SOC 2900

This class is a win-win: It's easy and you actually learn things. The class is entirely lecture/powerpoint based. If you miss class, it's not a big deal because he posts the powerpoints online. However, I would recommend going to class because Simone does a good job of explaining the material and answering questions. The class is really chill because all you have to do is sit there and take notes (it can be really boring sometimes too). There are readings due every class. I wouldn't worry too much about the readings; just skim them. Some of them are extremely long and really unrealistic to read in that amount of time. I barely read any of the assigned readings and I got an A in the class. There are 2 exams: a midterm and a final (non-cumulative). They are both take home exams. You don't even have to complete the entire exam in one sitting. They're really easy. This class would be a lot easier if you already had some knowledge about economics, but it's still manageable. Simone cares more about us actually knowing the material than trying to give us a hard exam.

DO NOT TAKE THIS COURSE. It's just a ton of reading and there is absolutely no structure to the class. There are only two exams in the entire semester, each worth 40% of your grade. It may seem like an easier course with a good distribution but do not make the same mistake I did. Readings are long and terrible. Class lectures are dry and terrible. I thought I would be interested in the material but honestly the class was so boring. Please do yourself a favor and avoid this class at all costs.

Don't make the same mistake that I made by taking this class because you think it'll be easy. It was terrible. There are two assigned readings per week, which the professor discusses in his poorly taught lectures. The discussion was definitely the most helpful part of this class. However, I found the material to be extremely difficult to understand, since it is very conceptual and theoretical. Would not recommend to those who have had no prior sociology experience. Also, the structure of the class was changed this semester, so there was a midterm (not open notes), a final, and two papers.

This was an awful class. The material is disjointed, the professor and TA are not good, and the workload, though not bad, is all busy work. So it might be a relatively easy A, but it is DEATHLY painful to sit through this semester class. DON'T TAKE THIS CLASS.

The class is not well organized. He assigns four assignments per week, which are all very ambiguous. The assignments are not difficult, but everyone bullshits the answers. The class is very theoretical and it is hard to pay attention to the dry lectures. The midterms are both papers and he lets you type an outline to bring into class. Accent can hard to understand. The TA (Richardson) was also very rude and unfair in his grading.

I apologize in advance for this review being so long, but I felt like I should write it because if someone had written a review when I was signing up for classes I probably would not have taken it. This class being labeled as a 2000-level class is deceptively low. Then again, I haven't gotten my final grade yet, so it might not actually be that hard in terms of grading. But just in terms of actually going through the class right now, being over halfway through the semester, I feel like I have no idea what's going on. I've taken Econ classes through 3020 and this was my first sociology class. I don't know a whole lot about politics or the history of the economy in Europe and America.There is a lot of reading, and some of the readings are really dense and hard to understand. I find the reading really hard to get through, because it's mostly direct sources from the 19th and 20th centuries. There are weekly assignments to be turned in at every discussion section, usually 2 pages double spaced. He also has you fill out a flashcard with the main points and questions you still have from that week at the end of the last lecture every week. There are also pre-reading assignments due at the beginning of each week (for us this was Monday at 10 PM), and a post-discussion assignments due on the day of your discussion section by 10 PM. (He may change the way that the due dates are structured. The semester I took it, all discussion sections were on Monday so we had a pre-reading, post-discussion, and weekly assignment all due on Monday.) Polillo is pretty chill though, there are no exams, just reflective writing assignments for the midterm and final. He's quirky, he's quite tangential and it's easy to get lost in class. I had trouble paying attention/staying awake in class. But he's nice, and you can tell that he doesn't like the way that professors normally do grades in college. While Polillo would probably give almost every single person who showed up an A if he could, the TA, Sam Richardson, is a hard grader. He's condescending during discussion section if you don't give him the answer he's looking for, and very particular in general (and especially with grading the assignments). Also, I am not sure that the grade distribution listed here is accurate, because according to my research in SIS/Lou's list, this semester (Spring '15) is the first semester that Polillo has taught this class. Overall, I would just avoid this class if you don't need to take it and if you have no interest in this specific area.