Historical instructor

Nicholas Zumwalde

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.93/5 from 14 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

What students say

Original student reviews · all captured dates

GEN662 · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 4/5
He is not the professor of this class anymore, but I want everyone to know he is one of the best professors in UW-Madison. I can't understand why the Genetics Department let him go...
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GEN662 · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 4/5
Cancer genetics was very applicable to the medical field, especially the VEGF pathway and BRACA genes that are covered in class as well as current biologic treatments and future targets for resistant cancers.
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GEN588 · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
He cares about students and teaching as a whole. Very accessible outside of class and he obviously knows his stuff. Everything explained clearly. All slides posted on Canvas and lectures were recorded. Exams were challenging but averages remained ~85. Only complaint is the $70 textbook automatically added to tuition- only used it once. 9.5/10
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GEN588 · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
This was the first semester Immunogenetics (GEN 588) and it is a challenging course, but Professor Zumwalde breaks down the material really well in his lecture, and in the problem sets so we know what to focus on. His Canvas is also really well organized which helps to stay on top of things. Analogies were on point.
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GENETICS/MDGENET 662
Quality 5/5Difficulty 2/5
Professor Zumwalde was a great professor for Cancer Genetics. Digestible lectures and readings. Very responsive and amazing at explaining concepts if asked!
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Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.

Classes with Nicholas Zumwalde

No teaching recorded in Fall 2026.

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Recorded teaching history

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Teaching history may be incomplete. Course pages contain course-specific feedback and citations.

Instructor identity & provenance 
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