Political Science · Columbia University
Gundgodu is a great professor. She is very welcoming, supportive, and helpful when you need it. Unlike many of the TA's , she welcomes your opinions (even if they consist of incorrect interpretation of the text) and is excited to answer any questions you may have. Although this is an intro level course, don't expect easy material. There are a lot of weekly readings, which are not light reads! They are chalk full of meaning, so you literally cannot skip anything. Gundogdu really helps though! Her lectures clarify all the important parts of the books/articles that you read in the class. Discussion sections can be annoying... I always wished that TA's would go over more material from the text instead of let us ask random questions... P.S. stay away from Guido!!!
average/light workload did not have to do the reading I absolutely do not recommend this class assignments were 2 essays, some blog posts, discussion, participation, essay drafts the professor gave unclear instructions and kinda harsh grading lectures were so painful I would just zone out
3 Papers! First is 20% of your grade and the other 2 are 30% If you don't do the main readings for the class you will have no idea what to write about.
TAKE THIS CLASS! Best professor i've had so far at Barnard (only a freshman) and even though im not a person interested in poly sci, she made every class engaging and enjoyable. You will love this class if you follow the news and have an opinion about the world. Can't express enough how much this class rocked!
I expected to learn about immigration from around the world and this is a human rights issue/linked to human rights. This class was arguably the most painful, boring, and just overall worst class I have taken at Columbia. We just spoke about the readings from the first few weeks of class all the time. The presentations were boring and hard to follow. It just felt unrelated and boring, along with being hard to follow. The only reason I came to class was because she took attendance, I got nothing out of the class. The assignments were annoying and graded harshly. The guidelines were so unclear and she graded essay drafts (with word limits) harshly (most of my comments were wanting more information, yet I only had 600 words to write an essay draft). The class is not hard. The discussion is boring and I got nothing out of it. I had high expectations, but this class just was unfulfilling, painful, and a waste of time. We also talked about these 2 cases the entire semester, so everything just felt so redundant. There was not a lot of work and the professor is understanding, but there are definitely better, more interesting, and just less painful courses to take (especially ones that do not take attendance). She also didnt link the readings and we were expected to find them on Clio (she eventually linked them, after many complained). She also checked each of my essay citations and co…
Three essays. Take this class if you want an easy workload. If you are looking to be challenged, stay away.
3 papers: ungraded rough draft for each. Each is about 5 pages, last one a little longer. 6 short responses to the readings throughout the semester. 1 5-minute presentation about a reading, which you sign up for at the beginning of the semester.
Readings for every class usually about 60-80 pages, so 120-160 pages per week. 3 essays (longest one is 7 pages) and you only use the class material so don't worry about researching. Responses to at least 5 readings during the entire semester (400 words, posted on Courseworks, you pick when and what they are, she gives you feedback, small percentage of overall grade)
This class was okay. Some of my peers and I had already taken CC and pretty much agreed that we didn't learn anything new; the lectures weren't very stimulating and seemed to delve only into a superficial level of analysis for most of the works. It was interesting that Professor Gundogdu chose to include Simone De Beauvoir on the syllabus but having taken several gender studies courses prior I found her analysis to be very surface level and even problematic at times. The TAs were very helpful; discussion sections offered many more provocative ideas and stimulating discussions. Lecture attendance is required and there is a sign in sheet. However only about a third of the class attended each lecture.
Fascinating readings!! Gave a very holistic overview of how thinkers or philosophers or others grappled with violence, politics, and justice. The professor has a solid grasp of the material, and is very interested in helping students. However you have to be prepared to put in a lot of hours of reading. And it's not semi-optional, you actually have to read, annotate, respond, participate etc. But if you do the readings and keep up with the material, you'll be interested in what these people had to say.