Sunil Gulati

Please believe the negative reviews about this class. I found this class to be the most difficult in my undergraduate career; (note, I took college-level microeconomics and macroeconomics in high school.) Before taking econ 101 with Gulati, so many people warned me (both on CULPA and elsewhere) about how horrible this class is. I didn't listen. Below, I've detailed the consequence. Candidly, I think a lot of people go into this class with an interest in economics. But they come out hating it. That's why Gulati teaches – not to inspire passion, but to weed you out and make sure you know that you are nothing special. In fact, he makes it clear, both through his demeanor and instruction, that he thinks he is the smartest person in the room. He, for some reason I cannot for the life of me explain, encourages his students to participate but simultaneously demeans, ridicules, and dismisses their questions and ideas in class. I understand Gulati has an impressive background that is worth praise. But professors are supposed to build their students up – not tear them down. I often found his comments about current events to be inappropriate and unneeded (and he tests on random current events/politics/geography-related topics on his PRINCIPLES OF ECONOMICS tests). His lectures are okay. I found them to keep me awake, not because they were particularly interesting, but because I was scare…

Gulati is great, and he brings in great guest lecturers. However in the end I'm not sure this class is entirely worth it. It's interesting, and wasn't that challenging, but if you had Gulati for Principles and a good Macro, I don't know how much new stuff you're really learning. The TAs were totally worthless, but they weren't really necessary. No recitations or anything, just worthless review and office hours, but I don't know many who went to OH.

Sports economics related topics: sports investing, main drivers of business, real-life scenarios etc.

DO NOT TAKE ECON WITH ANYONE ELSE. Your final grade is curved across all the classes so it doesn't matter who you take the class with. Gulati is the most engaging professor I've ever had. He is truly so passionate about economics and every single one of his classes made me fall in love with econ (I decided to major in economics after this). He does cold call which can be scary at times but Noor also cold calls so it isn't specifically Gulati's class. If you are even remotely interested in economics, take this class pass/fail and I promise you, you won't regret it.

This is a great class. It's built on the premise of being an econ class open to non-econ majors; I took it as an econ major without yet having completed all the intermediate requirements that qualify me for other electives. Either way, I highly recommend it. The semester starts out with Gulati lectures on theory, and by the end it's almost entirely guest lectures from well-known people (like Hank Paulson, Dean Hubbard, and Jeff Sachs). Gulati is so good himself, though, that I found myself missing his lectures when we had guests. If you haven't taken Gulati yet, please do so. This guy cares deeply about teaching, and he's entertaining and engaging. He's a "hard-ass" only in the sense that he has expectations - if you sign up for the class, you'll come on time, and you'll do the readings for his pop quizzes.

Discussed various topics in the world of sports business and its relation to economic theory. Guest lecturers from investment banks and sports companies were a highlight, and the class outing to an MLS match made the experience full circle. Final research paper comprises most of the grade.

Going into this class with no econ experience while half the class is out of finance bros, I felt like it was harder than some of my STEM classes. His lectures were great and was very clear, but his expectations for the class was very high. The pop quizzes (that weren't really "pop" in our semester) push you to study before class, preparing you for the 1 midterm and final. Because of it, I felt like it was the only class that I was really prepared in. He likes to interact with the class a lot and has a lot of resources and extra outside of class reviews (that was sort of helpful).

This class is hard, however really interesting. Take it pass/fail and wait until the end to uncover your grade or not. Even if you've taken micro and macro you'll find this class slightly challenging at times. The guest lectures are great, and Gulati's lectures are also entertaining and engaging. I personally enjoyed every single one of his lectures, the man is just great. He takes over the room and makes sure everyone stays awake. The fact that so many people take this class and actually show up says a lot about how good the class is.However, don't expect much from the TA's. Definitely worth taking this class though. It's challenging but you'll enjoy it.

Coming from a professional sports background, I entered this course with a deep understanding of the sport I played but little to no knowledge of the financial and analytical aspects that underpin the world of sports. This course has been transformative, bridging that gap and providing me with invaluable insights into the economics of sports.

I was really worried going into this class - hearing about Prof. Gulati's polarizing personality, cold calling, and early morning classes, but I REALLY enjoyed it! He's my favorite lecturer/professor at Columbia so far! The course content is definitely very hard, but I think Prof. Gulati explains it pretty well and you're expected to go into the lectures with knowledge from reading the textbook (READ THE TEXTBOOK - IT IS SO NECESSARY!!!). He is a VERY strong lecturer and just a really cool guy. I get how he can come off as arrogant, but I think he's just someone who's very confident and very unafraid to show it and has the experience and knowledge to back it up.