PHS 4050

This was probably the easies class I've taken at UVA. It only meets once a week and never lasts the full 2 hours. Most things are graded pass or fail. Professor is a really easy grader when it comes to writing papers. There are weekly pass/fail response questions and quizzes on the reading which are super easy. Lecture is kind of boring because the slides are directly from the book. The midterm was super easy if you studied. The final was a lot harder than everything else in the class, but manageable with studying. There's a 3 page newpaper article and 2 page opt-ed article on topic of your choice and then a 2 minute pass/fail oral presentation to the class. I wish every class was like this. Definitely take if you are a bioethics minor. A lot of case studies that are relevant to public health are discussed.

This entire course has been redesigned for a more "integrated learning experience"-the entire second half is student-taught, which is a HORRIBLE idea. There were maybe 10 groups that each presented on a different country's health care system, which is way too much complex information to be placed in the hands of students. It was very hard to keep up with and most people that I know did poorly on the midterm and final because they asked specific questions covering a huuuuge amount of material. Professor Zarnegar is great and I love her as a person, but this class is just not structured well at all and she expects too much out of the students. Don't take unless you have to.

Really disappointed in this class. Barely learned any real policy, it was more of an intro philosophy/public health class than a 4000-level policy class. Don't take unless you have to, you won't learn anything new.