BMGT495 | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Clarence Wesley BMGT495 Expecting an A- Anonymous 11/19/2024	Professor Wesley is a relatively nice guy, and I am sure he did well in the industry, however, he is not fit to be an undergraduate professor. His lectures are extremely dry, his grading is aggressive and unclear, and his TA's grading is almost worse. I did appreciate that he took the time to leave comments, however he had no rubric or answer key to follow up. He has lengthy assignments each week, all of which require reading a 20-ish page case and completing a detailed matrix and/or quiz. He additionally does not allow laptops or tablets during class, so be prepared to write everything. Attendance is graded, and so is class participation. He only posts some of his slides, that have little to no detail, and does not share the useful ones. I am an A- to A+ student, and it was a struggle in this course. If you have to take this course make sure to go above and beyond from the beginning, or your grade will drop quickly. Also, be prepared for him to not give straight answers to any of your questions.
Clarence Wesley BMGT495 Expecting an A- Anonymous 08/07/2024	He is fine. His lectures were fine but not great. We had to read case studies which could be interesting but we had assignments based off them after each one. Would have been fine but he can be a tough grader. His feedback on assignments is generally confusing and unhelpful. But the class was not too hard. There was a lot of group work and a few group projects. I think there was one exam as the midterm which was not awful and you got a cheat sheet. Once again though, he can be a tough grader and usually expects something extremely specific, so do not expect a 100% on anything.
Gregory Marr BMGT495 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 06/18/2024	Professor Marr is passionate about the material but lacks structure in his class. While he makes the class conversational and engaging, he can get mad or passive-aggressive if you do not answer or give a "dumb" answer. He is very unclear about what he expects from you on the exams, so I would try to meet with the TA beforehand to get more information. The case write-ups aren't too bad, and the TA grades mostly based on completion. Make sure to run your presentation ideas through him because he rejected four of our group's ideas. When we finally had one he loved, researched thoroughly, and had a solid presentation on, he still gave us a 21/25. The group that did a horrible job got a 19/25, so he will just find reasons to take off points. When you ask him for feedback, he gives vague and rude responses. I would highly recommend trying to take a different professor, but if you can only take his class, it isn't the end of the world.
Evan Starr BMGT495 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/24/2024	I had Professor Starr in Fall of 2022. His course may be one of the only ones I've been in where the professor did not have to drag people to participate. He is interesting and fun, and explains things really well. I enjoyed that the class at times encouraged students to be interactive, allowing for the exploration of other ideas, logic, and perspectives. I also found Prof Starr to be kind, fair, and respectful.
Protiti Dastidar BMGT495 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/13/2024	One of the best professors I have ever had. She's a very smart woman, but also is great at teaching. We had more work than other 495 sections, but I might have spent 2-3 hours a week (maybe) on classwork. I learned a lot from her and a lot from this class.
Protiti Dastidar BMGT495 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/10/2024	I honestly don't know how she has good reviews. I specifically chose this professor because she "teaches you how to analyze macro-economic, industry, and company analysis" but that is simply untrue. Her assignments are super vague and her lectures give no guidance. She split everyone into teams the first week and then by the third week told us to create completely new teams that were incredibly important for the rest of the semester. Most of her important assignments and exams are essays, so she'll just give you whatever grade she wants no matter how much time and effort you put in. The first presentation in the class is supposed to be a practice one for the final presentation and that is graded so harshly. I asked what we did wrong, but she said she takes off a bunch of points so you improve more for the next one. (Good luck trying to figure out how to structure it because she won't tell you, but she'll take off points when it's not what she wants). She allocates a lot of time in class for group work. If you ask her for advice she'll tell you what to do for 10 minutes straight. Then, when you implement her ideas into your project, she will flip-flop and tell you why not to do those for another 10 minutes. I thought maybe she just hates me and that's why we consistently got Cs or worse on group assignments, but many other people felt the same. I asked how I can improve going forward because wasn't doing well in the class and said to "study harder." The only good things about this class are the weekly assignments that you get graded lightly on and don't take too long to do. Participation is worth 20% but you have no clue what she'll give you until she inputs the grade. (it's reading day and we don't have our participation grades yet). I wish I could go back when I had the chance to take a different professor and tell myself to avoid her at all costs. My girlfriend knows this class as "my hatered class" lol. I feel bad for all the students looking forward to this class like I was...
Roy Thomason BMGT495 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/09/2024	Roy definitely cared about his students learning and growth in this class. However he was kinda all over the place. Grading was never clear for case studies or presentations. The TA graded the case studys, which took forever and would take off tons of points even though minimal feedback was given. It was helpful that the professor connected class concepts to his work experience. Class discussions were pretty chill and just based off the case studys. No computers allowed and the professor just talked there were no slides to refer back to. The class itself isn't hard just the grading is annoying.
Roy Thomason BMGT495 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/09/2024	Seriously the best professor I've had in my college career. Such a chill and laidback guy. He really cares for students and want them to be successful. The discussions in class are engaging and loves to talk with students, willing to have the time for them. The amount of homework isn't too bad. You'd have weekly paper, answering questions based on the case work. You have two midterms and two presentations. Additionally, you'd go to Dingman's Pitch for participation credit. He has years of experiences in the working world and his insights are so valuable. I'm really glad to have him as my professor.
Protiti Dastidar BMGT495 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/06/2024	Professor D is one of the most unfair professors I have ever taken. The feedback you get - especially regarding the final group presentation - is often contradictory to what she told you the last time when she gave feedback. Meaning you never really feel like you have satisfied any requirement of the assignment. She also grades the midterm presentation on simply the slides alone. Meaning anything not on your slides, but in your script, will still get you points off - don't see a reason for presenting at all in that case. Classroom debates are often unorganized, and she will break your argument down to the weakest strawman possible in order to simply argue against it. Not sure where all the positive reviews are coming from, but save yourself the headache and steer clear of this professor if you value clarity, fairness, and timely feedback in your education.
Gregory Marr BMGT495 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 04/15/2024	Ok so i agree with some of these bad reviews but also with the good ones. to start with the good: - Marr's lectures are VERY entertaining, He is young, energetic, funny, and super knowlegable about the content - He does truly care about the subjects in class, which are actually useful and interesting - I feel that the class has actually helped me and I am learning useful things - I find myself getting envoloped in the class content, and time flies in the class if you actually enjoy the content - thr group project is actually super cool, picking a company and usuing what youve learned to find an innovative fix is super fun and creative! then, the bad: - the grading in this class is soooo unecessarly hard. I LOVE this class and the content, but somehow do bad on wirtten exams even though I lock in for every single lecture and study hard. - marr can get mean sometimes. Multiple times marr has been genuinely pissed off at one thing or another, and taken it out on students. I don't understand why he gets like this. my guess is that he is passionate about the content, and when students arent, it makes him mad. He will also low key make fun of you for giving a "dumb" answer - the weekly discussion posts and case write ups become monotinous, they are meant to invoke learning and creativity, but as soon as you realize no one actually reads the packback discussion posts, and the case write ups are SOOOO long, you just end up chat GPTing them and calling it a day take both of these into consideration, if you dont like the class content, BEWARE, beacuse marr just may not be for you!
Vineet Gambhir BMGT495 Anonymous 02/19/2024	He is so chill. We have class on zoom once a week that only lasts an hour. Barely any homework.
Waverly Ding BMGT495 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/31/2023	Most of your grade is left up to two large final assignments at the end of the semester that won't be graded on time. She expects perfect answers from students in class, and it isn't easy to pick up on solid concepts during lectures. Also will curve down your grade to maintain an acceptable average throughout her classes.
