Cellular and Molecular Immunology · Biological Sciences
Heavy. 3 midterms and final. You get to drop 1 midterm, and final is not cumulative (so think of it as a midterm that you can't drop). Dr. M posts audio form his lectures... so this makes it much easier to prepare for exams.
3 exams, 1 project. exams are half rote memorization and half problem solving (which he barely prepares you for). the only class I've taken in my time here that actually had a curve down. in what world is a 94 ever a B+ in a difficult STEM class
Don't leave Columbia before taking Dr. S. Mowshowitz class. You will never (I repeat never) get this chance to dive this deep in immunology. Not in medical school. Not as a PhD immunology student. I'm not exaggerating. I work with immunology PhD students in a lab. Understanding immunology is critical to anything health/medicine related. Dr. Mowshowitz is a walking encyclopedia, a philosopher, and a really nice guy. I challenged star medical students from Johns Hopkins with some of the questions that showed up on my immunology exams and they couldn't figure out the answers... The bad: grading is horrible. Exams are graded by undergrads who are busy and don't have time to think if your answers can be right... taking off points because you missed a word that's on the key they were provided... bright people, but not suited for the job (in my opinion). Very grateful for what I learned in this class. By far the best class I have taken thus far.
awful class, avoid like the plague. insane that a grad level bio class is still a weed out class that curves grades down. there was a ~5% curve down in grades and I ended with a raw score of 94 but got curved down to a B+. the slides are messy and so loaded with content such that they're essentially unreadable. the content may sound interesting but trust me get out while you still can
3 (100pt) Non-Cumulative Exams (Drop 1) 1 (100pt) Non-Cumulative Final Exam [8.5hr weekly] Between Lectures (2hr 30min), Re-listening to Audio Lectures at lower speed (3hr), Textbook Reading (supplement) (1hr), and making review materials (2 hr) this class was my heaviest workload this semester though I always found it entertaining. No Articles, Study Problems, HW Questions, etc. you may find in other upper level Biology Courses
What a mess this class was. I handed in a paper in early November and did not get it back until the end of January (yes, well into the next semester). There's way more awful stuff about this class, but 'nough said. If you like teachers who phone it in and enjoy being taught solely by your peers, eh hem, TAs, then go for it.
Pre-Requisites: A basic understanding of Biology is assumed so make sure you have taken Intro Bio. Course Overview: The course begins by discussing the Adaptive Immune System. You learn how B and T cells develop, obtain their specificity, their activation, and how they target immunogenic organisms, cells, and substances. The course then moves on to discuss the Innate Immune System. Here you learn about the body's innate defenses and sentinel cells which are the first to respond. How they develop, what receptors they use, and the interconnectedness between the innate and adaptive immune systems (which aren't so distinct). Classical experiments, experimental techniques, and some key diseases are discussed throughout the course. Lecture (Professor Mowshowitz): XY Mowsh really loves immunology, and you will too after the course! Throughout the lectures, Professor M. would discuss any relevant diseases associated with a cell/receptor/protein not functioning properly which gave you some real world implications about their importance. In addition, he would discuss the current state of the field and recent developments. The downside to all this fascinating material is that their is so much of it. The lectures at times felt sporadic, jumping from point to point, making it hard to take notes as you are unsure if it is a side comment or important information. Unfortunately, Professor M.…
Optional 3-4 vocabulary words are due each week (opportunity for bonus points), once in a while we have a short answer question (low stakes). 4 exams and we get to drop one. Each test we could earn over 100 points but he only graded it out of 100.
If you are an idiot who doesn't know how to study for shit, then this course will be a fucking nightmare... However, if you have the wherewithal to at least do a google search about study methods, this is the perfect course to apply them too, and when you do that, the workload will be orgo/3...
Dr. Schindler is the new teacher for this course and I'd highly recommend it. The material is really interesting, the exams are pretty straightforward, he's very generous with giving bonus points, and the workload is pretty light. To do well in this course you just need to look at the lecture slides (which can be kind of confusing at first, but he makes it very clear during lecture exactly what he wants you to focus on). He uploads recordings for the class so it's easy to catch up if you can't make one. He gave us a list of vocabulary words for each exam which was also super nice.