This was one of the first classes I took at UCLA after transferring from community college. During my orientation, U.S. Latinx Politics was the one class I had to "settle" for. Despite getting into my other upper-division political science and elective classes, I couldn’t secure a spot in my second political science course of choice. For those new to UCLA, transfers are required to choose two upper-division major classes and one additional course during orientation for their first semester. Since political science classes are highly impacted, enrollment is competitive- making difficult to get into your preferred courses without priority registration.

I was initially concerned that my first quarter at UCLA would be negatively affected by being enrolled in a class with a professor who had low ratings on Bruinwalk. As a pre-law student with a relatively high GPA, maintaining my academic standing was incredibly important. However, I quickly learned that while Bruinwalk can be a helpful tool, it’s not the definitive measure of a professor’s quality. My experience with this class and professor proved that.

If you are unable to earn an A in this class, it reflects your own efforts- or perhaps personal circumstances that might be hindering your performance- (Of course, life can get in the way of things).

Professor de la Vega, along with her TAs (I had the “tougher” TA, Emily), demonstrated genuine devotion to helping students succeed. They were committed to ensuring that you had the resources and support you needed to understand the material and do well in the class. No one will do the work for you, nor will anyone hold your hand through every assignment in this class or any others at UCLA. However, if you have questions or concerns about an assignment or feel unsure about your logical or writing skills, Professor de la Vega will ensure you have access to the resources necessary to succeed and improve.

Fall 2024 consisted of bi-weekly lectures, two weekly readings from the textbook (or other provided materials), and weekly discussion sections. Attendance at lectures, comprehension of the reading materials, and active participation in discussions were all required. Since the class was held during a presidential election year, two assignments focused on contemporary issues—one semi-weighted assignment and the midterm. The final exam however was based on material covered after the election cycle/midterm and was not cumulative.

Overall, Professor de la Vega’s class is a fantastic introduction to the rigor of UCLA and higher education in general. No one is going to "hand you" an A, but if you’ve made it this far—enrolling in upper-division classes at UCLA—you should be able to succeed. Attendance and participation in lectures and discussions matter, and if you demonstrate the self-discipline expected of a UC student through consistent effort and engagement with the material, Professor de la Vega will support you. She won’t let you sink.

P.S. The lecture material is contemporary and highly engaging. I initially didn’t think the class would interest me, but I was pleasantly surprised. Professor de la Vega is very approachable and brings the material to life in her lectures. I highly recommend enrolling in this class—you may discover an area of interest you hadn’t considered before!

Professor De La Vega is an amazing professor. Not sure why this course taught by here has a low rating but this was a very informative class, especially since she included the election into this course. She does very well at explaining materials and is very knowledgeable. She is a really understanding professor and understands that students have other classes. The readings are very manageable. She is also very well organized which makes this course a breeze. Midterm and final are just answering a couple of essay prompts which are easy to do if you read the readings and take notes during lecture since she makes the question based on what is discussed in the course. You are only allowed to use lecture notes and any readings she provides you for the midterm and final which makes it easy to not having to find sources online. Overall this course is really good and I highly recommend taking. She goes into interesting points and discusses multiple Latin American countries and their relationships with the United States.

Wouldn’t take again very difficult content and grading

I didn’t really love this class or the teaching style of the professor. Every lecture was just her talking next to slides with no engagement from the class - she goes really fast and doesn’t explain things very well.
She was accommodating given what was going on during the quarter (made attendance optional and lowered some requirements) but I didn’t think she was very engaging as a lecturer. I wouldn’t take her again, but I would say she’s alright if you’re considering her class.

Professor de la Vega is a delight! She loves her work, and it shows. She's invested in students making real-life connections to what they study, and is constantly promoting outside opportunities to be more engaged in the community. There is a lot of latitude to take the course materials and shape the learning outcome individually for each person, based on what you want to learn for your final project. Professor de la Vega is the type of instructor I wish all classes had!

Professor De La Vega ROCKS. She is an empathetic human, a critical scholar, and sometimes a stand up comedian in a good way. You can totally get by without doing all of the readings, but you should show up to class (she takes random attendance). There were reading quizzes every two weeks and a final paper that was about 10 pages. Overall really interesting course material which made the readings and lectures very exciting.

(leaving this here too as under 143C)

Professor De la Vega is the best I've had at UCLA. I didn't think I had to leave a review to reiterate this because I know everyone who takes her courses is always in awe of her, but I felt strongly compelled to advocate for her due to the awful reviews other students have left her due to circumstances out of De la Vega's reach.

Those crappy reviews you see of her are far from the truth about the sort of Professor she truly is. They were left by students who took her class last quarter, which I was also in, and were upset due to the lack of communication that their TA's had with Professor. Their TA's decided to take matters into their own hands when it came to due dates and other things, which led to a conflict that could only be resolved by leveling the playing field after some students got a greater advantage over others- because of their TA- without her knowledge. This is why some students got upset, but the reality is that she never cheated a student out of their real grade.

She is passionate about her job and is always thoughtful and caring, as well as communicative with everyone. That's why I, just like many others, took her class again this quarter, and plan to take her again next quarter! The students who wrote those negative reviews just didn't want to settle for the actual grade they earned, and got mad because of it. I would ignore those few outliers if I were you all.

Professor De La Vega is a great lecturer and a very empathetic human in general. She is so passionate about her research and racial and ethnic politics, and it comes through very clearly when she is lecturing. The class was fun and interesting, as as long as you come to class you won't have to do the participation discussion boards, since she gives us a QR code (no she doesn't put it in the slides and its time stamped). A majority of our assignments were quizzes (best 3 of the 5), and preparation for our final research paper (10-15 pages). She lets us pick the topic within the context of American suburbia, so there's plenty to choose from. Overall, I really enjoyed this course and if I had the chance to take her again I would!

Professor De la Vega is the best I've had at UCLA. I didn't think I had to leave a review to reiterate this because I know everyone who takes her courses is always in awe of her, but I felt strongly compelled to advocate for her due to the awful reviews other students have left her due to circumstances out of De la Vega's reach.

Those crappy reviews you see of her are far from the truth about the sort of Professor she truly is. They were left by students who took her class last quarter, which I was also in, and were upset due to the lack of communication that their TA's had with Professor. Their TA's decided to take matters into their own hands when it came to due dates and other things, which led to a conflict that could only be resolved by leveling the playing field after some students got a greater advantage over others- because of their TA- without her knowledge. This is why some students got upset, but the reality is that she never cheated a student out of their real grade.

She is passionate about her job and is always thoughtful and caring, as well as communicative with everyone. That's why I, just like many others, took her class again this quarter, and plan to take her again next quarter! The students who wrote those negative reviews just didn't want to settle for the actual grade they earned, and got mad because of it. I would ignore those few outliers if I were you all.

This is one of my fav classes I've taken. Im Latinx and found the content very interesting and relevant. I really liked the professor, she is very nice and offers a lot of extra credit. She is very accommodating to students and would often have memes on her slides. idek why people are lying and depicting her as mean, i don't think there is a nicer professor out there. like if I got an A so can you, i didnt do a lot of the readings. Not assignment intensive at all!!! join the groupme and youll be fine. I would 100% take this professor again