ISS Courses

<p>Since MSU is offering for students to enroll in Fall ISS courses early, I was just wondering if there was someone on College Confidential who could tell me his or her experience in the specific course they took. Right now I'm looking to enroll in ISS 215: Social Differentiation and Inequality as it looks to be the most interesting. However, since there is only one section offered while the rest have several, I'm thinking that's a red flag meaning that the course is not demanded (maybe because of it's difficulty?). So if someone could shed some light on which course the took, it'd be much appreciated.</p>

<p>I didn’t take ISS 2xx so I can’t comment about the classes. It’s really all about the prof. You can have vastly different experiences based on the prof. I can comment on a few of the profs listed on the ISS courses:</p>

<p>220: Fujita. She is awesome, hilarious, and so, so, SO easy. You really don’t have to go to class (I didn’t) because all of her exam questions come from powerpoints which she posts online. Her 220 class was almost identical to the anthro class I took with her. I know people who took both and it was the same exam and everything lol.</p>

<p>Watrall. Not difficult. Online class. His online classes are very well organized and he’s very knowledgeable. Kind of arrogant IRL but a pretty easy grader, and I had him for a 400 level class. </p>

<p>Don’t take 225 with Molloy. I’ve never heard a single good thing about him. If Sheehan is the one I’m thinking of, I know people who have had him for PLS classes. Very tough, but not terrible professor. </p>

<p>210 with Rautman is supposed to be very good, too. Or at least really, really easy. </p>

<p>That’s all I know from sight. Good luck.</p>

<p>I can second Rautman’s 210 course. Took it online over the summer, incredibly easy 4.0. She also sneaks in little interesting tidbits about different societies and cultures through emails, and she’s quite friendly and approachable.</p>

<p>A few of my senior friends took 235 with Arthur Melzer, and they said it was a blast. He’s (supposedly) very personable, a good grader and his exams are straightforward as long as you take notes.</p>

<p>I’ve also heard good things about Fayyaz Hussain (215), if you don’t mind an accent.</p>

<p>Honestly, though, I wouldn’t look at ISS classes hoping that they’ll be interesting. I was fortunate to take ISS 330C (Latin American topics), and it was quite good - the topic was drug wars, which as you can imagine was quite interesting. But in general, I’ve heard the vast majority of students complain about their ISS classes and how boring and how large a waste of money they were. Even with 210, Rautman was really nice, but the class was mind-numbingly boring.</p>

<p>the only ISS class I took was ISS 330C on drug wars (same one as TranscendentRoot). I enjoyed it quite a bit, although it was super easy material-wise (and online)</p>