COLA 1500

I took Dave's "Why haven't we cured cancer?" cola along with his intro bio class. I highly recommend this because it allows you to get to know Dave better and both classes go together nicely (being in 1 helps you understand the other). This class was super interesting. The textbook can be hard to understand at times but Dave is super understanding and willing to answer questions. I was worried that the reflections we have to do each week about the assigned chapter weren't in depth enough but as long as you take your time reading the chapter and think about the material/ask questions Dave is super understanding. He doesn't grade harshly at all. He has the career center/ study abroad office/ librarians/ college life coach come in to talk to us which was sometimes helpful but sometimes the information was basic. However, it just depends on whether students have used this resource before taking his class. I would highly recommend this COLA if you are lucky enough to get a spot. Dave sometimes tells stories about him as a college student or in grad school which is absolutely amazing and entertaining while being super informative, funny, and teaching students that you don't need to be perfect all the time. This class was mostly pre-meds (I am not) and they often talked about all the extracurriculars/classes they were taking which can be overwhelming but just remember that everyone goes at their own pace and you need to do what is right for you. Great class and even better professor.

Dave is an amazing professor and adviser. He's easy-going, cares about his students, and got us Bodo's on the last day of class. As he described it, this class is about 80% academics / learning about cancer and 20% advising. On the academic side, he provided the textbook (instead of making us buy it), we read one chapter per week, we wrote a reflection about the chapter, and we had class discussions about the reading. I learned a lot of interesting stuff about cancer, but honestly it was very technical and dense, and I'm not a big biology fan, so the reading was tedious. If you love biology (especially genetics) then the reading will be interesting. Also, it's good to note that this is a ONE CREDIT class, which means you should only spend about 1 hour outside of class doing homework. Even Dave says you shouldn't spending a lot of time reading the book (if you love the textbook then definitely read it in-depth, but don't worry about it if you have other classes to study for). There are no tests (except for one reading quiz at the start of the semester), so you don't need detailed notes. By the end of the semester I just read the chapter summary and took notes on that. On the advising side, Dave did things like inviting former students to answer our questions about UVA, inviting UVA's life-skills coach to talk to us, library tours, and taking us to the career center (side note: on this visit the career counselor told us that most UVA graduates have a job unrelated to their degree, which made me feel comfortable choosing a major that I found interesting rather than a sorta-interesting major for a lucrative job). Another side note, in an advising session Dave told me to major in what I was passionate about and talented at, which I think is great advice for everyone. Anyway, if you like biology or a similar field, this is a great class for you! And even if you don't think the material is interesting, it's a great experience to have Dave as a professor and advisor.