Current instructor

Elena Donghia

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 3.61/5 from 18 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

ASTRON 200
Quality 3/5Difficulty 1/5
Very sweet and passionate professor. Lectures are helpful but only if you have read/are going to read the textbook. Midterms are super easy and content is mostly from the textbook, everything is very straightforward.
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ASTRON 200
Quality 5/5Difficulty 1/5
Had an "attendance" grade but only required like 70% of classes attended and halfway through she was just like "actually it doesn't even matter." She explains material simply and loves engaging directly with the students. Minimal HW that is given right before exams as basically a "mock" exam.
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ASTON103 · course not matched
Quality 4/5Difficulty 2/5
Professor Elena is a kind lecturer. Attendance is not really mandatory. Pretty interesting content with very basic math involved. Tests and midterms are open book and pretty easy. Can drop the final if your midterm scores are good. A great and easy way to fulfill Physical Science requirement.
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ASTRO103 · course not matched
Quality 3/5Difficulty 1/5
- This course was made ridiculously easy this semester. Ridiculously easy. I expect the A rate to be well over 90%. Every single assignment/quiz/exam was in effect open everything. The grades reflected this as the median was an A on virtually all assignments. Lectures were interesting for those intrigued by the subject.
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ASTON103 · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 2/5
Elena is very kind and positive in lecture. I got very lucky with a great TA but i could imagine the class being a lot harder if given a bad one. You are allowed to drop 1 test and 1 quiz and there is an extra credit opportunity. Do with that what you will.
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ASTON103 · course not matched
Quality 3/5Difficulty 4/5
This class is simply not a good class to take, but she is nice. I would look elsewhere for a physical science credit.
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Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.

Classes with Elena Donghia

An introduction to the evolving universe covering the big bang, stellar lifecycles, black holes, galaxies, and modern cosmology including dark matter and energy.

Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2015: 2.64 GPA, 32.8% A/AB (n=183 letter grades); Spring 2020: 3.87 GPA, 94.9% A/AB (n=351 letter grades); Fall 2023: 3.73 GPA, 88.0% A/AB (n=476 letter grades).

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Spring 2026

Senior Thesis is an individual study for seniors completing theses arranged with a faculty member, serving as a continuation of ASTRON 691.

Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2022: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=2 letter grades).

No recorded grade history

PHYSICS 990

Research

1–12 credits

Research supervised by individual faculty members. Students formulate and plan original research, creating work that contributes to the field of physics.

Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources

No recorded grade history

Recorded teaching history

Distinct courses recorded per term

Explore courses taught by this instructor →
Browse recorded courses
TermCourseTitle
Spring 2027ASTRON 103The Evolving Universe: Stars, Galaxies, and Cosmology
Spring 2027ASTRON 199Directed Study
Spring 2027ASTRON 682Senior Honors Thesis
Spring 2027ASTRON 691Senior Thesis
Spring 2027ASTRON 692Senior Thesis
Spring 2027ASTRON 699Directed Study
Spring 2027ASTRON 990Research and Thesis
Spring 2027PHYSICS 990Research
Fall 2026ASTRON 681Senior Honors Thesis
Fall 2026ASTRON 682Senior Honors Thesis
Fall 2026ASTRON 691Senior Thesis
Fall 2026ASTRON 699Directed Study
Fall 2026ASTRON 990Research and Thesis
Fall 2026PHYSICS 990Research

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

Instructor identity & provenance
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