<p>I'm planning on taking this class come fall and I'd love to hear from those of you who've taken it before or have friends who've taken it. I hear that it's a pretty rigorous class, so it would be great to know what I can expect in terms of weekly readings, grading, papers, tests, finals and about the level of difficulty and expected time investment so that I can be mentally prepared for the class. If anyone has recommendations for books that could be read to prepare for this class, I'm most welcome to suggestions - as long as they're not from the required reading list, which I plan to follow as I take the class itself. And as always, anecdotes are good. </p>
<p>Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>totally depends on the professor. the hardest in recent years was professor katzenstein. </p>
<p>i dont think he teaches it anymore. his course was tough but if he’s not teaching it…it should be a walk in the park (relatively speaking)</p>
<p>It’s Katzenstein in Fall '10. So, what was he like?</p>
<p>oooh @ katzenstein! <3</p>
<p>he is probably the tougher of the IR professors…i think he assigned 3 course packets (of articles) and a textbook…</p>
<p>your TAs will be invaluable(i recommend noelle if she’s still around)</p>
<p>you will learn loads…</p>
<p>How tough/easy is it to do well? I’ve heard that the course has the potential to challenge and change my viewpoints on world affairs and while that alone is a sufficient reason for me, I’d like to know how much time and diligence I’ll need to invest. Bear in mind that I have not taken any classes in government while in high school.</p>
<p>if you’ve ever done high school debate you might have already run into some of these issues…</p>
<p>the textbook is great for background information and the readings/articles are there to further your knowledge in practical issues…</p>
<p>you will learn the theories of international relations (realism, constructivism, etc) and will need to learn to distinguish them and apply them to current events…</p>
<p>it’s not impossible but it will consume your time…the only other course i found more time consuming at cornell was professor gold’s labor law…</p>