Erik Solhaug

This class was all effort based which made it really easy to dive into your interests. If you demonstrate your hard work ethic on assignments, you'll get a 100 in this class. I found that a lot of the questions we were asked to answer for homework were very advanced, and I didn't have a good enough understand just from lecture to answer them, so I often did a deep dive of things online. If you find yourself doing this, just make sure to cite your sources, because I was including concepts that I learned from scientific journals as opposed to the textbook, which helped me learn, but it is important to demonstrate that you're not just resorting to AI to answer the questions, because it takes the point of the effort-based assignments away. Otherwise this course was super easy and low-stakes, easy A, but a lot of work because you do have to develop good understanding of the material and demonstrate that in the assignments. My favorite part of the course was the reading reflections, where we got to write about whatever we wanted biology related, and I learned SO much in doing this. I learned things that were specific to my own life through these deep dives. My only concern from this course is that if you're planning on taking more bio courses or the MCAT, you don't have any memorization of concepts under your belt because there are no exams, and you're only answering random advanced questions that sometimes do more harm than good for long-term learning.

This class was all effort based which made it really easy to dive into your interests. If you demonstrate your hard work ethic on assignments, you'll get a 100 in this class. I found that a lot of the questions we were asked to answer for homework were very advanced, and I didn't have a good enough understand just from lecture to ans …Read more

I had a pleasant experience with both the lab and the lecture for this class. The lab is more challenging but there are a lot of resources provided for you to improve. The grading is effort-based, so if you put in effort you'll be okay.

The first thing I must say about Professor Solhaug is that he is one of the most passionate professor I have ever had, he really loves what he teaches however this comes with a few cavoites. He gives a lot of reading which is important but because there are no test not many people do them so often times class felt stale and like pulling teeth. Additionally he often expects that people have a firm grasp on genetics and molecular tequniques which is often times not the case for most students so he can come off as a bit arrogant at times. However, if you really love biology and are able to challenge yourself this can be one of the most rewarding courses in the bio department. He really will let you do as much work as you are willing in the independent research project which can feel extremely rewarding if you put your heart into it. Overall, I think this class is perfect for a dedicate and self motivated student, and I highly recommend this course if you are willing to put in the effort.

The first thing I must say about Professor Solhaug is that he is one of the most passionate professor I have ever had, he really loves what he teaches however this comes with a few cavoites. He gives a lot of reading which is important but because there are no test not many people do them so often times class felt stale and like pull …Read more