papers, if you pay attention and do your work the class is a very easy one to pass overall.
He is an overall good teacher, very knowledgable about music. Assigns homework almost every class, but its not hard. Pretty easy class!
You get a lot of little and big assignments that are necessary to do. Good teacher but is boring.
Loved his class, cool guy, will help you out if you need it. Very direct.
He is a very cool and down to earth guy who used to play in a band. The class is very discussion based and involves a lot of reading and writing one page "journal entries" but they're easy and aren't graded hardly at all. He also doesn't grade exams that harshly either. Offers extra credit journals if there are events on campus worth attending.
Very good professor, knows a lot about what he talked about. An easy class if you pay attention and use discussion time wisely!
he is no fun, boring, and he forgets what he says
Absolutely terrible. He expects way too much out of an INTRO, gen-ed course. He assigns lots of tedious, useless assignments, and a final 10 page critical essay on literature. He is embarrassingly disorganized and rambles on making no sense at all. Other professors who teach the class assign half the work he does. AVOID IF POSSIBLE!
Easy class. Really only discussion. Attendance is very important. All you really have to do is show up. He works with you also if you miss a number of classes. He let me write a paper to get rid of unwanted attendance points. I highly recommend this class.
Awful professor. Rambles on during class about nothing. Says "um" 100 times during a class period. Grades based on his own opinions. I learned nothing about writing from him.
Pretty good professor. He tries to keep the class entertained by telling jokes and stuff. There is a lot of reading but it's fairly easy. Just one big paper and some reflection. Just avoid taking out your phone because he'll call you out. Otherwise he is a good professor.
Assigns busy work every week, but overall very easy show up and do the assignments and you'll get at least a B. Pretty easy overall
Assigns lots of work but is mostly opinion based. Readings are easy although some are difficult but he will discuss it in class. You don't necessarily need to participate every time despite him telling you that you wont pass if you don't participate. I barely participated and passed with a B. Overall laid back professor, just show up.
McCabe was an absolute joy to have as a professor. He was approachable and willing to help, and his laid-back nature made class discussions fun and interesting. McCabe is intelligent, flexible, honest and very funny. The HNRS 275 course is a chore, but McCabe made it interesting and fun. I would take him again.
AWFUL DO NOT TAKE. Insane amount of homework, hard grader, long papers, all homework is irrelevant. Talks for hours about god knows what and writes random things on the board. 0/10 would not recommend.
Do not take for English 300! Whatever you do, avoid him at all costs. You have at least a one page paper due every class period that is not even graded and he has he's grading rubric where it is impossible to get an A on a paper. He said he has only given one A on a very extensive research essay.
I advise you to take a different professor for English 300. You have three one-page typed papers due per week on top of all the other major assignments (essays). He doesn't respond to emails either, which is disappointing. Save yourself and take a different professor.
McCabe is an alright professor. Class gets boring because of the assigned readings followed by an in class discussion. But the assigned essays are not horrible, mostly reflection. It's hard to get an A but its usually an easy B as long as you try. Overall McCabe is nice and tries his best to keep the class entertained. Would recommend.
I would advise you not to take him as a teacher if you aren't an English major. I hope you have a couple of extra hours in your day because he assigns you an article or chapter to read every class & if you don't do it, he knows because you have to turn in a written summary every class. Thinking about skipping class? DON'T!
I think McCabe is good guy but his classes are awfully boring. All you really do is show up and have a discussion with the class regarding the reading he assigns. Papers are clear but still hard to receive an A on them. You get three free missed days of class, I would advise using them for the last 2 weeks of class, barely did anything but stare.
Would not recommend to take Dr. McCabe and I suggest you find a different professor if possible. The amount of homework each week is unnecessary and not worth the time- three typed papers due each week.
Tries to be a nice guy but expects students to spend more time than necessary in this course. Can miss class three times then it's an F. Usually there's typed papers required for each class period that you save and turn in twice per semester.
Never Taking One Of His Classes Again.
