Professor
Michael Osman
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2025 - I got an A, and I dropped this cluster after one quarter. Here’s why. First: Your experience depends heavily on your TA. In my case (Luciana), the course felt extremely rigid for a GE. Participation is compulsory and graded stringently, which means people speak to avoid losing points rather than to contribute meaningfully. Discussions often become a two-hour rotation of meaningless and extremely boring comments, which is unfortunate for such an interesting topic. Attendance and participation penalties are harsh. Students were docked 15 points for missing a 15-minute Sunday Zoom meeting. That enforcement-heavy approach makes people anxious about points rather than interested in the material. For participation, only 2 students in our entire section got 100. All lectures are mandatory, and the writing workload is significantly heavier than a typical GE. This is not a “light” class, but may be considered if you want to satisfy Writing II. I spent as much time on this as I spent on Math and Chem. The topic itself is interesting. The structure is what turns people away. My friends had much better experiences in their GE, and I've loved my new GE classes. I dropped because I didn’t want two more quarters of that structure. If you value flexibility and organic discussion, think carefully before enrolling.
Fall 2025 - I got an A, and I dropped this cluster after one quarter. Here’s why. First: Your experience depends heavily on your TA. In my case (Luciana), the course felt extremely rigid for a GE. Participation is compulsory and graded stringently, which means people speak to avoid losing points rather than to contribute meaningfully. Discussions often become a two-hour rotation of meaningless and extremely boring comments, which is unfortunate for such an interesting topic. Attendance and participation penalties are harsh. Students were docked 15 points for missing a 15-minute Sunday Zoom meeting. That enforcement-heavy approach makes people anxious about points rather than interested in the material. For participation, only 2 students in our entire section got 100. All lectures are mandatory, and the writing workload is significantly heavier than a typical GE. This is not a “light” class, but may be considered if you want to satisfy Writing II. I spent as much time on this as I spent on Math and Chem. The topic itself is interesting. The structure is what turns people away. My friends had much better experiences in their GE, and I've loved my new GE classes. I dropped because I didn’t want two more quarters of that structure. If you value flexibility and organic discussion, think carefully before enrolling.
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2025 - This class is super easy. It wasn't taught by Osman, but by a PHD candidate named Taylor-Hasty. Either way, the class is the perfect GE to take since all you have to do is attend lecture and take decent notes to pass. If you're looking for an easy A, you should take this class.
Winter 2025 - This class is super easy. It wasn't taught by Osman, but by a PHD candidate named Taylor-Hasty. Either way, the class is the perfect GE to take since all you have to do is attend lecture and take decent notes to pass. If you're looking for an easy A, you should take this class.
Most Helpful Review
Warning: his grading philosophy is strict. When you get your midterms back Osman will say that you shouldn't question the amount of points he's given you. If you decide to challenge for more points, he said "You are challenging my authority. By asking for a re-grade I'll be in a worse mood than when I was first grading your exam and therefore, you will receive a lower score." Just warning you all about this :(
Warning: his grading philosophy is strict. When you get your midterms back Osman will say that you shouldn't question the amount of points he's given you. If you decide to challenge for more points, he said "You are challenging my authority. By asking for a re-grade I'll be in a worse mood than when I was first grading your exam and therefore, you will receive a lower score." Just warning you all about this :(
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2017 - Makes students feel very welcome in having a discussion during class and posing arguments; he talks a little fast, but lectures are a pretty good pace; definitely knows what he's talking about; some of the readings were missing a page or so and some of them were uploaded out of order which made things very confusing, but the reading materials themselves were good; really good professor; helpful; concerned with student learning; definitely go into office hours— he's a professor you want to get to know; good lectures; must do readings because pop-quizzes, reading material is uploaded so you don’t have to purchase anything
Spring 2017 - Makes students feel very welcome in having a discussion during class and posing arguments; he talks a little fast, but lectures are a pretty good pace; definitely knows what he's talking about; some of the readings were missing a page or so and some of them were uploaded out of order which made things very confusing, but the reading materials themselves were good; really good professor; helpful; concerned with student learning; definitely go into office hours— he's a professor you want to get to know; good lectures; must do readings because pop-quizzes, reading material is uploaded so you don’t have to purchase anything
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