I'm a Human Biology and Society major, so I thoroughly enjoyed the content of this class. Other people took it as an upper div science or society GE, and I can't speak for them, but I thought the class was pretty easy. 30% of your grade is from discussion (10% attendance, 10% showing up on time, 10% participating). The discussion sections are incredibly engaging due to the format of it (lots of group discussions about controversial topics) so most people spoke every single class. Lectures itself were extremely interesting most of the time; we had a new guest lecturer for most classes, which brought interesting perspectives on everything that we're learning. Rensel herself is very caring and helpful too; I'd take another class with her if given the chance. I believe the rest of the grade is distributed by 25% midterm and 35% final, which are predominantly multiple choice with a few short answer sections based upon what we covered in class. The last 10% are weekly online quizzes on CCLE that cover lecture/book material (tbh I only skimmed a few chapters of the book and got 100% in this category) and you get multiple tries for these quizzes. You can get a great score on the exams just by attending lecture and discussion, and doing the learning outcomes that she posts after each class. Overall I'd highly recommend this course.

I took this class as a GE my senior year, and I'd highly recommend it. We learn about interesting topics like cloning, stem cells, and gene editing. Even though coming in with background knowledge (like LS 4) would be helpful, it's definitely not required and the material is accessible to a wide audience. Many of the graded portions can be easy 100s with low effort, like the weekly quizzes and discussion section. Even though participation isn't strictly required, most people still contribute and we had some good debates/discussions. The midterm and final are also very fair and straightforward. Some of the MC comes directly from reading quizzes, and the written questions are from topics we discussed at length in section. As long as you look over the learning outcomes for each lecture and don't completely disregard this class, it shouldn't be hard to get a grade you're happy with.

Professor Rensel is awesome. She is very clear and helpful and her assigned readings are usually short and beneficial. She is the best professor out of the three that teach this class.

Dr. Rensel teaches the biology part of this class, and only appears like 4 times as lecturer, but she makes the clearest slides and explanations of the three professors. She takes time for detailed illustration of many confusing concepts and encourages us to talk in groups if clicker answers diverge. She assigns the least reading among the professors, and they can be easy if you have learned AP biology.

Professor Rensel gives the most comprehensible lectures out of all the M71 cluster professors. Her material can be a bit technical (at least for non-Biology students), but put in a couple of hours and you'll realize it's pretty easy under all the gloss.
The courseload is not that heavy, if you complete your quizzes and homework in time, and the lectures are pretty engaging. The discussion sessions are my favorite part-- they get really interactive and extremely fun.
10/10 would recommend this cluster (esp Prof Rensel) to all fellow Bio-nerds out there!

Dr. Rensel is the positive energy of the Biotech Cluster. She has a good sense of humor, good at explaining concepts. and makes the most comprehensible slides (legible and organized). The class itself is not bad either. 25% final, 20% midterm, 10% weekly quizzes, 20% participation (basically free points), and 25% GMO games (it's similar to MUN). A clicker is required btw. The class is sort of reading-intensive, yet as long as you pay attention during lectures and revisit them before exams, you should be fine. Would take again.

I am going to agree with many of the people on BruinWalk with my assessment of Dr. Rensel. I thought she was a great professor and and even better person. I may be biased in that I prefer science professors, but she was better than all of the ones I have had before. Her lectures were as straight forward as possible, and she helped all students understand. She led the review sessions and did a great job answering questions. She also genuinely cared about how the students did, and her tests were fair. Overall, she did a great job!

I took this cluster because it is one of the few that satisfies not only 4 GE requirements, but also fulfills the Diversity and Writing II requirements. Overall, Dr. Rensel is a very engaging professor who is always willing to clarify concepts, answer questions, and provide extra help outside of class. There is one midterm each quarter at the beginning of the fourth week, and the information is very straightforward and mirrors the learning goals and outcomes provided in lecture almost exactly. I would highly recommend this class to any freshman who wants to get a lot of GEs out of the way!

This review is for all 3 classes that I have taken with Professor Rensel.

Rensel is an amazing professor who takes the time to get to know her students. I took her stress and society course M144 and learned so much about public health that I did not know about before. I also took Socgen M102 with her and learned an immense amount. Finally, I took M140 with her. It was the first time that she taught that course, but she did a wonderful job at making it interesting and engaging. She is understanding of student struggles and makes sure to be as reasonable as possible. I adored her as a professor. Truly lucky to have been able to take 3 courses with her.

Professor Rensel was my absolute favorite part of this class. Her lectures covered some pretty challenging biological concepts in a very straightforward way, although this may be difficult for non-science majors. She was super friendly and helpful in office hours, and genuinely cares about her students. Her readings were the shortest and the most to-the-point compared to the other professors, and she really prepared us well for her portions of the tests.