Historical instructor

VANESSA SIMMERING

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.83/5 from 6 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

PSYCH411 · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
Vanessa is amazing. She cares about your learning more than any course requirements. The course was all about you being able to take something out of the class than grades. It was very interactive and discussion-based.
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PSYCH411 · course not matched
Quality 4/5Difficulty 2/5
Vanessa is so so smart and knowledgeable. She's so passionate about her area of study, and a life-long learner about countless other things, which in my opinion is necessary for a truly great professor. She's a bit disorganized but she always makes jokes and everyone took it lightly. She lectures well and super friendly. Not a harsh grader, either.
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PSYCH 502
Quality 5/5Difficulty 2/5
Vanessa is one of the best psych professors I've had at UW. Tests are very fair, along with 2 papers which are super easy. Weekly online quizzes and discussion posts. As long as you attend lecture and do the assigned readings, you will do fine. Also, very passionate and knowledgable about developmental psychology. Would recommend!
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PSYCH 502
Quality 5/5Difficulty 2/5
very nice, for our class she offered extra credit, not sure if she usually does. refreshingly enthusiastic about the subject. not a huge workload for 4 credits
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PSYCH 502
Quality 5/5Difficulty 1/5
Vanessa is great, a genuinely nice person and professor. Exams are easy if you study and go to lecture. The work load in this class isn't bad at all and it's easy to understand as long as you're at least partially interested.
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PSYCH 502
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
Vanessa is such a great professor!!! She knows a lot about cognitive development and is very passionate about the topic. Very interesting class - she gives a lot of good examples. Tests were decent, just study and you will do fine. Such a nice professor!!!!!!
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Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.

Classes with VANESSA SIMMERING

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 2018PSYCH 621Mentored Research and Seminar
Spring 2018PSYCH 990Research
Fall 2017PSYCH 621Mentored Research and Seminar
Fall 2017PSYCH 990Research
Spring 2017PSYCH 621Mentored Research and Seminar
Spring 2017PSYCH 701Proseminar in Perception, Cognition, and Cognitive Neuroscience
Spring 2017PSYCH 706Proseminar in Developmental Psychology
Spring 2017PSYCH 990Research
Fall 2016PSYCH 621Mentored Research and Seminar
Fall 2016PSYCH 682Senior Honors Thesis
Fall 2016PSYCH 692Undergraduate Thesis
Fall 2016PSYCH 701Proseminar in Perception, Cognition, and Cognitive Neuroscience
Fall 2016PSYCH 706Proseminar in Developmental Psychology
Fall 2016PSYCH 990Research
Spring 2016PSYCH 621Mentored Research and Seminar
Spring 2016PSYCH 681Senior Honors Thesis
Spring 2016PSYCH 691Undergraduate Thesis
Spring 2016PSYCH 701Proseminar in Perception, Cognition, and Cognitive Neuroscience
Spring 2016PSYCH 990Research
Fall 2015PSYCH 502Cognitive Development
Fall 2015PSYCH 621Mentored Research and Seminar
Fall 2015PSYCH 701Proseminar in Perception, Cognition, and Cognitive Neuroscience
Fall 2015PSYCH 990Research
Spring 2015PSYCH 621Mentored Research and Seminar
Spring 2015PSYCH 711Current Topics in Psychology
Spring 2015PSYCH 990Research
Fall 2014PSYCH 621Mentored Research and Seminar
Fall 2014PSYCH 990Research
Spring 2014PSYCH 621Mentored Research and Seminar
Spring 2014PSYCH 733Perceptual and Cognitive Sciences
Fall 2013PSYCH 621Mentored Research and Seminar
Spring 2013PSYCH 706Proseminar in Developmental Psychology
Fall 2012PSYCH 502Cognitive Development
Fall 2012PSYCH 699Directed Study
Fall 2012PSYCH 706Proseminar in Developmental Psychology
Spring 2012PSYCH 699Directed Study
Spring 2012PSYCH 733Perceptual and Cognitive Sciences
Fall 2011PSYCH 502Cognitive Development
Fall 2011PSYCH 699Directed Study
Spring 2011PSYCH 682Senior Honors Thesis
Spring 2011PSYCH 701Proseminar in Perception, Cognition, and Cognitive Neuroscience
Fall 2010PSYCH 681Senior Honors Thesis
Fall 2010PSYCH 701Proseminar in Perception, Cognition, and Cognitive Neuroscience
Spring 2010PSYCH 699Directed Study
Spring 2010PSYCH 701Proseminar in Perception, Cognition, and Cognitive Neuroscience
Spring 2010PSYCH 706Proseminar in Developmental Psychology
Fall 2009PSYCH 701Proseminar in Perception, Cognition, and Cognitive Neuroscience
Fall 2009PSYCH 706Proseminar in Developmental Psychology
Spring 2009PSYCH 711Current Topics in Psychology

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

Instructor identity & provenance 
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