<p>Hi
for undergrads who are currenlty at Brandeis or went in the past few years, what are some of the best general education/introduction courses that you can choose during freshmen/sophomore year?
Thanks</p>
<p>I think almost everyone agrees that Econ 2a with Professor Coiner is a perennial favorite, he’s very well liked, very funny and just a really great teacher, even if you’re not into economics. (it also fulfills your quantitative reasoning requirement)</p>
<p>If you like history, there’s Prof. David Hackett Fischer, who is a renowned American historian and I’ve also heard good things about Prof. Kapelle and Koloski-Ostrow.
(Classics)</p>
<p>In American Studies, Prof Whitfield is an amazing lecturer, although he’s somewhat of a tough grader unless you get used to him and I’ve also liked Tom Doherty. </p>
<p>Oh, and if you like music/theater, I enjoyed American Musical Theater my first year. </p>
<p>In English, I recommend William Flesch, a really funny, knowledgeable guy as well as Paul Morrison, who is somewhat more challenging, but taught some of the most interesting classes I’ve taken. </p>
<p>In Journalism, Prof. McNamara, Prof. Farrelly and (from what I’ve heard) Prof Feeney are great</p>
<p>I am considering taking a class taught by Paul Morrison called Hitchcock’s movies this semester which currently has over 120 students enrolled. Can you tell me in what aspect you found him to be challenging? Do you recommend I take this class and is he a fair grader? Let me know as soon as you can. Thanks!</p>
<p>Hi vmanc123,
What’s somewhat challenging about Prof. Morrison’s classes is the reading material, in that the texts can be fairly philosophical and not the most easy to follow. But generally I found that Morrison was able to get across the ideas from the readings through the lectures. I took Studies in Popular Culture and Classic Hollywood Cinema with him, and it’s definitely a class where he’ll try to get you to think outside the box and might call into question more traditional interpretations of movies/ pop culture, but I think that’s what makes it interesting and having graduated I still think those were some of the most rewarding thought-provoking classes I took.
Hard to judge a bit if he’s a tough grader, because you will have T.As., but I was very satisfied with my final grade in both cases which if I remember correctly usually comes from two to three short to medium-sized/longer papers and usually one test of definitions/short answers, which is doable although it can sometimes feel hard to do in one class period.</p>