Clarence Wesley BMGT495 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/11/2023	Wesley's class apparently has no actual rubric or direction for the assignments that are a huge percentage, as well as a lack of connection to the established 495 curriculum. There is no guidance on how to do the matrixes or quizzes. Long amount of times on the weekends working on the matrixes and slides. On the final exam review day, he said to come with questions as he would not be able to answer them after that, and proceeded to not answer any questions. Also he had not actually written up an exam by the final exam review class. Would avoid taking him if possible.
Roy Thomason BMGT495 Expecting an A- Anonymous 10/02/2023	The professor overall seems like a nice guy, and his class discussions and demeanor come off like one of those dudes who constantly see on LinkedIn. He forced class to be pretty engaging and had lots of open-ended discussions but was very disorganized and vague. The TA in my class practically graded every single assignment for the class (totaling up to more than 70% of your total grade) and she was an awful TA and took points (like removing 30-50%) off assignments for minor things and will give no feedback/months to grade. Most classwork was written and was subjective so the grading by the TA screwed over most people's grades and the professor seems to have no input on the grading. Some of the other classes with chill TAs had a better experience
Roy Thomason BMGT495 Expecting an A- Anonymous 08/24/2023	Super nice guy but this class was unnecessarily hard. He assigns long cases every week and is slow to grade them. For your presentations, he will take off points for using filler words more than three times (ex. "um") and takes off points if everything in your presentation isn't visually flawless. I knew people who took other professors for BMGT495 and they didn't have as much work as Roy gave us. The class time is made up of discussions for the entire hour and 15 minutes and you get graded on participation, which isn't super fair to introverts. Maybe look to take this class with another professor if possible.
Nima Farshchi BMGT495 Expecting an A Anonymous 06/13/2023	An amazing course with an amazing professor! Nima really focuses on challenging students to get outside their comfort zone and think critically about relevant topics that students actually care about! He is super accommodating and understanding and makes the classroom environment engaging and comfortable! Absolutely recommend taking any of his courses!
Beril Yalcinkaya BMGT495 Expecting a B Anonymous 06/03/2023	She's an alright professor. Her slideshows are jam-packed and didn't encourage me to engage most of the time. Regardless, this is a relatively straightforward class. The grade consists of seven case study write-ups, three group presentations, six ELMS quizzes, and a final exam. The final exam consists of ~10 multiple-choice questions and two essay questions. For the essays, make sure you include any and all information that seems relevant to the question. She has an extremely intricate rubric that she uses, and each concept that you include is worth a small percentage of the essay grade. If you fail to include multiple concepts, your grade could be severely impacted.
Roy Thomason BMGT495 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/30/2023	A very disorganized class. The grade consists of case studies, two exams (written and open book), and two presentations (that he doesn't grade until the very last second). The case studies are give or take. They seem straight forward but when you get back the grade you don't know what you did wrong because the TA takes off points but doesn't tell you why or where you can improve. You have to email the TA to ask for feedback and they don't respond. The two exams were relatively easy (if you come to class and listen to the discussion you'll be fine). Now the presentations aren't hard but it really is dependent on whether or not you get a good team. If you get a terrible team, you're pretty must screwed for the entire semester because that is your team for the whole semester but if you get a good team, the presentation should be the easiest part of the class.
Protiti Dastidar BMGT495 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/25/2023	She teaches you how to analyze macro-economic, industry, and company analysis in a non-numerical fashion. This paired well with my other majors that are very number-focused. You will get lots of value from this class however that value will not be realized without you putting in a good bit of effort. Not an easy A but she gives plenty of time to work on assignments, offers lots of help in class and during office hours, and you will enjoy the debate-like conversation in class.
Nima Farshchi BMGT495 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/17/2023	The best. Class is a breeze and the prof is really knowledgeable. If you're interested in ESG, this is the class to take. However, there is a lot of group work and talking in front of the class, but it's not bad since the prof's really chill and understanding. Would recommend for 495
Marta Villamor Martin BMGT495 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/15/2023	Attendance is mandatory, you have to raise your hand and contribute to the class every day and make sure she writes your name down for participation, otherwise she will not count it. 3 group presentations, 2 are a video recording, and the final one is in-person and worth 20% of your grade. There's no midterm, the final is 30% of your grade and the average was a 70%, it's an essay question that she graded VERY harshly. She ended up curving the class almost 10% (I think because of how harsh she graded the final and because most people got 50/100 or 0/100 for participation- which is 7% of your grade). I don't feel like I learned much, and it was frustrating to have a final essay question worth 30% of your grade. Professor Villamor Martin is very kind, this was her first time teaching the course, I found myself engaged in class.
Marta Villamor Martin BMGT495 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/15/2023	If you want a good grade, just don't take this prof.
Roy Thomason BMGT495 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/13/2023	One of the best professors that I have had in the Business School. Very much a discussion-based class, but he creates and very comfortable and relaxed atmosphere. Only 2 exams, with 2 presentations as well. Weekly cases to read and write an analysis that helps prep for the exams. As long as you back up your opinions you should be getting good grades. Great professor and pretty easy for a 400-level class.
Nima Farshchi BMGT495 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/12/2023	A great, interactive, and caring prof! 495 is generally an annoying/boring class but he makes a great effort to connect with his students outside of the required work. I would 100% take him again and you won't regret his class! Assignments are also very straightforward.
Nima Farshchi BMGT495 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/10/2023	Nima is simply the best! Amazing teacher who is straightforward, kind, and caring. If you have the chance to take him DO!
Beril Yalcinkaya BMGT495 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/10/2023	Professor Beril does a great job of keeping the class interesting and is always available to answer questions. The class structure is heavy on case studies and group presentations. To succeed on assignments, be sure to double-check the detailed rubrics. Overall, if you are willing to put in the effort, I highly recommend this professor!
Marta Villamor Martin BMGT495 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/04/2023	Good professor and nice person. Class is graded pretty leniently
Waverly Ding BMGT495 Expecting an A Anonymous 02/20/2023	Not everybody's teaching style but she was very passionate and I thought made the class extremely interesting. Class isn't too intensive and mostly case studies which helps apply the material she's trying to teach. Def would take again if she was an option for my courses. grading is slow like other comments said though so prepare for that
Waverly Ding BMGT495 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/03/2023	Attendance for this class was mandatory but lessons were all over the place and didn't make any sense even when I tried to pay attention. The actual work is pretty easy, but it is currently January 2nd and I still don't have my final project graded, final exam graded, and the participation part of my grade isn't in.
Waverly Ding BMGT495 Expecting an A- Anonymous 01/02/2023	It is January 2nd and our finals grades have not been posted…
Waverly Ding BMGT495 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/28/2022	The lectures are fine. A little boring and basic but they help you learn the subject. Requires attendance with a daily entrance quiz. Awful grader, will take months to get stuff back to you. Took the final in mid November and now in late December still have no grade. Creates some anxiety having 60% of the outstanding grade up in the air well past when grades are due
Evan Starr BMGT495 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/25/2022	Great professor. He explains things in interesting ways and tries to make it relevant. His classes are really engaging without having to drag participation out of students, and it makes learning easier. He's a fair grader, maybe even a little generous. Do the work to get the grade you want. Reading required for short assignments can be pretty lengthy, but it's relevant to the course.
Protiti Dastidar BMGT495 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/24/2022	Prof. Dastidar was a great professor. 495 with her is a hard class, there is a lot of work involved, both group and individual work. But it's also been one of the most valuable I've taken. She does a lot of prepping you for the real world.
Protiti Dastidar BMGT495 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/24/2022	This professor creates an environment where you gain a lot that is applicable to the real world. The only issues are that: (1) grading takes very long for assignments, (2) your participation grade (20% weight) is unknown until the day grades are due which makes it difficult to improve, and (3) there is very little guidance for the semester-long group projects aside from a couple of example projects from past classes.
