This course is super interesting and I really enjoyed it. I would highly recommend for first year students, it was a great class to take first semester and I would do it again. The concepts were interesting and Prof Davis is simply phenomenal. Absolutely loved my discussion and I got super close with the people in it. This course is not an easy A, but if you put in the work, an A- or a B+ is pretty easy to bag. You will have a project towards the end of the semester that you need to work hard on, and some fairly easy reading quizzes (3 total) along with a weekly blog and some readings.

This course was one of the best I've taken here at UVA! Would strongly recommend to any first years, or anyone from any year looking to learn about how to thrive in college-Professor Davis is a super helpful professor, and the entire teaching team is super involved and there for any questions you may have. The class is truly you get what you put into it and if you engage with your resilience project (the capstone of the class), get to know your discussion community and come to lecture, you will meet a strong network of people and also do well. The workload is not especially hard; supplemental readings along with a book you read during the semester about every week, 2 blog posts on reflections per week, and then 3 papers throughout the class totaling 12 pages all together. This course can be absolutely perspective shifting if you let it and choosing a resilience project that challenges you will pay off in your personal life!

This class is a complete waste of time, just read the course title and you'll get the idea. I strongly advise against taking it, especially when there are far more valuable options available through Batten. The course material turns basic ideas into something complicated, and you’ll be expected to complete three quizzes based on dense readings and lecture notes, along with a personal resilience project that ends up defining your grade. Participation is also heavily weighted and I was fortunate to have a kind and personable TA, but not everyone will be that lucky.

If you're hoping this is an easy A (probably why your friends recommended it) you’ll be surprised. Unless you enjoy spending hours reading about the psychology of making to-do lists, it won’t feel worth your time. At times, it felt less like a college course and more like group therapy for productivity hacks. I think overall what really disappointed me is not that it is a waste of your time, but I found Professor Davis to be haughty and I can't seem to relate to some of the reviews on him here.

Again, the class isn't terribly hard (as the grade distribution confirms), but slogging through irrelevant readings while watching the professor cater to TAs and overly eager students makes it feel harder than it should. You’ll leave the course not more resilient, but more cynical about how low the bar can be for what counts as a college education - especially in a class that turns a surprise guest lecture from Liz Cheney into a forced exercise in applauding her political views, whether you agree or not.

This class is a great way to meet people, especially if it's your first semester at UVA. Professor Davis is a very engaging lecturer and the material is very interesting. He doesn't allow computers in class, so you will have to take hand-written notes. Final grades are made up of participation (mostly in discussion), a couple of reading quizzes in class, and the rest are assignments/reflections. The biggest grade is a resilience project that you have to pick a topic for. Grading is very dependent on the TA you get, as they will be the ones grading all of your work (minus the reading quizzes, which are multiple choice). Overall, I would definitely recommend this class.

I cannot recommend this course enough. I honestly did not really know what to expect going into it, but it turned out to be such a great experience. In lecture, Professor Davis is so caring, and you can tell he is so passionate about how he talks about. There is a lot of engagement with peers, and you are suggested to sit next to someone new every class. There was a certain mutual respect among the class that I never really experienced that I loved. Once a week there are discussion groups, but it is nothing like other classes. My group all became friends by the end of it, and became so vulnerable with one another. The community was a safe space, and my group leader, Walker, was fantastic at setting our atmosphere. If you can choose her, I ABSOLUTELY recommend it. Especially as a first semester first year, this class helped with the college transition a lot, and I am so thankful for it.

This class single-handedly made my first semester better. You truly get out what you put in. My discussion section led me to make some great friends and gain confidence. This class does have a lot of work, but it isn't too dense. Most projects are reflection-based and will help you in the long run. There are only three quizzes, which are relatively easy but are on both lectures and the readings. The projects are long and kind of harshly graded, but they are all an effort to improve how you adjust to college and push yourself out of your comfort zone. I recommend this class HIGHLY to any first year in their first semester.

Batten School grading is rough to keep that in mind. Prof. Davis is so kind and just has such an amazing personality. There were a lot of readings that sometimes weren't too interesting, but if you like to read, take this class. The quizzes were okay, they were tricky when the questions were about the book. Take the feedback on papers.

BEST MAN EVER.

Professor Davis is one of the most incredible professors I have ever had. He is so kind and truly takes the time to listen to his students' responses during lecture. I highly recommend everyone taking his course at some point because it is truly incredible and unique. He is a very supportive professor that is easy to talk to, both during lecture and OH. This course was truly life-changing, and Professor Davis was a big part of that.

Tim Davis is a smart and engaging lecturer. Each lecture was a different valuable life lesson on resilience, and the weekly discussions are basically group therapy. Sort of a chance to unpack the week and discuss the topics and also a chance to be vulnerable and discuss personal topics. Madhav Nair was my discussion leader and he was literally the BEST. Kind and great person, was such an easy person to connect with, and totally felt like he had my back and cared about us doing well and gaining experience in the class. There is a big resilience project that was probably the most challenging part of the class, and you are kind of on your own to figure out what you do, but other than that the work is pretty easy. The readings are not too long/difficult and there are two quizzes that aren't bad. A lot of grading on completion with weekly blogs and "non-graded" assignments (completing your resume, meeting at the career center, going to career fair, etc). Overall I felt like the lessons in the lectures were the most useful part of the class, but I also really enjoyed our weekly discussions with Madhav.

This class was way more work than I thought it was going to be. There were readings before every lecture, books we had to read, movies we had to watch, and more. Overall it was just way too much work to genuinely enjoy the class. The professor wants the class to be amazing and mandatory for all students but it needs a lot of revision before that happens. There were 12 foundations of the class and some felt way better done than others. It was also harder than I thought to do well in the class. Your discussion community leader has a major effect on how your grade turns out, and mine was very unhelpful. I know others had better discussion leaders but getting a bad one had a detrimental effect on my experience in the class. I was hoping for a very different experience but I know others enjoyed it more than I did.