Bret Keeling is an English professor at Northeastern University rated 3.14/5 by 605 students, with 3.5/5 difficulty and 30.0% who would take them again (TRACE + RateMyProfessors + Reddit, updated July 2026).
Bret Keeling professor reviews and ratings: 3.14/5 from 605 student reviews at Northeastern (30.0% would take again). TRACE + RateMyProfessor + Reddit.
He will only give you a B if you finish all his assignments ON TIME and is not lenient at all. He is very strict in his policies and despite the course being online and being during the summer, he is not considerate of students. He grades things based on his opinion of the topic you write about. DO NOT take him.ENG3302 2025-05-12 04:03:38 +0000 UTC
Attendance is mandatory and being on-time is also taken into account even if the class is at 8 am. There are plenty of syllabus documents so make sure you read all the jargon. The assignments were not hard and they were sort of interesting but its just that you will be graded based on showing up to class rather than the quality of your work.ENGW3315 2025-05-05 00:51:22 +0000 UTC
I made an account just to leave this review. Do not take this class. You will be held to the most unfair standards while struggling to find clear instruction on any assignments. He is extremely condescending and loves the power of students trying to appease him. You are playing against the house, and you know what they say about that.ENG3305 2024-05-25 19:31:06 +0000 UTC
We did four big projects, which were each 20% of the final grade. Our last project (1000 word paper) was announced the second to last day of class. He is very rigid (ex. he put a deadline in canvas for in class work and i missed it, walked up to him in class to tell him and he did not care). Despite this I'm obsessed with him as a person he's lit.ENGW114 2023-12-05 01:41:05 +0000 UTC
Worst professor ever . I am 47 and the passive aggressive interactions with him were beyond unacceptable. He was very disrespectful and I have never encounter a professor like this before . He should be ashamed of the way he treats studentsENG111 2023-07-24 01:37:29 +0000 UTC
The real challenge was not completing the work, but instead recieving a good grade in overall course. You are expected to fight for your grade at the end of the semester, and if you did not satisfy his frankly rediculous expectations you were screwed. He was petty and feedback was vague, so if he doesn't like your work you are basically screwed.ENGL1111 2022-05-30 23:29:05 +0000 UTC
Such a good professor! As long as you participated in class and put in effort on the assignments you got an A. He was super awesome as a person too and really cares about his students. Moved deadlines if students were really overwhelmed with with other classes. Super approachable!ENGW1111 2020-12-03 16:34:38 +0000 UTC
This professor made one semester for me at Northeastern a living Hell. Easy enough class, but my experience with him was one of the worst in my academic career. Do not take a class with this professor f you are a working student or require flexibility with your deadlines/workload . 0/10.AWD3305 2020-07-05 05:03:32 +0000 UTC
Very enthusiastic and friendly. He made Advanced Writing as fun as it could be. Lots of writing assignments and verbose rubrics. Class was enjoyable, though, and he's definitely helpful and committed to his teaching.ENG3301 2014-06-22 23:35:53 +0000 UTC
Great professor! Very interesting; obvious that he really cared about the subject (novels from the modern period) and the students. Gave a variety of assignments which really helped to learn the material in different ways, leading to deeper learning. Very fair grader, and always willing to help if you need it. Gave extensive and helpful feedback!ENGL4672 2013-09-26 12:42:46 +0000 UTC
Really great teacher and easy to do well if you follow directions and stay on top of your work.AWD3301 2012-01-10 16:19:59 +0000 UTC
Bret is fantastic. I had him for an online course, and he is by far the best teacher I've had for an online course. He provides clear lectures to accompany clear assignments. And he provides helpful and FAST feedback to ALL assignments. Whenever I emailed him with a question, he got back to me within hours (not days!) with a definitive answer.ENGL3301 2011-12-08 11:03:44 +0000 UTC
Very best English professor I ever had. He is the definition of a student centered teacher. Any student who slanders him is a student who is lazy. He expects that students do the work... which is how it it supposed to be. He is also funny and diligently gives great feedback.ENG305 2011-03-24 01:50:42 +0000 UTC
Very condescending. Not very straight forward. Class itself is not hard, he is not helpful or understanding with any circumstances that arise. Would strongly recommend a different professor.ENGL301 2011-03-23 11:33:07 +0000 UTC
I had Bret at UW 12 years ago, when I was a BA student. I am a PhD student now and still remember this class. It was frustrating, challenging and, ultimately, AMAZING. Maybe you are a student looking for an easy class, don't take him. But if you are looking for something memorable, terrifying and life-changing, Bret is your guy. Mark Walters, UCSD.ENG4XX 2010-11-22 05:55:40 +0000 UTC
Bret Keeling has an average rating of 3.14/5 from 605 student reviews. 30.0% of students said they would take them again.
Bret Keeling's classes have a difficulty rating of 3.5/5 based on student reviews.
Bret Keeling has taught ENGW3302, ENGW3315, ENGW1111, ENGW1114, MEIE6800, ENGW3310, ENGL2430, ENGL2380, ENGL1503, ENGW3306 at Northeastern.
Data updated July 2026.