Spring 2027

Advancing to Biological Sciences Phd Study

Explores the biological science PhD student experience, covering applications, interviews, graduate life, and career opportunities to help students assess readiness and fit.

no offering record for this termCredits unavailable
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 No instructors listed

Summary

1 / 7

Past student reviews · John Pool

One student noted the class left them feeling less competent, citing discouraging feedback regarding their academic prospects and research.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Appraise the individual appropriateness and optimal timing of PhD study in light of personal goals and preparedness

  • Identify research areas, graduate prospects, and prospective mentors of interest

  • Recognize the admissions processes and priorities typically followed by graduate programs

  • Develop, evaluate, and refine PhD application materials

  • Communicate research interests, motivation, personal strengths, and career goals with faculty and peers

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

Senior standing

  • Senior standing
GENETICS 695

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • Senior standing

Professors

Spring 2027

No instructors recorded for this selection.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

JOHN POOL is recorded teaching in Fall 2024, Fall 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · John Pool

Students described John Pool's teaching as consistently belittling and judgmental, creating an environment where learners felt unsupported and insecure.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2024: 3.86 GPA, 93.1% A/AB (n=29 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.90 GPA, 90.3% A/AB (n=31 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · John Pool

One student noted the class left them feeling less competent, citing discouraging feedback regarding their academic prospects and research.

Past student reviews · John Pool

Reviewers reported that asking questions resulted in being shut down or made to feel unworthy, with no perceived support from the instructor.

Topics

  • PhD student experience lifecycle: consideration, applications, interviews, graduate life, and careers.
  • Personal goal reflection and assessment of fit for research-focused doctoral study.
  • Identification of research areas, target programs, and potential mentors.
  • Application material refinement, interview preparation, and program selection strategies.

Skills

  • Reflecting on personal goals and the nature of graduate study to confirm fit for a research-focused PhD.
  • Identifying research areas, PhD programs, and prospective advisors of interest.
  • Improving application materials and strengthening interview skills.
  • Considering timing of application based on admissions expectations and personal readiness.

Grades

Latest available · Fall 2025— not enough history to project Spring 2027.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Fall 2025

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Fall 2025 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1316 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

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Selected offering source records

No offering records for the selected term.

Raw records 
[]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
Download part 1
Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "c18e7b71376e756eb2cbce0688ac886b9cfa4b2874dba0516902748e00eb4871",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}