ARCH465 | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Michael Kleiss ARCH465 Anonymous 05/02/2026	Completely agree with everyone else's reviews. The class itself isn't bad, you can understand the material, it's just the way he teaches that messes things up. One would think after teaching here for a few years he would get a hang of things but every year is the same problem and there's never been any sort of improvement that actually benefited the class. First of all: He's barely involved in the class. The man shows up and gives a lecture or a assigns projects and his job is done. He basically drops all the work on his TA's. And when you have a concern, he's like "Email your TA and they will talk to me" Like BRO! You'r literally right here!!! Second: His grading methods suck. For example, with the class quizzes. He'll have a physical version and an online version that you must complete both within NOT even the whole class period. It's like double the work with less time. Only to tell you later that only the paper version will be taken into account for grading. Then why the HECK did we even do the digital version then? And then you get all those participation points and assignments and other random things, but even if you get full points on all of these consecutively, the minute you get one bad grade for one quiz, suddenly your grade drops by a whole letter! HOW??!! Third: Terrible communication. This one is actually kind of funny. The man will communicate exactly what he doesn't want you to do with precision and even examples, all without EVER actually telling you what it is you should do because according to him, that's preventing you from learning because it's like giving you the answer. How am I supposed to know what to do then?! He'll be like, "Here's what I don't want you to do" and when you ask "okay then what should I do instead?" he'll give you the most ambiguous answer/non-answer ever and proceed to ask "does that make sense? Like NOOOO! You didn't answer the question!!! Honestly, this class has by far been the worst class I've ever taken at UMD. And I've taken his classes before. I mean, the man has always been bad but he's never been THIS bad. If you're an architecture major taking this class....well, it will make you question whether you're in the right major. It really doesn't help either that he's the only professor teaching this course. UMD needs to do better and fix this because it's pretty much a consensus at this point that structures with Professor Kleiss is like being thrown in a maze by yourself and told to figure your own way out because he sure as heck ain't helping.
Michael Kleiss ARCH465 Expecting a B Anonymous 01/29/2026	terrible class. very unorganized canvas, unserious professor. I only gave one star because I had no choice.
Ben Bilo ARCH465 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/14/2025	Loved Ben, he taught the class better than the professor, and helped me to understand the material. He was very receptive to email and left helpful feedback on tests and other submissions.

Michael Kleiss
ARCH465

Anonymous
05/02/2026

Completely agree with everyone else's reviews. The class itself isn't bad, you can understand the material, it's just the way he teaches that messes things up. One would think after teaching here for a few years he would get a hang of things but every year is the same problem and there's never been any sort of improvement that actually benefited the class. First of all: He's barely involved in the class. The man shows up and gives a lecture or a assigns projects and his job is done. He basically drops all the work on his TA's. And when you have a concern, he's like "Email your TA and they will talk to me" Like BRO! You'r literally right here!!! Second: His grading methods suck. For example, with the class quizzes. He'll have a physical version and an online version that you must complete both within NOT even the whole class period. It's like double the work with less time. Only to tell you later that only the paper version will be taken into account for grading. Then why the HECK did we even do the digital version then? And then you get all those participation points and assignments and other random things, but even if you get full points on all of these consecutively, the minute you get one bad grade for one quiz, suddenly your grade drops by a whole letter! HOW??!! Third: Terrible communication. This one is actually kind of funny. The man will communicate exactly what he doesn't want you to do with precision and even examples, all without EVER actually telling you what it is you should do because according to him, that's preventing you from learning because it's like giving you the answer. How am I supposed to know what to do then?! He'll be like, "Here's what I don't want you to do" and when you ask "okay then what should I do instead?" he'll give you the most ambiguous answer/non-answer ever and proceed to ask "does that make sense? Like NOOOO! You didn't answer the question!!! Honestly, this class has by far been the worst class I've ever taken at UMD. And I've taken his classes before. I mean, the man has always been bad but he's never been THIS bad. If you're an architecture major taking this class....well, it will make you question whether you're in the right major. It really doesn't help either that he's the only professor teaching this course. UMD needs to do better and fix this because it's pretty much a consensus at this point that structures with Professor Kleiss is like being thrown in a maze by yourself and told to figure your own way out because he sure as heck ain't helping.

Michael Kleiss
ARCH465

Expecting a B
Anonymous
01/29/2026

terrible class. very unorganized canvas, unserious professor. I only gave one star because I had no choice.

Ben Bilo
ARCH465

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
05/14/2025

Loved Ben, he taught the class better than the professor, and helped me to understand the material. He was very receptive to email and left helpful feedback on tests and other submissions.

Reviews for ARCH465