<p>Registration is in a couple days! But I've ran into a couple issues with Ochem. I want to be in Oconnor's lec, but he has a waitlist of 9+ in each discussion. What are my chances? The only other prof that would fit into my schedule is Whitesell. Whitesell still has many seats open. But I heard he has a bad reputation. Is he that bad of a prof? I hear that his tests are very reasonable. That doesn't seem bad to me.....What's his deal????</p>
<p>Quite honestly, waitlists of 9 aren’t too promising. I haven’t taken Whitesell so I can’t speak first hand but I have also heard that he isn’t the greatest. A lot of people say that his tests aren’t that hard but he doesn’t teach the subject too well. Keep in mind though that ochem is not going to be an easy class no matter who you take it with and that you should definitely be spending a fair amount of time reading the book and doing the homework problems on your own. I’ve taken professors that I know people haven’t liked that I thought were great so who knows.</p>
<p>This is the deal with whitesell. I had some roommates that took him before. His tests are easier yes, so the averages are alot higher, but the problem is, he gives VERYYYYY little A’s. He gives A’s to people that literally have 85-90% in the class and to get that you just can’t make any mistakes. Other professors are harder, but they give a more reasonable number of A’s.</p>
<p>Bad things I’ve heard about him:
-small number of A’s, fails 1/3 of the class based on his bell curve
-8am, boring, you will fall asleep (i heard he covers the podcast mic for important things because he gets frustrated with people that don’t go to every class). Honestly, it’s doable to go to class and wake up at 7am, but REALISTICALLY, your nightlife is SHOT that quarter, and basically, if you wanna be well rounded, youd gotta jack yourself with coffee or energy drinks to be relatively FUNCTIONAL at his 8am lectures.
-he isn’t the most helpful, when my roommates needed help, whitesell couldnt help them so they went to my prof’s office hours.
-Won’t prepare you for later ochem classes apparently</p>
<p>He subbed for my professor’s class one time (who is a much better professor) and people got up to leave, I even asked him some questions and he avoided them completely.</p>
<p>Keep in mind, there are SOME lovers of whitesell out there that like him out of sympathy I suppose. It is pretty obvious when you come across one.</p>
<p>^Wow. You know what OoPurestOo? I think you really should consider a career in writing horror novels because you make that class sound TERRIFYING. Ha ha. And you weren’t even in it either. :P</p>
<p>Ah Thanks for the replies! Oconnor is currently open still, but its the 8pm discussion 5 seats left. Hoeger I believe has seats open as well. But I can officially cross Whitesell off the list; and stick with either Hoeger or Oconnor…while really pressing my luck with Oconnor!</p>
<p>@OoPurestOo - Who did you take for OChem?</p>
<p>@Kings: Of course, just trying to help people not make the worst of decisions haha. I am totally a firm believer of the professor making a HUGE difference with courses. Maybe I will become a horror novelist if all else fails haha.</p>
<p>@amsstory: I had Charles Perrin. He usually teaches fall, along with Albizati, but I guess this time, Oconnor and Hoeger are teaching this fall instead of them.</p>
<p>OoPurestOo,</p>
<p>Ternansky, Hoeger, and Oconnor (besides Whitesell) will teach Ochem 140A this fall, whom do you recommend and why?</p>
<p>Thanks,</p>
<p>@Inguye:</p>
<p>Well I recommend not taking Whitesell, as stated above. The other three is based on personal preference. I can tell you what I know about them. You can either trust my information or not.</p>
<p>If you are the type that wants the A but also wants to learn and values that over a teaching experience, go with Oconnor. Oconnor, is a very straightforward guy with tests that aren’t too difficult, yet he isn’t the most engaging guy (when compared to Hoeger and Ternansky). His structure is 50% Midterm and 50% Final from what I believe. It could be 40/60, but I know he only has one midterm and one final. Because he isn’t as demanding as Ternansky/Hoeger, it won’t take as MUCH time to study for him like you would to prep for Ternansky’s super tricky questions.</p>
<p>Hoeger is a bit more on the difficult side. He has quizzes and wacky deals with, dropping a midterm or whatnot. I believe he also has a small cheatsheet for his exams. His final is multiple choice (with a guessing penalty) and free response. He is pretty engaging, but I believe he hasn’t taught 140A as much as Oconnor/Ternansky. Doing well in this class will take more time than Oconnor. </p>
<p>Ternansky is the classic difficult Ochem professor. He is the most engaging professor and is full of character. He is the most intimidating of the three and he will have the hardest exams. He has two midterms and one final. His tests are free response and they are extremely long, tricky, and he has a no partial credit policy (with the exception of a few problems). You will have to study the most for this class because of the expectations, however it is rewarding in the grade and learning experience. Most of the kids that want a challenge will take this guy, with no questions asked. </p>
<p>Personally, If I had to choose, I would go with Oconnor because it would take the least amount of input to get the A, and yes, I consider myself the type to do what it takes to get the A because my GPA is most important for my future goals. I wouldn’t go for Whitesell for that reason because if you slip up in his class, it’s easy to get a B. The other three professors have curves which gives some room for error. If I cared more about learning and mastering the material at what is best offered at UCSD, but it taking more time input, I’d go with Ternansky.</p>
<p>Do not take Whitesell. Besides him, any other professor is not terrible. My best advice would be to learn how to read the textbook and teach yourself. You will not be able to get good professors for all of your ochem classes so just learn it now and the class will be a cakewalk. </p>
<p>My method was to read the chapters and take notes the first time. Then read it again and make flashcard type things with the reactions on them. I would tape the reactions on my wall and organize them by type so I could see everything about those chapters all at once, which helped me understand how everything fit together. By the time I was done, I read or skimmed each chapter 3-5 times.</p>
<p>OoPurestOo and UCSD2013,</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Reading the book before class is extremely helpful. There is a lot of material to cover in ochem so coming to class with an idea of what is going to happen makes the lectures a lot easier to follow. This goes for every professor. There really is no an excuse to say “Well this professor is confusing so I’m not even going to bother reading before class because it won’t help”.</p>
<p>@$KingsElite$</p>
<p>True, at that point I did not even attend my 140B lectures! I just read the book</p>
<p>A certain professor I had specifically hinted that Whitesell will give you a poor foundation for future ochem classes.</p>
<p>I don’t think alot of professors like him very much, nor does he like alot of professors.</p>
<p>^ probably because he came as a package deal with the chancellor and didn’t get his professorship through the traditional means of interviewing, schmoozing, and working like mad</p>
<p>(yes, i know they were both professors at NCSU, but you don’t usually get tenured appointments at a new institution unless you’ve done something Really Impressive)</p>