Professor
Bill Tawil
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Most Helpful Review
Professor Tawil is a terrible professor. I took BE10 with him. The class is not hard, it's just annoying. It's an introductory course so people don't normally take it seriously. I took it while I was a junior so the class was useless to me. Everything is way too broad and you don't learn anything in detail.... due to that fact, it's hard for people to predict what sort of questions will be on the quizzes. However, the class itself has nothing to do with Tawil's teaching abilities. His lectures put people to sleep. He wasn't helpful at all and tried to avoid students by telling his students to go to the TA's office hours instead. Moreover, when it comes down to grading, he was pretty irrational. I actively participated in every lecture and every discussion section. When I had my points break down, I received only a 14 out of 20. So I asked him why... and he told me that he just didn't feel like giving anyone above a 14. He wanted a curve at B- or B and I'm pretty sure he only gave 5% of the class an A or an A-. For the rest of my bioengineering career, I'm avoiding all his classes for electives because he's just an inadequate professor.
Professor Tawil is a terrible professor. I took BE10 with him. The class is not hard, it's just annoying. It's an introductory course so people don't normally take it seriously. I took it while I was a junior so the class was useless to me. Everything is way too broad and you don't learn anything in detail.... due to that fact, it's hard for people to predict what sort of questions will be on the quizzes. However, the class itself has nothing to do with Tawil's teaching abilities. His lectures put people to sleep. He wasn't helpful at all and tried to avoid students by telling his students to go to the TA's office hours instead. Moreover, when it comes down to grading, he was pretty irrational. I actively participated in every lecture and every discussion section. When I had my points break down, I received only a 14 out of 20. So I asked him why... and he told me that he just didn't feel like giving anyone above a 14. He wanted a curve at B- or B and I'm pretty sure he only gave 5% of the class an A or an A-. For the rest of my bioengineering career, I'm avoiding all his classes for electives because he's just an inadequate professor.
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2017 - This class turned out to not be as bad as I expected when I first signed up for it, but it still has a solid amount of work (take everything seriously). Classes were T/Th from 6-7:40 (he normally ended by about that time), and there was no discussion section despite what the registrar said. For the lecture slides, I printed them out during class. His first 3-4 presentations were disorganized imo, but the organization seemed to improve afterwards. An issue with the class is that he would go off into tangents, which sometimes made it difficult to keep track of what we had to know for the midterm. Also, when we had to do the written assignments, he was not clear with the requirements from the get-go. One class, he told us to do one thing, and in the next class, he added an extra detail/requirement. This is why I recommend going to lecture. That being said, he gives good anecdotes, and I did not find the class boring. Dr. Tawil does have a lot of experience, and he shows videos on tissue engineering, but beware if you faint when you see blood or operations, as some can be graphic. Also, I don't know why he uses Bing. Even though there was a textbook and chapters to read on the syllabus, this is NOT necessary. I don't think anyone actually read the book. Grade breakdown: 20% Article Summary: You pick a scientific article to summarize (the professor approves it beforehand) and you just follow the template he gives you. Easier said than done, though, but if you dedicate one weekend to typing it and another weekend to editing it, you should be fine. It was out of 10 points, and he allowed us to turn in a first draft, which he graded and then gave back to us. If you are below the maximum 10 points, you can edit the summary one more time to get the full grade. 25% Midterm: Given during Week 7. You just had to memorize the slides (but there were a LOT of them). During lecture, it is also important to write down what he says, and if you are a fast writer like me, then hopefully you can jot down the major points he emphasizes (it should be clear what he stresses is important during lecture). Just be sure to pay attention in class. However, the issue with the midterm (all free response, no multiple choice or fill in the blank) is that there were so many details we had to know, and there were so many slides, which made it difficult to keep track of the immense amount of details. Overall, I think the class average was around 82%, and for Tawil, this was lower than he expected. He gave everyone 5 points extra to their test score. When you are writing down your answers for the midterm, do NOT write one long paragraph. Try to itemize your answers, which will make it easier for him to grade and will lower the chances of him missing something correct on your exam. 20% Quizzes and Participation: The quizzes were all open notes and were at the end of a lecture, which is why it is important to pay attention and take notes during lecture, as he quizzes you on things that he includes in the slides AND what he says during lecture. One thing I did NOT like about this class is that we had to read articles before lecture and discuss it as a class. I am just not a fan of that, even though the professor does give good advice with articles in retrospect. Pay attention for this too, since he might ask about controls on some figures during a quiz. There were some miscellaneous assignments that were simple to do as well. 35% Final Term Paper: 40 sources minimum (Does not include websites, and I used only journal articles). He gives a lot of specifications, but again, he does not tell you what he wants from the very beginning (I really hope he fixes this). I dedicated the entire Memorial Day weekend to getting this paper done, which I was able to do, but I spent some days afterwards with edits and re-organizing/re-wording some sections. Take this seriously! You do NOT want to procrastinate on this assignment. I am very glad I didn't. You can email him a first draft and he will tell you what to improve on. There was also an extra credit project where we gave group presentations on a tissue engineered device (our proposals) and the winners got the most extra credit, etc. It was during the last lecture, and it was fun (but it would not have been as good if it was a graded assignment). We did a more informal proposal thing with an article earlier in the quarter, and I enjoyed that too. If Tawil can make ALL article reviews in this format, that would be fantastic! Overall though, I do recommend taking this class. I do not think Tawil is a mean person. He may seem intimidating at first, but he cares about his students and is willing to help. He is very knowledgeable in his field, and he would be even better if he organized his assignment requirements earlier. If you are taking this class, then please take it seriously, and if you do, then this class should not make you tear your hair out. If you have a BE elective that you need to take, then this class would be a wise choice if you are willing to put in the work.
