<p>I'm kinda considering sociology, so I'm wondering what the profs are like and how the classes are. Boring, medium, interesting, or awesome? On the harder side or the easier side compared to other UVA classes? And do they usually grade on a curve? Any particular profs you especially recommend?</p>
<p>Well, in my experience (Soc. major!) I thought it was kind of middle-of-the-road in terms of difficulty. Some classes are harder, others are easier. In sociology, there is quite a bit of room for interpretation and analysis of issues which I think plays a factor in grading and perception of difficulty across the college. There’s a fairly diverse number of courses offered, so it’s entirely possible to tailor a major to your interest (gender, race/ethnicity, stratification, culture, religion, work, theory, etc.) Yes, there are a lot of athletes that major in sociology, but no, the majority of classes do not rely on multiple choice exams. There is reading and writing that gets done. While many of the 400 level classes are not explicitly listed as fulfilling the Second Writing Req., many do. It’s just kind of up to the professor as to whether they want to sign off on it. And to my knowledge, there isn’t much of a curve. </p>
<p>I liked Kingston a lot; I had him for schools and society, although that course is typically now taught by Prof. Roksa, but she was my adviser and very nice. He really encouraged classroom discussion and gave us opportunity to be “junior sociologists.” </p>
<p>Fuchs typically teaches Modern Social Theory (a major requirement) and he was my favorite professor in the whole department. He is from Central Europe and has a really thick accent and his lectures are typically him just lecturing and the workload is light, but he is really, really smart and I learned so much from each of the three classes I had with him. It can be really boring at times, but he secretly has a great sense of humor and loves to help his students. He does not check email, but he loves it when you come visit him at office hours.</p>
<p>i have taken one class in the soc. department so far…it was death and dying with professor holcomb. while i can’t speak for the quality of the department overall, this particular class was really really interesting and the professor is absolutely phenomenal. he is one of the most engaging lecturers i have ever encountered and he really succeeded in sparking my interest in sociology.</p>
<p>Thanks both of you - your insight is really helpful!</p>
<p>I’ve actually heard about the death and dying course because somebody was telling me that it’s one of the must-take-before-you-graduate-it’s-so-good courses at UVA. Hopefully I’ll get to take it even if I don’t major in sociology but I did hear it’s a hard one to get into.</p>
<p>My roommate took Death and Dying early on and it sold her on the major. I didn’t get to take it (personal choice and scheduling), but I know that as you earn credits you will get an earlier scheduling time and you’ll be more likely to get the classes you want. If that fails and there is no official wait list, just e-mail the professor, he’ll probably have a “personal wait list.” The Soc. dept is fairly “small” compared to something like Gov/For. Affairs, Econ or Psych so it’s not too hard to get into the class you want at some point…and 400 level classes used to be reserved for Majors and Minors only – I would imagine that is probably still the case.</p>
<p>I was actually in the Death and Dying course for the fall semester, but the class got canceled. I got an email and SIS dropped it from my schedule. Prof. Holcomb left uva…</p>