I’m an incoming freshman starting to think about classes. I’ll probably be taking mostly science/math classes and wanted to find an interesting and relatively easy humanities course to balance out.
If it’s between SOC 1101 with Prof. Sanyal and DSOC 1101 with Prof. Hirschl, which should I take? Does anyone know how they are different/similar? Which is more manageable?
Do you have any other recommendations for a non-science course to take instead?
I didn’t take either of those classes, although I’m pretty sure they’re both fairly popular among freshmen. A great, relatively easy humanities course that is widely popular among all classes is PSYCH 1101 with Prof. Pizarro. Pizarro is great, super funny, and his lectures are really entertaining. It’s one of the biggest classes at Cornell with around 900 students in it last semester (when I took it). There’s no work outside of class; your entire grade is based on three exams plus extra credit. As long as you read the textbook, you’ll be fine.
Bump. Anyone?
I just finished taking DSOC1101 with Professor Gonzalez. Class was really easy, especially since there was 7% extra credit. Homework assignments were nothing more than 300-500 words per week, and her exams while specific weren’t bad if you studied. I put in absolutely no work for this class and only had one day to study for the final and I got an A+, highly recommend.
Took SOC 1101 with Sanyal last Spring. Also an easy course as long as you pay attention and understand the readings. She gives a lot of readings, but most of it is reviewed during lecture. Two big differences from DSOC 1101: discussion sections (and discussion homework) are important to your grade and you have 2 papers rather than prelims. You’re given weeks to do the papers, though. There’s also a written final but it was by far the easiest final I had that semester. However, if sociology is part of your requirements in any way check if you have to take one over the other. Personally, I’d recommend taking DSOC 1101 - seems like a nicer structure.