Review:
Prof. Robbat is the absolute worst professor I have ever taken a class with. He clearly did not want to be teaching introductory chem. His grading is completely subjective based on things like "attendance" and "participation" but what he really means is he'll bump up your grade if he likes you. His lectures are entirely based on powerpoint and we never went over how to do a single problem in class. He claims to want to see you at office hours but is condescending and unhelpful outside the classroom as well. His tests range in difficulty, but he picks out obscure questions that don't test your knowledge and even had essay questions on the final. NEVER take a course with this professor if is at all possible, you might as well just buy the textbook and teach yourself.

Workload:
The problem sets were written by the TAs and were incredibly easy. He assigns massive amounts of reading which actually should be done because his tests are very conceptual.

review a class you took with Albert Robbat Jr. - help your classmates make informed decisions!

Review:
While Professor Robbat seems to know much of the information in the course, he has absolutely no skill at communicating it to the class; I found it fairly useless to attend class at all but did so because of his occasional "attendance quizzes." After he stressed how much he wanted to see us outside of class, I sought him after class one time and felt as though he were insulted to see me in his office. But perhaps the one issue from the course that irritated me the most was the obscurity of test questions- the randomness of the anticipated answers was uncanny...

Workload:
Said simply, if one knew what to expect on tests, the workload was not very difficult at all (lab took time but was not difficult). However, again, the randomness of tests left students with a boatload of information from which to pick what to study.

review a class you took with Albert Robbat Jr. - help your classmates make informed decisions!

Review:
Prof. Robbat is the worst professor I have ever encountered at Tufts. He clearly did not want to be teaching this course and he was deliberately unhelpful to his students. He tried to relate the course material to mass spectrometry, his specialty, all the time even though it was completely irrelevant. He would flip through slides and simply say "you should know this." Do not take a course with him if at all possible, unless you want to spend hours teaching yourself chemistry.

Workload:
Lots of reading that would usually not be necessary to do, but in order to learn any of the concepts you had to read. Problems sets were on material not yet covered in class, but weren't too difficult.

review a class you took with Albert Robbat Jr. - help your classmates make informed decisions!

Review:
Not concerned with student's progress, absolutely zero enthusiasm for the course. You could tell how unbelievably bored this guy was through the tone of his voice - excruciatingly monotonous. Never, ever take a class with this guy.

Workload:
Ridiculous amounts of weekly reading. So much homework that the professor told us to "attempt at least all of the odd-numbered questions." Problem sets are on material to be covered in the following week's lecture. Tests stray far from the course material into subject areas completely untouched in reading and lecture.

review a class you took with Albert Robbat Jr. - help your classmates make informed decisions!

Review:
This course should be called chemical theory, because that's mostly what you learn! and professor Haas is way too advanced to be teaching a first level course. He constantly wanders off into uber complicated explanations and you can see him losing the class when you look around. He really knows what he's talking about, and he tries to crack jokes which are funny simply because they're so dorky, but he really doesn't teach. He tells you the topic for the class, and then puts examples up on the board - endless simple examples. my notes are pages of examples, with little explanation of what the process is. He's definitely a teacher for a higher level course.

Workload:
Chapters are really long and convoluted, exceedingly boring. Problem sets are usually assigned a week or so before the material is covered in class so you spend lots of time looking ahead and trying to understand why and how you solve the problems. Tests are much like the problem sets...sometimes. When they're not, they cover stuff that we discussed in class but wasn't covered in suggested practice problems or on the problem sets, or in Haas' copious examples. At least you can work with friends on the problem sets to ensure you understand the concepts and practice them before the test.

review a class you took with Terry Haas - help your classmates make informed decisions!

Review:
Warning to Freshman: Prof. Morse may seem amiable but in hindsight, in my opinion, he's one of the poorest teachers on campus. When I was a Freshman I had never taken a college level course, so when I didn't understand the material I thought it was my fault. After failing his class I joined another Chem 1 class and passed easily; I realized that Morse's Chem 1 class is NOT a normal freshman chemistry seminar. Prof. Morse does not know how to teach a class: he knows a great deal about Chemistry, but he has no idea how to impart this knowledge onto the students.

He tries to act incredibly jovial and socialize with the students but ultimately this didn't change the fact that if I asked a question about something he just said, all he's do was restate it using the exact same phrase as before.

