Student perspective
These are all public written comments recovered from the former EagleEval service plus new anonymous submissions. They are displayed as written and may describe older course formats.
10 written reviews matching “Peter Devine”
Not a bad class, especially if you've taken econ before. Go to his lectures; he doesn't record them. No homework at all. Just three short problem sets, where the TA sessions give you the answers. STUDY hard for his 50% final tho, bc you can't get lower than whatever you get on that.
Long lectures but he cares about what he's teaching and tries to make it interesting. He wants everyone to know that he's smarter than them, and the class is all him talking. The problem sets are exactly what is on the test, so really try to learn the stuff on them.
egotistical, bad at teaching, charming in some ways but very harsh grader. avoid unless you have a particularly easy schedule otherwise
Prof. Devine is my favorite BC professor. He's the epitome of "Ever to Excel". Attend the lectures, go to your discussion sections, do your problem sets, and you'll get at least an A-. Knowing Calc is a big plus but not necessary for doing well in the class.
Nice professor, disorganized course: no slides/syllabus/review materials, monthly assignments, and a 50% final. Office hours are packed and more like mini-lectures; TA support is limited. Not recommended for students without econ background.
If you're looking for an in-depth and well-taught understanding of economics, take Devine. As an econ major, I'm glad I took his class and it's helped me in future ones. Going to lecutre is extremely important for this class however and if you don't, you won't do well. Otherwise, you'll be fine.
Best prof I've ever had. Will learn your name if you participate (impressive in a 300-p lecture). Teaches you about real-world, applicable concepts. Office hours are a great resource. Super cool and personable guy, makes every effort to help you succeed. I would jump off a bridge if he told me to.
Very smart, uses current events, engaging, kind, helpful, great guy awesome class. the structure is a little sloppy at times and there is some confusion between TAs and professor and some unclear things but this will get worked out over time.
Super kind and applies real world knowledge to add context to concepts in the class. Would not take though if no prior econ knowledge because he does not explain the concepts fully and spends a lot of time of econ in current events.
Prof. Devine was a great professor, especially for Principles of Economics. He tailored the course to topics that we were interested in, and was invested in our success. The course was pretty easy imo. He tried to get to know people by name and always responded to emails.