Kevin Karplus - University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA

Professor: Kevin Karplus

Department: Engineering

College: University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: BME51
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Karplus is an interesting dude. If you want to do well in his electronics class be sure to work hard. It's difficult to get an A in his class unless you go "above and beyond" in the labs. But I learned a lot about electronics. His labs are very relevant to the biomedical field and we design a EKG monitor and blood pressure sensor.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: CMPE110
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Great guy love his bread and coffee!!!

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: BME51A
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

He is the absolute worse professor I have ever had. He does not care about students and expects way too much out of them. If you ask him a question that he finds dumb, he will treat you like it too. Biomolecular majors are required to take this class which confuses everyone but my god... He is absolutely terrible...

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: BME51
• Grade Received: B-
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Kevin's applied electronics class is one of the hardest classes you'll have to take. You will become a much more bitter yet humbled person. I thought I'd leave the class with a hatred toward electronics but I was wrong. I left feeling like I had learned so much within those two quarters and I'll actually miss his class.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: BME88A
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Learned absolutely nothing from the class, would have learned more if I had not taken the class and simply set aside time to learn material on my own. Work he expects you to do exceeds the complexity of upper-division classes even though there are "no prerequisites." Not worth the time, you do not learn much, don't take this class.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: BME88A
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

BME 88A is a class that you will have to work outside of class for. The course should be re-evaluated for more than 2 credits, but it was a challenge and it was fun if exhausting.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: BME101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Karplus has given a single A grade in all his years of teaching. He is rude, arrogant, narcissistic, and does not understand that students have a life too. He keeps spamming my mailbox about his "bread and tea" events, which I couldn't care less about. He ruined the Bioengineering major at UCSC. Do not take this class or any class with him.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: BME
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Does not teach anything and expects you to understand everything he assigns. No pre-req class for freshmen designed class and compares your first report to senior thesis. Impossible to get an A. Rude in class and will not help you.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: BME94F
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Doesn't try to help his students at all... He is also disorganized and did not even tell us when classes and times during winter break. Instead, he let the class know through email at 9 PM the day before classes started.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: BME205
• Grade Received: WD
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

One of the worst professors on this campus. This man is lucky he got a job as a professor because he would probably fail in real life with his terrible attitude. He doesn't help students but think that he does. I am so glad I never have to see him again.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: BME123A
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Kevin knows his stuff but is bad at communicating. He also is bad at organizing. Unlike the other two professors he does not know how to shut up and move on to the next subject. He also makes lots of assumptions and imposes them on to you

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: BME
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Professor Karplus is an intelligent person but an incompetent teacher. It is impossible to learn from him and futher more impossible to understand what to do on the programs. His lack of clarity seems to be intended, at least thats my take on it. He enjoys the subject matter but just can't think on a level that would benefit most students.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: BME194
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

I've never wasted so much of my life and my sanity for a C in an elective course that counted towards absolutely nothing. This man thinks undergrads are vermin, and that teaching is a chore and a misery to be inflicted upon his students.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: BME220
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

My view of Kevin has completely changed. Since I've worked close with him, I've found he's very approachable and is willing to explain things. He's unorganized, but so am I, and I've actually heard him make a few jokes.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: CMPE110
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

This man is just at UCSC for grant money and considers undergraduate teaching as a chore. Do not pick him as an advisor because he doesn't care and that will be apparent to you.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: CMPE185
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Ego, Ego, Ego. He is a poor communicator. Can't teach. Can't explain the material. Once he explained to the class that he no longer would allow bikes to be parked in his class, a few moments later a student with a bike came in and parked his bike. Kevin then proceeded to throw the bike over a retaining wall. Students BEWARE

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: CMPE185
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

The worst educator I have ever encountered. He is lucky to reside in academia; otherwise he would not survive the real world.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: BME100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Terrible...Terrible...Terrible. No matter how much you do, he's impossible to please, while at the same time, his assignments are full of errors. I think the only reason he's a professor is because no other place will take someone like him.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: BME100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Very unorganized. Assignments not in logical order of depth and diffculty, vaguely worded and have spelling and grammatical errors. Arbitrary deduction of points. Suffers from misplaced hubris that class is too tough , when in reality his shallow teaching confuses and frustrates the students. AVOID.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: CMPE185
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

He's incredibly jaded (will rant against you) and a terrible teacher. It's impossible to get an A and it's impossible to not get a B. You won't learn anything and you can do no work and get a B. You can be perfect and won't get an A.