SOC 2470

This class is no where near as cool as it might sound. Though I can definitively say I learned some interesting things, the way it is taught is atrocious. Prof. Olick is probably one of the worst professors I've had at UVA. His lectures are scattered to say the least--he rambles about whatever seems to pop into his head for 50 minutes and you leave wondering (again) why you even bothered to show up (oh yeah, because he takes random attendance checks for your grade). If it weren't for my TA Blake, I would honestly not have gotten the point of ANY of the lectures I sat through. That all being said, the class is simple: a midterm, paper, and final and you really only need to skim the readings (and make sure you go over them with your TA) and you'll be good to go. If you want an easy A this is it, but being bored out of your mind for a semester is almost not worth it for the little knowledge you get out. Would not recommend.

I thought this would be a really interesting class, but it's not. All of the examples he uses are extremely out date, he thinks seinfeld and friends are the tv shows of our generation...........I loved my TA Claire Miers, without her I would have no idea what I was supposed to take from lecture. Overall this was an easy class, I didn't really pay attention ever and managed to get an A on the midterm. Terrible lecturer though, he rambles on and on.

Honestly, this class sounds fun doesn't it? Pop culture seems cool and sociology seems cool and whenever I tell people I'm taking it they're like, "that sounds really interesting!". It's not. This class is very very boring. Olick has a lecturing style that does not lend itself to note taking as he pretty much just rambles for 50 minutes and you leave wondering what, if anything, you just learned. The readings are all dreadfully long and boring despite promises at the beginning of the semester that there won't be much reading. Discussion is dull and pointless. Other than the readings every week, there's just a midterm and a final and a paper at the end, so it's not a tremendous amount of work. It's not overwhelmingly difficult either, but seriously just don't take it, it's a waste of your time. Even if you think you might like it, you won't. Even if you're thinking you can deal with boring for a somewhat easy class, don't do it.

Olick is a little scattered (doesn't put much useful information on his slides... they usually consist of few terms that he explains in class) but very entertaining and interesting! My TA, Blake Silver, was absolutely fantastic, as were the other TAs from what I heard. He was always helpful and so encouraging, making me even more interested in the concepts Olick touched on, clearing them up when Olick had been a little vague in class. Overall, LOVED this course: not a lot of work, relatively easy concepts, and SO interesting!

Olick is a really entertaining professor, but his lectures were often not than informative, and he would go off on tangents a lot. The class was still pretty fun, and the readings were interesting, although they didn't always help with understanding of the material. The material was really easy however, and most of it was common sense. Blake was my TA, I would definitely recommend him.

Olick is a very disorganized lecturer. He doesn't really follow an outline or the syllabus, and he tends to spend half of the class telling detailed anecdotes that don't add to your understanding of the material. He also assigns long articles and doesn't give much of an explanation as to how they are related to the course.

That said, the material isn't very difficult, especially if you have a good TA. Claire Maiers did a great job helping me understand what I was supposed to take away from Olick's ramblings, and she went over readings. Not one of my favorite SOC classes due to the lack of structure, but it has a pretty low week-to-week workload and is relatively intuitive.

This would have been a relevant class....if it was taught ten years ago when Olick's references to Friends, Seinfeld and ER were relevant. The best two lectures of the course were taught by the TAs because they actually used video clips. It's not that difficult of a course and the TAs are good at clearing up Olick's extremely convoluted lectures in discussion. It's a great class to skim the readings for. If you're actually interested in the subject, I'd take MDST 2000 with Bruce Williams because it's basically the same course, with better examples.

Pretty easy class. Olick likes to go off on tangents that can be confusing, but the TAs clear it up. Take if you want an entertaining and easy class. Skimming readings is all that is necessary.

If you put in some amount of effort, you'll basically get a B. I would say easy A if you put in a decent amount of effort. One midterm, one paper, a final, and a small portion of your grade is participation in discussion. Discussions are very boring, and class usually is too...he's an interesting lecturer, but most of what you need to know is stuff he says. He doesn't put examples or elaborate on his powerpoints (I don't think he knows much about technology). I think the material in the class is stuff everyone already basically knows, but I really only have to put in 45 minutes a week to this class (minus the midterm) which was great...

SO EASY

This class is very interesting and Professor Olick puts a lot of effort into making it an enjoyable experience for all those involved.