Historical instructor

Brian Esselman

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.26/5 from 162 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

343 · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 4/5
This man is the only reason I enjoyed 343. He is super knowledge about the content, will reply to your piazza question at all hours, and is very funny in lectures. DO THE PROBLEM SETS AND GO TO LECTURE- 343 is very doable if you stay on top of the (very heavy) workload and don't try to cram!
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CHEM 343
Quality 5/5Difficulty 4/5
Brian is fantastic. Ochem is a hard class in general but Brian makes the content easy to understand and it is laid out well. All my friends in other lectures came to Brian's lecture with me by the end of the year. By far the best instructor, I recommend taking him if possible and changing your schedule to be in his lecture.
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343 · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
This class was relatively hard in the beginning, but Brian really helps us grasp the concepts, rather than memorizing patterns. I would highly recommend going to his office hours and using piazza for help, as you will understand fundamentals for the course and how to connect ideas, all while listening to Brian's jokes. What more could you want!
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343 · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 4/5
Chem 343 is defiantly not an easy course but he is a great professor. If I hadn't been so busy I really recommend reading the textbook and watching lecture videos in person and then later on your own (he records every one). Good luck! Also- attend his office hours. He is super kind and willing to help
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CHE343 · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
Really funny guy who is clearly very passionate about what he teaches. Probably my favorite prof I've ever had. Genuinely might convince me to get a PhD in chemistry. He knows what he's talking about and makes a difficult class very enjoyable. Gives a lot of coolness at parties advice so listen up
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Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.

Classes with Brian Esselman

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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