<p>interracial dynamics gave out a project. it wasnt difficult, but i didnt like the idea of having hw during a break =)</p>
<p>the work, labor, social justice cluster is awesome. if it's offered next year, take it. you learn a lot, and it's a really great experience.</p>
<p>How many clusters are you allowed to do? I'm interested in both The History of Modern Thought, and From Biology to Gendered Society.</p>
<p>you are NOT gonna wanna do two.
trust me.
even if they didn't make a formal rule stating that you can't take more than one...
DON'T DO IT!!!!
especially if HMT is one of them. that one, from personal experience, is DEFINITELY enough work on its own xD</p>
<p>Alright, as someone that knows the pain from friends who had to take history of modern thought, AND as someone whose taken from bio to gendered society:</p>
<p>You are going to have to do a crapload of work (just like liyana said) in HMT. You get all these little books on all these philosophers. Burke, Paine, Voltaire, Rousseau, and it goes on and on and on....</p>
<p>IMO, From Biology to Gendered Society will take more work to do well in. Correct me if I'm wrong, but HMT seemed to rely more on papers. With Bio -> Gendered Society, we have two papers to turn in. They're actually pretty interesting to do fall quarter (positions on how to treat intersex babies), but it got sorta boring winter quarter (paper on how society influences scientist's views, emphasis on homosexual/sexual/gender studies). </p>
<p>The most important point for From Biology to Gendered Society is to BEWARE OF THE MIDTERM AND FINALS. The average for our finals was a D- Fall Quarter and a C- for Winter Quarter. The TAs for the class hand out a great deal of Bs for the papers. For the exams, you really have to know your stuff. They're composed of two distinct subjects: those biologically oriented and those psychologically/sociologically oriented. The former is mostly straightforward, but the latter tests you on how well you comprehend the stuff and how you can extrapolate it. </p>
<p>Bottom line? Don't try to take two GE clusters at once. And don't be discouraged by what I said about the exams in Bio to Gendered (GE 72). It was a VERY interesting topic that one would never have received in high school prior. You learn about the LGBT community. You learn about how couples we would perceive to be "lesbian" today would be considered as merely close friends in the early 19th century. You learn about the dilemmas of classifying intersex babies into our society's strict definitions of male and female. You learn about how vibrators used to be medical tools and multi-functional kitchen appliances (no, im not kidding). </p>
<p>Yea, I loved my cluster.</p>
<p>im curious- what grade did you get in the class?</p>
<p>So it seems most clusters are abnormally difficult except America in the 1960s. THere's a reason why it filled up the quickest. ALL the TAs in my cluster, and profs as well, were very reasonable, and fair. The average grade was a B+, and we had nobody get under a C+. Take that cluster, if you need your social, literary, and arts requirements taken out.</p>
<p>B overall.</p>
<p>I don't think you CAN take two clusters at once, anyhow. And namaste, I thought the cluster was fairly hard, because there was just tons of reading (which, I know, to a history major may not seem too bad). Maybe it was just my TA who was pretty strict with grading (on at least one of the papers, he didn't give out any A's to an entire section). Then there was the cummulative final over two quarters.</p>
<p>Eve i forgot who you had, but my TA was really chill and gave out As, so it does depend on that i guess.</p>
<p>BoelterHall, I don't go to Temple City High, I go to Rosemead</p>
<p>I took the sex cluster, and dropped it winter quarter. The subject material ended up being a disappointment. I can't imagine a bigger waste of my time than that thing.</p>
<p>Like Jinobi said, the averages for the midterms/finals were ridiculously low. I thought I knew the readings/lectures front and back, yet I ended up with a D on the final. During one of our discussion sessions, we spent a good 30 minutes venting about the crappy questions that 70%+ of the class missed.</p>
<p>the first two quarters of the cluster were a drag for me (interracial dynamics), but the seminar that was offered spring quarter was beyond awesome. it almost made up for the previous two quarters. almost.</p>
<p>hmm same.
first quarter (HMT) really... dragged xD
second quarter was better (new profs) but still, it's intense. slash, dense.
seminar? frickin' awesome. still a lot of work, but actually INTERESTING! oh and we have two movie nights :D</p>
<p>why is it a bad idea to take a cluster that's related to your major? i'm planning to double major in english and philosophy and want to take the history of modern thought cluster. any input?</p>
<p>and how does the cluster thing work? is it all three courses in one quarter? can we take a fourth class, like foreign language or mathematics?</p>
<p>it's not always a bad idea. the idea is that each major has different required classes, some of which are GEs. these GEs will fall into certain areas, so you'll have met some of your GE requirements through your major. the idea is to use a cluster to fill your other GEs. so if your major fills the philosophical/social/etc type of GEs, the most efficient thing to do is find a cluster dealing with the physical/scientific sort of GEs. </p>
<p>clusters are three classes spread throughout the first year (one per quarter). so you'll be able to take two (or three) classes besides it.</p>
<p>I'm a incoming freshman attending orientation next week, and from what I've read, I've narrowed down a few choices for my cluster, if I choose to take one. Currently I'm undecided on a major (debating between econ or bio), so which one of the following clusters is easier/fulfills more non-major GEs considering my two considerations for a major:</p>
<ul>
<li>The Global Environment</li>
<li>Inside the Performing Arts</li>
<li>Work, Labor, and Social Justice in U.S.</li>
<li>America in the 60's</li>
<li>Frontiers in Human Aging</li>
</ul>
<p>Can anybody who's taken any of these clusters elaborate on the difficulty of the course and whether it'll be a right fit to fulfill GEs, considering my major?</p>
<p>the sex cluster. i enjoyed the material but i didn't know ONE person who actually really liked the class otherwise. seriously. they're challenging, i'm not going to lie. like people have said before, it SEEMS like u know the information front and back, but the way they word the questions is absolutely impossible. it doesn't really test your knowledge of the material, but knowledge on obscure tiny little facts. beware.</p>
<p>this is from someone who got two B's and an A (seminar) in the class. so i didn't do wonderfully and i didn't study nearly as much as i could have, but ALL of us have other classes that need attention as well. the readings can certainly monopolize your time.</p>