Current instructor

Samuel Gellman

/5Adjusted rating
/5RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.08/5 from 12 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

CHEM 343
Quality 4/5Difficulty 3/5
Overall, I think Dr. Gellman is a good lecturer. Somewhat fast-paced and you can sometimes get lost in certain parts, but I think that's a general OChem problem. Lectures are recorded though. Grade is basically all exams, with some points for discussion attendance & disc. quiz completion. Can be a tough grader in terms of getting partial credit.
Rate My Professors ↗
CHEM 343
Quality 5/5Difficulty 2/5
Prof Gellman is a genuine and caring professor with much love for the subject. His exams seemed to be easier than the other orgo profs and we also only had our quizzes graded for completion, not correctness. He does assign a lot of homework. If you skip the integrated problems it's more a more manageable load but still enough to learn the stuff.
Rate My Professors ↗
Chem-343 · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 4/5
OMG, I'm so happy I got him. Gellman is available outside of class and has review sessions weekly. He makes dad jokes and writes his lectures by hand. Very easy to talk to and makes sure you understand when you ask questions. Very accommodating. Regardless of who teaches o-chem it's going to be a hard course and requires time and practice.
Rate My Professors ↗
CHEM 343
Quality 5/5Difficulty 4/5
Professor Gellman is the best OChem professor. He is such a nice man and cares about his students doing well in the course. He is super helpful during office hours and responds to emails very fast. His class is lecture heavy, but if you go to lectures and do the homework problems that he recommends, then you will do well in the class.
Rate My Professors ↗
CHEM 345
Quality 4/5Difficulty 4/5
He is very smart in chemistry, and lectures very well. There are 4 exams and that is it for the grade in your class. So make sure to study hard for the exams, it is the only shot you have in passing the course.
Rate My Professors ↗

Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.

Classes with Samuel Gellman

CHEM 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 sample

CHEM 691 is a senior thesis course involving mentored research for students completing their senior thesis.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

No recorded grade history

CHEM 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=4 letter grades); Fall 2024: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=6 letter grades); Fall 2025: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=6 letter grades).

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026

CHEM 980 is a graduate-level seminar where students engage in research discussions facilitated by faculty within their research group.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Spring 2026
CHEM 990

Research

1–15 credits

CHEM 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
TermCourseTitle
Fall 2026CHEM 299Directed Study
Fall 2026CHEM 681Senior Honors Thesis
Fall 2026CHEM 691Senior Thesis
Fall 2026CHEM 692Senior Thesis
Fall 2026CHEM 699Directed Study
Fall 2026CHEM 980Seminar: Review of Current Research
Fall 2026CHEM 990Research

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

Instructor identity & provenance
{
  "instructor_uid": "instructor_a9520310fac767454bdc0b97",
  "source": "enrollment",
  "source_instructor_id": "sgellman",
  "identity_basis": "netid",
  "identity_status": "source_identified",
  "name": "Samuel Gellman",
  "email": "GELLMAN@CHEM.WISC.EDU",
  "first_observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
  "last_observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
  "ratings": {
    "review_count": 12,
    "quality": 4.08,
    "difficulty": 3.67,
    "quality_count": 12,
    "difficulty_count": 12,
    "profile_id": "rmp:2481339",
    "source_url": "https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/2481339",
    "match_basis": "exact_name",
    "observed_at": "2026-09-07 16:07:37.220267+00:00",
    "courses": {
      "course_34903ee31ae592cff4822461": {
        "review_count": 8,
        "quality": 3.75,
        "difficulty": 3.62,
        "quality_count": 8,
        "difficulty_count": 8
      },
      "course_daf4a0053696c0e96c07064d": {
        "review_count": 3,
        "quality": 4.67,
        "difficulty": 3.67,
        "quality_count": 3,
        "difficulty_count": 3
      }
    },
    "bayesian_quality": 3.8173036147166224,
    "prior_mean": 3.6596857835465957,
    "prior_weight": 20
  },
  "current": true,
  "courses": [
    {
      "course_uid": "course_2913394fa17f744c9ca18d4b",
      "course_id": "CHEM 980",
      "title": "SEMINAR: REVIEW OF CURRENT RESEARCH",
      "credits_min": 1,
      "credits_max": 1,
      "gpa": 3.992
    },
    {
      "course_uid": "course_4a49f7e5e0f126c4d0a2ad0b",
      "course_id": "CHEM 299",
      "title": "DIRECTED STUDY",
      "credits_min": 1,
      "credits_max": 4,
      "gpa": 3.945
    },
    {
      "course_uid": "course_8f0902f34b8223d183c9bbff",
      "course_id": "CHEM 692",
      "title": "SENIOR THESIS",
      "credits_min": 2,
      "credits_max": 6,
      "gpa": null
    },
    {
      "course_uid": "course_b3d52f1bb0698e502fda7d1c",
      "course_id": "CHEM 691",
      "title": "SENIOR THESIS",
      "credits_min": 2,
      "credits_max": 6,
      "gpa": null
    },
    {
      "course_uid": "course_bb4dd399ae999f41d21aab05",
      "course_id": "CHEM 681",
      "title": "SENIOR HONORS THESIS",
      "credits_min": 2,
      "credits_max": 4,
      "gpa": null
    },
    {
      "course_uid": "course_c2f22eab79dc18953ecf833e",
      "course_id": "CHEM 990",
      "title": "RESEARCH",
      "credits_min": 1,
      "credits_max": 15,
      "gpa": null
    },
    {
      "course_uid": "course_fc7dc844a4fe9d3c11f4e103",
      "course_id": "CHEM 699",
      "title": "DIRECTED STUDY",
      "credits_min": 1,
      "credits_max": 6,
      "gpa": 3.968
    }
  ],
  "revision": "e243353dcb7d79b7247ced91d69443ef4c2a6349",
  "instructor_url": "/instructors/SAMUEL_GELLMAN"
}