I have been lucky enough to have taken two classes with Dr. Westbrook. I loved the fist class he taught so much that I signed up for another with him! He truly loves what he teaches and is so knowledgeable. He knows a lot of people have no background in the material so he doesn't expect you to come in knowing anything. His sense of humor really adds to the class and he really encourages participation. Usually I am not one to talk in class but I always seemed to have thoughts or comments on what Dr. Westbrook was teaching. He posts slides for every lecture so if you go over those, and do the readings you will definitely do well. The final paper is actually pretty interesting! I appreciated that it wasn't a typical research paper. You choose any religious site/service to visit and basically just explain what you thought about it. Dr. Westbrook is by far my favorite professor at UCLA and for once I actually remember the material from the class long after the end of the class.

Professor Westbrook will be one of the most memorable people in my whole UCLA career. The lectures are engaging, funny, interactive and prolific. They will keep your interest throughout the entire class. This course will cover topics that range from Heaven's Gate, Wiccan, and even Mormonism. There isn't much to this class but to participate, read here and there and maintaining excellent communication with the professor.

There is one midterm/final hybrid assignment that will ask for 8-10 pages on a religious site trip that you can turn in online from week 1 to finals week. There's a lot of room for error in this class because Westbrook gives 10% in extra credit! I don't consider myself an excellent writer by no means, but the assignments were so rich in detail that they weren't a problem to produce something last minute.

I would extremely recommend this class if you're in dire need of a GPA boost and want to learn something about "cults" in America and their influence on human behavior.

Review for M E St M50B!!!!!

Donald is such a nice person! He is very clear about his background and his expectations, and you can tell he really loved what he was teaching! The lectures themselves are easy to listen to and at times are a bit boring. He uses slides that contain all the info you need and posts them on CCLE, so if you miss a class, its no big deal! The midterm and final were really easy (As on both) and he posted a study guide for each but the paper was a little more difficult. We had to write a 7-8 page research paper and for someone who isn't particularly amazing at writing, that proved to be the most challenging part of the class. The key is to start early! Overall, I would highly recommend, especially if you find this stuff interesting!!