Clarence Wesley BMGT495 Anonymous 12/23/2022	Take Wesley's class if you like a B grade or like to spend tons of time on weekend for the case matrix and quizzes. He has a UMD guidance (Target GPA for the course is 3.25) to follow; however, his students has no guidances to follow in the case matrix and other writings. It would be a fortune if he gave you 85% score on those assignments or questions in writing. The only 100% score you can get is the multiple choices in the final exam when you select the correct answer. The final exam grade and final grade were out on the same day, the last day of semester. He told us not to ask for a grade change since he curved the two presentations. Otherwise, you would get lower grade.
Clarence Wesley BMGT495 Anonymous 12/23/2022	Take Wesley's class if you like a B grade and like to spend a lot of time especially on weekend for the case matrix and quizzes. A UMD guidance he did follow is to give a 3.30 GPA for this class. However, there is no guidances or rubrics for the quizzes and case matrix for his students. It is a fortune if you get a 85% grade on any of them. The only 100% you can hit is the multiple choices in the final exam when you select the correct answer. The final exam which was taken before Thanksgiving and final grade came out on the last day of the semester. He told us not to ask for a final grade change since he curved for the presentation projects, he would lower our grade otherwise.
Clarence Wesley BMGT495 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/21/2022	Very frustrating taking BMGT 495 with Professor Wesley, I signed up to take this course with him due to positive reviews, however they proved not to be true or accurate. The assignments were very time consuming - which is fine, but significant effort and high quality work was not rewarded by his grading. Professor Wesley never gave 100% on any assignments, except 1. Grades on every assignment are so random, some weeks I would receive the high grade of an A, other weeks I was given a low B despite my work quality and effort being the same level, if not even higher. Everyone in the class felt their grades were completely random. He gave no individual feedback on any of these assignments and never went over his grading/what he was looking for in class. It was impossible to know what he wanted or what he was looking for in these assignments, when we had our first ever assignment, which had extremely little guidance, someone asked for a model or past example he went on to explain that is totally against policy. Everyone was always struggling to understand what he was looking for in these assignments. He grades participation in this class, I participated every single class period and shared my work in front of the class yet did not get full participation points - don't know what else he could've wanted. He then proceeded to tell us not to bother him by asking questions about our team project as he would be drunk and golfing. Each class consisted of him putting a list of questions on the board and telling us to talk about it with our neighbor, we would and he would repeat the exact same question and tell us to talk about it with our partner as if we hadn't just done that and that would go on for the entire hour and 15 minutes. He would give looks to people who finished their conversations early as if they were slacking off, yet we had spent the entire class period talking about the same topics over and over again. We took our final before Thanksgiving but he didn't put in our grades until the last day of final exams and proceeded to tell us not to ask him about grades or ask for a grade change despite participating or else he would lower our grades. I know I speak on behalf of others when I say it was a very frustrating class, and true hard work and effort that resulted in high-quality work were not given appropriate and fair grades. Take with another professor.
Clarence Wesley BMGT495 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/28/2022	Overall, Wesley is a fair grader and you know what to expect every class and HW assignment. Every week you fillout a case matrix after doing a reading. The readings look scary at 20-30 pages each but as long as you have a couple key points and a general summary you'll be okay- it's not about the finer details, more about general ideas. Classes are heavily discussion and participation based.
Waverly Ding BMGT495 Expecting an A- Anonymous 10/22/2022	I had Professor Waverly for spring 2021. She was an engaging professor that wants to help. Her lessons are clear, engaging, and very serious. My general advice for this class is that if you want to be good, FOCUS and take good notes, and try to participate as much as possible (asking and answering questions, attending office hours, group projects, etc.) Dr. Ding was great!
Waverly Ding BMGT495 Anonymous 10/20/2022	She always took the time to answer our questions and kept us engaged. She is strict, but her classes are very engaging, and as long as you focus, take good notes and participate you will do well. Remember that this is a business class and not something else, so come here with some seriousness and good intentions. Overall, Dr. Ding was great!
Clarence Wesley BMGT495 Anonymous 10/19/2022	If you don't want to spend your Sunday's reading 10-30 pages of an article which you then write about either via quiz or something called a case matrix, then go on to discuss your findings with your classmates the next week of class, don't take Wesley for BMGT495. He is a very lenient grader which I appreciate, but the way he teaches the course is just not optimal for the students. Participation is close to 15% of your grade, so it is important to show up to class and speak even though the entire 1 hour and 15 minute class period is repetitive and discouraging for students to stay attentive. He does this thing called analog time where you cannot use your laptops or phones at all and I'd say 90% of the course is probably spent on "analog time". He also provides feedback for the entire class on assignments and not particular to any individual's work, making his feedback useless. So, if you want a nice, easygoing semester of BMGT495, I recommend looking for other professors.
Jainaba Ceesay BMGT495 Expecting a B Anonymous 09/01/2022	The professor is personally nice but her class is not organized at all. The submission box to submit an assignment wouldn't be open unless you went and remind the TA and the professor. The workload isn't that much and the exams are not that hard if you read the cases.
Roy Thomason BMGT495 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 06/16/2022	All around the best. He truly wants to see his students succeed throughout the semester and beyond.
Clarence Wesley BMGT495 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/19/2022	Clarence was overall a good teacher, very by the book and told some funny Dad jokes. We did a lot of case studies and group presentations. My only qualm is the fact that Professor Wesley grades us in regards to our peers. So if someone does really well and others can't match that performance we are not scored as high. Additionally, the comments he leaves for quizzes and exams are based on the entires classes performance and not your individual performance. This is a bit upsetting because you do not get individualized feedback. Overall, he is a good professor, but I would not say an "easy A".
Roy Thomason BMGT495 Anonymous 05/02/2022	One of the best professors I've had at UMD. Going to class is necessary and mostly lecture-based. If you pay attention you will grow as a student and get a good grade in the class. He cares about his students success!
Donna Howell BMGT495 Expecting an A Anonymous 04/30/2022	Professor Howell has worked in business for a long time, and you can tell because she uses a ridiculous amount of meaningless business jargon. She would talk a lot without actually saying anything meaningful or helpful. This made it difficult pretty difficult to understand some of the content, and that was made worse by the fact that she clearly didn't understand all of the content either. Going to class is helpful, but it is one of the most boring classes I've taken. Most of the material is stuff that has been taught in other classes and it really doesn't feel like it should be a required class. The positive part is that Professor Howell is a pretty easy grader, as long as you can understand what she's asking of you.
Michael Geppi BMGT495 Expecting an A Anonymous 04/26/2022	I'm honestly pretty shocked that Professor Geppi hasn't been reviewed yet. I had Prof G for BMGT 495 and he was overall a pretty good Professor. He is passionate about the course content and is engaging, but think he could be better at explaining the content itself. He also tends to go off topic and ramble but he's a good man. Would prob take again.
Michael Geppi BMGT495 Expecting an A Anonymous 04/14/2022	This class was seriously the most useless and disorganized class I've ever taken at the business school. Professor Geppi was simultaneously running a startup as he taught (which he talked about excessively in class) and he clearly prioritized his company and did not have time to teach. He consistently canceled class, moved classes online, and gave us bs excuses as to why he couldn't come in. Some days he would leave us with busy work to complete and leave the class an hour early. On other days he wouldn't even announce that he wasn't coming in, we had to find out that he didn't show up from the class he taught before us. I had no idea what was going on in this class this whole semester and I absolutely did not learn a single thing about strategic management that I couldn't figure out on my own using common sense. 495 itself contained a group project that we had to do presentations on. During my group's presentation, this man wasn't even paying attention and was on his phone the whole time. He also embarrassed a few groups in front of the class and called it a teaching moment. If you want an easy A this class and professor is for you, just be prepared for a lot of frustration.
Roy Thomason BMGT495 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 02/02/2022	Roy is by far one of the BEST professors at UMD. He is caring, understanding, and overall extremely helpful. He wants all students to succeed and gives us the opportunities and resources to do so. The course itself was very enjoyable, it consists of evaluating different case studies. You do have to participate in class , but attendance wasn't always a big deal. There aren't many assignments and if you listen, participate, and ask questions then it is very easy to get an A in this class.
