Patrick Mullen is an English professor at Northeastern University rated 3.11/5 by 128 students, with 2.81/5 difficulty and 78.0% who would take them again (TRACE + RateMyProfessors + Reddit, updated July 2026).
Patrick Mullen professor reviews and ratings: 3.11/5 from 128 student reviews at Northeastern (78.0% would take again). TRACE + RateMyProfessor + Reddit.
He was impossible to reach outside of class as he never responded to emails sent by students. Also, instead of providing helpful feedback he insulted students' writing. He never set any guidelines for assignments and he compared students' work and marked down those that did not do what he liked about the others. He also hated confrontation.ENGL1400 2025-11-22 02:09:23 +0000 UTC
This was my second class with Patrick and I hope to have many more with him, I love his teaching style and he's super helpful on assignments! Absolutely would take again 10/10.ENGL3487 2024-07-03 19:25:49 +0000 UTC
Yes, Mullen has jokes, but the group work was ridiculous. He essentially didn't teach the class, but required groups to pull together impromtu, weird presentations and then was condescending with his feedback. He was also very rude during a meeting outside of class, and unclear with his reasoning for paper grades.ENGL3337 2011-04-18 13:56:55 +0000 UTC
I've had Mullen for 2 classes and he has shown different (though both good) styles of teaching. In a larger class he relied mostly on group work and introductory lectures, which is standard. In the seminar (HIGHLY recommend you take a seminar you're interested in with Mullen) he really engages and encourages individually.ENGL3600 2011-03-17 19:17:34 +0000 UTC
Mullen is a great guy. He leads class discussions really well and likes to make sure everyone is engaged. Since it's a lower level class, he doesn't have it at the top of his priorities, but neither do students. Make sure you do the readings every day! He uses them for class discussions and sometimes randomly calls on you.ENGU221 2009-04-13 19:03:05 +0000 UTC
I took Major Figure: James Joyce with Professor Mullen and this is definitely his forte. He had tons of passion for this subject and I would recommend taking a course with him on Irish Lit.ENG600 2006-12-04 19:47:07 +0000 UTC
OK, here's the deal with Mullen. Really, really smart and nice guy HOWEVER, he seems more interested in watching TV than grading. Nice vibe in class-- basically we just talk about poems. Do the reading, take notes, and you'll be fine. He wants you to pass and gives extra credit opportunities throughout course. Oh, he's really funny too.BRITLIT2 2006-03-15 16:41:36 +0000 UTC
The only real gripe I had with this class was the amount of group work we had to do. He rarely got to my group which gave us no reason to discuss in the firt place.ENG550 2006-01-06 15:22:25 +0000 UTC
Lectures are boring and don't have a point. I emailed him a bunch of times to clarify assignments and whatnot and he would either not answer or his answer wouldn't help. He made us do group work often and it felt like 8th grade English class. Oh yeah and you can't read his handwriting, at all.ENG166 2006-01-05 16:57:44 +0000 UTC
Yes, he does miss student appointments but he tries to make up for it by giving you extra time and rescheduling right away when that happens. Plus, he does hold office hours you can attend. Grading is more confusing than it has to be. He tries to make class interesting by having students lead but more instructing would be an improvement.ENGU600 2006-01-03 14:49:47 +0000 UTC
Mullen is totally condescending, never helpful or available outside of the classroom. I had a meeting scheduled with him, and was waiting outside his office for 45 minutes. He never showed. He never answers emails or phone calls either. All we did was group work- he probably only taught the class about half the time.ENG500 2005-12-02 12:26:49 +0000 UTC
He's cool not very strict. takes attendance, but theres no homework besides reading which you can get around.ENGU166 2005-11-03 12:05:27 +0000 UTC
He's a nice guy but his grading criteria is unclear and he rarely gives feedback along with a letter grade. He didn't grade any of our assignments in the last month of the semester. He brings a strange, flighty energy to class almost as if he worries somebody will usurp his power. Be cautioned.ENGL1400 2025-02-16 12:15:51 +0000 UTC
Patronising, didn't show up for individual meetings all the time, didn't seem that interested in actually teaching, too much group work, and a group paper at the end of the class. I felt like he should have taught more of the class on his own rather than making us do it. Moved due dates back. Took too long to grade papers and midterm.ENGU600 2005-12-01 13:29:04 +0000 UTC
Prof Mullen is super chill in class and gave good feedback on papers but loved group projects. Anything that could be a group project was a group project. There were also a few papers that we were required to write and then rewrite. Though this gave the option to do better, he also gave lower grades on the original papers to force you to rewrite.ENGL1400 2024-01-09 23:33:08 +0000 UTC
Patrick Mullen has an average rating of 3.11/5 from 128 student reviews. 78.0% of students said they would take them again.
Patrick Mullen's classes have a difficulty rating of 2.81/5 based on student reviews.
Patrick Mullen has taught ENGL4710, ENGL1400, ENGL7351, HONR3310, ENGL1000, ENGL2600, ENGL3161, ENGL3375, ENGL3730, ENGL4060, ENGL5103, ENGL2450, ENGL3676, ENGL4100, ENGL4720, ENGL4070, ENGL3200, ENGL7287 at Northeastern.
Data updated July 2026.