The lectures are consistently engaging and make dense material genuinely thought-provoking, but the relentless reading load and frequent writing assignments demand steady effort just to stay afloat. Your final grade heavily depends on which discussion section you land in, as teaching assistants vary wildly from incredibly supportive to notoriously harsh graders. You must actually complete the assigned readings to handle the exams, and you should brace yourself for tough early papers, though some terms offer options to recover with later makeup work. Only enroll if you are truly invested in the subject matter; if you dislike heavy academic reading or are hunting for a relaxed elective, you will likely find the workload far outweighs the payoff.