Archive of Our Own

highlight of my semester was the time I got t-boned on the way to class and got an excused absence. This man should not be teaching ANYONE, let alone literal freshmen. Why the hell am I writing papers for a chemistry class?? Shout out my man TA Ryland G. who literally carried me through.

Dr. Miller is okay, not as bad as people say if you actually do the work. The problem is that he’s mean about it if you fall behind. If you ask him a question, the first thing out of his mouth is always “did you read the syllabus?” and if your answer is no he will roast you in front of the class. I mainly went to class just so I could gaze at his TA, who was placed on this earth exclusively to make Dr. Miller’s class bearable with his stunning good looks.

if you value your life you will take literally ANYONE else. I stg this woman intentionally lies to her students about what will be on the exam. She actually laughed at me when I asked about extra credit. Literally the only saving grace (haha) of this class is her TA, the kindest man on this earth. If you have to take this class, I recommend spamming TA’s office hours.

Riddle me this, why would you become a professor if you’re not going to teach your class anything? She doesn’t do the lectures, she doesn’t do the grading, she doesn’t hold office hours, and she doesn’t give a shit about any of her students. Why is she teaching a required class?? TA rocks tho, met him at a house party while high off my ass and he literally explained chirality there at the pong table at 1 AM. Craziest part is I actually aced the quiz the next day.

Honestly they’re not really exaggerating, it’s a hard class. Dr. McIntosh is a tough professor and she holds you to a high standard. That said, she’s been teaching this class for like 15 years, I can understand being frustrated that nobody actually reads the course documents. She’ll gripe if you ask her about the stuff that’s on them because she posts them three weeks before class even starts, and she’s spent over a decade perfecting them. You want course objectives? Lecture summaries? Literally even quiz study guides? Guarantee they’re already posted. If you have questions just talk to Ryland, he’s super happy to walk you through whatever.

I don’t think he finished a single sentence all semester. It’s like his thoughts are playing bumper cars. Clearly a brilliant man, very knowledgeable about his field, but he can be hard to follow.

you ever meet a person and realize they’re the smartest person you’ll ever interact with? That’s Grace.

im 90% sure I met this man at a frat party last year. Get you a professor that can do both, i guess? Also get a good study group for this class, you’re going to need it.

Ugh this guy loves to hear himself talk He goes through slide’s so slowly, its hard to keep track of whats actually relevant. I showed up to the final and turns out I had studied all th wrong stuff.

GRACE IS A GOD AMONGST MEN. He makes me want to switch my major so I can take him again. Amazing prof, hilarious, and gives great lectures. He’s always available for office hours and makes great study guides. The material can be tough but he presents it so well you hardly notice. Also, SO easy on the eyes.

Ryland expects you to put in the work, but he wants nothing more than for you to succeed in this class. I have really bad anxiety so I had a hard time speaking up in lecture, but I went to his office hours and he was super understanding. He went through all the objectives with me so I was ready for the next week, AND in the next lecture he actually referenced something I said in office hours! When I went again for exam advice, he gave me HIS study guide from when he took the class!

last year he was throwing killer parties, this year he’s leading killer labs. 10/10 would recommend

He is SO nice please take his class

Love the lectures, hate the tests. I studied for 48 hours straight before the final and got a 72%

My roommate swears she met this guy on a movie set in LA. He’s good at teaching bio, tho

He’s literally amazing and SO sweet.

wtf why do people recommend this class? We’re adults with jobs why does he require basically 100% attendance

Idk why people always complain about how hard this class is, it’s literally microbiology. Sorry the major is complicated I guess?? If you actually go to class and talk to Grace when you have questions, you’ll do literally fine. Half the people I heard complaining about the final didn’t even show up to most of the lectures!

Overall a good professor. I’m not a biology major and I didn’t have trouble keeping up with the class. Lectures can be dense at times but he’s pretty good at cutting the density with stories and jokes. He made the material simple to follow and the workload was not overbearing. He has some idiosyncratic opinions about the habitable zone, I recommend discussing his theories with him, very interesting.

I’m ngl all I heard all semester was just blah blah blah proper name place name backstory stuff

One of the best professors at SU. He always makes time to answer your questions, and never makes you feel dumb for not understanding. He’s genuinely interested in what he’s teaching about, and is invested in you understanding the material. There are weekly quizzes but they’re easy if you pay attention in class.

very, very hot man. But seriously, an excellent teacher.

