Strongly recommend the cluster with this prof. In my opinion, she was the clearest professor I've had so far at UCLA and a terrific lecturer in this cluster.

As a non-bio (or STEM) major, I've been able to follow and understand all of Prof. Rensell's lectures to the T. They are clear, concise, and the learning objectives and structure of her lectures help people follow along and know exactly what knowledge we need to learn for the final exam.

Terrific professor!

I thoroughly recommend this Cluster course. Professor Rensel is very knowledgeable and kind; the format of the class is very conducive to a student's life, combining weekly assignments with larger projects. The material of the Cluster is fascinating, dealing with topics from STEM that relate directly to society, a marriage that is very engaging and was novel to me.

Hands down one of, if not, THE best professor I've had for fall quarter here in UCLA. Her lectures are very very digestible and easy to comprehend, her slides are very concise but complete with all the important points you need to understand from each topic. She is also very engaging in her lectures making it very easy to pay attention for the whole duration of it. She is always willing and open to questions in lectures and/or office hours. + a bonus is that her topics in the cluster were very interesting to look at! Definitely recommend this professor.

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.

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!

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!

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.

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 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 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.