<p>Got into my second choice, CL0131 (Rise and fall of Rome). No idea who the advisor is, but the class sounds pretty interesting and I've hear that Brown's classics department is great.</p>
<p>CL131 is a cap course?</p>
<p>Yup, I think so. I hope so. Good class, good teacher?</p>
<p>I got EC0011. Its the introductory economics class. I'm happy with it, but does anyone know anythng about professor friedberg? I think it should be nice having an advisor in an area that I was really considering concentrating in. any thoughts?</p>
<p>friedberg is a decent prof, but she's extremely politically biased (left-leaning), which while in itself isn't a big deal, she incessantly feels the need to throw political criticisms into lectures, which is really annoying. I'd have taken a polysci course if I wanted to hear this <strong><em>, *</em></strong>. While I understand politics ties into economics, she is completely unobjective about it. You'll see what I mean.</p>
<p>thanks for the heads up, but overall did you enjoy the class?</p>
<p>Prof Friedberg is amazing -- I picked her to be my sophomore advisor after taking EC11 last semester.</p>
<p>She does have strong political views and makes them clear in class (when talking about issues like national debt, discrimination, welfare, etc). I disagree that she's totally unobjective -- in my experience, she was always clear about when she was delivering standard economic principles and her personal opinion. For example, when we were talking about minimum wage, she said something like, "minimum wage is obviously a price floor which reduces economic efficiency. Whether you believe that the reduction is great and therefore not worth it, or mimimal and therefore worth the benefits, depends on how elastic you think the demand and supply curves for labor are. Conservatives tend to believe that blah blah blah, while I believe that the data supports the liberal view that blah blah blah." While a homework or a test question might ask you to explain why liberals and conservatives see certain economic issues in certain ways, you will never be asked for your own personal opinion for the class.</p>
<p>and then are her <em>witty,</em> clearly unbiased attacks on george bush in class</p>
<p>I got RS26. Pretty psyched.</p>
<p>ILoveBrown/amor, would you recommend taking EC11 with Friedberg 1st sem (just to get it over with so I can go on to Intermediate Micro/Macro) or waiting to take it 2nd sem with Serrano? A friend at Brown told me Serrano is worth waiting for, esp since he doesn't teach any other undergrad classes.</p>
<p>serrano and friedberg doubleteam 2nd semester</p>
<p>serrano is a better lecturer, but you won't take a lot of notes in class with him because he doesn't (read: can't) write anything down (he's blind)--just puts up a few graphs and talks about them</p>
<p>friedberg is a little more dull, but still a good lecturer, and writes down almost everything she says on an overhead</p>
<p>i went to friedberg's class during ADOCH...and fell asleep within minutes...and I probably snored too.</p>
<p>Haha, really? Which class -- EC 11 or Econometrics? Econometrics is bound to be a snooze, but I thought our EC 11 class during ADOCH was pretty interesting...</p>
<p>effulgent: Get out of that course. Get out now. I had Winkes, and while I don't regret taking the course, it was only because it got me a free trip to Portugal. Unfortunately, The Portrait doesn't carry that perk. Winkes' lectures have absolutely nothing to do with the reading, are extremely disorganized, and are hard to follow. It's not that the class will be hard (it won't have a midterm or a final or long papers), but it's really not worth it to waste one of your courses like that. I mean, if you're really really into Portraits or something, I guess that's fine, but there are so many other and better courses you could take. Winkes is a really nice guy though, and if you end up taking the course, I'm sure he'll be a good adviser.</p>
<p>How's Roberta Bickford as a teacher/adviser?</p>
<p>RaboK, what are the plusses, if any, for Winkes? And the lack of midterms or finals... does that go for every Winkes class, or just the one you were in?</p>
<p>And what free trip to Portugal?!</p>
<p>I feel kind of bad, though, if I wanted to drop my CAP course...</p>
<p>It was EC11</p>
<p>Ah, I didn't see you there. Oh well, I'm sorry you didn't like it.</p>
<p>From what I've heard, all Winkes seminars are the same format. You get about 50-100 pages of reading per week, and for the first 10 minutes of class you take a test of about 5 questions. The lowest 2 are dropped per semester, and these (for the most part) determine your grade. You also do at least 3 presentations in class and hand in a 3 page paper. You never get these papers back, or find out grades for them. We think it's because he probably doesn't grade them unless you're borderline with your tests. Winkes is a great guy, extremely nice, but his classes are boring. If you're really interested in the subject, then it's probably fine to take the course. You could always shop it, and then decide. </p>
<p>The Portugal thing is a team UTRA in which 4 or 5 students get money to go to Portugal and dig at a Roman/Pre-Roman site for a month. Next year is supposed to be the last year of the dig. In order to do the UTRA, you're supposed to take Winkes' class AE120 Roman Iberia. The trip is also open to students in AE5 Field Methods of Archaeology, but they have to pay. Also, if you go on the dig, you get credit for AE5. I just got back and I think it was just about the greatest time ever, although if you don't like to physically work hard I don't recommend going. It's completely worth taking a Winkes class. </p>
<p>People drop CAP courses, and it's usually no big deal. The prof probably won't take it personally, and anyway, Winkes is retiring next year, so it's not like he's going to hold a grudge against you forever.</p>