<p>What are some must-take classes/professors from Amherst in addition to the rest of the consortium. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>Let me clarify my question:</p>
<p>What/Which are some must-take classes/professors at Amherst? At the rest of the 5 colleges? (BTW, particular interests of mine include economics, Spanish, and political science.)</p>
<p>Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>Ilan Stavans is the undisputed superstar of the Spanish Department.
Austin Sarat is the undisputed superstar of the Jurisprudence and PoliSci Departments.
Chris Kingston of the Econ Dept has been widely praised as both a superior teacher and a demanding slave-driver–you’ll know your stuff if you study with him.</p>
<p>I won’t advise on particular classes–it’s your responsibility and choice. And, after all, one man’s treasure is another man’s trash.</p>
<p>I would modify a couple of kwu’s comments (although I agree with the overall thrust - take a class with all three!):</p>
<p>I actually think Sarat is kind of overrated. Definitely worth taking a class with, but not the be-all, end-all of Amherst professors that he is anointed by many over-exuberant freshman (myself included, once upon a time). It’s also emphatically wrong to call him the undisputed superstar of the polisci department, not only because he teaches relatively few classes in that department, but also because Poli Sci is absolutely loaded with great professors. I’ve taken and really enjoyed classes with Corrales, Arkes, Machala, and Mehta, and have heard great things about pretty much everyone else. Sarat is certainly the LJST superstar - the department would not exist without him - but I enjoyed my class with Delaney just as much, and I’ve heard high praise for Sitze and Umphrey as well. </p>
<p>Kingston is fantastic and one of my favorite professors at Amherst, but I have never heard him described as a slave driver. Game Theory and New Institutional Econ are certainly quite a bit of work, but no more than any other advanced econ seminar.</p>
<p>As far as substantive suggestions for the OP, definitely check out Corrales. His specialty is the the political economy of development in Latin America, which relates to all three of your interests. I’m a big fan of Kingston and Nicholson’s advanced Econ seminars, and I would also suggest anything co-taught by Levin and Machala, and any class with some of the old lions of the English department (Pritchard, Chickering, O’Connell, etc.)</p>
<p>Well, here: [url=<a href=“http://www3.amherst.edu/~scrutiny/]Scrutiny[/url”>http://www3.amherst.edu/~scrutiny/]Scrutiny[/url</a>]</p>
<p>The quality of the contributions is inconsistent, but this should give you a very rough idea of how professors and classes are received by Amherst students. You can also take a look at ratemyprofessor, of course.</p>
<p>In my own experience, I have mercilessly criticized professors whom others adore, staunchly defended professors whose ability others have questioned. I have emerged dissatisfied from classes about which others rave, and rewarded from classes from which others do not gain as much.</p>
<p>If you have particular classes or professors in mind, we would be happy to help.</p>
<p>I agree with Catfish re: both Austin Sarat and Javier Corrales. </p>
<p>If you are interested in both Spanish and political science, Corrales cannot be missed.</p>
<p>I also noticed none of the professors named were women (perhaps an oversight on my part; I didn’t read very closely), but never-the-less, a few recommendations on female faculty:</p>
<p>Political Science: Amrita Basu is fantastic and adored by many, many political science students. She is one of the kindest people at Amherst, in my experience, and also very sharp. You might also try a class with Kristin Bumiller. She is currently the head of the political science department and teaches a fascinating “Community Based Learning” class called Prison (or something like that) which takes places inside the Hampshire County Penitentiary; half the class are Amherst students, the other half are prison inmates. (I believe Martha Saxton teaches this course on alternate semesters as Bumiller; she is also fantastic, although her primary departments are History and Women’s and Gender Studies.) </p>
<p>Finally, I’d recommend Manuela Picq. She’s a Women’s and Gender Studies professor, but don’t let the title of the department scare you off (it unfortunately has that effect). She has a degree in international relations and is, without question, one of the best teachers I’ve had in my life. Unfortunately, 2010-2011 will be her last year at Amherst, and I expect she’ll be teaching one course in the spring semester. Her courses tend to focus on Latin America and are truly interdisciplinary–mixing polisci, gender studies, environmental studies, and area studies. </p>
<p>To echo kwu, if you have questions about particular classes or professors, please do let us know.</p>
<p>I really appreciate all of your thoughtful responses. All of your advice has been duly noted. Now I only wish there were more room in my schedule to try out all these professors!</p>
<p>I earnestly advise you to take full advantage of shopping period.</p>
<p>By sitting in on two, three, four sessions, you can make a fairly well-informed judgment about whether the subject matter interests you, whether the professor is engaging.</p>
<p>I am not going to say that there are “bad” classes are Amherst, but I will say that some classes are “better” than others.</p>
<p>You must shop if you want to make the most out of your Amherst experience.</p>
<p>Check out the neuroscience and russian departments…I especially recommend Rabinowitz and Turgeon.
Professor Umphrey in the LJST department teaches some great classes as well.</p>
<p>Really you should shop, like kwu says. Definitely make a point of exploring different departments too.</p>
<p>I’m sorry if this is a dumb question, but what exactly is this “shopping period”?
Thanks.</p>
<p>During the first 2ish weeks of every semester, you can add and drop classes without penalty. A lot of people like to use this time to sit in on a bunch of classes before they have to commit to them.</p>
<p>I’m also a prospective student for class of 2014. Wouldn’t you fall behind in work if you were just skipping from one class to the next? Or is this “shopping period” pretty low key worload wise?</p>
<p>Shopping period is a source of angst for many professors primarily because they have to adjust the workload to accommodate shoppers.</p>
<p>I advise against going back in forth between multiple classes that meet in the same time slot.</p>
<p>You may also e-mail professors to request their syllabuses, or drop by Amherst Books to flip through the texts to determine whether the course material would be worthwhile to you.</p>
<p>Shopping period is exhausting, attending 5-8 classes and keeping up with the work for all of them–but the payoff will be finding rewarding classes that you’ll enjoy and avoiding classes that you aren’t so interested in after all.</p>
<p>Kwu is correct. It’s also worth pointing out that you can do as much or as little shopping as you want. If you want to go to 8 classes for a week and a half, you can. If you want to stick with the 4 you preregistered for, you can do that too. Typically you will have 3 classes that you are sure you want to take and will shop 2-3 more to choose your last one, but it’s up to you.</p>
<p>How is Math 130 (statistics)? Any professors to look for or to avoid?</p>
<p>Shu-Min Liao is a great statistics prof and a really wonderful person in general.</p>
<p>bump</p>