Professor Cooney really cares about her students and the learning. She is funny and relatable and presents the material well. The course includes one midterm, one final, and a paper. Each week of the quarter is dedicated to a geographic area and she provides slides for the lectures. There are assigned readings each week as well that you will go over in discussion sections. I personally did not keep up with the readings and sometimes missed lecture but was able to prepare for the exams. My TA had groups of students prepare outlines for the midterm and final (which are in the forms of essays) which was helpful. The prompt for the final essay is given at the very beginning of the quarter because it is very open ended. There are certain checkpoints that the TA maintained so that you don't end up working on the essay the day before it's due. I personally found the content very interesting to consider and learn more about. In general, the workload can become a bit much if you cram for the exams like I did but it is manageable. Would recommend as a GE!

This was a a really interesting and engaging class but definitely not easy. If you want to get a good grade you have to put in the effort. You have about 2-3 readings a week on top of books that you have to keep up with. Also you'll have to make notes so that you can include the readings for your exams because they don't always come up in lecture or discussion. You also have to write a 15 page research paper on any topic of you choosing. The exams are tough (you do get to prepare for the exam essays in advance but also keep in mind that they're not easy questions or expectations- you basically have to make 3-5 essays for preparation and then memorize or at least learn them well, so you can write them out in class).
Another thing is that the professor really is amazing and does make the lectures come to life BUT she doesn't have any involvement with your actual assignments, which means that your grade is entirely dependent on you TA. So, despite the fact that this was a really engaging class, I think I would have reconsidered enrolling if I knew how much work it would be.

This class was much harder than I expected it to be. It is heavily based on your TA and how they grade. My TA was pretty tough and expected a lot from our class. I thought it was going to be an easy, but interesting TA but it actually took a lot of time and effort, especially considering there was a 12 page final paper as well as a final exam

Cooney is so funny. I really enjoyed her lectures. I did well in the class by attending all lectures and doing very minimal reading. She gives you the test questions before the tests, so it is easy to prepare and you know what is expected of you. I definitely enjoyed this class and highly recommend it as a fun, easy GE where you actually learn a lot of history!!

The best part of this class was Professor Cooney's lecture. She made jokes and was very engaging, which made lectures pretty interesting. I thought the material covered was also pretty interesting, but the readings could be somewhat lengthy. There is also a 12 pg essay, which was a lot of work but not too bad. TAs can provide you with feedback at their OH and you can also turn in an optional rough draft in which they critique it. If you do that, you should be able to get a good grade on it. Note the TAs are the ones who grade the essay so their feedback is in way more important than Professor Cooney's. Also, the essay is worth more points that the final and the midterm (35% vs 30% and 25%). The midterm and final are also essays, but you're given the questions in advance so you should make outlines and write practice essays for them if you can. I did that and managed to get a 98 on the midterm.

K so. I am a south campus major and this class was RIDIC. The beginning was awesome yeah cool cool, but then it started to get real boring real fast. Just a bunch of women, I don't know. Cooney was nice and easy to listen to but the content really changes like three weeks in. The essay? Also RIDIC. Thought I could do 12 pages, but there is like no outline on what to write on, which is easy for some, but the thesis and idea needs to be "original" and not written about in previous essays or literature so it was tough. PLUS a FINAL? It is not a writing 2 course. If it was, I would understand. My TA graded pretty hard so this A- was so hard for me and I ended up doing bad in my important classes. Do not recommend.

This class was really cool. Cooney's sense of humor made the material interesting and engaging. It was interesting to gain a new perspective on how women have been able to achieve different forms of power across different cultures from basically the beginning of time. Grades are made up of the midterm, final, and a 12 page research paper on any topic of your choosing. I'm not sure how much participation in discussion actually factored into the grade but I don't think it was too much. The midterm and final essay prompts were given beforehand so they were rather easy to prepare for. The hard part for me was writing the 12 page paper because I'd never written anything so long before and I had no idea know what my prompt would be. The TAs have little checkpoints throughout the quarter to keep you on track, but I didn't end up starting it until a few days before it was due. I wish it was a final paper instead of us having an additional exam because by the time the actual final came around my brain was too exhausted to put any real effort into it. It just felt extra to have both, especially for a GE. Other than my stresses about the paper, the class was really enjoyable. Would I have taken this class in the first place had I known there was this paper? Probably not. But am I glad I ended up going through with it? Heck yeah.

I enjoyed this class so much and had a great experience with my TA's grading. Since a huge part of your grade is based on the paper writing, my only advice is going to office hours and fixing what the TA asks you to fix and you are almost guaranteed a good grade in the class ! The professor is so much fun and her lectures are so interesting, you are bound to pay attention and listen ! If you are thinking about taking this class, defiantly go for it and DO NOT get discouraged by the big paper because it is not bad at all with the help of your TA. Good luck !

This class was MUCH harder than expected. There's not much work to turn in, but there is one midterm, one final, and a 12 page paper that was worth a good chunk of my grade. The midterm and final were essays. Cooney would post the potential essay questions for the midterm and finals before so we could prepare for them, but even so, as someone who is not strong in writing, I only did decent on the midterm. I don't know about the final, but the level of difficulty I would say was similar to the midterm. The research paper she had us do killed me. I spent so much time on it and went to office hours to get help so often, I still struggled with it. Probably because writing is not my strength so this class was hard for me, but for those who are good at writing, this class may be for you. I would not consider this a easy GE.

Professor Cooney has so much passion and you can definitely sense that in her lectures. That being said, because she is an egyptologist, she doesn't know much about China, India, Persia, etc, but her course still covers it. In my opinion, those lectures are too rushed and barely touched the surface, and it would have been better if she just stuck to what she knows. her lectures are discussion-styled, and because of that, the final exams and midterms, which are essay questions given beforehand, can be difficult because they don't always get covered in lecture. Had it not been for my TA Andrew, who took the time to give us a general idea in discussion and did activities for them, I probably wouldn't have done very well. But If you plan out your essay beforehand, memorize some key examples, you should be fine.

There were also weekly readings and a final, 12-page research paper on anything you want pertaining to the class. I actually really enjoyed the paper because I picked a topic I was really interested in. My TA also paced the class by giving us deadlines, so we weren't procrastinating. He also helped a lot in terms of develop our thesis and was even willing to edit a first draft for us if we submit early. But because I'm a south campus major, I definitely felt a little stressed with the paper and all the research I had to do because it's worth such a big portion of the overall grade.

Overall not a bad class as Professor Cooney is actually pretty engaging and preppy, you just have to pace yourself on the paper and keep up on the lectures.