10/10 professor

made me wish I was a bio major. Ryland covered a couple labs and he basically just hung out with us and blew stuff up. Oh yeah, and brought in his movie star brother for a demonstration on inertia??

holy shit there’s two of them

Amazing professor who really cares about his students. His lectures are well-organized and informative. Quizzes are pretty easy, and he’s always available to answer any questions. He’s super understanding of extenuating circumstances, too: he’ll give you an extension if you need one. I really recommend getting to know him and talking to him after class.

His lectures can be kinda frustrating, he spends more time telling us stories than actually teaching. It’s super fun but obviously not really helpful for learning the material.

lmao this guy’s like 20

do not take this class if ur a tom ryder fan, I SWEAR they’re identical. Very distracting. Other than that, as long as you go to class you’ll be fine. One of the few biochem profs who actually cares about his students.

this is a hard class but it’s worthwhile. But more importantly, Dr. G is the hottest professor you will ever have. I have polled the masses and the response is unanimous. Dr. G mogs you, your crush, and your crush’s crush. Oh, and he’s doing it while explaining enzyme kinetics.

these reviews are NOT exaggerating. Take this man’s class immediately holy shit.

This class was actually super hard for me but in fairness I just switched my major. Still, Grace was super understanding of the circumstances and he makes his assignment expectations super clear.

quizzes every week. Don’t take this class.

Dr. G is always available for office hours!

Best professor I’ve ever had but HOLY SHIT his class was difficult

I’m actually positive that Dr. G is the only prof on the planet who could get anyone through this class. They warned me about ochem but they understated it tbh. I’m gonna give you the advice that got me through: GO TO OFFICE HOURS. This man wants you passing his class SO bad, and if you don’t let him help you, you WILL fail.

i hate hot nerds. Its so unfair

Great prof! WAYY better than Dr. Horitz. He’s very funny and engaging, and explains difficult concepts well. His study guides are impeccable. Super accessible outside class, if you can’t make his regular office hours he’ll make time to meet with you. Really interesting guy!

don’t take this class if u like ur gpa. Not Dr. G’s fault, im just being honest

One of the best professors I’ve ever had. Insanely knowledgeable about his subject and is interested in hearing his students’ thoughts.

this guy knows wtf hes talking about

class is awesome and Grace does a good job teaching it. I got kinda bored of the subject by the end though. It was a lot of work.

I felt like the exams were too heavily weighted in this class; I did pretty well because I have a masters degree in cramming, but tbf I wasn’t very diligent during the middle portion of the semester, so I felt like my grade was higher than I deserved. Dr. G is a cool dude, so lucky to have had him for this class.

this class is so insanely difficult and taking it was an absolutely horrible experience but he is so gorgeous

Sometime around week 3 I decided to drop the class and switch majors. It was that or drop out altogether. I happened to run into Dr. G on the way out of a different class and we got chatting. He asked me about how I was doing, and I finally admitted that I was planning to drop. He asked if I had time to stop by his office and I said yes so we walked across campus just chatting (apparently he’s super into sci-fi movies) and when we arrived he invited me to sit and made me tea. I was kinda scared that he was gonna make me keep the class or something but he actually just asked me about my interests and career goals, and helped me draft a plan for the next year and suggested some alternate degree paths. By the end of the conversation I realized I actually didn’t want to drop the class and so he also set me up with extra study materials.

celebrity doppleganger final boss, dude. I swear, I SWEAR to you this man has a stunt credit on Good Cop Bad Dog. If it was him, damn has this man found his calling now. First lecture was so insanely good I actually called my gf afterward to make her watch it. I thought it would be all downhill from there, but nope, somehow it got better.

I would take this class again just to watch him talk

hottest prof at SU

clearly very good at his job but sometimes it feels like Dr. Grace isn’t paying attention to you. I went to his office hours once and the whole time I was talking he was just fidgeting. Also, be warned about the quizzes in this class. Review weekly.

prof brings a sort of wet cat energy to class that i find quite chic

Avoid this class he has crazy high expectations and makes you memorize a ridiculous amount of information just to regurgitate it all on the quizzes. I only made it through because im a flashcards girly

this guy’s teaching at my niece’s middle school too lmao. Like I want to crack a joke about that but I’m actually just impressed. Here’s a guy who can teach biochem to college seniors and to 6th graders, and he’s getting rave reviews from both.

all around a really caring, talented professor. Clearly knows a ton about the subject, and is invested in making sure that you understand it too. He makes a mean study guide. Also, I’m pretty sure I saw him drifting in the Walmart parking lot during finals week. A man of many talents is our own Dr. G.

