Senior seminar in political science.
4
UnitsOptional
Grading1
PasstimeNone
Level LimitLetters and science
CollegeNever gives feedback, but still takes points off. Just reads off slides/rambles for 1.5 hrs. Mind you, she won't post slides afterwards either, so you better understand her and her accent, or you are cooked for the tests, which test minute details. Journals have no prompt, but she still grades harshly. BUYER BE AWARE, SHE WILL COOK YOUR GPA
Just don't
It feels horrible to say this since 161 is a minority politics class but I literally could not understand a single word that Prof. Lien said in lecture. Lecture attendance is mandatory you will spend an hour and 15 minutes trying to teach yourself course material from the giant paragraphs of text on the slides.
Super nice and respectful lady—very accommodating. However, she's a bad lecturer/speaker and heavily weights midterm and final. Her grading is arbitrary and unclear. Beware she grades harshly if you don't follow her format. Not the worst but not the best. Don't be scared to take her if you have to but don't expect it to be great.
Two response papers- grading criteria were unclear and all readings had to be mentioned which was quite challenging. Feedback didn't really make sense, and lectures felt long and confusing. Easy to tune out and midterm had multiple choice that focused on very specific details in the class that are super easy to brush over.
This class was extremely interesting and I liked the way that it was organized, and Lien is responsible for shaping that structure. Succeeding on exams is very possible with adequate preparation. One thing I will say is that lectures are not good. They consist of extremely dense slides that are quickly skipped over and not usually posted IMO.