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joe's a cool guy, one of his tA's is always tweaking out though. he's a burner, really great class.

I had Dr Alter a few semesters ago for asian med sys. he is a great prof and knows his stuff. i learned alot and carried on my learned knowledge to my other classes which really helped me. he is the best! and looks great for his age!!!

He's a nice, very accomodating and knowledgeable prof!

The most interesting professor I had at Pitt. Everyone should take his Intro to Medical Anthro class. You'll learn a lot and come out much more open minded.

he's anthropology dept's silver fox. he can be tough. however, the topics he choses are interesting. all i have to say is, STICK IT IN!!!

Lecture is just the powerpoints, which are provided on courseweb. Some tests were easy, where as others were ambiguous. Overall, I didn't like the class.

He was a good teacher for cultural anthro and kept his students interested.

Mostly easy sometimes would put a few off the wall questions on tests. Class a repetitive borefest but had interesting stories occasionally.

Dr. Alter is a laid-back, genuinely kind guy. His asian meds class was pretty dry but if I'm rating him I must say I have no complaints!

Awesome professor! Really kept class interesting with good discussion, no boring lectures. Very understanding if you have problems meeting a deadline, but he expects quality work. Totally hot too!

really interesting lectures, easy exams, nice guy...and totally hot

Enthusiastic, very knowledgeable, friendly, not too much work (I had him for Intro to Cultural Anthro). Recommended.

I REALLY like this professor because you can actually understand him in class.

Really nice guy, interested in his subject, knowledgeable, interesting stories and lectures, very personable. I like him a lot.

he is a very interesting prof. has a great field of knowledge but often goes into unecessary tangents. easy class--tests are pretty ambiguous though. recitation is mandatory but helpful.

Good speaker, dull jokes. Not a lot of reading or work, but tests can be surprisingly difficult. Many lectures focus on his experiences in India.

Great professor... He has a lot of interesting experiences and knowledge to add to the text material, and he's obviously an extremely intelligent guy (phD from Berkeley). Taking his class made me realize I want to be an Anthro major,...so I definitely have to recommend him.

For a man possessing a doctorate and having written 8 books, Dr. Alter is extremely down-to-earth and presents his lectures in a very matter-of-fact manner that is easily understood. The course isn't easy and requires attentiveness to readings/lectures, but I walked away from it with an A and the rewarding feeling that I actually learned something.

Alter is a knowledgeable guy who knows a lot about his field and is an interesting lecturer. Although not the most exciting material, some of it is cool. I would recommend going to class to understand everything/have test info. Recitation wasn't that helpful, but attend for a good grade. The tests were a bit challenging, but not terribly hard.

Test questions had debatable answers. i know one of them 2/3 TA's got wrong but he refused to allow both answers to be considered correct. super clear during lectures, found movies to be rather boring. average class, take the elective if it fits in your schedule well

Pretty easy, curve can be weird and will give a few weird test questions but most very straight forward, type of class you can cram for but his online powerpoints dont cover alot of what he says in class so you really should still go, just studying those isn't enough+book reading wont help in studying for test. Nice guy, good at explaining, helpful

Great class for anyone interested in medicine especially pre-meds working on the certificate. Opens your eyes to some interesting forms of healing around the world. Lectures sometimes were very boring but overall I would recommend the class. Dr. Alter is a great teacher and very fair grader on exams and papers.

Dr. Alter's Medical Anthro was great. Amazingly easy and actually cool. I literally did zero studying except for the day prior to each exam and got a B. With a bit more effort on my part, could have been an easy A. And he's awesome, the class is fun, and he looks like a sexy Steve Jobs. Take this class!

Dr. Alter is the sweetest man alive. Definitely take him. I took Intro to Cultural with him and he is a WONDERFUL lecturer. Sometimes the films in class could be boring but his lectures were always interesting if you pay attention. Tests aren't all too difficult. Take him!!

I have a strong interest in anthro and I enjoy Alter's class. He explains things well, and has relevant experiences to the course. Material is very focused on South Asia. He makes a lot of grammatical mistakes in his slides. TONS of reading, and it's unrelated to the lectures and there is no discussion of them. Overall good class though.

