William Mayer is a Political Science professor at Northeastern University rated 3.33/5 by 337 students, with 3.12/5 difficulty and 62.0% who would take them again (TRACE + RateMyProfessors + Reddit, updated July 2026).
William Mayer professor reviews and ratings: 3.33/5 from 337 student reviews at Northeastern (62.0% would take again). TRACE + RateMyProfessor + Reddit.
Prof Mayer is great. Offers coffee after class for students. Lectures are just him talking so you must take good notes for midterms and quizzes. You can tell he tries to connect with students. Having a TA might make this class perfect as he struggles with technology.POLS2330 2025-12-19 18:41:15 +0000 UTC
Avoid at all costs! Grade is midterm + final. Only feedback comes from midterm. Won't require attendance. But expects you regurgitate his perspective on exams, so show up if you want an A. Boring lectures ONLY. They're outdated and sometimes repugnant. Used M*A*S*H as contemporary example once. Personal politics interferes with quality.POLS3320 2024-01-08 11:16:10 +0000 UTC
Lecture-heavy course on what is sometimes outdated material. Unfortunately, little feedback/criteria is given for assignments, so you won't know your grade or what you're doing incorrectly. Hard to get in contact with via email but made himself available to students via office hours.POL 2023-12-26 18:54:35 +0000 UTC
Avoid this guy. Mayer is smart but is awful at teaching. Class is exclusively lectures in which he regurgitates what is on the Canvas slides. You will have to teach the material to yourself. There are only 4 total assignments so you cannot afford to mess anything up. He grades very hard and will find ANYTHING to take points from. Take someone else.POLS1150 2023-04-18 15:37:39 +0000 UTC
Does a commendable job towing the line between his own political views and objectively teaching the course- and what he doesnt know about the course material isnt worth knowing. That said, his accessibility and email response rate need improvement; he isnt always at his office hours when the syllabus says he will be. Otherwise very good prof.POLS3310 2019-01-25 05:34:39 +0000 UTC
He loves teaching this class, People who don't like him, are just cranky because you don't appreciate the awesomeness that is William T. Mayer. Super Clear, great guy, character, just an awesome teacher, super fair. I admire him greatly and he is very intelligent - Am Pol ThoughtPOLU330 2009-04-14 12:02:47 +0000 UTC
good teachAABA 2007-01-21 00:12:14 +0000 UTC
he was awful. i attended every class, took down every note, restated what he said and more on the exams and got graded POORLY along with others. kids who didn't show up got good grades, unfair. boring as hell. will never take another class with him.. class was based on midterm+final. marked things wrong that he said were right in lecture.. AWFULLL.POLU310 2007-01-07 01:05:11 +0000 UTC
Listen up chumps... Mayer is the man. You can complain all you want, but until you've gotten one of his priceless gambling analogies, a show of his rightwing fury over Bill and Hillary, or some sarcastic response that solidifies his place amongst the academic elite, you just haven't lived. Give the man a B+; except when teaching Quant; that's a C-.POL9999 2006-11-03 14:00:43 +0000 UTC
This is simple. He's rude to the point where its almost funny. NEVER take quant. tech. with him because he openly admits he hates teaching the class. BUT his other classes are easy, he's an easy grader, doesn't care if you're there or not, and makes the tests easy because by his own admission he hates grading/paper work.AMER1 2006-11-01 04:20:23 +0000 UTC
Interesting class if you read the material. Gives clear notes so you know what to expect on the exam. Pretty easy grader too.AMERPOLTHGHT 2006-05-13 23:04:16 +0000 UTC
Get over the fact he's conservative- he's extremely smart, and unless you're a total cretin, you should easily pass this class. It's very interesting, and if you take notes, the tests are a breeze.MASSMEDIA 2006-03-31 10:53:08 +0000 UTC
Boring+Republican. Stutters like mad. Knows his stuff tho. only midterm and final for grades. I didn't buy the book, and never read anything for the class. If you go to class and takes notes, you'll do okay. Not particularly polite or helpful, but grades easy.If its between him and someone bad, take him. I hear hes not good w/ quant tech.U320MASSMEDIA 2005-12-21 17:56:32 +0000 UTC
I'll make it simple. He's one of the worst teachers a Northeastern. Almost funny how rude he is. Way to many things to get into so the bottom is never take this class.For poli sci majors, try to wait until somebody else teaches it. During the first class,he made it obvious he didn't want to teach the class, so don't expect any extra effort from himQUANTTECH 2005-12-13 02:14:07 +0000 UTC
Light course load, only midterm and final. But I didnt learn as much as i would have liked. His teaching style is a little lame. If its between him and something you know sucks, take him.POL320 2005-11-17 11:03:56 +0000 UTC
William Mayer has an average rating of 3.33/5 from 337 student reviews. 62.0% of students said they would take them again.
William Mayer's classes have a difficulty rating of 3.12/5 based on student reviews.
William Mayer has taught POLS2330, POLS3310, POLS3320, POLS3304, POLS7255, POLS7205, POLS1150, POLS5101 at Northeastern.
Data updated July 2026.