Professor Rensel once again was an amazing professor. She constructed this class very well and made it very fair. This class is basically just setting up for a large group project that was worth around 50% of the grade. But she broke down the steps in the project to make the actual final group project to be worth only 16% of the grade. The rest of our grade came from annotations on Pearsall and participation. I am not sure if this is normal or if it was just because I took the class online during the COVID-19 lockdown

Considering the amount of reading that you do in the class, Dr. Rensel sure made it a lot better. She was such a kind soul, and she was understanding of the circumstances. Her test questions also made you think, but they were fair overall. Her lectures were probably the best part.

This was the best class I've taken at UCLA, hands down. Dr. Rensel is extremely approachable, accommodating, and she cares a lot about student learning and student enjoyment. The class content was super interesting, and I appreciated that she adapted it to what's going on in the world. Also, for anyone who is wondering, I thought the class was a pretty easy A too. Do the assignments, get excited about the topics, and reach out to her if you need any help.

I loved taking this cluster with Rensel. She taught it with Panofsky and Lee during my quarter and they're all great in my opinion. I took the first two quarters in person, which was very entertaining and informative. The information is very interesting and applicable to exams. If you go to class, exams are a breeze with a quick review. The class is somewhat tedious with assignments, but are most definitely manageable. They are not difficult or time-consuming. Just a lot that I often forgot about. If you keep on top of these, you'll definitely get an A. Rensel was incredibly accommodating and personable. Before classes were remote, the professors all held lunch office hours to encourage students to stop and drop by. Would definitely recommend this cluster to freshman who are interested in biotech.

Hands down one of, if not, THE best professor I've had for fall quarter here in UCLA. Her lectures are very very digestible and easy to comprehend, her slides are very concise but complete with all the important points you need to understand from each topic. She is also very engaging in her lectures making it very easy to pay attention for the whole duration of it. She is always willing and open to questions in lectures and/or office hours. + a bonus is that her topics in the cluster were very interesting to look at! Definitely recommend this professor.

DONT DO IT
Honestly, clusters are only helpful if you really need the GE help, and writing 2 credit, but writing 2 is WAYY easier than this class. 2 weekly reading which average 5 articles that average 20 pages EACH. Then you go to lecture, and the lecture is bar for bar the reading, so you learn nothing new. However, they'll drop like one random thing in their lessons and that is what the tests are on. This class is taught by 3 different professors: Rensel focusing on biology, Panofsky focusing on the like sociology of it, and Scroggins focusing on the economic/business part of it. Rensel and Panofsky's lectures are manageable, but Scroggins will literally talk about nothing all lecture, then somehow the whole final/midterm is about what he taught. On top of there being a final for this class, during discussion you will have to do a speech about a GMO game, and present it in front of everyone. The speech isn't too bad, but then you have a debate, AND a final position paper. ON TOP OF A FINAL. There's just too much work to justify for this class, it doesn't make it worth it. This was the only class I would fall asleep in that's how bad it was. No one I would ask liked this cluster, so I would either recommend just doing the writing 2 and a couple random GE's and it will be the exact same thing, if not way better. This is one of those classes where its supposed to be your "easy" class but then it ends up being your hardest, most time consuming class for no reason. Dont fall into the cluster propaganda, they are not sunshine's and rainbows like everyone makes them out to be, just take the GE's, you'll dread taking this class everyday.

I thoroughly recommend this Cluster course. Professor Rensel is very knowledgeable and kind; the format of the class is very conducive to a student's life, combining weekly assignments with larger projects. The material of the Cluster is fascinating, dealing with topics from STEM that relate directly to society, a marriage that is very engaging and was novel to me.