<p>Well, I'm signed up for this, but after reading ratemyprofessor.com, I'm having doubts about Mitchell. I know a couple of you have liked him, however, there seems to be a lot of people that really had bad things to say about him. Not only that, but many said the class was incredibly hard and unfair. I'm asking for opinions again. Gower seemed to have somewhat better reviews. Anyone?</p>
<p>I also have Mitchell for CHM2045 (section 5114). I am also a bit worried about him…I am thinking about switching to Gower. Personally, I’m going to ask around to people who have taken the course already, and you should too…just keep in mind that ratemyprofessors.com is very biased towards “easiness” of a class. Even if a teacher has a higher rating, that doesn’t mean you won’t have a better experience there.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t listen to ratemyprofessor…</p>
<p>I’m taking CHM 1025 right now and I actually met Dr. Mitchell and asked him for help with some stuff. He was incredibly nice and he also seems like he can explain concepts extremely well… he’s funny on top of that…</p>
<p>Yeah definitely take everything on there with a grain of salt…but I am glad to hear you had a good experience nena01. I actually was just looking on the registrar site…and realized that none of the other Chem teachers can fit into my schedule anyways! I guess I will stick with Mitchell after all.</p>
<p>I use ratemyprof too but i tread carefully in those waters. Remember that most people who write stuff there are dumb in the first place and that a whole bunch of students who think they are cut out to be premed but in actuality arent as smart or capable as they think they are take his class and fail it and complain on this website. Despite that, there is something to be said for professors who have many many ratings with consistently bad reviews, especially if they are not teaching a huge intro class.</p>
<p>That being said, i have had dr mitchell and can say that he really is a good professor. He is upfront and to the point and teaches well. You do not need to go to class with him and can succeed just well if you read the book well. In fact, class is useless if you do not read it because he expects you to read. He will make the material easier to understand and will focus on what you really need to know and what will be on this exam. He says outright how he would write an exam question for each concept and TELLS YOU what things will and will not be on the exam. His exams are tough and he likes it that way but they are very fair. In my opinion if you do not do well in his class and you are on a prehealth track then you are likely to fall in the “freshmen premeds who switch out” statistic.</p>
<p>But I understand a lot of people dont like him because he is quite terse and can seem unapproachable. He IS approachable but you need to show him you know something and that you dont not pay attention. Ask him a dumb question and he will make you look dumb. If you are generally meek you may not find him to your taste. If you are generally competent you wont find him that bad at all. </p>
<p>He is also very funny and keeps my attention well.</p>
<p>I, also was weary about having Mitchell, but I have a friend who had Chem 2045 with him last year and swears by him. She said she wouldn’t have taken that class with anyone else. She doesn’t know what the people on ratemyprofessor.com were talking about. I ended up with Gower though :/</p>
<p>Alright, from what mystifire said I am feeling a lot better about Mitchell. There are definitely all sorts of people on ratemyprofessor.com, and people with a bad experience are more likely to post there anyways to complain about their bad grade/experience. A lot of the complaints about profs on that site could probably be solved with some actual studying/book reading by the reviewers anyways =P</p>
<p>how is gower by the way?</p>
<p>I took mitchell last fall and I got a D, B, D and a B on the final and made an A in the class. I thought it was a really HARD class …but i pulled off an A somehow. He’s an okay teacher… definitely funny.
PRACTICE OLD EXAMS!</p>
<p>How did that end up as an A? Was that your raw grades that then got curved? Also, will he let us know where to find old exams?</p>
<p>mitchell drops your lowest exam so that guy, assuming he is not lying which he could be, must have recieved A’s on all his quizzes and homework do get an A in the class while getting B’s and a D on his exams (assuming they are high B’s and a high D).</p>
<p>General Chemistry is NOT curved! </p>
<p>Mitchell posts old exams on his website. he will post EVERYTHING he displays on the overhead in class on his website. he will give you access to almost every resource he can for you to take advantage of. The only thing he cannot and will not force feed you is reading the book and coming to class to hear the words out of his mouth. And believe me, what this guy says is worth hearing because he will TECHNICALLY talk about the constraints of a multiple choice exam and how chemistry concepts can be tested to their fullest extent within those constraints. I mean, he practically gives away his exam… its ridiculous. Anyone who says his exams are “big surprises” or “unfair” or “nothing we ever learned in class” or anything along those lines either never went to class or went to class and is Dumb with a capital D! The worst you can say is that they are “hard” (well duh, this is college not a tea party) and in that case then you should have studied harder.</p>
<p>mystifire, you’ve hit the nail on the head for me. This sounds like one of “those classes” high school teachers warned us about =P. A professor that gives you every resource in the world, and puts the power in <em>your</em> hands to get the grade. This goes back to ratemyprofessors.com, as most of those people probably cannot handle taking the initiative to actually EARN the grade. For people fearing his rating/reputation, I would say you could probably determine your future grade/success in the class off of your own ability to go to class and will to learn. At least that’s my impression.</p>
<p>Lol well i’m a girl… but no I’m not lying, I did honestly get those grades. But yes, I got a 100% quiz average (with the extra credit) and I did all the webassign.
I can’t exactly remember where I got the old exams…I’m pretty sure he posted them online… I remember the final consisted of questions from the old exams, some even word for word.</p>
<p>The class wouldn’t have been SO hard if I had known how to study…or if i had used the resources available (CLC, TAs, his office hours). Although, the one problem I had with the class was the TA, who was always in her own world and didn’t know what she was doing and couldn’t answer our questions… but =/</p>