<p>To all Penn students out there-- have any of you taken phil002 (ethics) or psyc162 (abnormal psych)? I'm trying to choose between the two courses and would love opinions on each of the classes from actual students. I've checked out Penn Course Review but I haven't found a ton of opinions and coming in as a freshman I don't really know any older students I can look to for advice. </p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>i took abnormal psych and found it really interesting. not necessarily the easiest psych class you can take, but it was definitely manageable. never took the other class you’re asking about, so can’t really speak in regards to that one.</p>
<p>but i’d say abnormal psych really depends on your professor. mine was great (ruscio, but i think she might still be on maternity leave). just check the professor ratings on penn course review, and, as long as the professor got better-than-abysmal ratings, i think you’ll like the course. you’ll find yourself listening to symptoms of different disorders and thinking “i know someone who sounds just like that…”</p>
<p>in terms of content, abnormal psych was probably one of my favorite classes at penn. the subject matter is just plain-old interesting. you have to be a pretty horrendous professor to make this stuff uninteresting: strange sexual disorders, ocd, eating disorders, borderline personality disorder, etc. the first few weeks of the course, you’ll do a more general introduction to the nature of mental disorders. and where do you draw the line between disorder and the normal difficulties that are a part of anyone’s life. but then it’s all just learning about specific disorders for the rest of the course.</p>
<p>each professor will structure the course differently, focusing more on certain disorders than others (they probably lean toward the ones that relate to their research). my professor glossed over the sexual disorders, but spent a lot of time on depression and bipolar disorder. a friend of mine spent a lot of time on freud at the beginning–an area my professor barely mentioned.</p>
<p>you can always try registering for both courses and then just dropping whichever one you like less. i think abnormal psych is offered every semester, so you will have plenty more chances to take it. it definitely is a course worth taking though, at some point in your four years at penn.</p>
<p>I had Adrienne Martin for PHIL002 in Fall, 2007… it’s my favorite non-political science course at Penn. It’s different with different professors, but our course focused on the works of J.S. Mill, Immanuel Kant and Aristotle, with various academic papers about the different subject areas as backup. The course was fascinating, but more importantly, it gave me a chance to really get thrown into the college writing situation. Most people who take the Lecture/Recitation version of the course are sophomores, so as a freshman in a class with many sophomores, you can challenge yourself to rise to the level of people who’ve been in college for a year longer than you have. At the same time, it is an introductory course, and you aren’t expected to have had prior knowledge of philosophy upon taking the course.</p>
<p>PHIL002 will help give you a foundation for making rational arguments in other courses and will teach you the writing style that most professors are interested in seeing (no more of this five-paragraph-essay nonsense!)</p>