Comments | Overall: F | | Boring
initially, but over time, it more closely resembles an exercise
in futility. She seemed to be targeting the most brilliant
students in the room (indicated by GRE scores, prestigious academic/intellectual
memberships, & occupation) by assigning extra work to them so
she could force them to drop out(emailing frequent hints to
that effect to wear down these students); leaving only the
most “agreeable” to enter the Master's program to which she
holds the keys (and she never lets you forget it!).
I did not learn anything I did not already know
about the actual subject matter. I found her arrogance overbearing,
comments patronizing, and I was very disappointed with her zest
for bullying as she gleefully took every opportunity to inflict
greater harm on struggling students, rather than helping them as
any high-quality professional would. External perfection coupled with internal vacancy
amounts to a winning combination in her book. More energy
is invested in avoiding her emotional triggers than learning the
material! When students are forced to spend every waking moment
completing assignments for her (neglecting other courses and responsibilities), there
is a problem. When students who can barely string together
the most basic concepts pass every assignment while those with
exemplary credentials fall short of earning a D-, a situation
exists which threatens the integrity of the entire MLA program.
Such nastiness is virtually unheard of at this particular top-tier
institution and does not reflect what students in other courses
can expect. This is an excellent school with one bad
instructor— it happens. The instructor is apparently oblivious to the
animosity she solicits from her students. Several classmates burst into
tears while discussing the overwhelming workload and unreasonable expectations and
these are students who are accustomed to rigorous academic programs! |
Should do to do
well...
Don't
take it if you can possibly help it. If you
must take this course, take it in the fall from
the other professor instead. Even if you do everything the
way she wants you to, her frequent mood swings and
nebulous instructions on assignments leave most students feeling lost. Only
about 1/3 of students last until the end of the
semester (fewer actually pass). Don't fool yourself; she is not
being hard on you to drive your development. Rather, it
is a concerted effort to crush your spirit for her
own amusement. If you take a chance here, drop out
at the first sign of trouble because it only gets
worse from there! |
Should
know...
Be
male, (if you're a woman) be dumb, feed her ego,
& devote your entire life to completing her assignments. Never
question anything she says (even if she IS mistaken about
something). It is better to enter this course with an
empty mind and a full wallet (so they can milk
you for tuition again when you have to re-take it)
than a solid foundation in molecular biology. Never discuss potential
weaknesses of your own(illness, disability, family problems, job loss, or
other hardships) within earshot or you will be targeted for
elimination. If you received a scholarship, never mention it. Highly
intelligent students seem to intimidate her and she responds with
hostility toward those who demonstrate the greatest degree of competency.
If she gives you a wide-eyed stare in response to
your attempts to earn participation points, watch out! Grade assignment
is purely subjective and there are no checks or balances
to ensure fair grading in her class. | Student Competency: Unusually High
Student's Grade: F
Liked Instructor?: Strongly Disliked |
|
| Overall: C- | | Assignments
and deadlines for graduate students were very reasonable. However, a
large rift developed between students familiar who had worked in
molecular biology labs and those who didn't. As mentioned previously,
prior, detailed knowledge of epigenetic research techniques should have been
listed as a prerequisite. Most of these techniques were glossed
over in the text book and explained in an extremely
fast, brief manner during lecture. Partial understanding or any creative
manipulation of subject manner beyong the rote was denied partial
credit. |
Should do to do
well...
A
student must be prepared to answer exam questions *verbatim* from
the Instructors' lecture notes, and do so in no more
than two sentences, no matter how complex the question. Students
should *not* expect any partial credit if they do not
give the correct, verbatim response, or if they present any
ideas or insights, even within a reasonable (5 sentence) block
of writing. |
Should
know...
Students
must be extremely well-versed in the basics of the subject
matter; having laboratory experience with PCR, various immunoblot assays, and
PEV helps. The course guide should recommend lab experience and/or
a strong command of these lab techniques as prerequisites.
This is not an introductory course, contrary to what the
literature indicates. For exams, students should memorize all lecture notes
- the entire contents of each lecture - verbatim in
order to do well on exams. No partial credit is
given for understanding a basic concept. | Student Competency: Average
Student's Grade: C
Liked Instructor?: Disliked |
|
| Overall: F | | Boring,
confusing, misleading. |
Should do to do
well...
It
is unclear why Cheryl Vaughan would have some favorites over
others. She seems to like brown nosers. If you signed
up for a course with this intructor save yourself time
and drop it immediately. | | Student Competency: Unusually High
Student's Grade: C
Liked Instructor?: Strongly Disliked |
|
| Overall: F | | This
class taught me to avoid Cheryl Vaughan, and she's the
only cruel and horrible professor at Harvard that I know
of. |
Should do to do
well...
Never
sign up for a class with Cheryl Vaughan! | | Student Competency: Average
Student's Grade: C-
Liked Instructor?: Strongly Disliked |
|
| Overall: F | | The
professor points people out in class and purposely makes them
feel bad. For example, on one instance a student showed
up to class late and later asked a question, she
pointed out that the student was late for class and
told the student to ask her outside or after class.
Cheryl Vaughan seems irritated and defensive when asked a question
that she does not know the answer to. I observed
many instances where she cut people off when they were
asking questions or were commenting about a particular topic. Perhaps
she felt insecure and needed to change people's questions or
comments to answer her own questions and make her own
comments to appear competent. She openly shows who her favorites
are and who are not. Cheryl Vaughan doesn't seem to
want the people she doesn't like to succeed and wants
to make sure that everybody else in the class knows
it as well; she talks down on struggling students and
points them out in class. I witnessed an instance where
Cheryl Vaughan discussed a student's exam in class and urged
that person to drop the class. In all my years
of academic life I have never witnessed such unprofessionalism!
I did not learn much from the course, because I
was distracted by her cruelty and constant interruptions. She is
a cold and unapproachable woman. | | | Student Competency: Average
Student's Grade: B
Liked Instructor?: Disliked |
|
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