This professor was not willing to work with students. Her expectations are not reasonable. She asks more of students then she asks of herself. For example me and (over 10 other students) were completely unable to reach her. I think this is unacceptable behavior from a department head at a University such as UCSB.
This professor was not willing to work with students and made herself unavailable for comi
I understand the rough reviews, however, she is understanding and gives second chances. She is always willing to help and just wants to see your dedication to the class. She helped me write my final poster. Tough but fair and kind at the end of the day. Go see her in person for help as much as possible.
Professor James is one of my favorite professors at UCSB. She is so kind and cares about her students so much. She is also amazing to go to just to talk or for advice. The class with her is pretty easy and does not require too much work. She is a great lecturer and explains topics really well.
Very poorly written/designed. Instructions could be way more clear. Lab videos are not in order/skips steps so it's more confusing than it needs to be and generally just not that helpful. Makes me miss gen chem lab because at least everything was clear.
Alice is literally so terrible and mean. She wants all the bio students to suffer and I truly feel like she wants to weed out as many people as she possibly can. I feel really sorry for you if you have to suffer through one of her classes. She has made me absolutely hate my major. So thanks for that!
Amazing professor, and very inviting to talk with and learn from. Truly cares for students and comprehension of the material
Absolute joke of a coordinator. She split a single course into 3 different professors, already confusing students, and 1 of the professors is teaching ENTIRELY on zoom. 0 accessibility, 0 transparency, 0 accommodations, and honestly the worst professor in all of UCSB. You cannot avoid her classes, but hopefully she loses her job one day.
I have never had the misfortune of dealing with such a terrible person until I had to take a class the Alice Nguyen was in charge of. She is the most unaccommodating person if you have to miss any classes and she doesn't allow you to make up any grades if you do. Avoid any classes with her name attached at all costs.
I don't really know where to start... she is extremely power hungry and bureaucratic. I had an instance where a TA told me something regarding the course policies and I took it to be truth (as one does). Turns out that wasn't the case and when I did everything else right (turned in my assignment EARLY) she didn't listen during our meeting at all.
WORST professor in the MCDB department. Has no sense of social skills whatsover, and is not lenient to different circumstances. Never met a "professor" like her before. DO NOT recommend! Would rather take this class at cc than here. Not a great coordinator, the worst by far at UCSB.
if I could give 0 stars I would. probably the least empathetic person you'll ever meet in your life. and the lab manual, quizzes, and poster project are all very poorly written. on the good side, it's easy as long as you don't miss a deadline.
Absolutely abysmal class. Only 1.5 units but the biggest hassle of a class. O chem lab is ten times easier and more fun. Least enjoyable class I have taken. Intro bio team is not helpful at all with turning in assignments late, getting excused absences, etc.
This is a joke of a class. The department is very strict about turning in labs and every time we have gone in for a lab, it is a waste of time. She has students conduct experiments knowing the equipment does not work and then marks students off for being late or not turning in a lab with very strict and not lenient policies. VERY poor quality class
One of the worst human beings I've ever had the misfortune of meeting in my entire life. Not only is she hard to reach outside of class (which she doesn't even teach herself), she is also EXTREMELY insensitive. You can't miss any labs unexcused. My boyfriend thought he had covid and she still made him go to his lab because he didn't have a DR note
Does not respond to emails, very unhelpful. Pretends to be a resource for students to reach out to via the "Intro Bio Team" but refuses to help students, posts practice tests with incorrect answer keys, does not respond to any emails/will not meet with you if you have questions. Unhelpful and honestly just rude.
Everyday I wish more and more I could take another class with Dr. James. She encompasses everything that the future of education should strive for. She truly cares for making sure her students are understanding the material. Everything is presented clearly and complicated concepts are broken down. She took us tide-pooling and I will never forget!
Lame class that everyone has to take. Everything is very scuffed and you will be unsure of a lot of things. Post-lab and Pre-lab questions suck and are poorly written/wrong. Easy class if you listen to the TAs and follow their directions.
A genuine just joke of a class. Don't take this class seriously or try to learn anything, even if you try it's so unbelievably managed that you won't, period. The only thing redeemable about this class is that everyone gets A's if you turn things on in time, which is a little sad. Hopefully one day UCSB intro bio can be free of Alice and the "team"
She seems nice as a person but honestly it feels like her courses were designed to suck all the interest out of the students. Why do we have so much busy work? Why do we have to spend hours writing essays on a research project we didn't even do?
She cancelled 2 weeks of class because it rained for 1 day, so we didn't do an experiment or any science. Instead she gave us 10 year old videos from other professors to watch online as a substitute for teaching us anything/giving us hands-on experience. We spent our in-person "lab" time making an 8th grade science fair-caliber poster on Powerpoint
I'm sure Prof Nguyen is a nice person, but she is probably the least empathetic and accomodating professor I have met at UCSB. MCDB 1LL was honestly not that bad or difficult, other than having to do a poster on a lab we never did.
This class was extremely unorganized and it had us make a research poster on a lab that we never even got to do. The labs themselves are really easy, but the pre-lab assignments take like ten attempts to get full credit b/c of how difficult they are.
Does not respond to emails. If you want to talk to her you have to somehow get her attention outside of class and even then, it's impossible to get a hold of her. I emailed Nguyen 4 times about the same subject at the beginning of the quarter and continued to get zero response. Eventually gave up and stopped asking questions- really disappointing.