BMD RES 5HB
Biomedical Research: Essential Skills and Concepts
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Requisite: course 5HA. Designed for freshmen/sophomores. Exploration of scientific concepts and experimental approaches through seminars by UCLA faculty members on their cutting-edge research. Topics may include areas of study such as cancer, stem cells, and infectious disease, as well as more basic research in cell and molecular biology. Student investigation of one or more laboratories on campus and presentation of brief synopsis of single research project from one laboratory. Letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2022 - I want to make this review for any students in the minor taking 5HB with Professor Austin, just so they have this information beforehand. First of all, there is significant evidence that she (or someone wanting to promote her) is spam-posting her own reviews. Read the other reviews—they do not sound like any student wrote them. Even other reviews on other classes are saying the other reviews are weirdly misleading. I say this not to bolster my own credibility but to warn you that the sentiments on this page absolutely do not reflect the sentiments of the students in her classes. Some highlights (just because I think they’re funny): - “called for a lot of collaboration with peers through which I made amazing new friends” - “be vocal in class (when appropriate) for answering questions or taking part in discussions” - “Be creative and add some personal elements to yours! These presentations, while they may seem a little intimidating, become a great way to get to know your peers and relevant topics more.” - “Overall a great, enthralling, and very informational class” No student would write like that lol. There’s other evidence, but I won’t go into depth on that. I will give a fair review of the class. First, the good. Professor Austin as a person is fairly nice to talk to. She is fairly approachable and the manner in which she explains information isn’t too bad. I also really liked the other students and community in the class. However, I would say overall I definitely regret taking this class with Professor Austin. There are two main reasons: disorganization and lack of understanding the student’s perspective. From day 1, the syllabus she posted did not have any due dates, specific assignments, or grade cutoffs. Throughout the course, she would constantly edit and repost the syllabus with changing due dates and shifting assignments—and not tell anyone. For instance, the due date for the midterm project was shifted up a week beforehand, and students were not notified of this change. Only because someone in my discussion group told us did we know. Since the information shifts so much, almost every important piece of info was through word of mouth (“apparently we are on Zoom on Tuesdays now, not Thursdays. Someone else told me”). Never trust what she says either. She will say the quizzes are easy, they aren’t. She will say something will be graded easily, it won’t. Be maximally prepared for every assignment and every shift that may happen. “Expect every possibility” needs to be your mantra for this class, because things will constantly shift under you. She would tell us “you need to print these out by tomorrow” at 3 AM the night before. And then, we would never use the printouts. Once, she decided that we would be having an “optional quiz” and let us know, again, at weird hours the night before. No time to study. Then, it turns out the quiz definitely was not optional. She also definitely has favorite students. She would call on them for everything, even without their hands raised, and praise them constantly. Even these students that she had favoritism towards did not like it. During our final presentations, she would say “now these next presentations are really good” about her favorites, disregarding the feelings of the several other students who had just gone. Speaking of the final presentations, make sure yours is PERFECT. These are graded insanely harshly. If you are imagining a number right now, drop it by 20%. This is secondhand information from talking to other students since she did not actually give us the grades back, just a final letter grade. She will also ask for positive and negative feedback from students on each presentation, and mark you down for what others say for their negatives. If you aren’t the “favorite presentation of the day” by your peers, you will not be getting an A on it. The other assignments almost don’t matter besides this presentation—make it perfect. Check it with her multiple times in OH, and confirm that different elements she would give a perfect grade for. She might still go back on that, but at least you have that leverage when she does (this happened to some of my friends). For other grading, the assignments the TA grades should be fine, just check with the TA. (Our TA would complain about her inconsistency as well, but in a professional way. I really loved our TA honestly, she made the class feel less like a slow motion car crash). Some assignments you do will not be calculated in your final grade, she might not even give you final scores back, and this class will be a lot of work. Especially work assigned last minute. A LOT OF WORK—I’m highlighting that. I do want to say I’m not some troll that hated Prof. Austin and am using hyperbole and lies to vent, I am trying to make sure that other students are fully prepared for what to expect from this class. I got a grade I am happy with, but feel bad for other students that didn't and really did not like going through the class itself. Other students I would talk to in previous quarters would go “ohhh Dr. Austin LOL—yeah just bite the bullet on that one”. That is the general consensus. However, there were no Bruinwalk reviews until recently which really didn't help things. I will say, while there were some positive-ish aspects, this was probably one of the worst classes I’ve taken so far at UCLA. Not for the content, but the extreme expectations and disorganization. I sincerely do hope Prof. Austin improves in the future with feedback, but right now, it’s just best to be prepared. Also: to whoever is spam posting misleading reviews, please stop. I’m not sure why you’re doing it, but it is important for students to know what other students think about the class so they can make their own informed decisions. TLDR: if you are in the minor, this isn't an easy A class. Be prepared for disorganization and a large workload.
