This is my second time taking professor herring and he is a great professor. Definitely an expert in urban sociology and offers a lot of experiential insight. He's passionate, knowledgable and packs so much into every class. Lectures may feel dense, but try to follow the big trends/patterns while keeping specific examples in mind for essays/tests. The course flow is smooth, and the readings are complemented by lecture. Though they can be long, if urban sociology is your subfield of interest, it's all rich information!

As mentioned in other posts, much of grade relies on weekly discussion (participation) posts, midterm ( 2 short responses that mimic the weekly discussions ) and a final 5 page paper. Grading is not too harsh.

Great professor and course! The course is split up into three parts: foundational texts (Chicago school, Dubois, Engels), postwar suburbanization, and contemporary topics. I would say the first 3 weeks are a bit heavier on the reading side but once you reach the halfway point it chills out. This course is also pretty writing-heavy. You have a 250-400 word response due each week around noon before the first lecture. I was struggling a bit during the first couple of weeks but the TAs give you full credit as long as you follow the guidelines for the prompt and show that you read for the week.

The midterm is pretty easy, and if you do the weekly responses you'll be set up to do well on them since they're two 500-word responses to prompts that are similar to the weekly responses. The final is a 5 paged essay where you write about an urban topic in a city of your choice. The TAs tend to be more critical of your writing during the midterm and final (I got Bs on both of them), I suggest setting up meetings with your TA and Professor Herring to discuss your weekly prompts and get feedback on your essays.

Professor Herring is very nice and approachable, and the TAs were very nice as well.

This class is entirely writing based. No tests. No projects. Just reading and essays. The course includes weekly readings that we are supposed to read, although most people don't actually read all of them. We then write a 250-400 word essay about the reading. Most of these are graded for completion, except one of them in the later part of the quarter which will be explained. The midterm is two somewhat short essays, and the final is a research paper. I'm not the best writer, but I worked very hard on them and attended OHs for both and got a B- on the midterm and a B+ on the research paper. Grading was a bit rough, but it might simply be my TA. Regardless, I ended with an A- so the class isn't that difficult.

Material was somewhat interesting, attending lectures are kind of pointless though, but it's graded a tiny bit, so I'd definitely attend most. Professor Herring is a nice guy.

Show up. Do your reading response assignments. Write something of quality for both the midterm and final. Collect your A.

He’s nice, was accommodating to my situation & is passionate about the subject.