An arrogant man, who acts like his students should automatically understand the material. Difficult tests that have nothing to do with his notes, and although he says less is more for the short answers, you'll get counted off.

Zwiebel is without a doubt the worst professor I have had at Vanderbilt. His powerpoint slides are disorganized and he doesn't give a crap about teaching. Broadie is the only reason why I'm doing well at all in the class. And the tests have little to do with the material. Zwiebel is just a lazy ass in general and should not be allowed to teach!

Downright awful professor. Take either of the two other sections (Graham/Patton is supposedly the best) b/c Zwiebel is not a good lecturer and gives poorly written tests that he wrote while **** (no joke...he told us this). And this is coming from someone who got an A in his class! I did like Broadie though for the first half.

easy tests but this guy does not care at all about teaching and it shows. he is very paternalistic

His tests were MUCH more difficult to study for than Broadie's. None of his short answer or MC questions make grammatical sense but he refuses to provide useful answers about what his questions are even asking. Avoid at all costs. Useless, will tank your grade

Zwiebel was significantly harder to follow during his lectures than Brodie was. He can be blunt with you in office hours. His tests, while some multiple choice, were much harder to understand and to prepare for than Brodie's were.

In my opinion, Zwiebel's lectures weren't as bad as I expected. However, he is an awfully rude person. He treats students like caged animals during exams. Moreover, his exams were unnecessarily difficult and filled with awfully worded questions and mistakes. The curve for this class is harsh. He made me hate biology. Avoid him.

Rude. Disrespectful. No sense of organization. Horrible lectures. Makes lots of key mistakes and says wrong and contradictory things often. I personally thought Broadie's tests were easier because the frqs were directly from the lectures. His half of the final was so poorly written it was sad how little effort he puts into this class

Zwiebel is not at all accessible, and is often very intimidating. Asking a question takes a lot of courage because of his mannerisms. His tests are horribly structured, and draws from a small portion of the textbook. He also barely knows what he is talking about-don't expect him to be able to answer any questions. Boring lectures, horrible slides.

Zwiebel is rude to students both in class and during office hours, and as such came across as very unapproachable throughout the semester. I would avoid taking him if possible.

Avoid taking his class. He has absolutely no regard for his students . His lectures are terribly unorganized. He is also cold during class and outside of it. Going to his office hours is just not worth the disrespect from him. You have to read the textbook to succeed and success on his exams is hard because of how poorly written they are.

He don't teach class in person and his tests are super hard. He coughs during his lecture recordings. He has 10 hours of lecture recordings per test. He is super tough. Avoid Zwiebel AT ALL COSTS.

The worst professor I have ever had. Unclear in recorded lectures that are far too long but refuses to fix them or even edit out the parts where he coughs for 10 seconds straight. Makes students uncomfortable asking questions. Unclear exams, harsh grading policies with literally no partial credit. Sank my grade 8 points from the first prof. AVOID!!

An absolute terrible professor and person

Just not a good professor. His lectures are poorly organized and overall bad. He doesn't care about the success of his students at all. It's rather sad because the first half with Dr. Bordenstein was good, but avoid Zwiebel at all costs.

This guy is the worst professor possible. He cannot form sentences without going uh uh uh every couple words. He does not care at all about students.

Zwiebel does not care for his students and his lectures are very disorganized. Avoid Zwiebel at all costs.

Genuinely one of the worst educators I've ever had. Unclear about what he wants us to know for the test and just awful at presenting information in a way that's interesting or easy to understand. It doesn't help that his lectures are so disorganized and that he often makes mistakes while talking or on the slides.

The worst lecturer and often conveys material in a confusing manner. He does not provide background information, and often brings up terms without explaining. He listens to someplace for student learning rather than the actual students. He does not actually teach in class. I basically taught myself for his course

I agree that Zwiebel is funny but I see reviews from 1 year ago claiming he is amazing and I don't get that. His lectures are so confusing and he talks slow and I just see students with other professors learning and understanding concepts while people in my class don't. The way his class is structured just doesn't foster learning as much as others.

avoid at all cost

Worst professor I've had at Vanderbilt. 90k a year for a flipped classroom with no in-person lectures. I learned nothing from his boring videos. The exams were also take-home, so everyone cheated, and there was no curve. Therefore, you were punished for being honest.