He also has impossible officer hours. He spends much of his time socializing, AIMing, etc.; most importantly he actually teaches French classes in the language department, so many times as soon as class ends he rushes out to get there and no one can ask questions. Maybe he's trying to impress people by teaching two subjects. I don't know. What I do know is I learned less in his class than any other class I ever took. I failed out of Chem 1 with Morse, took another Prof's Chem 1 clas and passed with relative ease.

Another major flaw in his teaching style; during review classes he'd hand out of pack of practice problems, tell us to do them, and in the last 10 minutes try to explain it really quickly. In my other Chem 1 class the prof would ask if we had questions, someone would give him one, and then my other prof would slowly go through the problem step by step.

Workload:
Professor Morse's homework distribution is woefully incompetent, if his ultimate goals is to teach anyone how to do it: he makes up his own problems, by combining three or four unrelated concepts into a very difficult combined problem. For example, you might have to figure out a combustion problem, then you have to use your answer for that as the information in a mixture problem, after which you use your answer to the mixture problem as the info for finding out how many electrons are generated by the reactions. I had to retake Chem 1 with other teachers and they used the more standardized questions, and never did anything like this. Most important, if you get the first part of a problem wrong, individual segments of a problem aren't graded separately. I mean he was combining problems from separate units. He is obviously a man that enjoys crossword puzzles, etc. as the homework problems which he designed himself seemed more like novelty brainteasers than practice that would aid me in understanding a concept.

All in all, Morse made up his own horrifically difficult problems with little thought in mind as to how well we could do them, because he was trying to impress everyone with how much he knows. He has failed to grasp the concept that knowing alot about the material is not his job; his job is to impart this knowledge upon me.

Worse, Morse and his TA's routinely take off upwards of 20% off of any test or homework set because of significant figures. Example: If the answer is 25.0055 and you put down 25.0044, he will not give credit.

Other professors teaching Chem 1 at Tufts A) Used standardized problems and B) Did not obsess over significant figures 3 months after that unit.

No one even learns anything by giving this much homework: literally the entire class of 200 people arrange "study groups" which actually amounted to swapping answers rather than doing the entire set, because few understood what he told us. I never learned anything trading answers with other people, but it was all I could do.

review a class you took with Christopher Morse - help your classmates make informed decisions!

Review:
Professor Dewald was a good professor, especially during office hours. He was very helpful and fair when it came to tests...really he didn't care what happened on the problem sets as long as you learned the material and went for help when you needed it. He is enthusiastic for his course, and loves to tell stories about the army and his glass blowing times. Class time can be on the slow side sometimes though...

Workload:
There were problem sets every week and 3 tests throughout the semester...the problem sets got worse and worse as time went along..one took more than 5 hours to complete! But you were allowed extra time if you needed it.

review a class you took with Robert Dewald - help your classmates make informed decisions!

Review:
Dewald is a very old-school professor, whose idea of a curve is large (12- or 12-point) numeric ranges for each letter. He's a bit zany in class but he most definitely knows his stuff, and he tells fairly amusing stories, which helps get you through the early-morning lectures. If you go to all the classes and recitations, follow his handed out notes, and most importantly do all of the problem sets, it's a completely reasonable course. Unfortunately, if you don't do all of these things, you will find it very difficult.

Workload:
Look for lots of work. Problem sets about every 10 days (sometimes every 5 though) took 5-10 hours. I can say that it's possible to do a pSet in an all-nighter, but not recommended. Lab every week, report takes 1-3 hours. 1-hour recitations fairly helpful with pSets. Dewald said at the beginning of the course that chemistry is 98% work, 2% intelligence, and that's definitely how his class was.

review a class you took with Robert Dewald - help your classmates make informed decisions!

Review:
I took Chem 1 and 2 a few years ago. Prof. Morse was very helpful and always took the time to help out students when they needed help in office hours. I enjoyed the class. I received an A in both Chem 1 and Chem 2. I spent many many hours studying but the work paid off. An A is achievable if you make social sacrifices. Also, WORK IN GROUPS FOR PROBLEM SETS, otherwise your grade will suffer.

Workload:
Lots of work, but definitely manageable.

review a class you took with Christopher Morse - help your classmates make informed decisions!

Review:
Worst professor I have ever had. If you can bring yourself to do it (I couldn't) the best way to do well is to suck-up.

Workload:
The equivalent of the rest of your classes combined...

review a class you took with Christopher Morse - help your classmates make informed decisions!

