Historical instructor

Nick BALSTER

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 3.20/5 from 64 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

Quality 5/5Difficulty 4/5
Dr. Balster has immense respect and care for his students, he makes a point to learn everyone's name. His lectures were engaging and informative but required you to pay close attention. You cannot be a complacent learner otherwise you will fall behind, however, Dr. Balster offers many opportunities for support and will meet you in the middle.
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230SOIL · course not matched
Quality 4/5Difficulty 4/5
Dr. Balster is truly a great professor. This class is definitely difficult (especially if you are not a STEM major), but it is so worth it for a lecturer as engaging and passionate as he is! Attendance is basically mandatory (but you won't really want to miss class anyway). Light readings, lots of extra credit opportunities, and written notes only.
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SOIL250 · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
Dr. Balster is a strict professor but extremely passionate and very friendly. He may seem tough but he ultimately just wants you to learn the material. Honestly, what you put in is what you take out, so you might need to give a little extra effort but it'll pay off Heads up, there is a good amount of reading so be aware of that :)
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230SOILS · course not matched
Quality 1/5Difficulty 5/5
No matter how much you study, it is never enough. Willing to sell my soul to pass. His quizzes and exams are quite literally impossible
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230SOIL · course not matched
Quality 1/5Difficulty 5/5
Do not take his classes. Classes are way too hard for them, being intro classes for many majors. Class time is spent talking about nothing that will help you on exams, and when students come up unhappy with their grades, they are told that thinking wrong is incorrect. Makes it hard to skip class by having many in class quizes
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230SOIL · course not matched
Quality 1/5Difficulty 5/5
dont suggest. exams are not well prepared for in class. asked help multiple times and kept saying its "logically" based thinking. what does that even mean..
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Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.

Classes with Nick BALSTER

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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