Professor
Giulia Sissa
2 of 4
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2024 - I thought that this class was a great experience. I was nervous going into it because I have not enjoyed political theory in the past, but this class made the content more interesting by depending primarily on the weekly readings and building around that. Overall, I thought that this class was challenging without being overly hard and makes you engage with the material. The professor and TA well-prepare you for the midterm and final as well as make them pretty straight forward. I especially liked the discussion sections for this class because they were lively and greatly contributed to my understanding of the readings.
Winter 2024 - I thought that this class was a great experience. I was nervous going into it because I have not enjoyed political theory in the past, but this class made the content more interesting by depending primarily on the weekly readings and building around that. Overall, I thought that this class was challenging without being overly hard and makes you engage with the material. The professor and TA well-prepare you for the midterm and final as well as make them pretty straight forward. I especially liked the discussion sections for this class because they were lively and greatly contributed to my understanding of the readings.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2026 - DON'T TAKE A SISSA CLASS. EVER. Maybe she used to be decent, but after today's final exam, I will never take a class with her again. This was an unfair class to both students and the TAs. Two days before the final, Dr. Sissa informed us that any reading ever mentioned on the slide show could be on our final exam. The expectation of mastering any other material beyond the required readings on the syllabus was not communicated in time. Even the TAs did not agree with how she handled the final exam. She lacked communication in her expectations and violated her syllabus multiple times. Truly a disappointment in UCLA's Classics Department. On the final exam, two readings were not even mentioned on the syllabus and were on a random slideshow. She expected students to sift through 500+ slides two days BEFORE the final exam. She lacks empathy, consideration, and time management. She does not represent the UCLA standard of teaching. If she had communicated that expectation at the start of the course or even a few weeks before the final exam, that would have been more reasonable and fair. Doing it on the last class session we had together two days before the exam, was cruel. For someone who claims to be a master of Machiavelli, she clearly does not understand the virtues of being a good leader. Maintaining satisfaction with the public (students) is a core element of a positive academic environment. Being ruthlessly cruel with this final exam was the epitome of unprofessional. She needs to update her slides, review these authors herself, and consider adopting their leadership theories to her teaching style. If you want to achieve Aristotle's eudaimonia, don't take this class.
Winter 2026 - DON'T TAKE A SISSA CLASS. EVER. Maybe she used to be decent, but after today's final exam, I will never take a class with her again. This was an unfair class to both students and the TAs. Two days before the final, Dr. Sissa informed us that any reading ever mentioned on the slide show could be on our final exam. The expectation of mastering any other material beyond the required readings on the syllabus was not communicated in time. Even the TAs did not agree with how she handled the final exam. She lacked communication in her expectations and violated her syllabus multiple times. Truly a disappointment in UCLA's Classics Department. On the final exam, two readings were not even mentioned on the syllabus and were on a random slideshow. She expected students to sift through 500+ slides two days BEFORE the final exam. She lacks empathy, consideration, and time management. She does not represent the UCLA standard of teaching. If she had communicated that expectation at the start of the course or even a few weeks before the final exam, that would have been more reasonable and fair. Doing it on the last class session we had together two days before the exam, was cruel. For someone who claims to be a master of Machiavelli, she clearly does not understand the virtues of being a good leader. Maintaining satisfaction with the public (students) is a core element of a positive academic environment. Being ruthlessly cruel with this final exam was the epitome of unprofessional. She needs to update her slides, review these authors herself, and consider adopting their leadership theories to her teaching style. If you want to achieve Aristotle's eudaimonia, don't take this class.
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2025 - Took this class as a last resort and was pleasantly surprised. While the lectures are just the professor talking at you for an hour and fifteen minutes, if you take some basic notes, you should be fine. Everything you will need to know on the midterm and final are in the readings and covered in discussion. I honestly really enjoyed the content and while lectures were tedious sometimes, it wasn't horrible. For exams, you had to identify the author, time period, and place an excerpt was from and add some significance - pretty standard for a Classics course. Sometimes the class is boring and her lectures can be a lot of random information, but it is far from as horrible as the ratings suggest. The only work is readings, notes, the midterm and final.
Spring 2025 - Took this class as a last resort and was pleasantly surprised. While the lectures are just the professor talking at you for an hour and fifteen minutes, if you take some basic notes, you should be fine. Everything you will need to know on the midterm and final are in the readings and covered in discussion. I honestly really enjoyed the content and while lectures were tedious sometimes, it wasn't horrible. For exams, you had to identify the author, time period, and place an excerpt was from and add some significance - pretty standard for a Classics course. Sometimes the class is boring and her lectures can be a lot of random information, but it is far from as horrible as the ratings suggest. The only work is readings, notes, the midterm and final.
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2 of 4