Worst professor ever, do not even think about being honest on his exams because you will just fail everything. You NEED TO CHEAT. YOU WILL NOT SURVIVE OTHERWISE. He is not doing anything about it. Just treat AI subscriptions as your textbook cost and use it on all his exams. IF YOU DON'T PURCHASE AN AI, YOU WILL NOT DO WELL.

Had him for the 2nd portion of cell bio, the most discouraging, mean, bad-temepered prof I've encountered. Unclear instructions on exams, very picky grader and tends to go on tangents in class about things that don't really matter. Gives sassy, mean remarks when students ask questions and point out unfairness. Extremely hard to approach

Dr. Z does not care about you as a student, and he will say that to your face. His tests are significantly harder and not as fair as Graham's. Will be snarky and rude to students if they ask questions, and will randomly call people out in class for "talking" and humiliate them for no reason. Sadly, he is the only option for cell bio. Don't take.

As a senior, I've never even imagined a professor could be horrible as this! He sees students as enemies. He takes pride in the class average for the exam being low, as if seeing us fare badly is enjoyable to him. Exams are absurd. He expects answers that he didn't even ask! With utmost sincerity, I suggest he resign from his teaching role.

Quite frankly I do not know where the few high ratings come from. Avoid him if you can. Cell bio was not taught by him last year, so take when it's not him!!!!

Absolutely horrible professor. His first time teaching cell bio and clearly he knew nothing. Always sassy and rude to students, refuses to host regular office hours and generally hates teaching. Enjoys making students lives miserable. tests are incredibly hard and specific. Barley gives out partial credit.

This man is NOT joking when he says he has Zoom OH bc ppl cry less (i cried after OH w him). The internet, any smart friends you've made first half of the sem, and chat will be your saviors for this portion. Ppl say he's the easier section but I was so mentally destroyed after OH with him it felt much harder for me and made me drop my bio major

Zwiebel translated from German to English means onion, which perfectly describes him. Hard, dry, and cold on the outside. Like biting into a raw onion, he is pungent, bitter, and makes you want to cry on the inside. He genuinely doesn't care about students (he says so himself), doesn't host regular office hours, and is mediocre at best at lecturing

Dr. Zwiebel talks about something in class for literally 1 minute, has a single sentence about it in his lecture slides and writes 10-point frqs about it, plus 2-3 multiple choices. Super unpredictable exams, his lectures are fine and he's generally a funny person, but completely unfair in his exams.

His tests aren't impossible by any means, but they aren't at all reflective of his presentation of the material. He seems like he genuinely just dislikes undergrads and becomes hostile out of nowhere for no real reason (i.e. yelling at students, getting offended by questions). Massive opp.

His first year teaching this class and it's obvious that he just took the last professor's slides. Contradicts himself constantly. He says to "learn not memorize". He's lying. The only way too do well is to know everything on the slides. Even so, there were still multiple questions on his exams completely unrelated to anything we had discussed.

His teaching does not reflect what he puts on the exams. He acts like he does not care for memorization, but will then ask specifics that are not even mentioned in the slides. Also has attitude with students for merely asking questions, not allowing for him to be approachable. The worst professor I have had in the bio department

I came to Vanderbilt thinking that they would have professors of a higher quality and professors who taught better than those at other universities. Unfortunately, it appears that I was sorely mistaken. I'm glad that I will be transferring to another college to finish the rest of my undergraduate education.

I know someone who lost Summa Cum Laude because of his Cell Bio class, and I thought maybe I'd be up for the challenge of getting above a B in his notoriously hard class. I was MISTAKEN. Now the GPA that I toiled so hard for is ruined. Perhaps I should've spent 25 hours a week in his office and never slept if I really wanted that A so bad.

Made me cry in office hours. AT ALL COSTS DO NOT TAKE WITH THESE PROFESSORS. Grade based only on 4 exams + a final with the lowest being dropped. BE PREPARED TO FAIL. Lowest test average= 52 and highest= 63. The lecture slides are extremely dense and it is impossible to know what tiny little detail material you will be tested on from the slides.

Laurence Zwiebel is not a nice man. Empathy, care, and decent human compassion have never touched his sad black little heart once in his life. Expect absurd tests with averages in the 60s and little to no help from his part. Instead of self reflecting on why we are doing so poorly he instead deflects the blame onto us and assumes we must be morons.