Waverly Ding BMGT495 Expecting a P Anonymous 12/24/2021	The absolute WORST! I don't know what she trying to pull but put in my final grade? Stop trying to give it to me like a Merry Christmas present! I know I am passing this class but her grading is so arbitrary, gives us no time on exams, and it's almost like she wants us to hate her. She refuses to teach half the time, telling us to get into groups by ourselves and start projects, and this was supposed to be my easy class!! I wanted an A/A+ and she made my semester very bad. Wish I can give her 0/5 stars.
Roy Thomason BMGT495 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/05/2021	Probably the NICEST PROFESSOR I EVER HAD. He is always so positive and encourages us to share our thoughts and opinions. This course itself is made for us to think like managers, Roy took it to the next level and created a great environment where I felt comfortable to actually discuss strategy and companies. He genuinely wants students to succeed and is always there to attend to their concerns.
Waverly Ding BMGT495 Anonymous 11/08/2021	IF I COULD GIVE HER A LOWER GRADE I WOULD. I cant even explain in enough words how furious I am right now, this woman literally didn't attach a rubric to the midterm exam and then graded our exams based on said rubric that she LITERALLY made up and did not show us. She deducted 15 out of 50 points on my first questions because I neglected to talk about an entire section that I DIDNT KNOW I HAD TO TALK ABOUT BECAUSE I DIDNT HAVE THE RUBRIC and my grade dropped 10% in the entire class. Im taking 18 credits and this was supposed to be the bs class. Also She refuses to answer emails for at least a week to let everyone's "emotions settle" anyways, ill be raging hell a week from now. People told me not to take her but I did because I was like how bad can it be the class is so easy. Correct, but she genuinely wants me to hate her I guess
Waverly Ding BMGT495 Anonymous 05/19/2021	I had Waverly for BMGT495 online during Spring 2021. We had three group presentations. Content was thrown at you and you were expected to apply it to case write-ups, not the clearest expectations. She didn't make much effort to really engage with us, but I guess that wasn't her main goal, she gives off a very serious, professional vibe. Exams were open note, mainly essay-based and graded a bit arbitrarily.
Protiti Dastidar BMGT495 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/28/2020	This teacher takes the class seriously and was great at preparing us for the real world. This class was a lot of work, some assignments graded easily while others strictly with many assignments due on Sundays, and massive group projects. Compared to friends of mine taking this course with other professors, their workload was significantly less, but it also seems they got less out of the class than I did. This class is great for real-life preparation, while it sounds as though other BMGT495 professors are an easier route to take, but you will not get the same experience.
Clarence Wesley BMGT495 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/16/2020	This teacher was awesome. A very fair grader and super understanding. The weekly course load was low stress as you only had to submit either a case matrix or take a mini quiz before class. The only downside is that you take the quiz without going over the material first, you just read the Harvard publishing review of the case and use a framework to answer the quiz. The class is based on participation with the camera on, but honestly that was not too bad as the information was not dull and the class was not recorded so you could not go back to look through information. Also participation is mandatory for any 495 class but he was a bit more understanding of the introverts in the class, but I still recommend participating for full understanding. There was only one exam, but it was honestly just a longer version of the quizzes we take each week so not too hard and he tells you about the cases and the frameworks before hand. Overall, great class and teacher, would totally recommend!
Protiti Dastidar BMGT495 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/20/2020	Great professor! The class was super engaging and thought-provoking. Definitely among my favorite Smith School courses.
Mo Chen BMGT495 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/16/2019	Best professor ever! She is a very good person.
Mo Chen BMGT495 Expecting an F Anonymous 12/15/2019	Mo Chen is, without a doubt, one of the worst professors at the University of Maryland, College Park. She is a disgrace to her profession and has no business teaching a course at this university. I have little respect for her teaching style, grading methods, and intellectual ability. Once again, a disgrace to her field.
Aswani Valiveti BMGT495 Expecting an A- Anonymous 02/28/2019	This is the worst professor I have ever taken, avoid like the plague. Completely incompetent
Evan Starr BMGT495 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/25/2018	Good professor, makes classes interesting through real-world examples and case studies. Encourages discussion rather than lecturing at people. He is a tough grader though and will not hesitate to mark people down for small mistakes.
Paulo Prochno BMGT495 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/06/2014	He is really relaxed, so much so that he barely teaches us. Half the classes we just met up with our group and talked about our final project, which is only going to be a 6-minute presentation. The tests are really easy, because there are so few terms for the course. However, he does get a little particular about the case reflection papers. Be careful to think through them and not just throw useless information, because you will lose points. He also compares your paper to the rest of the class, which is weird.
James Spina BMGT495 Expecting an A Anonymous 09/23/2012	I do not understand how this professor's ratings are so high, as I thought this class was very poorly taught and even more poorly structured. Half of your grade is based on group performance in Capsim (an online business simulation), and several writeups and a presentation relating to your performance in the simulation. Your performance is not graded fairly, as he simply bases your score relative to the others in the class, as opposed to grading every group objectively (this was an issue in our class where one group did extremely well, thereby making the other groups look terrible and as a result, each of the other groups got lower-than-justified grades). As for the writeups and presentation, it seems as though Spina has no clear grading method, as he is not able to justify the grades he gives. You are likely to get about an 85% on each assignment, but if you complain that he did not give you any feedback, he will always reply with something along the lines of "in the real world, you won't be spoon-fed the answers, you just have to infer what to do if you are given no directions". Other assignments include a midterm (you will not do well, as he does not teach what was on it since other professors create the exam, and the latter group actually prepares their classes for the exam), a final (very easy, as it is just doing the Capsim simulation yourself without your group), and attendance-based participation. I would avoid Spina as he is just too disorganized, does not give adequate feedback, and has an awful and random grading system. You will unquestionably leave this class feeling like you learned nothing. The most you will get is a bit of anger that the business school is requiring you to take this course, and a bit more anger with the fact that Spina is teaching it.
Gosia Langa BMGT495 Anonymous 05/13/2012	What a dumb professor. She hasn't had any corporate or worthwhile experience and she's trying to teach me about business? Add into how she talks about her nonexistent dating life and you have the makings of a terrible class. Seriously though Langa, you need to be more professional.
Jonathan Aberman BMGT495 Anonymous 12/17/2011	I love this professor! He is entertaining and funny, but he's also smart and has the ability to engage his students with active participation in discussion of business topics. He has an extensive educational background, but he's down to earth cool, knows his material well, and is an expert at off-the-cuff remarks and humor, which makes class delightful. Awesome class. Brilliant!
Jonathan Aberman BMGT495 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/06/2011	LOVE LOVE LOVE this course. Professor Aberman relates the topics to the real world to stress the importance of truly understanding and being able to apply them. He treats us like adults, with more respect than I've ever received from any other professor. And, he's fun; class is fun to go to. I wish I could take more classes with him - he's phenomenal!
James Spina BMGT495 Expecting an A toiletpaper55 05/24/2011	i took this professor exclusively because of the great reviews on here. it ended up being my only B at the university of maryland. be warned, this class is not as great as the reviews say. full review to come later...
Jonathan Aberman BMGT495 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/21/2011	Best 495 teacher ever!! You will not be disappointed. He is hilarious, and his lectures are interesting.
David Kressler BMGT495 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/13/2010	This is the most incompetent teacher I have ever had. Unable to use a computer and send out simple emails, but teaches a class that is mostly computer based. Thinks the class is wrong when he makes stupid mistakes. Grades unnecessarily hard.
Gosia Langa BMGT495 Anonymous 05/22/2010	Whenever we have problems with capsim, she always says call capsim, she never try to help us. The only time she gave us advice it was wrong. We asked her if we could produce new product for our company in the very early round, she told us it was too late. Our company would be so much profitable if we didn't listen to her. She also graded us unfair. We got a lower score in the later rounds when we were doing so much better.
Gosia Langa BMGT495 Anonymous 05/22/2010	She is the worst professor I have ever had in my life. Don't take her class. She is so biased. Everything in this class is group work. If you are in a group with all the smart students, she always give you good grade no matter what you do, even if you don't do anything. Capsim is a online game require a lot of work. And the grade she give is totally unfair. Participation, current even notebook, everything in her class is not fair. And she doesn't treat students with respect.
James Spina BMGT495 Reawen 03/21/2008	Great Class. Completed last Fall. Highly recommend Dr. spina.

