<p>hey guys, as an incoming freshman i thought enrolling in a cluster would be a good idea since it takes care of my GE requirements and seems interesting in general at the same time. so right now im looking at two clusters that i am equally interested in:</p>
<p>60A- America in Sixties: Politics, Culture, and Society (DECKER, J.L. / ABERBACH, J.D. / LEWIS, L.V.)
66A- Los Angeles: The Cluster (KATZ, J. / ZASLOFF, J. / REIFF)</p>
<p>these two seem to be the most interesting non-science clusters (im a prospective premed) out of the bunch, so i was wondering if any of you had taken the courses and if you liked them. any comments and input are greatly appreciated. also, which class is easier?
ps. is participation something that counts heavily towards one's grade in a cluster?</p>
<p>I was in the America in sixties cluster this past year. I enjoyed it immensely. But many people hated it too. Here's how the class works: Intense memorization of everything possible about the 1960s. The lead teacher (Decker) is very fact based and creates detailed, difficult exams. He's also a boring lecturer but a good teacher overall. LV Lewis (Lynn Vavreck) is also highly recommended. The amount of reading in the class is quite a bit but you don't need to do it all. By the second quarter I stopped going to lecture and I still pulled off an A. For a fun twist you get to listen to a lot of 1960s music and memorize songs/lyrics. It's a great cluster to knock out your social, literary, and visual GEs. Many Science/Math types in it hated the class because its geared to history people.</p>
<p>The LA cluster is new, but Jan Reiff is supposed to be a good professor.</p>
<p>the most difficult (non-science-based) would be history of modern thought. considering that it starts in the 1600s, that's a LOT of modern thought! and a ton of reading.
first quarter was boring but we got new profs winter quarter and it was better. still i never managed an A because i am not a strong analytical essay writer, nor is philosophy really my thing. and it's all about descartes/hume/locke/wollstonecraft/insert old scientist/philosopher here.
there are some very interesting things about it. and if you dig philosophy, literature, or are not scared off by hard work and immense reading, go for it. but the fact that this cluster comes with a WARNING in the brochure should clue you in to its difficulty! whether it's worth it or not depends on your interests.
it got interesting for me spring quarter because the seminar i chose dealt with minds and machines. so we did some computer science, thinking machines, robots, science fiction, and watched 2001 and bladerunner. it was awesome, but still i didn't manage an A... oh well.</p>
<p>uh oh... History of modern thought and America in the 60s were my top 2 choices.... How much reading is there for HMT. Is the class easy if you do the reading? How political is America in the 60s? Are the profs very liberal?</p>
<p>HMT is very, very thought based. it is very analytical. and i admit freely that i did not do all the reading, so if you actually manage to do it (and yes it's doable, i just tend to procrastinate) then the class is manageable.
do not take this class if you did not take AP english in high school, or have not had some intense literature-based class. also, do not take it if you don't care anything about history, because literature of course ties into history and you need the knowledge base. which they give you in lectures, but if you don't care, you'll get your chronology and major events mixed up. it's all background, but it's relevant.
if you are a strong essay writer, HMT will be fine. if you aren't a strong writer, but you don't procrastinate and are willing to ask your TA for help, you'll survive. but you better be interested in the material.
i suggest that looking at past syllabi for both clusters, and finding the reading lists, will help you a lot in making your decision. i'm not trying to scare you off of HMT: i just want you to make a choice knowing your strengths and weaknesses. because HMT was a bit of a GPA killer for me, just because i couldn't pull off any A's. so make sure the work is worth it to you!</p>
<p>I'm a non science type. I really want to take the 60's cluster, or LA, but was told I should take a science cluster to get requirements out of the way. Any suggestions?</p>
<p>be warned that clusters are harder than normal classes, so a science cluster could be a good idea to get rid of GEs, but may give you a miserable year.</p>