STS 1800

So this class is fairly new and it used to be known as ENGR 1559 (Special Topics). I only took this class because it counted for the Engineering Business Minor. My opinion: Lauren is not a very good professor. She's very sweet, but extremely disorganized and she's usually not on top of things. She talks about how powerpoints are very important in the industry, but her powerpoints straight up suck. I learned more from the practice problems we did in class... but we only did like 2. She's a really nice person and I hate to bash on her, but the truth has got to be told. She knows her stuff though. She spent some time on Wall St.

As of next year, I believe Lauren will not be teaching the class... so I'll describe my experience of the class in general. The class seems to be taught by a Darden Grad Student. The first half of the semester is alright. Accounting and Finance were interesting. The second half is based on case studies. You basically read a case for homework, come in class, and discuss the case with your classmates. I thought this was kind of cool; however, sometimes it was a straight up waste of time. During the Accounting and Finance unit, you rarely got homework... and if you did, it took 2 hours tops. (sometimes you're just clueless because she doesn't teach you.... ) During the second half, case studies took about 1-2 hours to read depending on how long they were. Sometimes there was a supplementary assignment which took like less than an hour. Overall, not a hard class. I just didn't enjoy it. Participation is a big chunk of your grade too. During Accounting/Finance, it's hard to participate because she would ask questions about stuff she's about to cover... which made no sense because I don't know how she'd expect us to know the material before she covered it.
Overall, easy course. Not a lot of work, but boring and sometimes very unenjoyable. Lauren is really slow on giving grades back too. Over the course of the semester... I've only gotten one assignment back. It was completely useless because everyone got an A on that too. I don't even know what I got on my midterm! She always tells us she'll give back grades, but she always 'forgets.' She always tells us she'll post grades on collab and/or we can stop by her office and pick up our papers; however, she never does and there are never papers outside her door. She's never there during office hours either. Maybe I coincidentally go at the wrong times.... but I say avoid this class unless there's a better professor or if you have a deep interest in Business/Finance/Accounting. Having a background can help on some of the units.