I really enjoyed the content of this class and honestly it made me a lot more interested in sociology, but the exams were graded somewhat arbitrarily. There's pretty long readings (25-60 pages) due each class and you need to actually do the reading because Professor Aviles will expect you to pull examples from the text and use them on the exam. The readings had a lot of real world medical application, so I would recommend to any pre-health people. Professor Aviles was a good instructor and loved when people would ask questions. She will go over the readings in lecture, but if you only discuss class examples on the exams, you will get points off. There are two midterms and a final and none of the exams are cumulative. There's 5 easy multiple choice (based on lecture) and one free response. You get to use paper notes on the exam, which is definitely helpful, so on your notes write down the big ideas along with specific examples. My TA (Piper) was nice, but she randomly took points off for my participation even though I always contributed. She also was very stingy with the free response grading and I went to her a few times to ask for clarification, but I still couldn't figure out what she wanted. I still recommend this class, just make sure to clarify what your TA is looking for and actually do the readings, even take some brief notes on them, so you save yourself time for prepping for the exam.

I really recommend for all pre med students to take this class! We go into three main topics/books throughout the semester. The first one being societal differences between MDs, DOs, and international students. The next being how socioeconomic differences and location affect access to care. And the last one being healthcare policy, which was definitely the most boring one, but you can tell how passionate Professor Aviles is about all of these topic and is always happy to take any questions. There is assigned reading before each lecture, but I will be honest and say that after the first exam I didn't even buy the book or read anything because she goes over everything in lecture. This did make doing the discussion posts each week a little harder, but you just need to summarize for the lectures. Discussions were also really nice and easy, shoutout to Drew for being an amazing TA! Overall, definitely take this class to learn more about the healthcare system.

Highly recommend if you are interested in the human impact of medicine, especially discrimination and high costs in health care. If you aren't pre-med and need a course to fulfill some type of science requirement, then definitely check this one out! With Prof. Aviles, you read three books and have a discussion post every week or so! The discussion posts are fairly straightforward and easy. There is a midterm and a final that are also easy if you just read the books.

I am very conflicted about this class. As someone interested in public health, the material was fascinating and felt very relevant. The lecture could be quite boring and difficult to keep up with as Professor Aviles talks very fast. There are three books to read throughout the semester and about 30-40 pages of reading are due before each class. These readings are not optional as they are needed for discussion and will be on the test. The tests were difficult. They consisted of two tests with 5 multiple choice questions and a short essay and a final with 10 multiple choice questions and a long essay. Missing one or two questions can severely lower your grade. Professor Aviles is very helpful individually and really knows what she is talking about. She tries to make the class interesting even when health care reform can be a dry subject. She also provided opportunities for a lot of extra credit which lifted my B+ into an A (she also rounds grades up). I only recommend this class to people interested in medicine or public health.

I feel like this class was way harder than it should of been. There was a ton of reading every night and lecture and discussion attendance are required. At least this semester, the first mid-term was only a two-paragraph essay and five multiple choice questions but they all had multiple right answers and there was no partial credit offered. There's not a lot of room for error in this class and I also felt intimidated by the professor. If you have a choice of TA, take it with Yapeng - he is really sweet and willing to help you understand what's going on.