Prof. Goldsmith is incredibly smart and intelligent, and you can tell he knows this too. Most of the time his lectures and his vocabulary are unnecessarily complex to the point of me wondering what is he trying to prove. The material is not conveyed clearly and I rely heavily on the textbook to understand concepts.Rate My Professors ↗
Current instructor
Randall Goldsmith
What students say
Original student reviews · all captured dates
He might understand quantum mechanics, but he can't teach it! He assumed we somehow understand everything and uses advanced PChem language in class. Also, his hand is on top of his writing 70% of the time, and he explains the topics extremely fast. Homework is irrelevant to both lecture notes and textbook. Exam had stuff we never learned. Bad prof.Rate My Professors ↗
Goldsmith is by far one of the best professors I've ever had. He's super smart and passionate about chem, which is awesome. The exams are the hardest that I've ever taken, but he gives plenty of opportunities to build up your grade outside of the exams (weekly quizzes, problem sets, tophat, etc). Definitely a hard class but worth it!Rate My Professors ↗
Professor Goldsmith was overall good, with a few small flaws. His lectures are clear and informative, though sometimes his homework sets aren't really taught/addressed in class. Overall, you end up very prepared for lecture.Rate My Professors ↗
Lectures are always super interesting and engaging he truly cares that students understand the material. Very accessible during office hours and also very approachable.Rate My Professors ↗
Prof Goldsmith is an amazing teacher that genuinely cares a lot about his students. The class is challenging but he sets you up for success. This was the course that convinced me to change my major to Chemistry. My biggest piece of advice is to go to the group homework sessions; they did wonders for my understanding of the material.Rate My Professors ↗
Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.
Classes with Randall Goldsmith
Directed Study
1–4 creditsCHEM 299 is a directed study course involving a mentored research project arranged with a faculty member.
Offering recorded · Fall 2026
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2022–Spring 2022 · limited sampleSenior Honors Thesis
2–4 creditsCHEM 681 is a mentored research course for students completing a thesis in an Honors program.
Offering recorded · Fall 2026
No recorded grade history
Directed Study
1–6 creditsCHEM 699 is a directed study course involving an advanced mentored research project arranged with a faculty member.
Offering recorded · Fall 2026
Recent recorded grades — Spring 2022: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=1 letter grades).
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2022–Spring 2026CHEM 980 is a graduate-level seminar where students engage in research discussions facilitated by faculty within their research group.
Offering recorded · Fall 2026
Recent recorded grades — Fall 2023: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=8 letter grades); Spring 2024: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=10 letter grades); Fall 2024: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=7 letter grades).
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Spring 2026Research
1–15 creditsCHEM 990 is a research course where students conduct supervised research projects with individual faculty members.
Offering recorded · Fall 2026
No recorded grade history
Recorded teaching history
Explore courses taught by this instructor →Browse recorded courses
Teaching history may be incomplete. Course pages contain course-specific feedback and citations.
Instructor identity & provenance
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