I noticed all the reviews were from years ago, and it seems that he changes up his class structure quite often (though he did tell my class that this quarter would be his last time teaching this class for awhile). This class required in-person attendance where a clipboard would be passed around to sign in, and there is encouraged in-class discussion which I personally really enjoyed. There were multiple opportunities to discuss content with classmates and with the whole class, and Goldstein did an amazing job with commenting on each student's answer, further encouraging me to speak up more. Discussions were also mandatory.

The two types of assignments in this class were module assessments (~10 questions long at the end of each unit, all FRQ) and writing assignments (research proposals). The module assessments were initially graded harshly (logic in the experiments we designed was a key part of the rubric) but grading lightened up towards the end of the quarter. The writing assignments were horrible to work on though, especially for someone with a non-research background. The basic outline of these proposals were provided but it was hard to think of experiments creatively that met the TAs standards, but like the module assessments, they lightened up on grading towards the end of the quarter (probably because they were super behind on grading since most assignments had not been graded until Weeks 8/9). The lowest score on the module assessment and the writing assignment were both dropped, which helped at the end of the quarter since I could skip these assignments and focus on other finals.

Overall, I LOVED the content of this class because everything we talked about was so nicely broken down yet so relatable to our lives. Lecture was always engaging, and I grew a bit in the class in terms of research proposal writing and experiment design. I HIGHLY recommend this class!

An absolute class act. I can say without a doubt that professor Goldstein was one of the best professors I've ever had and I've never even talked to him. His lectures are really thought out and structured, and he was super considerate because the class was online. I can imagine the class being more difficult when taught in person for sure.

If you're reading this and unsure whether or not to take this class: DO. the material is super interesting and Professor Goldstein and the TAs are fantastic.

This is an awesome class with really fun and engaging content, and a great professor. Some of the topics were literally mind-blowing to me. We talked about warburg effect (cancer), gut microbiome, immunotherapy, and at the end of the course, we got a couple of guest lecturers (low stress). This class is mainly comprised of quizzes after every lecture (easy), 4 worksheet assessment (a little challenging, but fair), and a final assignment proposal (which was challenging, but we got a lot of help from TAs). Professor Goldstein was amazingly understanding and accomodating of our situation during COVID, and he is also such an amazing professor that very obviously cares about our learning and wellbeing. He is very accessible to students. Would recommend this class.

Taking a class with Professor Goldstein should be a requirement for every MCDB major in my humble opinion. He is clear, concise and he focuses more on you knowing concepts rather than brute memorization.
Pros: He allows you to bring a sheet of paper full of notes for every exam, discussion section is not required, and there are lots of interesting guest speakers (that he does not test you on!).
Cons: Both midterms and the final were out of 18 points (each worth 18%) so any small mistake could bring you down a letter grade, there are no free clicker days (there were 15 clicker days and 15 lectures so missing one class would knock you down by 1%), and he tends to call on random people to answer questions (I'm a little introverted so I hated that).
Overall, the exams were all very fair (the final was a little more tricky). There is one large research proposal we did that was worth 20% of our grade which involved researching a topic in depth from lecture and writing about how we could expand on it. He described it as a difficult paper, but it wasn't so bad (Chem 153L lab reports were way worse). I loved this class and learned so many valuable things. If you need an elective, take this class!

I LOVED THIS CLASS. I thought the topics were all very interesting and the difficulty level/work load was just right! After taking this class, I'm way more interested in cancer than I was before. Although the research proposal was new and tough, I thought it was good assignment (vs. a traditional test) and helpful for us in preparing for our apps, careers, etc.
Professor Goldstein is very approachable and nice. His presentations skills are very clear and his slides are very organized. I also loved the guest speakers! This was the first class I was able to go to class and just listen to a presentation without freaking out about taking notes, and really just absorbing the information and actually following along with the speaker.

Dr. Goldstein is an absolute rockstar. Took the class because I just needed another MCDB elective but ended up loving it so much. His lectures are extremely clear and engaging. His tests are about understanding the material overall rather than fixating on specifics. In fact, he proved this point by letting us bring in a one-page cheat sheet for the final. He genuinely cares for his students and about teaching and it shows every single time hes lecturing.