Clarence Wesley
BMGT495

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
11/19/2024

Professor Wesley is a relatively nice guy, and I am sure he did well in the industry, however, he is not fit to be an undergraduate professor. His lectures are extremely dry, his grading is aggressive and unclear, and his TA's grading is almost worse. I did appreciate that he took the time to leave comments, however he had no rubric or answer key to follow up. He has lengthy assignments each week, all of which require reading a 20-ish page case and completing a detailed matrix and/or quiz. He additionally does not allow laptops or tablets during class, so be prepared to write everything. Attendance is graded, and so is class participation. He only posts some of his slides, that have little to no detail, and does not share the useful ones. I am an A- to A+ student, and it was a struggle in this course. If you have to take this course make sure to go above and beyond from the beginning, or your grade will drop quickly. Also, be prepared for him to not give straight answers to any of your questions.

Clarence Wesley
BMGT495

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
08/07/2024

He is fine. His lectures were fine but not great. We had to read case studies which could be interesting but we had assignments based off them after each one. Would have been fine but he can be a tough grader. His feedback on assignments is generally confusing and unhelpful. But the class was not too hard. There was a lot of group work and a few group projects. I think there was one exam as the midterm which was not awful and you got a cheat sheet. Once again though, he can be a tough grader and usually expects something extremely specific, so do not expect a 100% on anything.

Gregory Marr
BMGT495

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
06/18/2024

Professor Marr is passionate about the material but lacks structure in his class. While he makes the class conversational and engaging, he can get mad or passive-aggressive if you do not answer or give a "dumb" answer. He is very unclear about what he expects from you on the exams, so I would try to meet with the TA beforehand to get more information. The case write-ups aren't too bad, and the TA grades mostly based on completion. Make sure to run your presentation ideas through him because he rejected four of our group's ideas. When we finally had one he loved, researched thoroughly, and had a solid presentation on, he still gave us a 21/25. The group that did a horrible job got a 19/25, so he will just find reasons to take off points. When you ask him for feedback, he gives vague and rude responses. I would highly recommend trying to take a different professor, but if you can only take his class, it isn't the end of the world.

Evan Starr
BMGT495

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/24/2024

I had Professor Starr in Fall of 2022. His course may be one of the only ones I've been in where the professor did not have to drag people to participate. He is interesting and fun, and explains things really well. I enjoyed that the class at times encouraged students to be interactive, allowing for the exploration of other ideas, logic, and perspectives. I also found Prof Starr to be kind, fair, and respectful.

Protiti Dastidar
BMGT495

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/13/2024

One of the best professors I have ever had. She's a very smart woman, but also is great at teaching. We had more work than other 495 sections, but I might have spent 2-3 hours a week (maybe) on classwork. I learned a lot from her and a lot from this class.

Protiti Dastidar
BMGT495

Expecting a B
Anonymous
05/10/2024

I honestly don't know how she has good reviews. I specifically chose this professor because she "teaches you how to analyze macro-economic, industry, and company analysis" but that is simply untrue. Her assignments are super vague and her lectures give no guidance. She split everyone into teams the first week and then by the third week told us to create completely new teams that were incredibly important for the rest of the semester. Most of her important assignments and exams are essays, so she'll just give you whatever grade she wants no matter how much time and effort you put in. The first presentation in the class is supposed to be a practice one for the final presentation and that is graded so harshly. I asked what we did wrong, but she said she takes off a bunch of points so you improve more for the next one. (Good luck trying to figure out how to structure it because she won't tell you, but she'll take off points when it's not what she wants). She allocates a lot of time in class for group work. If you ask her for advice she'll tell you what to do for 10 minutes straight. Then, when you implement her ideas into your project, she will flip-flop and tell you why not to do those for another 10 minutes. I thought maybe she just hates me and that's why we consistently got Cs or worse on group assignments, but many other people felt the same. I asked how I can improve going forward because wasn't doing well in the class and said to "study harder." The only good things about this class are the weekly assignments that you get graded lightly on and don't take too long to do. Participation is worth 20% but you have no clue what she'll give you until she inputs the grade. (it's reading day and we don't have our participation grades yet). I wish I could go back when I had the chance to take a different professor and tell myself to avoid her at all costs. My girlfriend knows this class as "my hatered class" lol. I feel bad for all the students looking forward to this class like I was...

Roy Thomason
BMGT495

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
05/09/2024

Roy definitely cared about his students learning and growth in this class. However he was kinda all over the place. Grading was never clear for case studies or presentations. The TA graded the case studys, which took forever and would take off tons of points even though minimal feedback was given. It was helpful that the professor connected class concepts to his work experience. Class discussions were pretty chill and just based off the case studys. No computers allowed and the professor just talked there were no slides to refer back to. The class itself isn't hard just the grading is annoying.

Roy Thomason
BMGT495

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/09/2024

Seriously the best professor I've had in my college career. Such a chill and laidback guy. He really cares for students and want them to be successful. The discussions in class are engaging and loves to talk with students, willing to have the time for them. The amount of homework isn't too bad. You'd have weekly paper, answering questions based on the case work. You have two midterms and two presentations. Additionally, you'd go to Dingman's Pitch for participation credit. He has years of experiences in the working world and his insights are so valuable. I'm really glad to have him as my professor.

Protiti Dastidar
BMGT495

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
05/06/2024

Professor D is one of the most unfair professors I have ever taken. The feedback you get - especially regarding the final group presentation - is often contradictory to what she told you the last time when she gave feedback. Meaning you never really feel like you have satisfied any requirement of the assignment. She also grades the midterm presentation on simply the slides alone. Meaning anything not on your slides, but in your script, will still get you points off - don't see a reason for presenting at all in that case. Classroom debates are often unorganized, and she will break your argument down to the weakest strawman possible in order to simply argue against it. Not sure where all the positive reviews are coming from, but save yourself the headache and steer clear of this professor if you value clarity, fairness, and timely feedback in your education.

Gregory Marr
BMGT495

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
04/15/2024

Ok so i agree with some of these bad reviews but also with the good ones. to start with the good: - Marr's lectures are VERY entertaining, He is young, energetic, funny, and super knowlegable about the content - He does truly care about the subjects in class, which are actually useful and interesting - I feel that the class has actually helped me and I am learning useful things - I find myself getting envoloped in the class content, and time flies in the class if you actually enjoy the content - thr group project is actually super cool, picking a company and usuing what youve learned to find an innovative fix is super fun and creative! then, the bad: - the grading in this class is soooo unecessarly hard. I LOVE this class and the content, but somehow do bad on wirtten exams even though I lock in for every single lecture and study hard. - marr can get mean sometimes. Multiple times marr has been genuinely pissed off at one thing or another, and taken it out on students. I don't understand why he gets like this. my guess is that he is passionate about the content, and when students arent, it makes him mad. He will also low key make fun of you for giving a "dumb" answer - the weekly discussion posts and case write ups become monotinous, they are meant to invoke learning and creativity, but as soon as you realize no one actually reads the packback discussion posts, and the case write ups are SOOOO long, you just end up chat GPTing them and calling it a day take both of these into consideration, if you dont like the class content, BEWARE, beacuse marr just may not be for you!

Vineet Gambhir
BMGT495

Anonymous
02/19/2024

He is so chill. We have class on zoom once a week that only lasts an hour. Barely any homework.

Waverly Ding
BMGT495

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
12/31/2023

Most of your grade is left up to two large final assignments at the end of the semester that won't be graded on time. She expects perfect answers from students in class, and it isn't easy to pick up on solid concepts during lectures. Also will curve down your grade to maintain an acceptable average throughout her classes.

Clarence Wesley
BMGT495

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
12/11/2023

Wesley's class apparently has no actual rubric or direction for the assignments that are a huge percentage, as well as a lack of connection to the established 495 curriculum. There is no guidance on how to do the matrixes or quizzes. Long amount of times on the weekends working on the matrixes and slides. On the final exam review day, he said to come with questions as he would not be able to answer them after that, and proceeded to not answer any questions. Also he had not actually written up an exam by the final exam review class. Would avoid taking him if possible.

