re: Hardest and most interesting class you took in college

Undergrad (LSU)

Hardest Due to Boredom: Biology 1002. It was an 8 AM gen-ed class about plant biology. The professor designed it to weed out pre-med students. We spent 6 weeks learning every minute detail about photosynthesis, and another 5 weeks learning about fungi. I hated studying for those tests. I felt sometimes like she designed the course material to be as boring as possible.

Hardest Due to Subject Matter: Believe it or not, African-American History, taught by Dr. Kodi Roberts. He knew many people took it thinking it would be an easy A, and he wanted to weed those students out right away. And he did. He forbade us to use laptops (this was around 5 years ago, so not common practice) and lectured non-stop for 80 minutes. My hand was dying after writing six or so full pages of detailed notes every lecture. Great professor, but I had to work really hard for that A. It was a 2000-level class, but ended up being harder than any 4000-level or graduate class I took at LSU.

Most Interesting: Louisiana History/Politics & Southern Politics, taught by T. Wayne Parent. Best lecturer I’ve seen at LSU. Super nice and funny guy, along with a genius-level understanding of the subject matter. All his lectures had damn near 100% attendance. He also brought in incredible guest speakers like Edwin Edwards, Bobby Jindal, Mike Foster, and John Kennedy. I’m thankful I got Wayne just a few years before he retired.

Honorable Mentions: Intro to Western Civilization, taught by Dr. James Hardy. Another incredible lecturer. His brain was an encyclopedia of history, and every lecture was like a story. He’s in his late 80s now and mostly blind, but he’s still teaching at LSU, the last time I checked.

Intro to Constitutional Law, by Dr. James Stoner. This was a 4000-level elective, more designed for pre-law students, but I took it as a History major. Really interesting class that explored how our Founding Fathers formed the US Constitution. We read the Magna Carta, the Articles of Confederation, and the Federalist Papers, before exploring a detailed history of the Constitution. That class really improved my understanding of American history and government. Excellent professor.

LSU has a lot of great history professors, in my experience.

Graduate School (LSU)

Hardest: Intro to Grad School
It wasn’t hard, but it was incredibly boring for me. We learned skills that are useful for people who want to be career academics, but it was tedious for people like me who were just there to get our Master’s and move on with life. The class covered the philosophy of good research methods and how to write grants, etc.

Most Interesting: 7000-level Extreme Weather Events class, taught by Dr. Barry Keim. Fun and interesting class. We focused on hurricanes and heavy rain patterns, and multiple classes were canceled due to hurricanes (2020). We took a trip to Lake Charles in the aftermath of Laura. Jay Grimes also came as a guest speaker.