The prof’s amazing, the TA’s amazing. 10/10 recommend.

every time he said my name my heart skipped a beat

I think this is the first time I’ve ever said this, but go to the professor’s office hours, not the TA’s. Dr. G is really nice and will make time for you whenever. He also took the class when he was a student here, he actually gave me his own study guide for the enzymes module.

its hard to pay attention in lecture because the professor is so beautiful but otherwise a good intro to biochem

I really enjoyed the class but the exams are soooo long. He puts comics at the end tho :)

Sign up for this class stat the funniest teacher ive ever had

such a cool guy, really knows what he’s talking about. He does amazing lectures and the course assignments are genuinely so well structured. Oh yeah, and he’s hot as hell too

Dr G it seems i have grown quite fond of you

take everything you can from this man

if Dr. G lets out an absolutely insane string of words at any point, don’t worry, he’s probably quoting a song that was last popular in the mid 19 hundreds. Ask your grandma about it, or don’t, it was probably taboo when she was a kid and it’ll ruin your relationship. His lectures are really good tho

class is pretty content heavy and there are a lot of tests but he hosts optional review sessions and always uploads his slides and notes. He’s always available for office hours too, and once made me tea when I broke down crying in his office because of some personal things I had going on at the time. He’s really kind and also really good at his job, and yall are weird asf for objectifying him in these.

I had heard horror stories about how profs can sometimes treat their first year students, and with all the reviews about his appearance and how he has students in his office all the time, I was kind of worried. This was the only class that worked with my schedule tho so with great trepidation I enrolled. And I just wanna say, I had NOTHING to worry about. First of all this guy’s barely older than me so he’s not creepy at all, and second he has NO idea that anybody says any of this stuff about him. He’s constantly asking for feedback to make his class better, and he was so so kind to everybody. He makes you feel seen and appreciated but not in a weird way, and is professional but also hilarious. His class is so well structured and he posts great study materials.

English is not my first language and so I had to go to Dr. Grace’s office hours to ask him what some terms meant. He explained them well, and then for the rest of the semester he sometimes would include the french terms on his slides. He never mentioned why in class, I suppose he did not want to make me feel “singled out,” so although some of the other students laughed about how strange it seemed, I appreciated it.

if you’re doubting whether bio is the major for you, take this class. Dr. G will move heaven and earth to make sure you’re having the best possible experience in class. Sometimes profs will try to get you to drop the class just so they don’t have to deal with you, but Dr. G will actually give you real advice on whether to drop or change majors, or stick it out. He’s a really good judge of character and SO nice!

100% attendance never looked so good

Dr. G will match your energy and match your effort. For some classes you get out what you put in, but in this class you get more. Dr. G sets you up for success in every way possible.

whatever u say handsome

Great guy, always willing to explain anything if you’re confused. Really cares about his students. Best prof at SU, hands down. See if you can get him onto his conspiracy theories about water lol highly recommend

Dr. G is amazing because no other professor could make a group project a good experience. He had a really good grading system that took into account your personal contribution to the project in case of disaster, and he re-paired me when I got an awful group TWICE in a row. Not Dr. G’s fault that some of his students suck. He was very understanding and gave me a new group immediately both times, no questions asked.

don’t event TRY taking ochem with anyone else. Rearrange your degree plan to take this class. Literally call the registrar if you have to. It’s gonna be hard no matter who you take it with, but Dr. G wants you there and wants you to pass, and by golly is he going to make it happen. Not in like an illegal way he will just give you all the help you need

wasnt my favourite class, but it also wasnt my least favourite

take a shot every time he interrupts himself, you’ll have alcohol poisoning before the first quiz. He’s hilarious though

this class got me expelled. It was my fault; I was on academic probation and I basically only showed up to the final, so when I bombed it I failed the class and violated the terms of my probation. None of that’s relevant here, though. I’m writing a rating because I was the last one to finish the final and Dr. Grace made me come to his office after. I was literally shaking in my boots but I went anyway, and no joke this man spent TWO HOURS working with me to come up with a career plan. We kept up over the next semester and not only did he help me get my life back on track, he actually wrote me a recommendation letter for my reapplication to the program. Dr. Grace teaches a hard class and will make you do your homework, but he also cares more about his students than anyone else I’ve ever met. He will literally change the trajectory of your life.