Roy Thomason
BMGT495

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
10/02/2023

The professor overall seems like a nice guy, and his class discussions and demeanor come off like one of those dudes who constantly see on LinkedIn. He forced class to be pretty engaging and had lots of open-ended discussions but was very disorganized and vague. The TA in my class practically graded every single assignment for the class (totaling up to more than 70% of your total grade) and she was an awful TA and took points (like removing 30-50%) off assignments for minor things and will give no feedback/months to grade. Most classwork was written and was subjective so the grading by the TA screwed over most people's grades and the professor seems to have no input on the grading. Some of the other classes with chill TAs had a better experience

Roy Thomason
BMGT495

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
08/24/2023

Super nice guy but this class was unnecessarily hard. He assigns long cases every week and is slow to grade them. For your presentations, he will take off points for using filler words more than three times (ex. "um") and takes off points if everything in your presentation isn't visually flawless. I knew people who took other professors for BMGT495 and they didn't have as much work as Roy gave us. The class time is made up of discussions for the entire hour and 15 minutes and you get graded on participation, which isn't super fair to introverts. Maybe look to take this class with another professor if possible.

Nima Farshchi
BMGT495

Expecting an A
Anonymous
06/13/2023

An amazing course with an amazing professor! Nima really focuses on challenging students to get outside their comfort zone and think critically about relevant topics that students actually care about! He is super accommodating and understanding and makes the classroom environment engaging and comfortable! Absolutely recommend taking any of his courses!

Beril Yalcinkaya
BMGT495

Expecting a B
Anonymous
06/03/2023

She's an alright professor. Her slideshows are jam-packed and didn't encourage me to engage most of the time. Regardless, this is a relatively straightforward class. The grade consists of seven case study write-ups, three group presentations, six ELMS quizzes, and a final exam. The final exam consists of ~10 multiple-choice questions and two essay questions. For the essays, make sure you include any and all information that seems relevant to the question. She has an extremely intricate rubric that she uses, and each concept that you include is worth a small percentage of the essay grade. If you fail to include multiple concepts, your grade could be severely impacted.

Roy Thomason
BMGT495

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
05/30/2023

A very disorganized class. The grade consists of case studies, two exams (written and open book), and two presentations (that he doesn't grade until the very last second). The case studies are give or take. They seem straight forward but when you get back the grade you don't know what you did wrong because the TA takes off points but doesn't tell you why or where you can improve. You have to email the TA to ask for feedback and they don't respond. The two exams were relatively easy (if you come to class and listen to the discussion you'll be fine). Now the presentations aren't hard but it really is dependent on whether or not you get a good team. If you get a terrible team, you're pretty must screwed for the entire semester because that is your team for the whole semester but if you get a good team, the presentation should be the easiest part of the class.

Protiti Dastidar
BMGT495

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/25/2023

She teaches you how to analyze macro-economic, industry, and company analysis in a non-numerical fashion. This paired well with my other majors that are very number-focused. You will get lots of value from this class however that value will not be realized without you putting in a good bit of effort. Not an easy A but she gives plenty of time to work on assignments, offers lots of help in class and during office hours, and you will enjoy the debate-like conversation in class.

Nima Farshchi
BMGT495

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/17/2023

The best. Class is a breeze and the prof is really knowledgeable. If you're interested in ESG, this is the class to take. However, there is a lot of group work and talking in front of the class, but it's not bad since the prof's really chill and understanding. Would recommend for 495

Marta Villamor Martin
BMGT495

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
05/15/2023

Attendance is mandatory, you have to raise your hand and contribute to the class every day and make sure she writes your name down for participation, otherwise she will not count it. 3 group presentations, 2 are a video recording, and the final one is in-person and worth 20% of your grade. There's no midterm, the final is 30% of your grade and the average was a 70%, it's an essay question that she graded VERY harshly. She ended up curving the class almost 10% (I think because of how harsh she graded the final and because most people got 50/100 or 0/100 for participation- which is 7% of your grade). I don't feel like I learned much, and it was frustrating to have a final essay question worth 30% of your grade. Professor Villamor Martin is very kind, this was her first time teaching the course, I found myself engaged in class.

Marta Villamor Martin
BMGT495

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
05/15/2023

If you want a good grade, just don't take this prof.

Roy Thomason
BMGT495

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/13/2023

One of the best professors that I have had in the Business School. Very much a discussion-based class, but he creates and very comfortable and relaxed atmosphere. Only 2 exams, with 2 presentations as well. Weekly cases to read and write an analysis that helps prep for the exams. As long as you back up your opinions you should be getting good grades. Great professor and pretty easy for a 400-level class.

Nima Farshchi
BMGT495

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/12/2023

A great, interactive, and caring prof! 495 is generally an annoying/boring class but he makes a great effort to connect with his students outside of the required work. I would 100% take him again and you won't regret his class! Assignments are also very straightforward.

Nima Farshchi
BMGT495

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/10/2023

Nima is simply the best! Amazing teacher who is straightforward, kind, and caring. If you have the chance to take him DO!

Beril Yalcinkaya
BMGT495

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/10/2023

Professor Beril does a great job of keeping the class interesting and is always available to answer questions. The class structure is heavy on case studies and group presentations. To succeed on assignments, be sure to double-check the detailed rubrics. Overall, if you are willing to put in the effort, I highly recommend this professor!

Marta Villamor Martin
BMGT495

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/04/2023

Good professor and nice person. Class is graded pretty leniently

Waverly Ding
BMGT495

Expecting an A
Anonymous
02/20/2023

Not everybody's teaching style but she was very passionate and I thought made the class extremely interesting. Class isn't too intensive and mostly case studies which helps apply the material she's trying to teach. Def would take again if she was an option for my courses. grading is slow like other comments said though so prepare for that

Waverly Ding
BMGT495

Expecting an A
Anonymous
01/03/2023

Attendance for this class was mandatory but lessons were all over the place and didn't make any sense even when I tried to pay attention. The actual work is pretty easy, but it is currently January 2nd and I still don't have my final project graded, final exam graded, and the participation part of my grade isn't in.

Waverly Ding
BMGT495

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
01/02/2023

It is January 2nd and our finals grades have not been posted…

Waverly Ding
BMGT495

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/28/2022

The lectures are fine. A little boring and basic but they help you learn the subject. Requires attendance with a daily entrance quiz. Awful grader, will take months to get stuff back to you. Took the final in mid November and now in late December still have no grade. Creates some anxiety having 60% of the outstanding grade up in the air well past when grades are due

Evan Starr
BMGT495

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/25/2022

Great professor. He explains things in interesting ways and tries to make it relevant. His classes are really engaging without having to drag participation out of students, and it makes learning easier. He's a fair grader, maybe even a little generous. Do the work to get the grade you want. Reading required for short assignments can be pretty lengthy, but it's relevant to the course.

Protiti Dastidar
BMGT495

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/24/2022

Prof. Dastidar was a great professor. 495 with her is a *hard* class, there is a lot of work involved, both group and individual work. But it's also been one of the most valuable I've taken. She does a lot of prepping you for the real world.

Protiti Dastidar
BMGT495

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
12/24/2022

This professor creates an environment where you gain a lot that is applicable to the real world. The only issues are that: (1) grading takes very long for assignments, (2) your participation grade (20% weight) is unknown until the day grades are due which makes it difficult to improve, and (3) there is very little guidance for the semester-long group projects aside from a couple of example projects from past classes.

Clarence Wesley
BMGT495

Anonymous
12/23/2022

Take Wesley's class if you like a B grade or like to spend tons of time on weekend for the case matrix and quizzes. He has a UMD guidance (Target GPA for the course is 3.25) to follow; however, his students has no guidances to follow in the case matrix and other writings. It would be a fortune if he gave you 85% score on those assignments or questions in writing. The only 100% score you can get is the multiple choices in the final exam when you select the correct answer. The final exam grade and final grade were out on the same day, the last day of semester. He told us not to ask for a grade change since he curved the two presentations. Otherwise, you would get lower grade.

