MDST 2000

Andre is an amazing professor and really knows the material. He always tries to make the lectures fun and is fair in almost all aspects. For TAs I definitely recommend Gaelyn. Papers are sometimes graded a little harshly but not enough to drastically hurt your grade. Exams are extremely fair.

This is a great class the reading is minimal even though some are long. Cavalcante is so funny and loves what he does with MDST. I recommend f Michael for a TA he is so amazing. The papers take up a small amount of your grade, but they are not too long or strenuous. This class will teach you a lot about the media industry and I would recommend it for anyone. This class is not difficult whatsoever. The exams are straightforward and depending on the TA's you may have an exam review that covers everything. No bad comments here. Take it!

LOVED THIS COURSE!! Cavalcante is amazing, sassy, and funny. He keeps lectures interesting and relevant. This course wasn't too difficult (2 papers, 1 midterm, 1 final, 6 quizzes) yet I feel like I learned so much. I highly recommend this course with Cavalcante, or any other course taught by him.

Calvalcante is entertaining and knowledgable, but the class average is designed to be a B-. The TA's grade the papers pretty harshly, and there are four online quizzes covering extensive amounts of reading. Would not recommend if you are taking it to get an easy A, its a good amount of work.

A tough class with an unrivaled professor, MDST 2000 is incredible. Cavalcante is wonderful and hilarious once he drops his serious demeanor. The course is intense, with two 5-7 page papers, four reading quizzes, a midterm, and a final. There is a lot of reading assigned, but attending lectures will give you a solid understanding of a majority of the material (enough to pass the reading quizzes). Even though it was a lot, I wanted to do the work because the course was so amazing and engaging—I know the things I learned will stay with me. I’d highly recommend both MDST 2000 and any class with Cavalcante.

I enjoyed this class, but it was not what I expected. I thought it would be more about media and how it is used in our lives, but it was a lot more about the background information and foundational things. I get it was necessary, but it could be boring at times. That being said, Professor Cavalcante was a good professor! He knows what he is talking about and is pretty funny. Going to lecture is very important, especially if you want to get away with not reading. Some weeks, the readings were really excessive, but the good thing is that he goes over most of the basics during lecture. There was a lot of notes, but it definitely did help when it came time for the 4 online quizzes. One downside is that he does not post notes on Collab - he only did it once at the end of the semester because it was a long slide and we ran out of time. The class consisted of 4 online quizzes, two papers (you have to go 24 hours without your phone for one), a midterm, and the final. I think discussion for this class is pointless, but you have to go or they will drop your grade. The TAs hold review sessions before the midterm and final, so that was helpful. The end of the semester is definitely more interesting than the beginning, but it wasn't miserable. It definitely was not an easy A class, so do not take it thinking that it will be.

One of the worst classes I've had at UVA. The grading is super harsh and Professor Andre presents a ton of material without pointing out what will be tested on the exam. I worked extremely hard and still didn't even manage to get an A- in the class. Also, Professor Andre basically just read the slides during lecture, which makes it super boring.

Cavalcante is a fun, passionate professor that obviously is very knowledgable and excited. He is funny, though tough and reading-heavy. There is no late work, essays are subjective, and the TAs were not in the MDST department. The discussions were tedious but went by quickly. Overall, the class was enjoyable, though not an easy A.

Professor Cavalcante is someone who obviously has a passion for what he does, and despite the fact that the lectures can feel like they're going over really basic stuff at some points, they have some moments of really interesting observation. This class helped me decided I want to major in media studies.

First of all, I would like to start out by staying Professor Cavalcante is the funniest professor I have ever had and it is clear that he is passionate about Media Studies. However, Spring 2019 was the first semester he taught intro; he usually teaches upper-level MDST courses. For that reason, I believe that this course was much harder than intended because he taught it as a 3000 level course when it is actually the introductory course. Another downfall is that the TAs pretty much decide your grade because they grade everything, including your papers. I had Alex as my TA and I thought he was a wonderful person but was very frustrated with his grading. My friends in another TAs class were getting high grades on their second paper because their TA listened to the complaints that the class was much too challenging for being called an intro course. She gave them higher grades where she could to level the playing field, which I really respect. The TAs are also not even in the MDST department, so sometimes you can tell that they don't exactly know what's going on. I studied hard for the two tests (midterm and final) and did really well on those, but my papers ended up being the reason I got a B. The course was also worth 4 credits, so that wasn't the best for my GPA. If you do decide to take this class just keep in mind that to do well you should take the tests seriously, go to lecture and take good notes, and try to get a good TA.