Review:
Class was really interesting. I love chemistry, but I hate the teacher. The people on here who are saying how great a teacher Prof. Morse is are probably the one's who hung out with him the night before exams or psets. The class is not that hard if you study and do your work, but it is even easier if you have the professor's help because he is your friend.

Workload:
A lot of work, but it can be done.

review a class you took with Christopher Morse - help your classmates make informed decisions!

Review:
I am sick of all the negative reviews of Professor Morse. I enjoyed the course and did well, but by no means am I a person with "no social life." Maybe I am just a person who can handle the workload (which is significant) and participate in other activities as well. The people who complain about this class are generally whiners who can't cut it and blame Professor Morse for their lack of intelligence. If you put in the effort you will do well. If you can't, then take Chem 1 in the spring.

Workload:
Problem sets are hard. So are tests. Deal with it.

review a class you took with Christopher Morse - help your classmates make informed decisions!

Review:
Chem was not difficult, but Professor Morse's lectures were mundane and repetitive. He tries to be funny but fails miserably. Some people have said the class is easy and that the professor is fun, but I have noticed that the ones who express those feelings tend to have no social lives whatsoever, and due to their lack of a real life they try to pass themselves off as "cool" by showing how fun their horrendously boring Chem class is. I personally am running a high average, but I tremendously regret taking the class, it is a waste of time, and the kids who take the class (along with the professor who teaches it) seem to revel in their eccentricity and conceitedness.

Workload:
Just copy the problem sets from the kids that enjoy doing their work; they are dying to make friends anyway :-)

review a class you took with Christopher Morse - help your classmates make informed decisions!

Review:
I'm personally a little tired of hearing people complain about how difficult Chem 1 is. It's not easy for sure, but it's far from impossible. If you take it, take it because you're interested (or are one of pre-med masses, I feel sorry for you) in it. I never took AP Chem in high school and I'm doing fine, without spending my life studying. Professor Morse is very helpful and I find his lectures to be very organized and helpful. He keeps lecture interesting and to my amazement learned our names by the second week of school.

Workload:
Thursday nights have definitely been dominated by problem sets and I'm in the library much of the weekend before one of the exams (there are only 3 + the final) but I'm not there as much as I should be and I've been doing well. It's a challenge, but hey its college, did you want everything to be as easy as high school?
Worst part about the class is the stupid required lab.

review a class you took with Christopher Morse - help your classmates make informed decisions!

Review:
I took Prof. Dewald's Chem 11 class freshman year, but had to drop it when i realized that... with no chemistry background i was over my head. Prof. Dewald was always willing to help, just go to his office hours!!! He is really smart, expects high quality from his students, so if you're a big time slacker... not a class for you. However, unlike Morse, he doesn't obsess over details, failing you on the test because you didn't get your sig fig's right... he's honest, fair and if you pay attention and go to him for help if you need it... you'll do well. He?s a great teacher.

Workload:
Well... it's chem 1, so the workload is big. You have weekly problem sets, so find some study buddies to collaborate with...and they are graded for accuracy, so a question mark instead of an answer won't get you anywhere. Tests are based on the material presented, and they are hard (if you didn't study). You signed up for chem... so expect a large workload, but it's not any harder than any other teacher's and he'll help you if you go to him with questions. In fact, he'll practically throw the answers at you.

review a class you took with Robert Dewald - help your classmates make informed decisions!

Review:
The class is a lot of work, there's no way around it. However, Professor Morse leaves you very prepared for further chemistry classes, MCAT, and other sciences. Don't take this class if you want a professor who is going to spoon-feed you everything, and if that's what you want, why are you at Tufts?

Workload:
Reading the book is almost useless, except for finding tables of constants. There is a problem set due every week, and it takes a few hours. A lot of people complain that there is "so much work," but if you manage your time and actually do the work, it's not that bad.

review a class you took with Christopher Morse - help your classmates make informed decisions!

Review:
Okay, its Tufts Chemistry. Go into it knowing it will takeover your life. Then, as long as you've dedicated yourself to the endless problem sets, labs, and study sessions, enjoy it. You will learn A TON in this class, and if you don't understand it, make the effort to figure it out. It might take more than one day at office hours, but if you're making an effort, he'll make the effort too.

Workload:
Chem is life. Chem is life. No Thursday night social scene, hell, no weekend social scene. Chem is life.

review a class you took with Christopher Morse - help your classmates make informed decisions!

