By far the best class I've taken as a sociology major at UCLA! Professor Foster is one of the best professors I've ever encountered! He's so passionate and accommodating, he handled every obstacle that came our way this quarter so well it was unreal. He truly cares for the wellbeing of his students :')

For the course work, the material is very interesting and manageable. Practicing the concepts on the homework and reviewing the notes + textbook will really help make everything click. Foster does a great job on making the course fun so you definitely won't regret taking this course!!!

The best professor I've had so far during my time at UCLA. His lectures are engaging and his homework truly prepares you for the exams. He GENUINELY cares about his students and does not hesitate to make accommodations. 10/10 would take again!!!

WOW! THIS PROFESSOR IS A SHINING STAR!! 10/10 WOULD TAKE AGAIN. He really cares about his students. During this whole quarter he was the only professor I had who actually cared about his students well being. If you don't take him, I don't know what you are doing.

HE IS AMAZING! Professor Foster truly cares about his students. I loved ALL of his lectures. Yes, it is not easy, but it is the most useful info. I wish I could take all of his classes. He is very funny and uses pop-culture to relate the material. If you want an easy A, this is not it, but if you try, you can totally get an A and have a great time!

This class was *incredibly* challenging. Assigned an unbelievable amount of homework, yet still took nearly 4 weeks after the deadline for final grades to be uploaded, for our grades to be published. It was very difficult to follow along because he goes through the material very fast. Overall, an interesting class topic, but executed very poorly in my opinion.

Best of Best

Professor Foster is literally the BEST professor I ever had at UCLA! I never read the textbook and get an A+, here's how I did it:

1. Take notes during class - I always download his lecture slide prior to the class and take notes on the slide to reduce any extra typing time. He talks kinda fast and there's a lot of information to go through in 75 minutes of the class. Foster definitely simplified the concept in the textbook and only picked the most important ones to lecture. DON'T skip class and try to read the textbook later on by yourself to catch up, the concepts in the textbook are more complicated and hard to understand and a lot of information is unnecessary for you to remember because it didn't mention in the class and will not be on the exams.

2. Go to your TA's office hours and discussion session - This is the MOST IMPORTANT part that helps me to succeed. There is 4 homework in the class and the midterm or final is EXACTLY the same as the homework. My TA Oscar is the best TA out of the other TAs because he explains concepts very well, and if you attend his OH or discussion you will 99.99% receive a good grade since TAs are the ones who will grade your homework.

3. Do the extra credit - There is one 2.5% extra credit on creating a Leitner, which is a method to help you study for exams. It is extremely simple to make and you get a free 2.5% increase on your grade so please do it. At the end of the quarter, there's also extra credit for filling out the evaluation form for the professor and TAs. This is a class collaboration activity, which means if 50% of the class fills the form everyone will get +1.0%, if 75% of the class fills the form everyone will get +1.5%, if 90% of the class fills the form everyone will get +2.0%.

Overall, this is definitely not an easy A class, don't try to find answers online or use Chatgpt because you won't find any. Instead, please go to your TAs office hour and the discussion session to ask questions, and take good notes in class. He will always record his lecture, so if you missed a class make sure to go back to listen to the recording instead of grinding the textbook.

Hope y'all can all get an A in this amazing class! :))

I took this class as both a requirement for my Sociology major and my minor, Digital Humanities. At first, it might seem tricky because there is more math (nothing overly complicated) and modeling (and even game theory) in this course compared to other Sociology courses. However, Professor Foster is great and accommodating and offers a lot of office hours which will help you get used to the types of problems on the Homework and the Exams. There are opportunities for Extra Credit if you are worried about your grade in the class. I would say the textbook is really helpful for getting the concepts to click and also for studying the concepts that will be on the exams. The concepts in the class are pretty interesting and applicable to other Sociology concepts.

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Professor Foster is hands down the best professor for this course! His tests/homework assignments are not the easiest but he does his best to accommodate and prepare you for them. I took this course online and everything was open book, which helped a ton!!! He also offered extra credit opportunities. He’s the only class I never skipped this quarter. His exams are exactly like the homework, he also hosted review sessions before each exam. His homework assignments were long and difficult at times but he allowed us to work in groups and usually gave us a week or more to work on them. I highly recommend everyone to wait for spring quarter to take this course with him! You can get an A easily if you work for it!

PROFESSOR FOSTER IS THE MOST CARING PROFESSOR I HAVE HAD AT UCLA. During the pandemic and the great injustices we are seeing right now Foster has been nothing but a source of relief for my stress with school. He is a very accessible professor and truly cares about his students. PLEASE TAKE HIS CLASS YOU WONT REGRET IT. He is how all educators should be, caring, empathetic, and truly knowledgeable in his subject. Cannot sign praises about him enough