Fall 2022 - I want to make this review for any students in the minor taking 5HB with Professor Austin, just so they have this information beforehand. First of all, there is significant evidence that she (or someone wanting to promote her) is spam-posting her own reviews. Read the other reviews—they do not sound like any student wrote them. Even other reviews on other classes are saying the other reviews are weirdly misleading. I say this not to bolster my own credibility but to warn you that the sentiments on this page absolutely do not reflect the sentiments of the students in her classes. Some highlights (just because I think they’re funny): - “called for a lot of collaboration with peers through which I made amazing new friends” - “be vocal in class (when appropriate) for answering questions or taking part in discussions” - “Be creative and add some personal elements to yours! These presentations, while they may seem a little intimidating, become a great way to get to know your peers and relevant topics more.” - “Overall a great, enthralling, and very informational class” No student would write like that lol. There’s other evidence, but I won’t go into depth on that. I will give a fair review of the class. First, the good. Professor Austin as a person is fairly nice to talk to. She is fairly approachable and the manner in which she explains information isn’t too bad. I also really liked the other students and community in the class. However, I would say overall I definitely regret taking this class with Professor Austin. There are two main reasons: disorganization and lack of understanding the student’s perspective. From day 1, the syllabus she posted did not have any due dates, specific assignments, or grade cutoffs. Throughout the course, she would constantly edit and repost the syllabus with changing due dates and shifting assignments—and not tell anyone. For instance, the due date for the midterm project was shifted up a week beforehand, and students were not notified of this change. Only because someone in my discussion group told us did we know. Since the information shifts so much, almost every important piece of info was through word of mouth (“apparently we are on Zoom on Tuesdays now, not Thursdays. Someone else told me”). Never trust what she says either. She will say the quizzes are easy, they aren’t. She will say something will be graded easily, it won’t. Be maximally prepared for every assignment and every shift that may happen. “Expect every possibility” needs to be your mantra for this class, because things will constantly shift under you. She would tell us “you need to print these out by tomorrow” at 3 AM the night before. And then, we would never use the printouts. Once, she decided that we would be having an “optional quiz” and let us know, again, at weird hours the night before. No time to study. Then, it turns out the quiz definitely was not optional. She also definitely has favorite students. She would call on them for everything, even without their hands raised, and praise them constantly. Even these students that she had favoritism towards did not like it. During our final presentations, she would say “now these next presentations are really good” about her favorites, disregarding the feelings of the several other students who had just gone. Speaking of the final presentations, make sure yours is PERFECT. These are graded insanely harshly. If you are imagining a number right now, drop it by 20%. This is secondhand information from talking to other students since she did not actually give us the grades back, just a final letter grade. She will also ask for positive and negative feedback from students on each presentation, and mark you down for what others say for their negatives. If you aren’t the “favorite presentation of the day” by your peers, you will not be getting an A on it. The other assignments almost don’t matter besides this presentation—make it perfect. Check it with her multiple times in OH, and confirm that different elements she would give a perfect grade for. She might still go back on that, but at least you have that leverage when she does (this happened to some of my friends). For other grading, the assignments the TA grades should be fine, just check with the TA. (Our TA would complain about her inconsistency as well, but in a professional way. I really loved our TA honestly, she made the class feel less like a slow motion car crash). Some assignments you do will not be calculated in your final grade, she might not even give you final scores back, and this class will be a lot of work. Especially work assigned last minute. A LOT OF WORK—I’m highlighting that. I do want to say I’m not some troll that hated Prof. Austin and am using hyperbole and lies to vent, I am trying to make sure that other students are fully prepared for what to expect from this class. I got a grade I am happy with, but feel bad for other students that didn't and really did not like going through the class itself. Other students I would talk to in previous quarters would go “ohhh Dr. Austin LOL—yeah just bite the bullet on that one”. That is the general consensus. However, there were no Bruinwalk reviews until recently which really didn't help things. I will say, while there were some positive-ish aspects, this was probably one of the worst classes I’ve taken so far at UCLA. Not for the content, but the extreme expectations and disorganization. I sincerely do hope Prof. Austin improves in the future with feedback, but right now, it’s just best to be prepared. Also: to whoever is spam posting misleading reviews, please stop. I’m not sure why you’re doing it, but it is important for students to know what other students think about the class so they can make their own informed decisions. TLDR: if you are in the minor, this isn't an easy A class. Be prepared for disorganization and a large workload.