Be prepared to have a writing assignment almost every night. Also be prepared to spend entire class periods just reading ur peer's responses. McCabe is a nice guy and a fair grader, but good lord his class is boring. Says "um" every other word. Some of his assigned readings r very hard to understand. Not hard to pass but a hard to keep up
Very boring and dry classes. If you actually participate, it will ease the pain of going to his class every day. He seems like a really cool dude but his teaching techniques are very dull. Expect to write at least full one page every night, read unnecessary articles, and have large essays due every 2-3 weeks. His grading is also very confusing.
He was not that hard of a teacher, if you took him and do your work you will pass, the main problem I had was he wouldn't tell you what he expected, and I had an 89.5% and he would not round up after he said he would. But otherwise he is a really chill guy and the class is not to bad lots of discussion, and easy assignments.
Good heavens, I love writing and reading, yet McCabe still found a way to make those passions into a drab drag throughout the entire semester. I am easily willing to say that a majority of my work came from McCabe's class, much of it busywork. He is also a harsh grader, a problem for honors students who need to average an A to stay in honors.
For freshmen, McCabe's courses will, no doubt, prove to be difficult. However, it is ultimately quite rewarding and certainly enhances your understanding of various topics. Just be prepared for plenty of writing - not all is graded by rubric, some is just for completion. Many lament him as boring, but I found his stories interesting in any case.
The initial grade you get on your first essay will probably leave you stark-white, but he does allow for revisions and re-submissions within a week of getting your paper back for up to a letter grade's adjustment. The feedback he provides includes both broad suggestions and specific critique, and helps greatly with having an idea of where to go.
Dr. McCabe is an okay professor at best, he is just too demanding. There is an excessive amount of homework. Each day comes with an assignment, in the beginning it was just a reading and write a summary basically. Then it got much more complicated and time consuming. This class accounts for 90% of my homework, so take him if you have lots of time.
VERY boring professor with dry humor. Unclear as to what he wants for writing assignments/papers and then grades them extremely hard. Super indecent when it comes to paper feedback. Avoid taking him at all costs.
McCabe has a good-natured and chill personality, but he isn't the best professor. If you have him for class, be prepared for an enormous amount of demanding homework, usually consisting of 2 or 3 hours of reading and writing after every class. Attendance is mandatory and you must participate in class to receive a passing grade, so don't skip.
McCabe generally isn't the best lecturer and isn't super clear on grading. It's hard to understand his expectations for assignments.
Hes a cool dude, like his personality but very disorganized. Lots of reading from the textbook which takes forever and you have to write 1 page journal responses for each reading. Other than everything taking up time, its an easy A as long as you BS and participate in class. Midterm/final was open book open note. Notes have to be hand written
Dr. McCabe is a super great professor. He is very specific about what he wants and if you have questions or ideas, he will listen and respond. The class itself was easy, just make sure to do the readings or have a good idea of what is happening in the stories. The class itself is very opinion/theory based from the stories. Would take again.
Hes very rude and has no personality at all. Very strict with phones.
Hes quite derogatory towards his students, where they are kindergarteners to him. If you miss more than three classes (no matter the reason) you fail the class. Every night is writing an essay, and if you dont, he will criticize you in front of the entire class.
His class was pretty easy overall. A lot of reading, and a few pop quizzes. Pop quizzes were only worth 5% of your overall grade. Open note and book midterm and final exam. Do the readings and study a bit before tests and you will be fine.
Cant skip class. Everyday homework. Easy grading. No exams.
For a summer class, this was VERY homework heavy. . Many of us expressed our worries about working and not being able to do the work- and he assured us that the workload is course appropriate. I feel that it was most definitely not. Towards the end of the course, you were writing at least 3 page essays every day. Don't recommend for online.
Very nice and enjoyable, however he gets off topic very easily and tends to ramble on for quite a bit of the time period. Gives a lot of homework with semi high expectations but does not end up collecting the assignments. Does not explain himself all the time when people ask questions about his material.
