Terrence O’Brien

This professor has taught: BDBA829, BMGT340, BMGT340N, BMGT441, BUFN758L, BUSI782

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Terrence O’Brien BMGT340 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/28/2025	Terry is THE BEST!!!!!!!!! He makes class so enjoyable/engaging by having such a lively personality. Im not a finance major so i was worried ab taking this class since ive heard it was hard, but he really made the experience so much better. hes a really nice, friendly, knowledgable guy with a lot of passion for finance, and seems to understand students very well. ASSIGNMENTS: there are video quizzes (most chaps only have one but some have two, and the times range like 8 min to 45 min it just depends on the chap), mylab hw (doesnt count towards grade, they just unlock the mylab quizzes), and mylab quizzes. there is also a project which has a couple parts but they post vids to go with it to help you. he also drops 2 or 3 of each type of quiz. EXAMS: you get a cheat sheet for each which is super nice. there are 3, and the second is impossible no matter who you take this class with its just ridiculous and everyone does bad so dont feel bad ab urself lol. the last was the easiest i thought of the 3. terry sends an announcement like a wk before the exams saying how many qs will be on it from each chap, and how many concept qs vs calculation qs there are. there are technically four exams bc theres an optional final, but u only need to take it if you want to replace another bc he only counts the 3 highest test scores. most ppl take it if they dont like how they did on exam 2. i didnt and finished w an a- for reference. also if you take the final you get 3 cheat sheets. overall hes very very helpful and clearly wants everyone to succeed. 10/10 reccommend.
Terrence O’Brien BMGT444 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/10/2025	By far the best professor in the Smith School and probably the best professor I've ever had in my life. He explains extremely difficult concepts in an easy to understand way by starting all the way in the beginning and slowly bringing you up to the harder stuff. Also just a really nice and great guy in general. Can't emphasize enough how great he is and how every business school student should try to take him for at least one class.
Terrence O’Brien BMGT340 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/09/2025	Professor O'Brien is very passionate about the subject and makes the classes as interesting as they can be. He is very excitable and a nice guy. Personality-wise wise I thought he was great. He dropped one out of the 4 exams we had. Approximately 3% of extra credit was offered throughout the semester. The only downside to him is that his notes and lecture slides are not well-organized or helpful. The actual instruction is informative, but the slides and notes are not, which makes it a little harder to study. Oh, and you get a notesheet for every exam.
Terrence O’Brien BMGT340 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/30/2025	This professor is amazing. He is such a geniuine nice and guy, who will want to get to know you, so I recommend actually answering questions in class. He is very nice and great professor. He explains everything very well and wants his students to succeed. Definitely recommend!!
Terrence O’Brien BMGT340 Expecting an A- Anonymous 11/18/2025	Top 5 nicest professors at Smith; such an upbeat guy that will answer any question you have. Kinda feel like he goes too easy on us during lecture so I kinda wasn't prepared for the first exam. Very knowledgable on Finance as a whole too. The homeworks do take a decently long time if you actually use it to learn and not just get it done. Obviously the class is hard, but he helps make it manageable. Def take him over Padhi if possible.
Terrence O’Brien BMGT444 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/17/2025	GOAT! Very enthusiastic professor who's really good at simplifying confusing concepts. I found him fair and never felt I was thrown a curveball as his exams/assignments follow what is discussed in class. One thing I appreciate a lot is that he's very quick to respond to emails. Overall, a great professor you should try to take for at least one finance class.
Terrence O’Brien BMGT441 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/24/2025	Easily the best professor at the business school. So nice and you can genuinely tell that he loves teaching so much. Willing to drop an hour of his time to talk with you about basically anything, and just overall the nicest guy ever. He's very funny, super quick to respond to questions, and will remember your name after a year of not seeing you. The class itself is not hard if you did well in 340 and put in effort for the hws, as the exams are quite similar.
Terrence O’Brien BMGT441 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/22/2024	Very knowledgeable Professor, chill, fair grader. Sometimes he goes in too many details on the easy topics, while passing fast forward through the more difficult topics, but this is making the class more interesting. I will definitely take this class again with O'Brien - highly recommended.
Terrence O’Brien BMGT340 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/19/2024	Hand’s down the best professor I’ve had at Maryland. Class isn’t easy but there’s no reason you can’t succeed on this class. The TAs are great. O’Brien is a super nice guy, always willing to re-explain something and help out. More than 30% of your grade isn’t exams with a lot of extra credit opportunities. Final is optional (replaces lowest midterm grade unless you do worse on the final than the midterms). They upload a bunch of resources to help, from slides (O’Brien) to paper-based notes (Padhi). Each exam you get to bring a one sided formula sheet, for the final you get to bring 3. Overall 10/10 recommend.
Terrence O’Brien BMGT340 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/18/2024	Professor O'Brien was really engaging and fun to learn from. The class did require a time commitment but I thought it was significantly easier than accounting and was manageable. He essentially co-teaches the class with Padhi, so it was nice to have access to slides and notes from both professors for studying for exams. I didn't feel like I got much from his lectures so I pretty much taught myself the content from the required videos, but for a participation grade, he did have us complete in-class practice problems which was helpful. Overall, while it might be a somewhat hard class, the professors are very lenient with extra credit and canceling some classes. They also give you enough material to practice with to be successful with exams and are both really great to learn from.