Review:
He goes a bit fast and you don't always understand where he's getting his numbers from, but that can be solved if you pay attention in class. He's a good teacher and is always willing to help his students.

Workload:
It's not VERY necessary to read the book. Good grades are achievable if you understand the problem sets and lecture notes. Work load manageable.

review a class you took with Christopher Morse - help your classmates make informed decisions!

Review:
Run for your life!!! That says it all.

Workload:
Tedious and not worth it. Chem is hard, yes. But the extent of difficulty of this course is unnecessary and in my opinion he should be ashamed of himself crushing people's dreams.

review a class you took with Christopher Morse - help your classmates make informed decisions!

Review:
Absolutely the worst professor I have ever had. Turned me away from doing anything related to chemistry in the future.

Workload:
Insane amount of work. Get ready to spend 3-8 hours a week on problem sets. He is never in a mood to help either if you go for office hours. They're more for him to socialize and talk about being gay than anything else.

review a class you took with Christopher Morse - help your classmates make informed decisions!

Review:
I think that Prof. Kipp has the capability of becoming a better professor with time. As this year was her first year teaching, she seemed to get a little frazzled when questions that she did not expect were asked. However, she always answered any emails/inquiries promptly, and I never had a problem with her personally, though some people did not get along with her at all. She's learning.

Workload:
The workload was not bad, and frankly as long as you read along in the textbook you should do very well on the tests. Her test questions are fair and can be answered as long as you put in a tiny bit of effort. She also allows you to contest any test score if you feel it is unfair, and from my experience was generous in rewarding any contested points.

review a class you took with Rachael Kipp - help your classmates make informed decisions!

Review:
Having taken Chemistry 1 with both Morse and Kipp, I must say that I appreciate Morse more as a human being. He's a very nice person, ready with a fairly entertaining story or the like. He frequently doesn't have enough time to talk to students, but in terms of learning the content, he's the best chem professor for intro chem.

Workload:
The workload was more than a little sadistic. If you weren't rock-solid, and familiar with chemistry already, you were looking at several nights of straight work. Really fits the mold of a "weed out" class, and the problem sets are frustrating, and without a good TA (I didn't have a good one), very hellish. Especially for someone who finds study-groups (read: Doing 1/4th of the P-set) to be counter-productive, the work load is nearly unbearable. Upon dropping the class, my quality of life and enjoyment of Tufts, not to mention my grades in other classes, rose dramatically.

The load is unreasonable for students expected to take 3 or 4 other classes, unless they are taking the Tufts version of "Underwater Basket Weaving", and needs serious reform.

review a class you took with Christopher Morse - help your classmates make informed decisions!

Review:
While Morse initially seems funny and like a pretty cool guy, it quickly becomes clear that he is more interested in impressing people with his knowledge and wit than actually imparting knowledge upon them. He is not evil, and he is a good lecturer, but he talks down to the class all the time, both collectively and individually. It seems that most people are taking the class to satisfy a premed, or biology requirement, not because of their love for chemistry-- however, you end up working your ass off for a class about a topic you don't even care to know. If you want to do well in this class, you really have to understand the stuff on your own, because Morse won't be a great help to you if you're lost after the lecture...he will just make you feel stupid. If you can keep up with the class, though, you will really know a surprising amount of chemistry in the end.

Workload:
There was more work for this class than for any class I have taken at Tufts.
There is a problem set and a lab report due every week, even when there are tests. The problem sets take hours to do...if you want to go out on Thursdays, you should have them done Wednesday night...the work never ends.

review a class you took with Christopher Morse - help your classmates make informed decisions!

Review:
I thought Chem 1 was awesome. For a class that could be horrifically boring, Morse brings life and clarity to chemistry, even so early in the morning. His explanations of complicated chemical principles are clear and understandable. And, even though there is a tremendous amount of work, there is nothing unexpected. The problem sets and the practice test (oh thank god for the practice tests) adequately prepare you for the tests (which are hard). The labs are boring and the work can get tedious, but at least Morse' love of chemistry and profound knowledge of pop culture makes the class interesting.

Workload:
Insane amount of time spent on problem sets. But, get a study group of fun kids and even Thursday night chemistry can be somewhat fun. The test suck, but you do learn the material.

review a class you took with Christopher Morse - help your classmates make informed decisions!

