Patricia Illingworth is a Philosophy professor at Northeastern University rated 2.89/5 by 155 students, with 3.23/5 difficulty and 12.0% who would take them again (TRACE + RateMyProfessors + Reddit, updated July 2026).
Patricia Illingworth professor reviews and ratings: 2.89/5 from 155 student reviews at Northeastern (12.0% would take again). TRACE + RateMyProfessor + Reddit.
gives lectures where she mumbles at the front of the class with no visual guides, then has the audacity to ask YOU to speak up when participating in class. biased, won't take opinions that don't align with her own, just argues til you give up. make sure your papers are skewed to what she believes or else she'll take marks off. disorganized too.PHIL1170 2025-12-08 19:29:00 +0000 UTC
HYPOCRITE. If you don't generally agree with her then she won't let you speak and will consistently interrupt/undermine you even in group presentations and to other students when you aren't present. Tests are 20-30 handwritten paragraphs of pure memorization of vocabulary that you are given in advance, but which often hasn't been covered in class.PHIL5001 2020-03-26 20:17:22 +0000 UTC
Illingworth is very knowledge about the topics but her lectures are lacking. For the majority of the class lectures were based off of group projects done by students. There are few grades in the class and she is an extremely tough grader. Her lectures can be confusing and you are forced to supplement the material in order to pass the tests.PHIL1165 2016-12-09 12:45:16 +0000 UTC
I really enjoyed the class, but she grades VERY hard, and provides very little feedback and support. Almost all of this class is lecture and discussion. No powerpoint, you have to transcribe what she says as she goes on. Illington is a great professor, but the brutal grading and lack of office hours makes her one to avoid.1165 2015-04-16 20:22:41 +0000 UTC
Terrible teacher, if you don't see an idea her way it is wrong even if it is a completely open ended question. Hard to talk to out of class and when you do gives you misguidance rather than help. Avoid her if you can.MORALSOCPROBS 2014-04-06 00:24:37 +0000 UTC
Took business ethics.Great professor and tries to engauge the whole class. Midterm and a final with a paper... Thought she was a hard grader although I knew all the terms.BUS1200 2010-03-16 16:57:13 +0000 UTC
Illingworth gets a bad rap on this site. Philosophy majors, like me, know that she is very good. You can learn a lot from her and she is very helpful to students who want to learn. Unfortunately, she teaches large classes to students in med and business related programs who don't get philosophy. They lack motivation, give up, slack off, blame her.PHL1165 2009-12-31 14:05:32 +0000 UTC
An open forum class that allows free expression and fosters creative thought among students. The unorthodox class structure provides a break from the monotony of college lecture classes.BUSINETHI 2009-12-04 02:44:37 +0000 UTC
Horrible. SO BAD. DONT EVEN THINK ABOUT TAKING IT.PHL165 2008-04-29 10:58:13 +0000 UTC
Dr. Illingworth is a very intelligent professor,however, she is not a great teacher.She has a set of things she wants to talk about and she proceeds with them not paying attention to the class.She assumes that everyone knows as much as she does.She doesn't spend enough time explaining the basics to students.I felt like I was in graduate school...PHLU170 2008-04-15 01:43:01 +0000 UTC
The topics discussed in this class are really interesting to me. I actually enjoyed going to class sometimes when we discussed interesting or controversial issues. She tends to take a side on an issue and won't be afraid to basically say you are wrong. However, she's still nice and it's not too hard of a class. Just participate a lot!PHLU165 2008-04-01 10:55:45 +0000 UTC
She is a great teacher. She's perfect to take a class with because she talks about interesting things so you can participate and get into interesting discussions/debates, but you can also zone out and it doesnt matter. She's really smart, engaging, and relaxed. You can get along fine without ever reading the book.PHL301 2008-01-15 00:17:02 +0000 UTC
She definitely knows her stuff, and does a good job of advocating multiple sides of an issue without compromising her own conclusions. The worst part of the class is listening to other students spout off personal opinions and irrelevant anecdotes, but Illingworth is great. Try to be as thorough as possible in your written work.PHLU301 2007-12-09 10:01:01 +0000 UTC
Talks a lot about nothing. Very boring class. I felt she was always unprepared. Her teaching style is not the greatest, you watch a lot of movies and talk to each other. TA does ALL the work. But I never read a single page of the textbook and got a C+HTHCA101 2007-03-30 01:01:32 +0000 UTC
Class is pretty dull most of the time. She knows her stuff and is very intelligent but can sometimes be a little outthere. She's very nice though. She does none of the grading herself but instead makes the TA do all of it. As long as you do the readings and go to class you should be ok.MORAL165 2006-12-20 15:09:15 +0000 UTC
Patricia Illingworth has an average rating of 2.89/5 from 155 student reviews. 12.0% of students said they would take them again.
Patricia Illingworth's classes have a difficulty rating of 3.23/5 based on student reviews.
Patricia Illingworth has taught HONR3310, PHIL1170, PHIL4901, PHIL5001, LAW7494, PHIL1165 at Northeastern.
Data updated July 2026.