TLDR: A man with a pony tail who does not care if you live or die.

First, thank god there were a lot of football players in our class. Their collective CTE saved the class curve. I will say that the professors curve was a lot of our saving grace.

My TA was amazing and their work in discussion was the main way I understood the marital. The professor is not terrible at lecturing you just have to pay attention and do the reading. It is theory so it is going to be naturally difficult.

My one issue with the professor was at office hours he was very rude when you came for questions. I left his office hours more confused on the material. My TA was my main teacher.

This is one of those classes where you just do not have time to complain. You just have to rally and get the work done. If you have any ounce of literacy you can take this class.

Meh. He is a good professor, but he goes quickly. I also am not a fan of pop-quizzes on the readings in class. I am also not a fan of him deciding to make the exams more difficult after we did well on the first one. This professor is HARD. You have to do the complicated readings, attend lecture, and study hard. The readings he assigns are insufferable. They are not fun to read, and extremely academically wordy. However, the class is curved, so that makes a big difference. It's an exam based class, so the entire grade is based off of three tests and the pop-quizes. You can't really miss a class because there could always be the chance of a pop-quiz. There was no extra-credit. This class is fine. You will survive, but it won't be a walk in the park. Not my favorite style class, but not the worst I've had. I am just so glad I am done with this course. I probably wouldn't choose this professor again.

You need to really study and ask a lot of questions for this class. The class is heavy with material and can sometimes be too much to remember or understand. It was 3 test for each section and discussion attendance. That is it, nothing extra that can help with boosting your grade.

Professor Yeritsian is one of the clearest lecturers I have had. He lays out exactly what he expects, which made the course feel very straightforward even though the material is challenging. Since I took this class during summer session, there were no homework assignments or discussion sections, everything came down to the midterm and final. Because of this, keeping up with the readings was not optional; it was the backbone of the course. This should not be a hard thing to do seeing as how you have 1 reading before each class.

He makes the room feel open and encourages people to ask questions or talk through difficult ideas without feeling intimidated. The course was about the main sociologists like: Simmel, Marx, and Durkheim. He walks through the hardest concepts and highlights important quotes so students don’t get lost in the academic language. He is very passionate about his field and it is obvious he cares about whether students actually understand the material, not just whether they pass the tests.

A few things to clarify based on other reviews:

- Comments claiming he is a “bad professor” are misleading. He expects students to think critically, and some people simply do not like being pushed intellectually. The professor is not hard the tests are hard.
- If you believe you can use ChatGPT to skim your way through this course, you will be disappointed. Half of every quiz is directly from the readings, and he phrases questions in ways that expose whether you actually read or not.
- The course is challenging, it is sociological theory after all, but if you genuinely do the readings, you will be fine.
- Since there is no homework, there is really no excuse not to keep up with the material.
- He does curve, and the curve is generous. If you have a basic grasp of the concepts and can articulate your thoughts clearly, you will do well.
- He is approachable, responsive, and transparent about his expectations so you will not be confused. One of the most organized syllabuses I have seen.
- Attendance is recorded, for me it was a written response about concepts or readings during class, which also helped reinforce the material.

Overall: I would absolutely recommend taking SOC 101 with him. He explains theory in a way that makes dense ideas understandable, encourages real engagement, and genuinely cares about his students. If you put the effort in, you will get a lot out of this class. I liked his teaching style so much I took him again for a different class. Do not get me wrong, the tests are hard. I am honestly a terrible test taker, and I still walked away with a B. I am telling you, if you put in the effort and actually keep up with the readings, you will be fine. The course is challenging, but the expectations are clear, the lectures help a ton, and he gives you the tools you need to succeed.

Great class. Prof Y is very clear in lectures and makes his expectations clear. No homework assignments or discussion section (took in summer) so it was midterm and final based. Doing the readings was essential and he makes a great effort to get students to engage. Many people participated which hasn't been my experience in other classes. I took another class with him in summer which was very interesting. I would definitely try taking SOC101 with this professor. We covered Simmel, Marx, and Durkheim. He made these dense topics and readings interesting and cares for each students success. I would recommend. Attendance was recorded through short responses in class - 7 in total.

Dude. This was one of those courses you take at UCLA that melts away the stress of being at an elite institution and reintroduces you to curiosity regarding education. I loved the fact that Professor Yeritsian not only assigned NO homework or busy work, but he had extremely through lectures with slides based on the weekly readings and I only had to spend a handful of hours weekly completing the readings (including annotations), then 4 hours a week in person at lecture. There was no discussion but it wasn’t needed because covered so much in class, tailored to our individual curiosities as well. It really made a difference for me that Professor Yeritsian cared to learn everybody’s name in the class and proceeded to address us by them throughout the course, remembering his students in a way a previous school teacher might. This course totally changed my relationship with course materials and fluency. Professor Yerirsian isn’t overbearing with involvement, since we’re all adults and don’t need to be babysat, but when you ask for help or extra time he NEVER hesitates to ensure your questions are addressed completely. He isn’t one of those professors that forces you to come to office hours on different dates or across campus (although the option is always there) I just feel like he genuinely enjoys his job and completely understands the subjects he teaches. 10/10 would take again to go even more in depth on sociological theory

Would not recommend this professor. PLS take anyone else for theory…longest 10 weeks of my life.

Professor Yeritsian is tough, but fair. His lectures are very informative, but you have to take good notes on them if you want to do well on the tests. The only reason to do the readings is to get a good score on the pop quizzes, but, if you test well, you don't have to worry too much about those points. The class is broken down into three modules, covering Marx, Simmel, Weber, and Durkheim. The lectures are divided into sections that the professor wants to focus on and those sections will serve as topics for you to study for the exam. The exams (3) were 30 multiple choice and 2 essay questions. If you know how to connect the topics to one another, you'll do well.

Actually a very insightful class if you are engaged. Tough class though overall as the readings are extensive with pop quizzes. Exams were ok but my hand felt like it was gonna fall off from writing after each one.

Overall, walking into this class I knew it would be a challenge. The material is definitely challenging, however going to professors office hours was very helpful as he would take time and make sure the students understand the material on a one on one setting. Professor Yeritsian really cares about his students as he held review sessions on zoom for office hours during the holiday in order for us to be prepared for the assessment. This class is definitely a class where the work needs to be put in order to receive a good grade! All in all, I would recommend taking Professor Yeritsian. I am definitely going to take future classes he teaches!