Maria Cruz
2 courses · 11 reviews
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She really wants people to do well. If you read over the procedures before her lectures they are much more useful
8/18/2026
Orgo lab is really not supposed to be a lecture class. It is graded sometimes harshly but Dr. de la Cruz really does want her students to be successful. She gives opportunities for extra credit and generally orgo lab is 100x better than gen chem lab like seriously very chill as long as you do the prep work.
4/30/2026
labs graded fairly easily. quizzes are SO hard. you have to memorize the procedure almost to do well. labs themselves are easy and orgo lab is way more chill than gen chem. de la cruz is ok and decently helpful but is cryptic for the problem sets that are UNDROPPABLE
12/25/2025
The lectures help you answer the problem sets. Labs are often graded leniently, although the quizzes are unreasonably hard (often received 1 or 2 out of 5). Seems caring towards students, although I have never interacted with her one-on-one. I do wish more guidance was provided in lab and clearer rubrics were given. Due dates were consistent.
12/8/2024
Cruz is a sweet & humorous person, but she is a horrible orgo lab prof. She jokes about us struggling in orgo and never gives direct answers to simple questions during recitation. I hate to hate her since she's so warm in person, but I can barely understand her cryptic hints during recitation-- & it's not even bc of her accent. She's just confusing
11/15/2023
Simply incompetent. The most unorganized class I have taken at WashU.
10/24/2023
Dr. de la Cruz really cares about her students and goes out of her way to be accessible to students. That being said, she is not clear with her grading criteria and is not very organized which was frustrating. The best way to get through the class is to regularly go to office hours to clear up anything that's confusing.
1/12/2021
This professor has not been clear all semester and is really condescending. Also her English is horrible. I have attempted to explain to her my situation with regard to the practice sets and she doesn't even know her own assignment schedule--claiming the problem set was due way after it actually was. Big waste of time.
10/15/2019