Overall, you can tell that he loves what he does, but the lectures are very long and sometimes very repetitive. I had a terrible TA, but if you're lucky to have a decent TA, it probably wouldn't have been that bad of a class.

He is a really passionate professor who tries to give students a better understanding of interacting with different people. His work is based in India and a lot of the examples in class relate to that because its what he knows well. Lectures do not relate to the textbook or the readings he assigns, but they all enhance cultural understanding.

Excellent lecturer! I took this class as a requirement for my anthropology major and was blown away by how intelligent and passionate Dr. Alter was. He is not at all intimidating. I felt very comfortable approaching him after lectures. He definitely left me feeling inspired to continue with my studies in anthro.

Dr. Alter is such a cool guy. He loves what he's teaching and does it well. Pretty sure he's a genius, I think he's written seven books. Tests are kinda hard, but they're graded on a curve. Tested on reading material, so at least skim the assignments before the exam. Lecture notes are posted online, but i suggest attending lecture

Dr. Alter is the most interesting person I've ever met. Med anthro was cool as hell. The quizzes are a little hard but are based on bolded terms from the textbook or concepts he puts in the lecture slides and he curves the quizzes anyway. Taking more of his classes!

MedAnthro was an interesting class! What info was going to be on exams wasn't always clear. TopHat use was sporadic, and often the questions weren't super clear. Two classes were watching films in class, which I think is a waste of class time. But, the lectures are interesting and he is very nice! Quizzes were based off of textbook info.

Had a paper but took that out so only coursework was to read and prepare for the tests. Tries using TopHat but only uses it for review questions and giving the tests since it's still new to him. The only annoying thing is that his lectures and the reading don't really match up at all so you need to attend class. Lectures might be boring though.

As a professor and person, he's great! His lectures are interesting, but the class just isn't engaging. Your grade is also based on 3 exams and 1 essay, which makes it hard to earn a good grade.

Prof. Alter is a super nice guy and extremely intelligent in his field. He did numerous field studies in Asian and shared his experience about it in lectures, which was really cool. His class are exam heavy though, and the questions could be a little bit vague, but if you read the book and study his slides you should be okay.

Dr. Alter is a really intelligent dude. His lectures were actually super interesting if a bit difficult to understand sometimes. Just make sure you at least sort of pay attention in class and definitely read the book. Study for the tests, but he gave us practice tests that were the actual questions from the test. Easy enough if you use your notes.

I took Dr. Alter for Religion and Ecology, which is part of the study abroad to the Himalayas, but virtual this year. I honestly have no idea why there are bad reviews bc he is FAB!! so caring (changed our due dates a couple times bc we asked) and pretty easy grader. we only had 2 major grades in the class and it is VERY doable to do well!!

Professor Alter gives great lectures. His class is clear and the information is relevant. However, there is a lot of reading. He only has 3 grades, all of them being big multiple choice tests. If you pay attention to both the reading and the lecture, you will do fine.

The class is lecture heavy but the topics are interesting. Dr. Alter uses examples from his own research that hes very passionate about. Hes very understanding and patient with students! Easy A if you pay attention to lectures and ask questions when you have them. We had 3 total exams, none of which were cumulative. Loved this class!!

I love this man. The class I had taken only excepted 5 essays, and they were graded solely on word count. Then the other half was based on a discussion participation and 3 small quizzes. The quizzes are a lot to remember but he started giving up study guides and when I was doing so well on them, he told me he will do something about the grade.

I should have gotten an A- in the class based on his grading policy and he gave me an A anyway, which was a nice surprise! Very understanding professor. Lectures can get kind of boring but overall a good class to take. The only grades were 3 non cumulative exams.

I loved Dr. Alter. Lectures were truly interesting and he brought his own research examples in. Grades were made from 3 non-cumulative exams and there is no final. Exams based directly on notes, but sometimes would pull random info from the required books (I never read and made it through completely fine). I would recommend and would take him again

Alter is the man. A intelligent and kind professor. Must take him while at Pitt.

Prof. made class incredibly interesting with his own research, and was very humorous and approachable. He was very understanding and offered a lot of online alternatives to in person in structure. An amazing class, 3 exams with no final where if you attended lecture you would do just great.