Review:
Absolutely terrible Professor - and this coming from someone who got an A- in the class. You either love him or you don't because he's either buddy-buddy with you or not. He plays favorites and the fact that he is so desperate for attention, makes him cling to some of his undergrads like flies on dead meat. For those in his select circle that actually receive help during office hours, the class I imagine is wonderful. But to those of us whose problems he glosses over as he passes from one social event to another, he lacks as a professor. Aside from that, I wake up for my 8:30 class to hear about chemistry, not to hear him whine that he hasn't gotten sleep. He needs to get professional or get fired.

Workload:
Extensive.

review a class you took with Christopher Morse - help your classmates make informed decisions!

Review:
First of all, let me say that Prof. Morse is obviously incredibly intelligent and knows chemistry like the back of his hand. BUT I feel that this class is deeply divided. You're either in the clique or you're not - think middle school. It's about 50/50 in terms of class distribution.

Personally, in his class, I had a very hard time though I ended up with a good grade. While he has office hours often, he is not always available. I would go to his office hours fairly often (at least 10 times for the semester) but it's always busy with people "just hanging out" "just there to say hi." Socializing often supercedes student needs. Often I would get about 5 mins of help before he needed to move on to someone else - not always chemistry related.

While I love a Prof. who can mingle with his students just like everybody else, I also want a PROFESSOR, someone who can be a mentor and guide. Professor Morse is closer to a college kid than a college professor.

Workload:
A LOT of work. Problem sets take a long long time.

review a class you took with Christopher Morse - help your classmates make informed decisions!

Review:
Professor Kipp is not the greatest professor at Tufts, but she does have a good learning curve. Considering this is her first class, she has improved vastly, however the class is still dull and not particularly interesting. Her lecturing style is dry, and she reads directly from the book during lecture. She can be very condescending to students during class when a question is asked regarding some problem or statement she has put up. A fact which is even more remarkable considering how many mathematical mistakes she makes. She is available during office hours and will spend time trying to fill in knowledge gaps; however her attitude of superiority shows through just as much during her office hours as it does during class.

Workload:
Workload is not too bad, especially considering the alternative (Morse), but I would gladly trade a little bit more work for a better lecturer. To be fair, her problem sets and exams are fair and do not try and weed people out.

review a class you took with Rachael Kipp - help your classmates make informed decisions!

Review:
Professor Kipp is somewhat concerned about student progress and tries to encourage class attendance. However her lack of the ability to teach basic chemistry makes the class monotonous and useless. Basically, she reads from the book in lecture. The only helpful thing she does is to work out example problems.

Workload:
There was not a lot of work, pretty much just problem sets and lab reports, which help you understand concepts for the test.

review a class you took with Rachael Kipp - help your classmates make informed decisions!

Review:
To put it frankly, Kipp is a bad professor. Her lectures are dull and sparsely attended. She does not explain material well and she is difficult to talk to. She has a bad attitude toward anyone with a question, and does not seem to care at all about the progress of her students. In one e-mail recently sent to students about low class attendance, she says, "I get paid either way and you are all adults." In my opinion, her negligence of student progress is a testimony to her poor teaching skills.

Workload:
Workload is very bearable, and reading is optional and assigned only for the student's benefit. If you have had a decent amount of chemistry in high school, there is little work involved. Otherwise, you'll need to keep up with class material.

review a class you took with Rachael Kipp - help your classmates make informed decisions!

Review:
An okay professor but she'll probably be better and more organized after her first year teaching.

Workload:
As far as workload goes definitely take her before Morse. Morse's workload is insane and hers in manageable for the people who don't want to dedicate their entire semester to chemistry. Not too much more time than other classes, 1 problem set a week.

review a class you took with Rachael Kipp - help your classmates make informed decisions!

Review:
Awesome teacher! Very smart and fun. He'll do anything to help you out. He's wicked fair too. You'll learn more than you've ever imagined.

Workload:
Insane amount of work. P-sets take hours every week. You need a study group or you'll drown.

review a class you took with Christopher Morse - help your classmates make informed decisions!

Review:
Professor Christopher Morse makes 8:30am Chemistry bearable. His quick wit and obvious concern for his students' understanding distinguishes his class from other intro courses. By the end of the first few weeks, he'll know every student by name. He combines a love for the subject with innovative lesson plans and is always available to answer questions outside of class.

Workload:
N/A

review a class you took with Christopher Morse - help your classmates make informed decisions!