Spring 2017 - This class turned out to not be as bad as I expected when I first signed up for it, but it still has a solid amount of work (take everything seriously). Classes were T/Th from 6-7:40 (he normally ended by about that time), and there was no discussion section despite what the registrar said. For the lecture slides, I printed them out during class. His first 3-4 presentations were disorganized imo, but the organization seemed to improve afterwards. An issue with the class is that he would go off into tangents, which sometimes made it difficult to keep track of what we had to know for the midterm. Also, when we had to do the written assignments, he was not clear with the requirements from the get-go. One class, he told us to do one thing, and in the next class, he added an extra detail/requirement. This is why I recommend going to lecture. That being said, he gives good anecdotes, and I did not find the class boring. Dr. Tawil does have a lot of experience, and he shows videos on tissue engineering, but beware if you faint when you see blood or operations, as some can be graphic. Also, I don't know why he uses Bing. Even though there was a textbook and chapters to read on the syllabus, this is NOT necessary. I don't think anyone actually read the book. Grade breakdown: 20% Article Summary: You pick a scientific article to summarize (the professor approves it beforehand) and you just follow the template he gives you. Easier said than done, though, but if you dedicate one weekend to typing it and another weekend to editing it, you should be fine. It was out of 10 points, and he allowed us to turn in a first draft, which he graded and then gave back to us. If you are below the maximum 10 points, you can edit the summary one more time to get the full grade. 25% Midterm: Given during Week 7. You just had to memorize the slides (but there were a LOT of them). During lecture, it is also important to write down what he says, and if you are a fast writer like me, then hopefully you can jot down the major points he emphasizes (it should be clear what he stresses is important during lecture). Just be sure to pay attention in class. However, the issue with the midterm (all free response, no multiple choice or fill in the blank) is that there were so many details we had to know, and there were so many slides, which made it difficult to keep track of the immense amount of details. Overall, I think the class average was around 82%, and for Tawil, this was lower than he expected. He gave everyone 5 points extra to their test score. When you are writing down your answers for the midterm, do NOT write one long paragraph. Try to itemize your answers, which will make it easier for him to grade and will lower the chances of him missing something correct on your exam. 20% Quizzes and Participation: The quizzes were all open notes and were at the end of a lecture, which is why it is important to pay attention and take notes during lecture, as he quizzes you on things that he includes in the slides AND what he says during lecture. One thing I did NOT like about this class is that we had to read articles before lecture and discuss it as a class. I am just not a fan of that, even though the professor does give good advice with articles in retrospect. Pay attention for this too, since he might ask about controls on some figures during a quiz. There were some miscellaneous assignments that were simple to do as well. 35% Final Term Paper: 40 sources minimum (Does not include websites, and I used only journal articles). He gives a lot of specifications, but again, he does not tell you what he wants from the very beginning (I really hope he fixes this). I dedicated the entire Memorial Day weekend to getting this paper done, which I was able to do, but I spent some days afterwards with edits and re-organizing/re-wording some sections. Take this seriously! You do NOT want to procrastinate on this assignment. I am very glad I didn't. You can email him a first draft and he will tell you what to improve on. There was also an extra credit project where we gave group presentations on a tissue engineered device (our proposals) and the winners got the most extra credit, etc. It was during the last lecture, and it was fun (but it would not have been as good if it was a graded assignment). We did a more informal proposal thing with an article earlier in the quarter, and I enjoyed that too. If Tawil can make ALL article reviews in this format, that would be fantastic! Overall though, I do recommend taking this class. I do not think Tawil is a mean person. He may seem intimidating at first, but he cares about his students and is willing to help. He is very knowledgeable in his field, and he would be even better if he organized his assignment requirements earlier. If you are taking this class, then please take it seriously, and if you do, then this class should not make you tear your hair out. If you have a BE elective that you need to take, then this class would be a wise choice if you are willing to put in the work.
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Most Helpful Review
BE 147. Class is 60% bullshit and 30% marketing and 10% scientific merit and feasibility. Also for the final paper I spent more time on finding the 40 minimum paper references than actually spending time thinking and writing my paper. Also, his powerpoints are god awful. He cant even put together a nice looking presentation. He pastes the first thing he sees on Google images. Not to mention are his numbers and references. His sources are highly questionable. Plus he is a hypocrite, his presentations uses all data from websites, but he tells his students to have a minimum of 40 references and none can be websites. Good things from the class: the Professor stresses how to market a product. The highlight of the class are some cool videos on tissue engineering, which I can find on my own. Save your time and effort. Youtube videos on the subject matter on your own if you are truly interested. You will enjoy that more than this class.
BE 147. Class is 60% bullshit and 30% marketing and 10% scientific merit and feasibility. Also for the final paper I spent more time on finding the 40 minimum paper references than actually spending time thinking and writing my paper. Also, his powerpoints are god awful. He cant even put together a nice looking presentation. He pastes the first thing he sees on Google images. Not to mention are his numbers and references. His sources are highly questionable. Plus he is a hypocrite, his presentations uses all data from websites, but he tells his students to have a minimum of 40 references and none can be websites. Good things from the class: the Professor stresses how to market a product. The highlight of the class are some cool videos on tissue engineering, which I can find on my own. Save your time and effort. Youtube videos on the subject matter on your own if you are truly interested. You will enjoy that more than this class.
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