He is really nice and very passionate about what he is teaching! It definitely is a tougher course, being a gen ed but he curves incredibly heavy so It isn't that bad. Just be ready to read A LOT

* lectures are amazing and well organized * grade is based only on 3 exams * no final!

Dr. Alter was an incredibly nice professor. With no homework aside from a lot of readings (not mandatory just highly suggested) and only three tests with no cumulative final, I loved his class. His lectures were very interesting

Alter is a very knowledgeable and kind professor (he's written books!) This class makes you look at medicine differently, and I highly recommend it. There is A LOT of reading, which is necessary to do well in the class. Your grade is only based on three exams, which makes those exams pretty stressful, but the class isn't homework-heavy at all.

Alter was very boring but super nice. There was also lots of reading - 3 books over the semester. Final grades were made up of 3 multiple choice exams but he does curve at the end of the semester. Lectures are mostly him talking and not slides so you really have to pay attention.

This class opened my eyes to so many new concepts and pathways for my brain to explore. Not to be dramatic but it changed the entire trajectory of my life. This class is what all college classes should be like. Enriching, mind-expanding, scholastic. I almost wish I could take it again for the first time to feel everything 'click' again.

Loved this professor. His lectures were vibrant and interesting. Definitely lots of reading but you can get by with skimming them. Your grade is only based on three exams, but he gives you very good guidance into what you need to know to pass.

Professor Alter is passionate about the subject he teaches. He is excited about the material and is overall a super cool guy. This class specifically consists of 3 exams and one extra credit assignment. The lectures are information-heavy but interesting. I would say this class is harder than the average gen-ed, but I would recommend it.

You can tell he's really passionate about what he teaches and thats awesome. Lots of reading that can be skimmed. 3 exams that make up your whole grade (+extra credit) but theyre really not hard if you skim the readings and lectures, and half the exam questions were given in the practice exam. Fun and interesting class

Dr. Alter is great and is clearly very passionate about the class. His lectures are super interesting and he uses many examples from his own studies which makes it engaging. 3 tests make up 100% of your grade, but they are pretty easy if you attend most lectures and just read over the slides beforehand. You don't even need to buy the textbook.

Professor Alter is very nice guy who cares deeply about what he is teaching. The lectures can definitely drag out and be boring, but overall it was an easier class. The only grades are 3 exams and extra credit. The material is kinda confusing, but somewhat common sense. I would recommend this class if you need it for a gen ed.

Professor Altar is extremely caring, passionate, and a good choice for your Anthropology classes. I will say he does often ramble and you may get lost in his convoluted vocabulary but overall tests are pretty straightforward and his lectures are interesting.

He's so passionate in what he teaches, it's so great to see

Very nice, professor. Likes to give anecdotes and use a lot of words to describe a fairly straightforward concept, but I think that's out of a true desire to make you understand it like he does and not some malicious trip you up thing. You should probably read the stuff he assigns you, it's not too much work, but if you don't you'll be alright.

such a sweet old man, but his lectures are VERY boring and he talks like shakespeare. low effort class. never went to in-person lecture, only zoom (literal cheat code). just took notes on my own time and did fairly well on his tests.

This class is an easy A and requires very little work. The whole grade was only 3 tests on top hat and an extra credit assignment at the end. The lectures are boring and you don't have to attend, there is always a zoom option. Do the readings and watch the videos he shows in class (which he posts the link to) and then the tests will be easy.

Go to lecture (or zoom) to do well on exams. He posts note outlines, but not full notes. His lectures are wordy and you have to sift through it to get the stuff that will be on exams. Most of the exam questions were fair but some were oddly specific. A lot of content was based on India because that is where he was born and later studied.

One of the easiest A's I've gotten at Pitt. Grades consist of 3 proctored exams in class on Top Hat, and 1 extra credit assignment at the end. Attendance is not mandatory. He is the sweetest professor and very accommodating, but lectures were boring.

Reading-heavy class; attendance isn't required but lectures really help. The grade is based on three exams with a small curve and no real homework. Exams can be tricky, so study by memorizing practice exams and reviewing PowerPoints.