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2019 - Dr. Turlo grew on me so much midway through the quarter. At first, it was hard to reconcile how she's a stickler for certain things (which she herself admits), such as attendance and formatting on assignments. But this does come from her wanting us to be able to gain the most out of the class - and the formatting comes from how it needs to be precise when you write grants, so she's just modeling that experience. So, I think she's a little bit hard to relate to at first, but truly, she's just a woman who loves science and she is incredibly willing to help and give encouragement. Office hours are very helpful in doing well in the class. Also, just know that Dr. Turlo is far more accommodating than you might expect based off first impression - she was willing to work with me individually to help me succeed when I was going through some mental health challenges and extreme burnout. Be aware that she grades harshly on the first assignment (out of 5 points, with a lot of people getting 2's), as a motivator for the rest of the course. But in the end she's not trying to hurt anyone and gives opportunities to make up points and to grow from the experience. She will probably say herself later on in the quarter that after the first assignment, most people get 100% (or near 100%) on the other assignments. With the proposal in the latter half of the course, it's time-consuming, but I appreciated that she let us branch out from the seminar talk into areas that were more interesting to us. Honestly, this was the experience I was waiting for after 5HA. To write a proposal, because this assignment totally kicked my ass but suddenly within a week, I'd been forced to learn how to truly read scientific literature in large volumes like never before. It was a truly helpful experience and I gained so much from it. It's also very nice of Dr. Turlo to let us submit the final multiple times until we get full credit. I only submitted once, but I still did well because of how much time I had spent with her in office hours/appointments to get on the right track. Discussions were less helpful and I unfortunately got a group that just was not very engaged/talkative. Like, no shade against any individuals since I had no issue with anyone in the class, but the discussion project we had was mainly a waste of time and the group work for that was so frustrating. Symposium was more fun albeit stressful near the end of the quarter and also gave us an opportunity to practice oral presentation skills. Just try your best and it will be entirely fine :).
Winter 2019 - Dr. Turlo grew on me so much midway through the quarter. At first, it was hard to reconcile how she's a stickler for certain things (which she herself admits), such as attendance and formatting on assignments. But this does come from her wanting us to be able to gain the most out of the class - and the formatting comes from how it needs to be precise when you write grants, so she's just modeling that experience. So, I think she's a little bit hard to relate to at first, but truly, she's just a woman who loves science and she is incredibly willing to help and give encouragement. Office hours are very helpful in doing well in the class. Also, just know that Dr. Turlo is far more accommodating than you might expect based off first impression - she was willing to work with me individually to help me succeed when I was going through some mental health challenges and extreme burnout. Be aware that she grades harshly on the first assignment (out of 5 points, with a lot of people getting 2's), as a motivator for the rest of the course. But in the end she's not trying to hurt anyone and gives opportunities to make up points and to grow from the experience. She will probably say herself later on in the quarter that after the first assignment, most people get 100% (or near 100%) on the other assignments. With the proposal in the latter half of the course, it's time-consuming, but I appreciated that she let us branch out from the seminar talk into areas that were more interesting to us. Honestly, this was the experience I was waiting for after 5HA. To write a proposal, because this assignment totally kicked my ass but suddenly within a week, I'd been forced to learn how to truly read scientific literature in large volumes like never before. It was a truly helpful experience and I gained so much from it. It's also very nice of Dr. Turlo to let us submit the final multiple times until we get full credit. I only submitted once, but I still did well because of how much time I had spent with her in office hours/appointments to get on the right track. Discussions were less helpful and I unfortunately got a group that just was not very engaged/talkative. Like, no shade against any individuals since I had no issue with anyone in the class, but the discussion project we had was mainly a waste of time and the group work for that was so frustrating. Symposium was more fun albeit stressful near the end of the quarter and also gave us an opportunity to practice oral presentation skills. Just try your best and it will be entirely fine :).
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