Historical instructor

STEPHEN BARCLAY

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 2.98/5 from 57 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

MICRO101 · course not matched
Quality 4/5Difficulty 2/5
I'm so saddened to see such negative reviews of Steve. I had him two years ago for micro101, and although the exams were challenging, he was extremely willing to help students understand it. If you go to office hours or the optional discussions, you'll get so much more out of the class.
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MICRO101 · course not matched
Quality 4/5Difficulty 4/5
Steve is a very loving and gentle professor who cares about his students. It is helpful to go to his office hours. However, even with the above, microbio 101 is an extremely difficult class. You need to memorize and start early. He offers 5… Read full reviewShow less
Steve is a very loving and gentle professor who cares about his students. It is helpful to go to his office hours. However, even with the above, microbio 101 is an extremely difficult class. You need to memorize and start early. He offers 5 exams but you can only take 4. I recommend taking the first so you're prepared and can "gauge" the class.
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MICRO101 · course not matched
Quality 2/5Difficulty 4/5
Do not take this course with this professor. He is a very nice person and helpful if you come to office hours, but lectures are useless to go to, exams are hard (will expect you to know the slightest details) and this course surely does not feel like 101 level. It will lower your GPA.
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MICRO101 · course not matched
Quality 3/5Difficulty 4/5
Not the best professor. He gives you powerpoint slides and lecture summaries, which are useful. Records his lectures so you hardly have to go to class. Tests are pure memorization and applications, which he doesn't teach in class. Not the best at explaining things simply. Don't take if you haven't had bio before.
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MICRO101 · course not matched
Quality 3/5Difficulty 4/5
not the greatest teacher i've ever had. lectures are pretty scattered and exams can be tough since he doens't always teach everything on them and there is no textbook. if you don't a signifcant bio background don't take him
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MICR101 · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 4/5
Barclay is a very nice guy and he's helpful in person, but this class is terrible. You get to learn about interesting things, but Barclay makes it about pure memorization and will literally at times show you a list and tell you to memorize everything on it. Cool content, but Barclay just kills it. Luckily, he's a nice guy and will happily help you.
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Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.

Classes with STEPHEN BARCLAY

No teaching recorded in Fall 2026.

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Recorded teaching history

Distinct courses recorded per term

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Browse recorded courses
TermCourseTitle
Spring 2011MICROBIO 101General Microbiology
Fall 2010MICROBIO 101General Microbiology
Spring 2010MICROBIO 101General Microbiology
Spring 2010MICROBIO 299Independent Study
Spring 2010MICROBIO 375Special Topics
Fall 2009MICROBIO 101General Microbiology
Spring 2009MICROBIO 101General Microbiology
Spring 2009MICROBIO 375Special Topics
Fall 2008MICROBIO 101General Microbiology
Spring 2008MICROBIO 101General Microbiology
Fall 2007MICROBIO 101General Microbiology
Fall 2007MICROBIO 990Research
Spring 2007MICROBIO 101General Microbiology
Spring 2007MICROBIO 299Independent Study
Spring 2007MICROBIO 682Senior Honors Thesis
Spring 2007MICROBIO 699Special Problems
Spring 2007MICROBIO 990Research
Fall 2006MICROBIO 101General Microbiology
Fall 2006MICROBIO 299Independent Study
Fall 2006MICROBIO 526Physiology of Microorganisms
Fall 2006MICROBIO 681Senior Honors Thesis
Fall 2006MICROBIO 699Special Problems
Fall 2006MICROBIO 990Research

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

Instructor identity & provenance 
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