MCEN 1010
First Year Writing Seminar · 5 instructors on record · 17 sections
That is the class itself, averaged across everyone who taught it. Who taught it, and how each of them scored, is the board below — that is what a student picking a section is actually choosing between.
Boston College's own “intellectually challenging” question for this class only — students answer it positively about courses that stretched them, so it measures intellectual challenge and NOT grading, workload or quality. Almost every BC class scores high on it, which is why it is shown as a rank rather than a score.
Boston College reports workload for this class only as one of five bands, not as a number of hours, and it does not publish what the bands mean — so this site will not translate it into hours. Higher means more work, which is not the same as worse.
As in all First Year Writing Seminar (FWS) sections, this course is intended to prepare students for writing at the college level. Exploring themes of culture and crossing borders, we will write in a variety of genres from personal narratives to critical essays drawn from interviews and research. We will delve into experiences of crossing borders to raise questions about identity and community. Students will read published texts and works by BC writers. You will be encouraged to compose fresh, innovative prose and learn to give and receive productive feedback. On occasion, student writers will present their polished work to their peers in the classroom and online.
Scores are real averages. The order also accounts for how many records back each one — the count is under every score — so one perfect review does not outrank a semester of them. 1 of the 5 rows carry a mark saying so.
| Rank | Instructor | Overall | Workload | Challenge | RMP overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Amanda LabriolaEnglish | 993 records | 78th | 21st | 1009 ratings · all classes |
| 2 | Kathleen GonsoMessina College | 934 records | 81st | 5th | —no page |
| 3 | Megan CrottyEnglish Provisional fewer records | 891 record | 78th | 76th | 628 ratings · all classes |
| 4 | Amy AlvarezMessina College | 908 records | 82nd | 31st | —no page |
| 5 | Brian ZimmermanEnglish Provisional | 631 record | — | 76th | 7214 ratings · all classes |
How this board is orderedPositions account for how many records stand behind each number, so one perfect review does not outrank a semester of them. Every score shown is the real average — only the ordering is adjusted. The comparison here is the class itself: a thin record is read against how this class was rated overall, not against the university.
Every instructor with an evaluation record for this class is on this board — it is not a top ten, and nothing is hidden behind a “show more”. Overall is the instructor's blended score for THIS class only, and its one contributing source is Boston College's evaluations for the sections in the row's record count — nothing on this board is an average across the other things they teach. Workload and Challenge are RANKS against every class we hold, not scores: BC's questions all sit near the top of the 1-5 scale, so a raw number would put almost every row in the high eighties and tell you nothing. Challenge is BC's “intellectually challenging” item, which students answer positively about courses that stretched them — it is not a measure of difficulty or grading. Neither column is ever marked better or worse. 2 of 5 rows are marked provisional: fewer than 3 records stand behind the number. That is thin evidence, not a bad instructor — the record count is in every row. The RateMyProfessors column is an instructor's overall figure across everything they teach; that site has no course dimension, so it is shown for information and kept out of the ranking.
The line
All 13 items · means across 17 recordsBar length is the rank against every comparable record we hold, not the raw score: BC's questions all have a median around 4.5, so a raw-scale bar would be nearly full on every row and would tell you nothing. Every bar is one ink colour — nothing here is graded green or red. The hatched bars are not ratings at all: a higher number on either describes a different course, not a better one.
Game log
17 sections · newest first| Instructor | Term | Sec | Instr | Course | Work |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amy Alvarez | Fall 2025 | 01 | 88 | 89 | 60 |
| Amy Alvarez | Fall 2025 | 02 | 96 | 84 | 60 |
| Amanda Labriola | Summer 2025 | 01 | 98 | 93 | — |
| Kathleen Gonso | Summer 2025 | 03 | 99 | 95 | 60 |
| Kathleen Gonso | Summer 2025 | 04 | 89 | 80 | 60 |
| Amy Alvarez | Summer 2025 | 05 | 90 | 87 | 80 |
| Megan Crotty | Summer 2025 | 06 | 89 | 87 | 60 |
| Amy Alvarez | Summer 2025 | 07 | 92 | 88 | 80 |
| Amanda Labriola | Summer 2025 | 08 | 100 | 96 | 60 |
| Amy Alvarez | Fall 2024 | 01 | 83 | 74 | 60 |
| Amy Alvarez | Fall 2024 | 02 | 85 | 80 | 60 |
| Brian Zimmerman | Summer 2024 | 01 | 63 | 64 | — |
| Amanda Labriola | Summer 2024 | 02 | 100 | 93 | — |
| Amy Alvarez | Summer 2024 | 03 | 92 | 85 | 60 |
| Kathleen Gonso | Summer 2024 | 04 | 94 | 87 | 60 |
| Amy Alvarez | Summer 2024 | 05 | 95 | 84 | 80 |
| Kathleen Gonso | Summer 2024 | 06 | 90 | 89 | 80 |
How to read this boardInstructors are ranked on their record in this class only, never on their average across everything they teach. Scores are out of 100 — Boston College's 1–5 agreement scale, ×20, the way these numbers were printed for years. Workload is BC's own five-band figure, not a number of hours, and is shown as a rank. A dash means the question was not reported, and is never a zero.