SOC 2230

This was one of my first sociology classes at UVA and I would recommend it to anyone who would like to learn more about the criminal justice system in the United States or how institutions lead to criminalization. This class consisted of two 50-minute lectures a week and one 50-minute discussion section a week. Each week you were expected to do the readings before each class and during class it was mostly lectures with 12 in-class activities throughout the semester. The in-class activities were just a five-minute writing response to a question relating to the lecture and readings for that class. Almost every week we also had a memo that was normally 500 words based on the readings. We also had 9 quizzes throughout the semester which were open notes, but everything has to be on paper and you only have 20 minutes for the quiz. The quizzes normally had 7 definition questions and then one or two short essay questions. She does provide a list of topics to know for every quiz. Lastly, there is a group project where you have to create a lesson related to criminology and present it during 20 minutes of the discussion section in the last 2 weeks of classes. I really loved this class and felt like I learned so much even though the lectures were fairly short. #tCFS24

The course itself revolved itself around, a daily short essay response, 4 quizzes, and a last final. The nice part was that the final wasn't even necessary if you did well on the essay responses and the quizzes. The reading itself was way more entertaining and engaging then other classes I've heard mainly because it deals a lot with current events. The short essay responses are graded mainly by teaching assistants and the one I got was pretty chill so most of the time I received full credit. The quizzes could be a bit tricky but I definitely would say it's unfair. Rose is an engaging professor who seems to like the material and wants to be where she is. Lectures were never boring and due to her enthusiasm she kept me engaged with the material. I would highly recommend this course especially to Engineers looking for HSS credit as it's very "newcomer" friendly.

Let me address a misconception that many students and I had: This class is not about serial killers and criminal profiling, this class is about racism, prisons, police, and abolition. The class is very interesting and it completely transformed how I see the world and some of my political opinions. Buckelew is an amazing professor and she genuinely cares about her students and their mental health (she canceled class the day after the presidential election because she knew we’d be stressed, and one of our homework assignments was to write about how we were doing and if we felt stressed). There are two essays (20% each of final grade, they are fairly easy because they’re reflective), 4 quizzes (30% total, open note, drop the lowest grade), and daily memos (30% total, 1-2 paragraphs response to what you learned in class that day). Some of the readings are a bit long and you can get away with not doing some of them, and overall the workload is pretty manageable. The TAs are a bit slow to grade the essays and quizzes, but it’s reasonable given that they have to take care of their own classwork too. Great class, I highly recommend!!!

Professor Buckelew is amazing! She is incredibly understanding and accommodating given the circumstances of an online semester. I definitely recommend taking her up on her invitation to go to her office hours. The assignments are easy as long as you watch the lectures and do the readings, which are actually enjoyable because they're pretty light and very relevant. There are 600-word memos due after every lecture, 3 reflective essays and 4 quizzes, all pretty spaced out and super manageable. The subject itself is very interesting, and the class was overall one of the most enjoyable I've taken.

I was, like Rose said in the first lecture, one of the many who thought this class would be about catching criminals, but instead it's incredibly insightful and is about police brutality and mass incarceration, two very relevant topics today. I THOROUGHLY enjoyed this class, the workload was super bearable with two memos a week, 2 papers, and a few quizzes. The papers were mostly reflective essays which made them more personal and interesting to write. Rose herself in her recorded lectures seemed super approachable and kind and knowledgeable about these seemingly controversial topics and you're going to learn so much about the issues people are facing currently that you might not know about. Highly highly recommend this class and professor. #tCF2020

This was surprisingly one of my least favorite classes. Although it is relatively easy to pull an A, Professor Buckelew primarily just reiterates what you have already read for HW. Grades consist of 40% Reflective Essays, 30% Memos (one after every lecture), 30% Quizzes (4, 10 question quizzes, drops lowest one).

Professor Buckelew... AWESOME! The content... SO interesting and thought-provoking. The workload... INCREDIBLY manageable. All that said, if Su Yeone Jeon is your TA, you better know how to write like a world renowned, Pulitzer Prize-winning author/writer, 'cause the woman grades INCREDIBLY unfairly for reflective essays. So yeah... take the course but do not choose her as your TA unless you want to be told that you need to read over essays that you edited 4-times over anyways. GO ROSE... BOO SU.

#tCF2020

Prof. B is so sweet! She is very personable and makes a point out of familiarizing herself with all of her students. Some of her policies can seem a little childish at times, such as assigned seating, but this class is very manageable as long as you stay on top of the light readings and take notes. Even the longer readings (only 20-25 pages) weren't bad to read because they contained so much interesting information. The course consists of mostly completion grades, meaning as long as you put in effort you can easily pull off an A. Also, Prof. B is super receptive to feedback and made changes to her syllabus according to student comments halfway through the semester. I also really enjoyed how participation was a large percentage of the grade, because people were always talking and engaging with the material during class and no one is on their phones/laptops, so it's a really great learning environment. Overall, I got a lot of out of this course and think that the interesting content combined with the easy A and nice professor makes this a class worth taking.