Comments:UNSC 2301 - Dr. Nielsen is an excellent professor. She facilitates important, meaningful discussions in class and truly wants her students to understand the importance of the topics discussed. Her insights (especially into Augustine) are invaluable. The coursework consisted of three essays, a midterm, and a final. The midterm and the final were collaborative with the other UNSC sections, and they were not too difficult--Dr. Nielsen and the other professors tell you what you need to know. On essays, however, Dr. Nielsen has fairly high standards. She does not give many A's (occasionally none) on papers, and her feedback, while seemingly picky, is honestly very fair. That being said, she rarely fails people on essays--the averages are consistently in the B-B+ range. So, while it is very easy to get a B or an A- in the class, an A will take a little more work. Again, Dr. Nielsen is a wonderful person and professor and I very much recommend her class.  - Grade In Class:A

Comments:UNSC 2301 - Lovely lady, but she is such a tough grader. Her lectures/classes are really insightful and helpful and meaningful and all the good adjectives... but if you want a good grade in the class you got to be a really good writer or have a lot of luck (exhibit A= me). If you really love literature then absolutely take her but if you are premed or anything like that, probably don’t take her.  - Grade In Class:A

Comments:2302 U - Dr. Nielsen is THE greatest literary professor I have ever had. She has a wonderful gift for guiding discussion and engaging with students during class. Although this class was discussion based, she provided lots of expertise and is a very wise woman. She seriously did an amazing job getting to know us through class, as she would remember things we told her or past comments we had made in discussions, tying it in later, sometimes even days later. This really goes to show how intentional and considerate she is. She is also extremely kind! She invited everyone over to her house to celebrate Easter who was left in town. The class does demand lots of reading time (at least two hours before each class- but i'm also a very slow reader who annotates a lot) but the books were so fruitful! We also had a few essays that weren't extremely difficult, as well as a take home midterm. As an average writer, I was able to succeed without stressing, although they naturally did require a bit of work. I truly developed as a person through this class, the virtue based readings, and through Dr. Nielsen's example and intellect. Taking her convinced me of the worth of a Baylor education. I would tell anyone and everyone to take a Great Texts course with her!  - Grade In Class:A

Comments:GTX 2302 - High writing standard compared to other GTX faculty.  - Grade In Class:B+

Comments:GTX 2301 - Dr. Nielsen is an excellent professor. She is extremely passionate about what she teaches, and her lectures bring the texts and characters alive. Although she is a tough grader, she does everything she can to help you improve (for all your essays she gives you 2-5 things to work on and looks for them in your next essay). If you come to class ready to discuss the reading and you work hard on your essays you will do well!  - Grade In Class:A

Comments:2302 - I LOVE Dr. Nielsen! She is incredibly well-read and very good at teaching, she's one of the sweetest people I've ever met, and her class was discussion-based but somehow relatively painless at the same time. She truly cares about her students and while she is not an easy essay grader, it is not very hard to do well in her class. I would highly recommend her to anyone.  - Grade In Class:A

Comments:Women-3330 - Dr. Nielsen is AWESOME. This was one of the classes i looked forward to attending every week. She is an insightful lecturer and a just an overall good person. She has reading quizzes that stumbled me in the beginning, but if you do the readings carefully you will be fine. She is very clear about what she expects on our papers and class participation. Take Dr. Nielsen if you can, she is such a gem.  - Grade In Class:A

Comments:3330-Women - Dr. Nielsen remains to be one of my favorite professors at Baylor. She knows the material well and is enthusiastic about the texts. She encourages you to do well and her enthusiasm is contagious. I look forward to every Tuesday and Thursday morning because of this class. I often go into her office and talk with her about class advice as well as about a variety of books. She is always willing to help and responds to emails very promptly, which is always appreciated. She is not an easy grader by any means, but going into her office and discussing your essay with her will most definitely help your grade because of her insight for you. If you have the chance, Dr. Nielsen is a great choice for a professor.  - Grade In Class:A

Comments:Ancient - Neilsen cares a lot but she's kinda vague when it comes to the assignments and incredibly Catholic when it comes to teaching things - her St Augustine classes were a little like Sunday School. But she's generally fairly sweet and the class is easy.  - Grade In Class:B+

Comments:GTX 2301H - Dr. Nielsen is an excellent orator and is clearly not only interested in the material and the books read during the course, but is invested in living out the teachings of Homer, Plato, Aristotle, Virgil, Ovid, and Augustine. She is a formed person by her faith and the Great Texts read in this class and other classical texts. Dr. Nielsen make texts that may seem boring and confusing exciting and engaging through her effective presentation style. She will ask great philosophical questions that will keep you thinking about the readings for the rest of the day and week and that will help form you as a person. This has become my favorite class and a class that I look forward to every MWF. The class has gotten me more interested and reading and has certainly exceeded my expectations. Although this is a required class for all Honors Program students, this class will almost assuredly becomes an integral part of your routine and thought. Dr. Nielsen is open to helping students and was always interested in discussing the material and talking me through my essay ideas. Dr. Nielsen's educational background well-prepares her for the class and the topics it presents, but her enthusiasm for philosophy and classical Great Texts makes her a fantastic professor.  - Grade In Class:A

Comments:2301 - Dr. Nielsen sincerely seemed to care about students and the material. Augustine, in particular, I thought she taught very well. A word of warning, though- at least for my class, she graded essays very, very harshly. The quizzes she gives out can also be difficult, though as long as you really read the books, you'll probably be fine.  - Grade In Class:A

Comments:2301 - All I can say is, if you like the idea of reading the great books and learning the ideas of the authors you will LOVE Dr. Nielsen. She is a very good lecturer (especially on Plato, Virgil and Augustine) if you actually want to learn about the books- she is wicked smart. IF however you do not like the idea of reading classics and really want to just do sparknotes and get an easy A, then you would be better off with an easier prof. Though in that case you should be at Tech and not Baylor! In all fairness she is a very fair grader and anyone who does not know what to expect on a test has probably missed too many classes. I hope she teaches some upper level courses I can take soon!  - Grade In Class:A

Comments:2301 - She is a good professor who knows what she is talking about. Though the way that she speaks some times, she will often present morbid ideas with a smile. here tests are not too difficult.  - Grade In Class:C+

Comments:2301 - Dr. Nielsen is a relatively new professor (as of fall 2014) and is slightly more difficult a grader as she wants to prove herself. However, she is an extremely insightful lecturer and a delight to have a conversation with if you want to discuss the texts. Her quizzes are hard and just reading Sparknotes is not enough - you'll find yourself making 80% or worse quick if you don't read at least most of the work. The reading is a heavy workload and you'll go through an entire book in two weeks or less, but her small-group meetings are on-topic and easy to participate in. Read the work, engage in her class and study the characters for the tests and you will do well!  - Grade In Class:A