Clarence Wesley
BMGT495

Anonymous
12/23/2022

Take Wesley's class if you like a B grade and like to spend a lot of time especially on weekend for the case matrix and quizzes. A UMD guidance he did follow is to give a 3.30 GPA for this class. However, there is no guidances or rubrics for the quizzes and case matrix for his students. It is a fortune if you get a 85% grade on any of them. The only 100% you can hit is the multiple choices in the final exam when you select the correct answer. The final exam which was taken before Thanksgiving and final grade came out on the last day of the semester. He told us not to ask for a final grade change since he curved for the presentation projects, he would lower our grade otherwise.

Clarence Wesley
BMGT495

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/21/2022

Very frustrating taking BMGT 495 with Professor Wesley, I signed up to take this course with him due to positive reviews, however they proved not to be true or accurate. The assignments were very time consuming - which is fine, but significant effort and high quality work was not rewarded by his grading. Professor Wesley never gave 100% on any assignments, except 1. Grades on every assignment are so random, some weeks I would receive the high grade of an A, other weeks I was given a low B despite my work quality and effort being the same level, if not even higher. Everyone in the class felt their grades were completely random. He gave no individual feedback on any of these assignments and never went over his grading/what he was looking for in class. It was impossible to know what he wanted or what he was looking for in these assignments, when we had our first ever assignment, which had extremely little guidance, someone asked for a model or past example he went on to explain that is totally against policy. Everyone was always struggling to understand what he was looking for in these assignments. He grades participation in this class, I participated every single class period and shared my work in front of the class yet did not get full participation points - don't know what else he could've wanted. He then proceeded to tell us not to bother him by asking questions about our team project as he would be drunk and golfing. Each class consisted of him putting a list of questions on the board and telling us to talk about it with our neighbor, we would and he would repeat the exact same question and tell us to talk about it with our partner as if we hadn't just done that and that would go on for the entire hour and 15 minutes. He would give looks to people who finished their conversations early as if they were slacking off, yet we had spent the entire class period talking about the same topics over and over again. We took our final before Thanksgiving but he didn't put in our grades until the last day of final exams and proceeded to tell us not to ask him about grades or ask for a grade change despite participating or else he would lower our grades. I know I speak on behalf of others when I say it was a very frustrating class, and true hard work and effort that resulted in high-quality work were not given appropriate and fair grades. Take with another professor.

Clarence Wesley
BMGT495

Expecting an A
Anonymous
11/28/2022

Overall, Wesley is a fair grader and you know what to expect every class and HW assignment. Every week you fillout a case matrix after doing a reading. The readings look scary at 20-30 pages each but as long as you have a couple key points and a general summary you'll be okay- it's not about the finer details, more about general ideas. Classes are heavily discussion and participation based.

Waverly Ding
BMGT495

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
10/22/2022

I had Professor Waverly for spring 2021. She was an engaging professor that *wants* to help. Her lessons are clear, engaging, and very serious. My general advice for this class is that if you want to be good, FOCUS and take good notes, and try to participate as much as possible (asking and answering questions, attending office hours, group projects, etc.) Dr. Ding was great!

Waverly Ding
BMGT495

Anonymous
10/20/2022

She always took the time to answer our questions and kept us engaged. She is strict, but her classes are very engaging, and as long as you focus, take good notes and participate you will do well. Remember that this is a business class and not something else, so come here with some seriousness and good intentions. Overall, Dr. Ding was great!

Clarence Wesley
BMGT495

Anonymous
10/19/2022

If you don't want to spend your Sunday's reading 10-30 pages of an article which you then write about either via quiz or something called a case matrix, then go on to discuss your findings with your classmates the next week of class, don't take Wesley for BMGT495. He is a very lenient grader which I appreciate, but the way he teaches the course is just not optimal for the students. Participation is close to 15% of your grade, so it is important to show up to class and speak even though the entire 1 hour and 15 minute class period is repetitive and discouraging for students to stay attentive. He does this thing called analog time where you cannot use your laptops or phones at all and I'd say 90% of the course is probably spent on "analog time". He also provides feedback for the entire class on assignments and not particular to any individual's work, making his feedback useless. So, if you want a nice, easygoing semester of BMGT495, I recommend looking for other professors.

Jainaba Ceesay
BMGT495

Expecting a B
Anonymous
09/01/2022

The professor is personally nice but her class is not organized at all. The submission box to submit an assignment wouldn't be open unless you went and remind the TA and the professor. The workload isn't that much and the exams are not that hard if you read the cases.

Roy Thomason
BMGT495

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
06/16/2022

All around the best. He truly wants to see his students succeed throughout the semester and beyond.

Clarence Wesley
BMGT495

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
05/19/2022

Clarence was overall a good teacher, very by the book and told some funny Dad jokes. We did a lot of case studies and group presentations. My only qualm is the fact that Professor Wesley grades us in regards to our peers. So if someone does really well and others can't match that performance we are not scored as high. Additionally, the comments he leaves for quizzes and exams are based on the entires classes performance and not your individual performance. This is a bit upsetting because you do not get individualized feedback. Overall, he is a good professor, but I would not say an "easy A".

Roy Thomason
BMGT495

Anonymous
05/02/2022

One of the best professors I've had at UMD. Going to class is necessary and mostly lecture-based. If you pay attention you will grow as a student and get a good grade in the class. He cares about his students success!

Donna Howell
BMGT495

Expecting an A
Anonymous
04/30/2022

Professor Howell has worked in business for a long time, and you can tell because she uses a ridiculous amount of meaningless business jargon. She would talk a lot without actually saying anything meaningful or helpful. This made it difficult pretty difficult to understand some of the content, and that was made worse by the fact that she clearly didn't understand all of the content either. Going to class is helpful, but it is one of the most boring classes I've taken. Most of the material is stuff that has been taught in other classes and it really doesn't feel like it should be a required class. The positive part is that Professor Howell is a pretty easy grader, as long as you can understand what she's asking of you.

Michael Geppi
BMGT495

Expecting an A
Anonymous
04/26/2022

I'm honestly pretty shocked that Professor Geppi hasn't been reviewed yet. I had Prof G for BMGT 495 and he was overall a pretty good Professor. He is passionate about the course content and is engaging, but think he could be better at explaining the content itself. He also tends to go off topic and ramble but he's a good man. Would prob take again.

Michael Geppi
BMGT495

Expecting an A
Anonymous
04/14/2022

This class was seriously the most useless and disorganized class I've ever taken at the business school. Professor Geppi was simultaneously running a startup as he taught (which he talked about excessively in class) and he clearly prioritized his company and did not have time to teach. He consistently canceled class, moved classes online, and gave us bs excuses as to why he couldn't come in. Some days he would leave us with busy work to complete and leave the class an hour early. On other days he wouldn't even announce that he wasn't coming in, we had to find out that he didn't show up from the class he taught before us. I had no idea what was going on in this class this whole semester and I absolutely did not learn a single thing about strategic management that I couldn't figure out on my own using common sense. 495 itself contained a group project that we had to do presentations on. During my group's presentation, this man wasn't even paying attention and was on his phone the whole time. He also embarrassed a few groups in front of the class and called it a teaching moment. If you want an easy A this class and professor is for you, just be prepared for a lot of frustration.

Roy Thomason
BMGT495

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
02/02/2022

Roy is by far one of the BEST professors at UMD. He is caring, understanding, and overall extremely helpful. He wants all students to succeed and gives us the opportunities and resources to do so. The course itself was very enjoyable, it consists of evaluating different case studies. You do have to participate in class , but attendance wasn't always a big deal. There aren't many assignments and if you listen, participate, and ask questions then it is very easy to get an A in this class.

Waverly Ding
BMGT495

Expecting a P
Anonymous
12/24/2021

The absolute WORST! I don't know what she trying to pull but put in my final grade? Stop trying to give it to me like a Merry Christmas present! I know I am passing this class but her grading is so arbitrary, gives us no time on exams, and it's almost like she wants us to hate her. She refuses to teach half the time, telling us to get into groups by ourselves and start projects, and this was supposed to be my easy class!! I wanted an A/A+ and she made my semester very bad. Wish I can give her 0/5 stars.

