Professor Dasgupta is awesome. He really loves to teach and truly cares about the students. On top of that, he has made phenomenal strides in the field of Virology and it is truly a blessing to be able to take a class with this man! I went to him just to ask about career advice and he was more than willing to talk. I would highly highly recommend taking this class with Professor Dasgupta. One of the best classes I've taken at UCLA and by far one of the most interesting.

Dasgupta is a great guy, there's no denying that, but he's a terrible lecturer in terms of being unable to control his time well. He knows his material, but he spends a long time to say any one thing, and he skipped 2 out of 8 lectures entirely for the second midterm because he didn't have enough time to cover the material. So I guess he's good if you don't want to learn as much, but I personally felt cheated out of part of my education. I also feel like he often misunderstands students' questions and answers something else completely. He takes questions during the class but you might have to wait a while to get called on. Also, it was audiocasted only when I took it in Dodd 147.

Whether you are an MIMG major or not, I highly recommend taking this class. Dr. Dasgupta will easily become your favorite professor at UCLA.

Selling Dr. Dasgupta's course reader for MIMG 102

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$15.00

This professor was very difficult. He was very concerned with learning though. He is not available all the time. Don't bother going to his office hours or emails. Talk to his awesome TAs for questions!

Amazing professor. Take this class. Never submited an evaluation but I think he deserves it. He post all the material you need for the exam but I would strongly recomend to go to the office hours, you will learn about viruses in an unformal way but also learn from this impressive professor life experience.

Just took the summer class as a requirement for MIMG. I agree with everyone who says Professor Dasgupta is an amazing man!

He likes talking to his students in his office hours, and if you want to do well on the tests, he will definitely help you and even hint at the things you should focus on. Even during the test, he says he just wants his students to do well, and helped the students who went to his office hours!

In addition, study, go to class, review material, etc. What you put into a class is what you get out of it.

As a lecturer, he explains things really clearly, and you will definitely learn a lot about virology!

The notes were disorganized, and the tests were too vague and oftentimes confusing. If you didn't remember what he said would be on the exam during lecture, you're screwed. The grading was poor, because it was hit-or-miss, which is counterintuitive for a conceptual-based question, since there is no ONE right answer.

If you came to UCLA to learn and not just to get a degree, then you need to take this course. Whether you are an MIMG major or not, Dasgupta is by far the best professor I have ever had. The class is hard and time consuming but the tests are not tricky or meant to fool you in any way. He really cares about his students and wants to see everyone do well. He is a great lecturer and has lab experience with almost every subject in the course, so he makes it really easy to understand what is happening biologically. If you can take this professor DO IT!

For my four years at UCLA, I have not once volunteered to write an evaluation for my professors. This professor, who I genuinely admire and respect, was an exception. It was at least what I can do to show some respect for the person who truly deserve it.

First, you may or may not know, depending on your familiarity in the field of virology. But he is an alumnus of the prestigious Baltimore (Nobel laureate) lab. For one, he discovered the internal ribosome entry site (IRES) during his career in picornavirus virus research. With that said, you can assume that he is one of the best in his field, and you will definitely notice that once you take his class.

Besides his being an exceptional researcher, he is an absolutely amazing human being. He is humble and always brings smile to your face when you talk to him. Not only is he friendly, but he genuinely cares about students and their learning. He would help you by any means if you tell him or if you appear to struggle with the course. He may not change your grades as some others would have hoped (some probably mistakenly assumed he would easily raise points for students due to his approachable personality), but instead, he will make sure you are ready for the next exam. I would cease commenting on his personality, because my poorly attempting to describe it would do injustice to who he really is. At least once, go to his office hour and talk to him in person, and you would immediately know what I mean.

I recommend this class to all bio majors. You will most likely find the class so engaging and interesting because of his enthusiasm for animal viruses. His lectures are easy to follow, often accompanied by his funny jokes. Exams are very straight forward, and there are NO trick questions--rather, questions solely based on how well you mastered the material. For those who do not have solid background in molecular biology, review the techniques beforehand, attend office hour, and ask him questions to clarify because there are a decent number of experimental questions.

At the end of the course, you will end up with interest in virology, admiration for this professor, a decent grade, and gratitude for having taken the course during your undergraduate career at UCLA.

***for those who are STILL concerned about grades,
only the top 15% were awarded A's (that includes A+, A, and A-), the next 52% into the B range (B+, B and B-).
This is a generous curve.
A+: 95%
A : 89%
A- : 86.8%
B+: 84.5%
B : 76%
B- : 72.4%
C+: 67%
C : 60.1%
C- : 55.6%
D : 44%
F : below 44% or no final