Friday, November 5, 2010

Fall 2010 Course Eval


Though I haven't finished the courses, I thought it would be prudent to give my evaluation of them thus far, since registration is coming up and people may want to refer to this for class descriptions!

I'm listing these courses in order from LEAST favorite to favorite.  And I'll explain my rankings in depth.  I'll try not to comment too much on the professors--unless I have really shining additions, I want my ratings to be based on the course material and structure itself.  We'll see how that goes, though.  I have some opinions.

Six:  PHIL 2045: Intro to Logic (Romanovskaya) -- Pre-requisite: None
When I decided to take this class, I was in a different mindset.  For one, I was a bit confused as to the course materials, and two, I thought I was taking my life in a different direction than I am now.  I thought that Logic would be a fairly easy math credit that would be beneficial for when I start studying for the LSATs.  Now, I don't even want to take the LSATs anymore, and I wish I had taken an EASIER math credit--they exist!  Maybe I'll do a blog on that in the near future.  However, it's not that terrible.  Really, it isn't.  It could be a hell of a lot worse.  But do NOT take this course if you're looking for a cakewalk!  The "philosophy" title means nothing!

Five:  ECON 1012: (Bradley) -- Pre-requisite: Econ 1011
It's hard for me to put this class as #5, second-to-last, because I adore Professor Bradley.  He's just hilariously funny.  I enjoy coming to class for the simple reason that he's constantly making us laugh.  Additionally, he REALLY wants us to do well.  He relishes good grades out of his students.  Funny story: the entire class did pretty poorly on the midterm, and Professor Bradley was not expecting that at all!  He thought he had made it fairly easy!  So to make up for it, he's giving us a whole bunch of opportunities to prove our worth through bonuses and on the final exam.  The reason this class is #5 is because I'm just not very good at economics!  I absolutely HATED microeconomics, and macro is much better, don't get me wrong, but I still don't particularly like it.  Alas.

Four:  SOC 1001: Introduction to Sociology (DR. Grant) -- Pre-requisite: None
Yeah, make sure you call her doctor.  Do NOT make that mistake.  It could end very unfortunately for you and your loved ones.  Jokes aside, I enjoy the class overall.  Dr. Grant is a pretty funny lady, and she's sure got a lot of stories to tell and life experience under her belt! Her history is pretty wild!  It's also a pretty easy A.  She DESIGNS it that way.  Her philosophy is that society wants us to have high GPAs, so why should she stand in the way of us and success?  What a concept!!!

Three:  EXSA 1029-MV: Yoga (Thompson) -- Pre-requisite: None
Douglas Thompson is a class act!  I always love heading over to the Vern for his class every Monday.  (Actually going to the Vern is just "eh", but his class is fun!)  It's a great way to end the day, and it's always a good workout.  I haven't had a Tuesday all semester where I wasn't sore all over!  That being said, he doesn't make you push yourself if you physically can't do a pose, and we hold really tough poses for short periods, usually.

Two:  FREN 1003: Intermediate French I (Madjlessi) -- Pre-requisite: French 1&2, or a corresponding score on the French placement test.
There's not much to say about the third semester French curriculum, but I always enjoy this class!  It's a bit slow-moving with grammar, which stinks for me because I'm better with vocab and I need more practice with grammar, but what can you do?  Language courses just build on each other, ya know?  But I really like Professor Madjlessi.  She's really nice and funny, and she has an awesome job at the World Bank.  We were all jealous of her coolness when she told us about her life.  She also speaks Farsi, Italian, and Spanish, along with the obligatory French and English, of course.  

One:  SOC 2189: Sociology of Terrorism (Feldkamp)--Pre-requisite: Intro to Soc.
I decided to take this course on the recommendation of past blogger, Vickie, and I am so glad I listened to her!  (Read her post here.)  The course material is always compelling; I actually enjoy doing the homework for this class.  Professor Feldkamp knows how to relay pretty grave and often disturbing information in a way that doesn't make you feel utterly depressed upon leaving the class.  In fact, we get a lot of laughs.  Also, he comes from an impressive history in the intelligence field, having worked for the FBI and the Navy in several capacities, so you're working with a great deal of experience, though he would never call himself a "terrorism expert"--they don't exist!  Nonetheless, you learn about terrorism from all sides of the story, not just Al Qaeda and Hezbollah and all that stuff we hear about almost daily, but also domestic terrorists like ELF, ALF, and Army of God--ones that don't always make it to the top of the news ticker.  If you've taken the pre-req, I would HIGHLY recommend this class.  Create your schedule AROUND Soc. of Terrorism!  You will not be sorry!!!

And that's all I got to say about that!  I guess it was heavier on analysis of professors than I thought?  Oh well.

To those registering, good luck getting all the classes you want, and keep your fingers crossed that I'll get all the ones that I want!

Email me: ShireenS@gwmail.gwu.edu

~~~Shireen

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