As an incoming student I would like to know what core classes ( or professors) current students and recent alumni enjoyed so I can use this information when deciding my own courses. Thanks in advance.
Professors in HUM and SOSC change often, both from one year to another and from one quarter to another. These classes are taught by professors from a wide variety of backgrounds; my HUM section, for example, was taught by a Plato scholar in the fall, a professor of Spanish Literature during Winter Quarter, and an ethicist in the spring. Even Ted O’Neill (former dean of admissions) is teaching another section, after a long hiatus from HUM. I saw middling reviews and took a different section, but to each their own. Sections don’t stay the same either; my SOSC and HUM sections were discontinued after winter quarter, so I moved into two new sections with new professors. I suggest you look at instructor evaluations before registering for classes in the fall, but don’t choose a core class purely because of the professor.
The choice of class, on the other hand, is fairly significant. I took Classics of Social and Political Thought (SOSC) and Human Being and Citizen (HUM). Both courses are fantastic. Classics is an overview of Western philosophy from Plato to Du Bois. It’s a little heavy on dead white guys for some students’ taste, but IMO the most rigorous SOSC class at UChicago. HUM is meant to be the course that provides an introduction to academic writing, but taking Classics is what helped my writing improve by leaps and bounds. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy HBC - reading the Iliad and studying the book of Genesis as a literary text was a fascinating experience. During my first quarter of HUM, I woke up early for a 10:30 class with a smile on my face. Winter Quarter was more work, but reading Augustine’s Confessions and Dante’s Inferno was fun. Spring Quarter is when professors get to personalize the course more, so YMMV, but this tends to be a quarter with direct links to contemporary issues - you might read James Baldwin, Malcolm X, or similar authors.
The other thing to consider is your timetable, though as a first-year you won’t have too many prior commitments that limit when you can take classes.
TL;DR: Classics is love, Classics is life. HBC is a great course too. Don’t worry too much about your professor - you may have a new one next quarter.