Erin Finneran

Dr. Finneran cares about her students and gives extensive feedback so that each student can improve. It seems that students either love her or hate her, which I think depends on how invested you are in the subject of the class (because yes, she does assign a lot of reading and writing). In my experience, she is not a tough grader.

5/4/2026

Dr. Finneran is a very interesting person and a great professor! Sometimes she will talk about things that don't make sense or feel relevant, but overall she gives great insight and leads good discussions about the readings.

3/2/2026

She assigns a lot of readings, and even more supplementary readings, which are irrelevant in class. She has us read aloud the paragraph or two that she deems important from 27 page articles to discuss, and we all just ignore the rest. She is also a very tough grader.

2/12/2026

Professor Finneran doesn't really care about teaching. She only really cares about her books. And she expects you to know as much as her after decades. Its preposterous.

11/15/2025

I will never take another course with her again. I seriously considered dropping the ampersand class I was in because of her as a teacher. Avoid her if you know what's good for you.

11/15/2025

She doesn't care if you succeed. She just wants to further herself. She expects students to know the texts to the same degree that she does, regardless of the fact that we have 3 days to read it and she has had 30+ years to teach the same text.

11/15/2025

Hardly gives any feedback on assignments. Assigns an unmanageable amount of work for each class (reading 500+ pages per class)

11/15/2025

avoid her. she doesn't care about teaching

11/15/2025

She gave random tests and quizzes contradictory to the syllabus and didn't really care about us learning, more about her telling us about what she thinks of the way we should think. This isn't psych.

11/15/2025

I really didn't like Dr. Finneran. She taught my Ampersand Ireland course, and she was horrific. She assigned a random pop quiz, which then translated to 3.33% of the final grade on the first day of a module, even when the syllabus says that we only have written assessments (i.e. papers). Avoid her at all costs.

11/15/2025

Finneran didn't actually teach anything, she just told us her opinions.

11/6/2025

Dr. Erin Finneran is a horrific teacher. She is very opinionated and keeps going off on tangents in class about pop-culture references. I do not recommend in the slightest. If you have an opportunity to take your class with a different professor, seize the opportunity.

10/20/2025

Read everything if you want to do well, you have to be more insightful that her, which will go poorly if you disagree with her. Very rewarding if you pick a final pairing you care about, but you'll feel like you're slogging through all the unnecessary discussion posts that could just be in-person discussions.

5/8/2025

Prof. Finneran can, admittedly, be a lot to handle in the morning, but she's a passionate and caring professor who does her best to keep her class interested and engaged. She is incredibly knowledgeable and the feedback she gives on essays + her Tools for Writing Well module are invaluable. She is a bit out of touch, but overall she's a good prof.

12/25/2024

avoid her at all ur costs...

5/5/2024

This class is intense (lots of reading and writing) but so much fun. Grading isn't super hard as long as you're clearly making an effort and reading. Finneran is entertaining and kooky.

4/27/2024

Will grade you based on whether she agrees with your argument, not how well you argue it. She only supports her interpretation and will reject yours. Any question she asks is just her trying to find a segway to talk about whatever she wants to talk about. Often condescending and wants you to be confused so she can explain it to you.

2/7/2024

Faux humility and humble bragging; not recommended overall

1/2/2024

Most tedious class I've ever had:(( It's ok if you just need a decent A, but u spent 3 hrs a week sitting in dull class and discussing outdated&wearisome topics- from ppl's face obviously u can see how they are waiting for class to end; she's incapable of teaching argumentation so the only thing I learned is arguing self to drop from her class AEAP

12/24/2023

100% take this class with Finneran, it's her baby and she's super passionate about the subject. A good amount of writing (~500 words weekly) but it wasn't graded harshly, and felt necessary to process the big topics and complex theory. All writing was submitted via public Canvas discussion, so you also get to learn from other students' work too.

5/5/2023

Dr. Finneran is an amazing professor. The class was challenging, but she held reasonable expectations and truly cared about the progress of each student. Her teaching was interesting and engaging. This class truly changed the way that I look at writing, and I would highly recommend.

12/27/2022

I loved Erin Finneran. She was so helpful and intelligent, yet humble. She was relatable yet respected and super intelligent. She read our essays with genuine interest and care, and she took her students' lives very seriously. I felt safe and supported, yet pushed and challenged at the same time. I really feel grateful for having had her.

12/21/2022

I love Dr. Finneran. She is an amazing academic and writer herself, you can tell she REALLY knows what she's talking about in this field of study, so her teaching is naturally incredibly helpful and rewarding. She cares about her students and wants them to succeed. I learned a lot and ended up satisfied with my progress as a writer.

3/16/2021

Finneran's humble bragging will remind you of her academic accomplishments. Her grading is inconsistent, and you'll receive higher grades as the semester goes on so she thinks you've improved as a writer. You'll waste time on tedious rewrites. You won't learn to be a better writer; you'll only learn to write how she wants you to, style be damned.

10/10/2018

Dr. Finneran is one of my favorite professors at WashU. My writing skills are not strong, but I was still able to get an A on almost every assignment. She is understanding of different backgrounds and gives freedom on each assignment to write about something familiar to you. I would take a writing class again, only if my prof was Dr. Finneran!

3/16/2017

Solid but not great teacher. Inconsistent grading on essays, gave me an A on the essay I did an hour before class after giving me a B on every essay before that. Class discussion is ok, but she really wants you to participate. Feedback is very helpful, especially in office hours.

12/25/2016

Finneran has SO MUCH ENERGY. At 9 am it can be a bit overbearing, but she genuinely is passionate about Irish literature and she really wants you to feel the same way. Her grading is not too harsh and if you come to her with a specific reason for why you need more time or whatever she'll be happy to grant it. In general, no complaints!

10/28/2015

Finneran knows what she is doing. Her class is hardly ever boring and she can be entertaining in a goofy way. Has much knowledge of the subjects she teaches. But she also has this obsession with little details and perfectionism that makes the classes quite complicated. She does feel compelled to complicate matters sometimes.

5/4/2014

Finneran's amazing! She has a wonderful spirit. She infused our class with passion and inspired each of us to do our best in life and in school. She helped create a community. And we all became huge fans of Irish literature, whether we had been or not before the class. Love EMF!

11/22/2009