PSYC 2210

Meliza just kinda sucks, he's a smart guy and he seems interested about what he's teaching, but he's just really boring. The class sounds fun, i mean who doenst want to learn about animals and shit, but don't be fooled, DO NOT take this class. He grades very difficultly and loves drawing pointless graphs. I do not know a single person who enjoys this class, so I would advise against taking Meliza's class unless you really have no other options. The readings themselves are kinda cool, but the work is a pain and it just generally sucks

Don't do it. Just don't. This class seemed interesting at first but it just got more complicated, difficult, and annoying as time went on. So every class, you have to basically read a chapter and answer some nit-picky questions about the reading. This is basically busy work because he only teaches some things from the readings, not all. The lectures itself are not interesting but you have to make sure you pay attention because he does not post his power point slides up on Collab so you either took notes and have the info or you don't. He also assigned us a digital media project where you have to work with a group and make a video about animal cognition. This is very annoying because there are many things you have to submit for this project and takes up some time. There is only one midterm and a final in this class and the midterm was very very difficult and he does not curve. The good thing is that he has various extra credit opportunities so you can do those to help your grade. Overall, this class is not very fun and the amount of work you do is annoying. I would avoid this if possible. Not recommended at all.

I've never written a review until now, but I cannot recommend highly enough that you DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS. Absolute worst professor I have ever had at UVA. I got stuck with this class for a requirement and it has been the worst experience. Professor Meliza takes topics that could be incredibly interesting and makes them boring and more difficult than they should be. Just avoid this class and Professor Meliza if you can.

DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASSS. Literally don't take it if your life depends upon it. Chad and the TAs are a very nice people and all but this class is the WORST. You have a midterm and a final (both of which are hard), a group video project, and a bajillion other small assignments to do that are hard. Everything in this class is graded super harshly. He zooms over very difficult neurobiology concepts like it's no biggie and then doesn't give us a text book to reference or ANY of the power points. If you wanted a fun class to learn about animals this is not the class for you.....really there is no reason that this class would ever be for you. DON'T DO IT.

Like the other reviewers have said, this has been my LEAST favorite class at UVA thus far as a third year. Here is my suggestion if you are a psych major looking to fulfill the group requirement: DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS, take Neural Basis of Behavior. I'm sure that Neural Basis may be difficult according to other reviewers, but this has got to be the most ridiculous and time-consuming class I have taken in the psychology department. For one, we have reading responses that are due before 9 am EVERY SINGLE CLASS. In addition, we have a group project worth 25% of our grade which is based on vague criteria. We are required to schedule group meetings and complete assignments related to the group project almost every week. IN ADDITION to this, we had one difficult midterm and final, and also have to complete additional assignments almost every other week. When I tried to ask him a question, he gave me a very condescending answer. This class is treated like a high school class given how many different assignments are due. That does not mean tests are worth little either. Overall, I don't feel like I got much out of the material in this class. I feel like Neural Basis or any other psychology class would have been not only more interesting, but more useful. I feel like he doesn't really care about the success of his students, and overall-- a time consuming class with pointless assignments. AVOID.

Dan (or is it Chad?) really likes birds and rescorla-wagner. But he loves wasting his students' time even more. Between multiple reading quizzes per week, time-consuming worksheets, annoying group work, and a digital media project worth 25% of your grade, you'll find that you're learning zilch about animals but are re-perfecting your high school strategies for dealing with BS assignments. Don't be fooled when he talks about flamingos on the first day of class, that doesn't last. He's also a bit of a jerk, frequently calling out students I couldn't even hear for whispering too loudly. He does come off condescending and clearly thinks he is god's gift to humanity, or perhaps all animals, I'm not sure. He once randomly paused before switching slides to say "I am a neuroscientist", as if we were supposed to be impressed or something. Maybe its his experience as a "neuroscientist" that led him to improve the educational experience by not posting the slides he uses in class. I guess he knows nobody would show up to his dull lectures if he did.

Avoid at all costs

When I die, I want "Chad did it" scrawled on my grave in Comic Sans size 72 font, after our group project is dedicated in memoriam to my dignity after this class. I took this class as a curious, albeit naive, pre-vet student under the impression that a) animal behavior would be beneficial as it's one of the few animal related classes UVA has and b) it'll be a nice interesting social science to supplement my curriculum. And then class started. I have dedicated an exceptional amount of time to a class where I am learning and retaining little to no information (which is ironic because so much of what you study is how animals retain information). The reading quizzes, though annoying, are helpful at dissecting the texts, however, they are heavily scrutinized and result in a larger hit to your grade than expected. Then there are the worksheets. I have not had to do a worksheet since probably my junior year of high school, but here I am doing regular, time consuming worksheets that often have vague directions and are also harshly graded. The midterm is brutal, and God forbid you have a scheduling conflict because if you need to move your midterm, your only option is to take a cumulative final, according to his policies. Furthermore, the midterm, he will, "not curve because it is only 20% of your grade," that's a verbatim quote. Also, the slides are not posted online, and sometimes he talks a bit fast and skips to the next slide and you're pretty much screwed at that point. The TAs are super sweet and helpful and Professor Meliza, though obviously knowledgeable, is not that great at explaining neurobiological concepts that can be difficult to grasp if you have had no psych experience. Take this information as you will, and maybe don't take this class. Take the bio dept animal behavior instead.

Whatever you do, do not take this class. This has to be the most uselessly complicated class at UVA. Professor Meliza treats the material like a high school class e.g. reading quizzes before every class, homework worksheets (that usually take hours), and doesn't post his slides. If you're a psych major, take neural basis. Also pretty sure his coffee mug has vodka in it.

He has an average of 1.11 for a reason, don't take this if you like your sanity. So much busy work and he doesn't post the slides but goes stupid fast through the material. To be honest he's just kinda an ass who doesn't really want you to do well. Good luck if you disregard all of clear signs to not take this class. Also has weird crush on birds and uses uncomfortable words like "tingly" too often.