Dr. McCabe is a great professor! Make sure you go to class. Overall, the class is easy. I really enjoyed his lectures and in class discussions. He is not a tough grader, and he tells you what to do for the in class assignments. He gives good feedback and tells you what you need to fix for the final draft. I would take him again if I had the chance
Stephen is a great guy and a great professor. He always has something impactful to say about creative writing. Attendance and participation matter in this class, but as long as you engage, he will be very fair to you. The class itself is simple - a lot of textbook readings and quick writing exercises. Workshops are relaxed and nonjudgmental.
Instruction is not clear at all and very confusing.
A nice guy, but doesn't clearly explain what he expects from you. I wrote at least a 3 page paper every single night. Lectures are long and if you don't volunteer, you won't pass. It thought I wrote good papers, but he wouldn't grade them for MONTHS. By the time he would give them back to you, it would be too late to get a better grade.
Great professor. Friendly, interested, and always encourages student engagement. Well spoken, gives great feedback on assignments and always clearly states the assignment for the night. He was my favorite this semester.
Possibly the worst professor I have had. He is very disorganized and expects students to know exactly what he wants to hear. He makes you do a journal every class, but doesn't even read them nor are they worth points. Takes weeks to grade, and his prompts are very unclear. Do not take him for Writing 188!!
Every single night it was read over 20 to 30 pages. He also seemed to be very disorganized and not helpful in anyway.
I would suggest choosing another professor for 188. He isn't a hard grader and is a nice guy, but makes you write at least one page after every class. Doesn't give you a lot of time to write papers. Doesn't think you have any other classes and expects you to devote many hours into his class. Lots of writing, I would choose another professor.
I really enjoyed Professor McCabe. I think at the start of the semester we maybe got off on the wrong foot, but I think as the semester progressed, I have began to enjoy him a lot more and is a great professor. Super chill guy and is always around for questions. He wants you to succeed and will help you out. I would take his class again for sure.
Dr.McCabe assigns a lot of assignments (every class) with very confusing descriptions. The papers are assigned over the weekend as well as other assignments. Participation is mandatory and he takes personal notes each class period and you are graded on it. All in all he's very confusing and expects you to understand his confusing descriptions.
Hes a pretty cool professor honestly. but the amount of work you have to do for this class is nuts. journals every day. about 5 essays, and a 10 page research final paper. like I said, cool professor but lots of work.
McCabe was a nice guy at first, but then the homework load became too much. It felt like constant busy work. He was just assigning stuff to assign it. Easy grader though which was good. Attendance and participation is 100% required if you want to pass this class. He takes notes on students every day too which is weird to me.
Makes you waste so much paper with printing. Takes forever to get to the point and super harsh grader.
McCabe gives lots of daily journal assignments and requires you to print them off which wastes a lot of paper and are time consuming. He is a tough grader and his essay prompts aren't interesting to write about. Participation is a huge apart of your grade and attendance is taken every day. I would recommend taking a different professor for WRT188.
Dr. McCabe is a super nice guy and one of my favorite professors. Although he assigns reading almost every night, it is completely doable and each paper is 1 page, double spaced. I missed a few class periods and managed to keep my grade up in that respect. Exams are open book and open notes and are very easy as long as you have read the content.
Extremely power hungry. Not respectful of students time or opinions. Most of the journal entries and assignments feel like busy work. Takes forever to get grades back to students. Prompts and instructions very unclear. Has raised his voice at students more than once in my class. Overall terrible professor.
Highly recommend taking just about any other professor for WRT188. You will have to write a one page paper every night, print it out, and bring the next day. It is not even graded, but you have to talk about what you wrote. Essays were graded good, takes forever to get back. Lot of busy work that leaves you frustrated. He cares about writing though
This class was more difficult than it needed to be for a beginner college writing course. You get assigned one page journal entries every day and it is pointless and feels like busy work. Does not give you time in class to write essays and three paged essays over the weekend. Takes a long time to grade assignments. Barely used the textbook.
For an introductory course, this class had an insane amount of homework. Teacher cares about writing, but it felt like I was a senior in an honors course, not a freshman taking a gen ed. Would not recommend, heart other professors for WRT188 are way easier and give less homework. Also almost impossible to get an A in this class.