Terrence O’Brien BMGT340 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/14/2024	Very nice professor. He's always enthusiastic and willing to help. I also liked how the course was organized with plenty of practice from homework, video quizzes, and clicker questions. With the large amount of material in the course, these things helped me better learn the concepts. The exams were sometimes tricky but not overly difficult. You're provided practice exams beforehand and can bring a note sheet to exams, which helped a lot. Overall, a great professor, 5/5!
Terrence O’Brien Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/11/2024	Incredible teacher. Made finance enjoyable and just overall a fun person to talk to. I had Padhi but went to O'Briens section because his lectures were more engaging and he regularly connected topics back to real world events. Him and Padhi give plenty of extra credit and study tools for the exams. This class is what you put into it. Projects did not really help and were a waste of time, but they were super easy. One thousand percent reccomend.
Terrence O’Brien BMGT441 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/10/2024	One of the best professors you can take in the upper level finance electives. Super engaging and enthusiastic and has long rambles but honestly they're kinda endearing. The homework and exams aren't that hard if you put in the effort and the course itself feels like a review of 340 half of the time. Definitely would recommend. What a guy.
Terrence O’Brien BMGT340 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 08/16/2024	He was always available and eager to answer questions during office hours and in class, and thoroughly went through the problems in class. The homework/quiz problems can be very difficult and take forever to complete, but there were no surprises on exams.
Terrence O’Brien BMGT340 Expecting a B- Anonymous 05/31/2024	There he goes. One of God's own prototypes. A high-powered mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die. Terry is one of the most complex individuals I know. He's intelligent, charismatic, yet suffers from long bouts of imposter syndrome and self-doubt. He is patient to a fault, non-judgmental, and passionate about a wide variety of subjects. He goes to great lengths to hide his ego, which makes him a wonderful teacher, as you never feel that he is speaking down to you as he shares his knowledge. I would go to war for Terry, for the low low price of 2% extra credit!
Terrence O’Brien BMGT340 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/22/2024	The student who posted on 4/14/24 summed it up perfectly. O'Brien has outstanding enthusiasm and really works hard to give students every possible resource to succeed in the class. He really makes his students feel like he is there for them and makes it known that he is willing to support anyone. I got a B+ because I didn't study much and missed some classes. Highly recommend him if you are going to take 340. I have heard great things about Padhi too and the two of them share a canvas site so again, very doable to learn a lot and do well in this course.
Terrence O’Brien BMGT340 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/12/2024	Really nice guy, very helpful. I think this class is super easy. The homework and projects don't take long and are pretty much a free 100%. Can't go wrong taking this class with him.
Terrence O’Brien BMGT340 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/11/2024	He is awesome, unlike many professors he explains tough concepts very simply and is super nice.
Terrence O’Brien BMGT340 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/11/2024	Terry is a great professor. He's super nice and his lectures are well-organized and not at all boring. This class has a ton of material and can be a bit difficult at times, but the assignments and exams are all fair and there's also plenty of practice material. Also, there were a lot of extra credit opportunities so make sure to take advantage of those. You really can't go wrong with either him or Padhi either - they're both really good and teach the exact same stuff and have the same exams. Having taken this class with Terry though, I would absolutely recommend him. He's a great professor and a great guy who really wants us to do well
Terrence O’Brien BMGT340 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 04/14/2024	Probably one of the most engaging professors I have ever had. Class with him is super entertaining and you learn a lot about real-world finance, not just the textbook stuff; so he definitely keeps the class interesting! In terms of studying for exams, Obrien and Padhi share the same Canvas site and all students in 340 take the same exam, so it is helpful to review Padhi's notes for each chapter rather than just Obrien's. I did not utilize the notes and practice exams to their fullest potential, which got me a 60 on the first exam. For the second exam, I worked way harder and got an 88. If you just do practice problems (which there are an abundance of on Canvas) over and over again for at least a week before the exam, you will do well. This is definitely not a class you can study for the night before, but its definitely possible to get an A if you genuinely learn the material instead of memorizing it, plus you can get a max of 2.5% extra credit!
Terrence O’Brien BMGT340 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/22/2023	Business Finance is a tough class, but Professor O'Brien is really great. He is super patient and kind. The three projects are not too hard and can boost your grade. Just be ready for tough exams—take your time and practice a lot(go over practice exams/review session problems that are posted on BB) . It's a challenging class, but you'll learn and do well if you put in the effort.
Terrence O’Brien BMGT340 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/18/2023	He is an amazing professor. Sometimes he goes into detail about unnecessary things, but overall he’s great. He explains things well and from multiple perspectives. He is interactive and makes students comfortable enough to ask questions. Also, he responds to emails quickly and the explanations are detailed. The class is a bit difficult and there is a lot of material, but just going to class and asking questions goes a long way. The practice exams provided make the actual exams much easier so make sure to utilize them. Overall, not that bad if you put in the effort.