<p>The course description may sound amazing and the subject matter is one that entices, but in the end, the teacher plays an integral part in one's overall appreciation of a class. To the current and past Penn students, please help us incoming freshman find those funny, interesting and enthusiastic teachers that will make our individual learning experiences worthwhile.</p>
<p>Who are the teachers that make science a tad less complicated and cut-throat? (Bio, Math, Phys, Chem)</p>
<p>The English teachers whose class you don't mind writing a 10 page essay for ?</p>
<p>The Professors who make you run to class so you won't miss a minute?</p>
<p>And finally, does anyone know anything about: P. Burnett, M Cole or Daldal/Sherwood. Are the "Food for Thought"(Devaney Jr.), "What's So Funny?"(Stein) & "Race Matters"(Khactu) writing seminars good?</p>
<p>Haha, that's a bit romantic there. First: begin with Penn Course Review. It's actually pretty reliable as long as you do some digging to filter out the "perfect" professors who taught a 4-person class.</p>
<p>Just to throw a few out there from my neck of the woods: DeTurck for math. He's the dean and he's a strong teacher. Krieger for stat (the chair and also happens to teach some intro courses)</p>
<p>Max Mintz for any class he teaches. Seriously.</p>
<p>Writing seminars are, on the whole, pretty bad. They're designed to get everyone up to speed, and there's a good chance your senior year English class was better. Also, they turn over quite a bit from year to year, and are often taught by grad students who only teach for 1 year, so any experience will be new. Take a crapshoot there - choose a subject/reading list that interests you. </p>
<p>Shatte was universally known for Psych 101, but he's gone now. Most professors don't teach often enough to build up a real reputation, and there are many many hidden gems who may be heavy researchers but are now teaching for the first time. Be aggressive with your searches; look up a professor's name and see their publications and history.</p>
<p>Food for Thought is really good, but good luck getting in. It is really the luck of the draw.</p>
<p>crashingwaves, how many people are there in each food for thought seminar? around 25? And how hard/easy is the curve? Would you happen to know the rough %'s of grades given out?</p>
<p>as you can see on the registrar's site:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.upenn.edu/registrar/timetable/engl.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.upenn.edu/registrar/timetable/engl.html</a></p>
<p>the limit for food for thought is 16.</p>
<p>most seminars are that size.</p>
<p>There are some very good writing seminars, if you like english, try to go for "English" writing seminars. </p>
<p>English profs I highly rec: Riebling (she teaches the basic/english major core req' classes, and also a writing seminar), and Burnham (if you like writing, take HER!). </p>
<p>Math, esp. intro math, generally sucks at Penn. Deturk is the best of the worst intro math (114). The grad students are better, sad, but true.</p>
<p>In Classics:</p>
<p>Rosen's Scandalous Arts in Ancient and Modern Society
Struck's Greek and Roman Magic
McInerney's Ancient Greece (Be aware that McInerney is very strict about deadlines.)</p>
<p>Anything by Joe Farrell, especially in Latin (though hes on leave this year) </p>
<p>For a challenge, take Greek from Julie Nishimura-Jensen.</p>
<p>How are the freshman seminars? Do they tend to be a little easier (due to the fact that the class only has freshmen?)</p>
<p>Some of the freshman seminars are harder, "honors" versions of some of the introductory courses.</p>
<p>If you like math, take one of the math freshman seminars: MATH202 and MATH203. Take whichever one Gluck is teaching.</p>
<p>If you're taking Econ 1, do it with Stein and not Spiegel.</p>
<p>For my writing seminar, I took "The Poet as Journalist" with Pamela Sutton and it was easy as hell. The entire workload for the class was five poems, five news articles, an interview and a one-page response to a movie. She's pretty annoying, though (but a real softie and easy marker -- I got an A with little effort)</p>
<p>Goldstein's PSCI classes are fun. Anything by Hejtmanek or Hurst in East Asia Studies/history are great.</p>
<p>Bromberg in classics is really cool. McDermott in MGMT is a blast as well as a challenge but has some prereqs so it's probably something for soph or junior year</p>
<p>English 101 is pretty good and they usually find a good prof to teach it. Last year it was Richetti, who is awesome. Most years the author is Shakespeare, but I think it is Faulkner this year, which may be better or worse depending on your tastes. Be advised though, it is mainly a course for nonmajors and if you are planning to major in English, it will not count toward your major requirements. It will however fulfill the Arts and Letters requirement.</p>
<p>how hard is math 104?
how are the fine arts classes?</p>
<p>math 104 is really not bad. as long as you do the problems in the book you will be fine. i had vanerp and he was one of my favorite teachers at penn. try to get him and if you cant then go for ward.</p>
<p>As was said, start any course searches by using PCR. It really is invaluable.</p>
<p>For my writing seminar I had Ann Cole Brown. I thought she and the class were quite good, which is probably the most negative review of her you will find. Everyone I've ever talked to who has had her has absolutely LOVED her. She is a real professor, unlike most seminars which are taught by grad students, and she has been teaching writing for around 30 years. She's even written books on how to write. Her workload is probably a bit more intense than other writing seminars, but your writing WILL improve. </p>
<p>As for Daldal/Sherwood... I had this combo, as have most people for intro bio. You really don't ever have a choice in the fall, so just take them. Daldal is a funny guy and is entertaining in class, but his tests are really detailed/tough. Sherwood doesn't always seem like she knows what she is talking about, but I personally liked her a lot and thought she was very clear while teaching.</p>
<p>In the Poli Sci department, Goldstein is fantastic. His international security class has been my favorite class at Penn, and I'm also taking chinese politics with him next semester. Kettl is also pretty good. I enjoyed Mansfield's international relations course also.
I also took Math 104 with VanErp but wasn't as thrilled with him as a teacher. However, I'm not thrilled about math in general so that might have contributed, lol.
I've had two friends take Food for Thought and LOVE it. But, it is pretty hard to get into. Most writing seminars kind of seem like luck of the draw.</p>
<p>For history you can't go wrong with Childers or McDougall.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, avoid Ann Farnsworth-Alvear in the Latin American dept. I signed up for her LALS history class and ran out to drop it after a day.</p>
<p>AFA was the faculty-person in my hall in the quad. Wasn't too exciting</p>
<p>Scott Ward was fabulous. It was a surprisingly intimate experience, really...</p>