Had to write daily journals that were a fraction of our grade. All the stuff we did in class wasn't really graded but if you didn't come with your assignments you were called out. The prompts weren't very clear and we were told to write what we thought he was asking and then we would get a low score if we interpreted the prompt incorrectly.
This class gave me so much stress within even the first week. Constant assignments and EVERYTHING needs to be printed several times a week. He's a nice guy but his teaching style is too much for me. The first week we spent 3 entire class periods going over just the syllabus. He will also call people out in class for late work in front of others.
He was a good professor in terms of being able to talk to and converse with and was willing to help if you go to his office hours. However, this class had an unbelievable amount of work for almost an unnecessary reason, especially for a basic freshman class. He was not the harshest grader but was not easy either. Just be prepared for daily essays.
A lot of busy work that is unnecessary. Not considerate that students have other classes besides his.
His only teaching personality trait is how much he likes to assign busy work. Kind of hypocritical. My grade is currently tanked because when I turned in my journals he gave me a zero because I didn't staple them together. He stapled his own stuff to my papers, but won't give me my grade until I do the same. Kind of a tough grader, not terrible.
There are too many assignments and it's overwhelming, so seriously, never take this class.
Do not be surprised if he adds random assignments or even essays that are not listed on the syllabus. Each assignment that is not an essay is a 1-2 page paper with 5 essays. Mandatory class attendance. He also changed what assignments were worth percentage wise of your grade.
Very old school, not fun at all. Threatened to not let me return to his class halfway through the semester because I didn't agree with his opinions. Horrible feedback on assignments. You'll have to print a paper assignment everyday. Take anyone else. He shouldn't be a teacher.
He isn't a bad person but he just gives a lot of work and on top of everything else I have to do it's just too much for the class
Unless you're willing to write at least a page every night and an essay every weekend, I suggest you take someone else. McCabe was just really rude overall and graded harshly for everything. The class content was really boring which made the writing assignments that much harder and on top of it he had really high expectations for simple things.
You get homework pretty much every single class period. Constant writing assignments, there's never a break. I would recommend a different professor for a writing class.
be ready to write one page papers everyday!! the journals do help you in the long run for big essays but it is A LOT of work and time consuming. We had to write a 5 page paper over thanksgiving break and was due for a grade. He is a tough grader but does provide great feedback! For essays you only get a weekend to write but the journals do help!
If you have his class, go back to the college scheduler and switch it.(if it's the only time that works take it next semester) I had him last year and it was AWFUL. Lots of hw every night. Two long papers at the end of the semester with little downtime between any of the papers. If you don't have his writing style, then you'll have a bad grade.
An excellent professor, if you attend class every day and participate at least once in class he'll love you. Never makes anyone sound or look stupid, builds off of every students idea in group discussions no matter how good or bad a point they made. Yes, there's a lot of homework but it's definitely a manageable amount. (plus he's easy on the eyes)
McCabe is chill, and from my experience, he was kind and respectful towards everyone in the class. However, if you are not a fan of writing and are just taking this class for the credit, don't take his; because that's all your homework is going to be.
I would never EVER recommend McCabe. He is not understanding when it comes to homework so never expect to receive an extension. He gives out an unnecessary amount of work and has publicly called out and humiliated individuals who haven't brought their papers to class. Literally take ANY other writing professor!!!
Professor McCabe gives out tremendous amount of homework in his writing class, one journal(~one page) each day and three exceptionally long essays waiting for you and you only have very few time to write and polish them. Be aware Fall semester student! He would occupy your entire Thanksgiving holiday for writing the final paper!
Awful professor expects way too much from students for a class that is a gen ed. Homework takes countless hours and he expects you to love writing.
He likes everything to be printed/physical!!! He's a great teacher! Homework is like a one-page journal per day, very easy class!
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
100%
Textbook Required
20%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.79 avg changeRatings by Course
COMM111
5.0
(1)ENG204
4.3
(4)ENG156
4.0
(1)ENG214
3.7
(3)ENG226
3.3
(4)Difficulty by Course
ENG110
4.3
ENG300
4.1
ADVANCEDCOMP
4.0
ENGLISH300
4.0
WRT188
3.9