Historical instructor

ANN O'BRIEN

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 2.83/5 from 52 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

What students say

Original student reviews · all captured dates

ACCT640 · course not matched
Quality 1/5Difficulty 3/5
Ann O'Brien is a great case study in how to defraud a public university. Paid over $300K a year to use her “friend's” projects and materials, didn't do any actual teaching or work. Rising to her position within the university gi… Read full reviewShow less
Ann O'Brien is a great case study in how to defraud a public university. Paid over $300K a year to use her “friend's” projects and materials, didn't do any actual teaching or work. Rising to her position within the university given her incompetence is honestly her greatest achievement. You've learned more in this review than you will in her class.
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340 · course not matched
Quality 1/5Difficulty 5/5
There isn't a good way to characterize this class besides saying it's the opposite of the tags above. Ann is the WORST lecturer I've ever had the misfortune of witnessing, it was like a train wreck in 90 minutes every class. Doesn't know the topic she teaches (accounting technology), crowdsources her materials, not respected by students or peers.
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340 · course not matched
Quality 1/5Difficulty 4/5
Ann O'Brien does it again! Just confirming that after another semester teaching the same class she's taught for 30 years, some things never change. Lecture slides are from the 90s, she's still technologically inept, and to those saying &#82… Read full reviewShow less
Ann O'Brien does it again! Just confirming that after another semester teaching the same class she's taught for 30 years, some things never change. Lecture slides are from the 90s, she's still technologically inept, and to those saying “her course just isn't structured like any others”—that's because THERE IS NO STRUCTURE. Stain on WSB's reputation
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ACCT640 · course not matched
Quality 1/5Difficulty 3/5
Ann O'Brien, what does she even do? She runs a "reverse classroom", which means she doesn't lecture. Does she grade? No. She directs students with tech questions to ask each other, instead of her, because she doesn't have the knowledge to answer. I hope she retires and is replaced by someone with the expertise + motivation to teach this class.
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ACCT640 · course not matched
Quality 1/5Difficulty 4/5
Ann O'Brien is one of the most incompetent people ever. She gives insane amounts of busy work to avoid having to actually teach or provide material that is of value. She is truly giving this university a bad reputation. She knows little about any sort of accounting or taxes which is crazy considering this is an accounting class.
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ACCT640 · course not matched
Quality 1/5Difficulty 4/5
Get ready for busy work. Ann doesn't know what she is teaching about. She's so lazy that she gives projects so she doesn't actually have to teach. The projects are so tedious that you don't see any value in it. She thinks she is guiding people towards success so I don't think this course will be revised in the future. This class was a waste of time
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Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.

Classes with ANN O'BRIEN

No teaching recorded in Fall 2026.

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Recorded teaching history

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Teaching history may be incomplete. Course pages contain course-specific feedback and citations.

Instructor identity & provenance 
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