I arrive 5 minutes early to every single lecture. I dream of the day he carries me off to a beach somewhere so I can watch him frolic in the ocean in cats the musical themed swim trunks. I do not listen to a word he says.

Grace is a fantastic professor and will work really hard to make sure you do well in his class. I accidentally got parasocial about it though, I once ran into him in a coffee shop in LA of all places and tried to compliment his new hair (frosted tips lmao who would have thought) and he didn’t even recognize me. It was very awkward, exited that conversation real quick, i don’t recommend. Don’t forget that he’s a PhD and teaches hundreds of students every semester lol

There are two things on this earth that are certain, yea three that you may depend upon: chem3720 is the hardest class at SU, office hours are EVERY Sunday night, and Dr. Ryland Grace is single-handedly keeping Shasta’s sparkling water line in business.

Dr. Grace is probably the kindest, most knowledgeable professor in the department. Lab was one of the hardest academic experiences of my life, but Dr. Grace went above and beyond to help me understand the material, and would even check up on me when I didn’t look like I was doing well.

Dr. G will make you feel better about being bad at biology. You might still fail his class but at least you wont be tempted to fling yourself off a bridge, which is more than i can say for some profs at this school

No one mogs like Dr. Grace, quotes broadway songs like Dr. Grace, no one teaches you to identify ions like Dr. Grace

Dr. Grace is an amazing professor who is readily available for office hours, and very understanding when you need an extension or extra help due to extenuating circumstances. His class is broken down into lectures, quizzes, exams, and one godawful group project that I normally would lower his rating for but he’s so amazing otherwise that he gets a pass here.

And what if I said Dr. G has the best study playlist on spotify? Bet u cant guess his username.

the tests are awful but Dr. G puts a farside comic at the end of each one just to make you feel better about making it to the end so fast

imagine if you will a group project that doesn’t suck. Thats how magical this class is

Very kind, very engaging speaker, if at times a little rambly. Dr. Grace is clearly very knowledgeable in his field and explains complex topics well. The class is primarily graded on quiz and exam performance, although he does award extra credit. Dr. Grace publishes excellent study materials and holds regular office hours.

class is literally impossible. Switch ur major.

Dr. Grace is intelligent, friendly, and helpful both during class time and in office hours. I admit I wasn’t very diligent during the first half of the semester, but when I asked him for help catching up he was incredibly kind and gave me extra study materials, and actually recommended me a study group.

This class has a group project, be warned

ochem is not as hard as everyone pretends if you just do the work. Prof is very funny though, spends half his time telling personal stories to illustrate topics in class. Drops crazy lore sometimes, apparently he’s a twin

Every time he cracks open a sparkling water a freshman gets its wings

its always like “why didn’t you go to office hours” because the line was around the corner every time i tried to go, Samantha. Some of us dont have that kind of time

he actually raised his voice at me when I tried to chat with him after class. Dropped immediately, never looked back

he was amazing for the first half of the semester, but idk what happened because one day he came to class like 20 minutes late and announced that he was restructuring the class. He changed like the whole syllabus and all the assignments, and then I don’t think he was even on campus for the second half of the semester. It doesn’t seem like this is very in character, so maybe just an off semester?

I have no idea what people are talking about. From what little I saw of Grace he looks and acts like he lives under a bridge. Grading was late like all semester and so I had no idea how to track my progress. Final exam came out of left field. His TA rocks tho, she led class for most of the semester.

I only took this class because they said this guy was the best bio prof here, and maybe he is, but he straight up disappeared three weeks into the semester and never showed back up. TA covered the rest of the semester but clearly she didn’t know what was going on either. Easiest A I ever got.

wtf are people talking about this guy was super mean

I kept trying to show up to his office hours and he was never there. Come to find out that he stopped teaching the class halfway through and didn’t say anything? At least the school felt bad and let me drop the class late.

sooooo overhyped. Hardly even saw him after week 3.

I’m actually so confused. I’m giving Dr. G a 5 because I KNOW he’s that good, but this was a weird semester. I had him last year and he was incredible, everything everyone says about him and more, one of the best teachers I ever had. He was so engaged with and invested in his students. But it’s like he wasn’t even there for the second half of this semester. His TA did most of the lectures, which was really weird.

hoooooly glaze bro these reviews are lying. Grace made his TA teach all semester like every other freshman prof. doesn’t care about his students at all, I never even saw him