Roy Thomason
BMGT495

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/05/2021

Probably the NICEST PROFESSOR I EVER HAD. He is always so positive and encourages us to share our thoughts and opinions. This course itself is made for us to think like managers, Roy took it to the next level and created a great environment where I felt comfortable to actually discuss strategy and companies. He genuinely wants students to succeed and is always there to attend to their concerns.

Waverly Ding
BMGT495

Anonymous
11/08/2021

IF I COULD GIVE HER A LOWER GRADE I WOULD. I cant even explain in enough words how furious I am right now, this woman literally didn't attach a rubric to the midterm exam and then graded our exams based on said rubric that she LITERALLY made up and did not show us. She deducted 15 out of 50 points on my first questions because I neglected to talk about an entire section that I DIDNT KNOW I HAD TO TALK ABOUT BECAUSE I DIDNT HAVE THE RUBRIC and my grade dropped 10% in the entire class. Im taking 18 credits and this was supposed to be the bs class. Also She refuses to answer emails for at least a week to let everyone's "emotions settle" anyways, ill be raging hell a week from now. People told me not to take her but I did because I was like how bad can it be the class is so easy. Correct, but she genuinely wants me to hate her I guess

Waverly Ding
BMGT495

Anonymous
05/19/2021

I had Waverly for BMGT495 online during Spring 2021. We had three group presentations. Content was thrown at you and you were expected to apply it to case write-ups, not the clearest expectations. She didn't make much effort to really engage with us, but I guess that wasn't her main goal, she gives off a very serious, professional vibe. Exams were open note, mainly essay-based and graded a bit arbitrarily.

Protiti Dastidar
BMGT495

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
12/28/2020

This teacher takes the class seriously and was great at preparing us for the real world. This class was a lot of work, some assignments graded easily while others strictly with many assignments due on Sundays, and massive group projects. Compared to friends of mine taking this course with other professors, their workload was significantly less, but it also seems they got less out of the class than I did. This class is great for real-life preparation, while it sounds as though other BMGT495 professors are an easier route to take, but you will not get the same experience.

Clarence Wesley
BMGT495

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/16/2020

This teacher was awesome. A very fair grader and super understanding. The weekly course load was low stress as you only had to submit either a case matrix or take a mini quiz before class. The only downside is that you take the quiz without going over the material first, you just read the Harvard publishing review of the case and use a framework to answer the quiz. The class is based on participation with the camera on, but honestly that was not too bad as the information was not dull and the class was not recorded so you could not go back to look through information. Also participation is mandatory for any 495 class but he was a bit more understanding of the introverts in the class, but I still recommend participating for full understanding. There was only one exam, but it was honestly just a longer version of the quizzes we take each week so not too hard and he tells you about the cases and the frameworks before hand. Overall, great class and teacher, would totally recommend!

Protiti Dastidar
BMGT495

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/20/2020

Great professor! The class was super engaging and thought-provoking. Definitely among my favorite Smith School courses.

Mo Chen
BMGT495

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/16/2019

Best professor ever! She is a very good person.

Mo Chen
BMGT495

Expecting an F
Anonymous
12/15/2019

Mo Chen is, without a doubt, one of the worst professors at the University of Maryland, College Park. She is a disgrace to her profession and has no business teaching a course at this university. I have little respect for her teaching style, grading methods, and intellectual ability. Once again, a disgrace to her field.

Aswani Valiveti
BMGT495

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
02/28/2019

This is the worst professor I have ever taken, avoid like the plague. Completely incompetent

Evan Starr
BMGT495

Expecting an A
Anonymous
01/25/2018

Good professor, makes classes interesting through real-world examples and case studies. Encourages discussion rather than lecturing at people. He is a tough grader though and will not hesitate to mark people down for small mistakes.

Paulo Prochno
BMGT495

Expecting an A
Anonymous
11/06/2014

He is really relaxed, so much so that he barely teaches us. Half the classes we just met up with our group and talked about our final project, which is only going to be a 6-minute presentation. The tests are really easy, because there are so few terms for the course. However, he does get a little particular about the case reflection papers. Be careful to think through them and not just throw useless information, because you will lose points. He also compares your paper to the rest of the class, which is weird.

James Spina
BMGT495

Expecting an A
Anonymous
09/23/2012

I do not understand how this professor's ratings are so high, as I thought this class was very poorly taught and even more poorly structured. Half of your grade is based on group performance in Capsim (an online business simulation), and several writeups and a presentation relating to your performance in the simulation. Your performance is not graded fairly, as he simply bases your score relative to the others in the class, as opposed to grading every group objectively (this was an issue in our class where one group did extremely well, thereby making the other groups look terrible and as a result, each of the other groups got lower-than-justified grades). As for the writeups and presentation, it seems as though Spina has no clear grading method, as he is not able to justify the grades he gives. You are likely to get about an 85% on each assignment, but if you complain that he did not give you any feedback, he will always reply with something along the lines of "in the real world, you won't be spoon-fed the answers, you just have to infer what to do if you are given no directions". Other assignments include a midterm (you will not do well, as he does not teach what was on it since other professors create the exam, and the latter group actually prepares their classes for the exam), a final (very easy, as it is just doing the Capsim simulation yourself without your group), and attendance-based participation. I would avoid Spina as he is just too disorganized, does not give adequate feedback, and has an awful and random grading system. You will unquestionably leave this class feeling like you learned nothing. The most you will get is a bit of anger that the business school is requiring you to take this course, and a bit more anger with the fact that Spina is teaching it.

Gosia Langa
BMGT495

Anonymous
05/13/2012

What a dumb professor. She hasn't had any corporate or worthwhile experience and she's trying to teach me about business? Add into how she talks about her nonexistent dating life and you have the makings of a terrible class. Seriously though Langa, you need to be more professional.

Jonathan Aberman
BMGT495

Anonymous
12/17/2011

I love this professor! He is entertaining and funny, but he's also smart and has the ability to engage his students with active participation in discussion of business topics. He has an extensive educational background, but he's down to earth cool, knows his material well, and is an expert at off-the-cuff remarks and humor, which makes class delightful. Awesome class. Brilliant!

Jonathan Aberman
BMGT495

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/06/2011

LOVE LOVE LOVE this course. Professor Aberman relates the topics to the real world to stress the importance of truly understanding and being able to apply them. He treats us like adults, with more respect than I've ever received from any other professor. And, he's fun; class is fun to go to. I wish I could take more classes with him - he's phenomenal!

James Spina
BMGT495

Expecting an A
toiletpaper55
05/24/2011

i took this professor exclusively because of the great reviews on here. it ended up being my only B at the university of maryland. be warned, this class is not as great as the reviews say. full review to come later...

Jonathan Aberman
BMGT495

Expecting a B
Anonymous
05/21/2011

Best 495 teacher ever!! You will not be disappointed. He is hilarious, and his lectures are interesting.

David Kressler
BMGT495

Expecting a B
Anonymous
12/13/2010

This is the most incompetent teacher I have ever had. Unable to use a computer and send out simple emails, but teaches a class that is mostly computer based. Thinks the class is wrong when he makes stupid mistakes. Grades unnecessarily hard.

Gosia Langa
BMGT495

Anonymous
05/22/2010

Whenever we have problems with capsim, she always says call capsim, she never try to help us. The only time she gave us advice it was wrong. We asked her if we could produce new product for our company in the very early round, she told us it was too late. Our company would be so much profitable if we didn't listen to her. She also graded us unfair. We got a lower score in the later rounds when we were doing so much better.

Gosia Langa
BMGT495

Anonymous
05/22/2010

She is the worst professor I have ever had in my life. Don't take her class. She is so biased. Everything in this class is group work. If you are in a group with all the smart students, she always give you good grade no matter what you do, even if you don't do anything. Capsim is a online game require a lot of work. And the grade she give is totally unfair. Participation, current even notebook, everything in her class is not fair. And she doesn't treat students with respect.

James Spina
BMGT495

Reawen
03/21/2008

Great Class. Completed last Fall. Highly recommend Dr. spina.

Reviews for BMGT495