ANTH 2280

This is the best course I’ve ever taken at UVA. Professor Scherz is an absolutely amazing lecturer, and so interesting to talk to during office hours. There is a lot of reading, but it’s really not necessary to do well in this class. I read the articles because I found them extremely interesting, but could’ve definitely gotten away with not doing them at all. Discussion sections were nice because the TA really encouraged you to think more abstractly about the concepts. Midterm and final are both easy if you take decent notes and pay attention during class. The 2 short papers you write are also graded extremely fairly. This course is not designed to be tricky; Professor Scherz genuinely wants her students (many of them pre-med) to understand that there’s more to medicine than science. If you are a pre-med student or interested in bioethics or public health, take this course!!! It was the highlight of my semester!!!

Professor Scherz was nothing short of incredible. I would highly, highly recommend that anyone even vaguely interested in the medical field take this class. She has curated an amazing selection of readings that really teach you a lot. It's not completely necessary to go through every reading in extreme depth because you go over them in class and discussion, but do read what you can. The tests are extremely reasonable. They're mainly based on understanding the different arguments that authors were making on certain topics. There's a midterm that was 25 multiple choice questions and a 1 page free response question. The final was the same set up, but more multiple choices questions and two free response ones. One great thing about Professor Scherz is that she's extremely flexible and willing to work with her students. For example, she got rid of some of the readings to lighten our workload, and she made the final a take-home final because some students expressed concerns about conflicting travel plans. Also, her lectures are amazing. She is really passionate about what she teaches and really engages with the class. I would also recommend going to her office hours and introducing yourself. Ask her about the field research that she does. She has an ongoing research project in Uganda, and she may be looking for some student help!

Professor Scherz is amazing!! She cares so much more about our learning and questioning that there is very little emphasis on exams. This is class is incredibly topical and relevant. Her lectures are so interesting, it's easy to stay engaged. Just one final paper, 4-5 pages. The readings can be a little long and challenging to understand at first, but discussion sections definitely fill in any of the blanks. Easy A, awesome professor, everyone should take this class!

This is one of my favorite courses I've taken at UVA! I'd never taken an anthropology class, but the material and the tests certainly were not difficult. This is not a class that you actually have to do all the reading for, but most of the reading is so interesting I ended up doing it. Professor Scherz was an engaging lecturer and super approachable in office hours.
Would absolutely recommend this to anyone pre med or anyone looking for a first anthropology course.

This was a really interesting class. China is a great professor who did a great job explaining the concepts while keeping everything fun. There is a lot of reading but if you are into this subject it shouldn't be hard to finish.

Great class for pre-meds. Really get to see an inside look at medical anthropology over the years. You learn many skills that will be relevant and useful in future practice. Seems odd at first but everything starts making sense as the lectures go by. Very organized and easy. Do the readings, pay attention in lecture, and participate in discussion and there should be no problem getting an A. Three exams and an essay. Exams are easy/short if you do what I said above and the paper wasn't too much of a stress. Very applicable course.

This was a wonderful course that actually lead to me wanting to pursue Global Public Health as my major! Professor Scherz was so engaging, inquisitive, and passionate about her work and the content she was teaching. I loved attending lecture and reading all the excerpts she assigned. Definitely a good amount of reading per week, but they were so interesting and I learned so much it was easy! Tests were of average difficulty, but you definitely need to do the reading - as there are many niche and specific questions.