Joel Gold - University of Southern Maine, Portland, ME

Professor: Joel Gold

Department: Business

College: University of Southern Maine, Portland, ME

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: BUS201
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

He should not be a teacher. I haven't learned anything in his class. All he does is assign a chapter to read and meaningless homework at the end. I'm amazed he even has a job. Avoid this class if possible.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: FIN321
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Hands down the worst experience I've had at USM. He doesn't teach at all. All course learning is from reading a chapter every week and doing the assigned homework. He doesn't give out grades for past homework and only 1/3 quizzes handed out thus far. He is rude and refuses to help in emails and makes passing in homework and quizzes difficult.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: BUS201
• Grade Received: C-
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

I took this class online twice -- tons of pointless, time consuming homework every week. he can be a little bit sassy/rude via email if something is submitted late, and sometimes he won't accept late work at all, even a day late. no quizzes, though. would not recommend taking a class from him if humanly possible.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: FIN321
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Did this guy actually do anything to become a professor? Literally all he does is assign readings and enough homework to make you go insane. The best part is it's not even real homework, it's the annoying concept checks at the end of each each section in a chapter. A squirrel could teach me more and be kinda cute and cuddly at the same time!

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: BUS201
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

He gives a lot of homework and takes a while to get grades back. The work he assigns is pretty much busy work, so as long as you get assignments done, you should get a decent grade. He can also be snappy at times when assignments are not completed to his liking through email.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: FIN321
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Would not take another class with him.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: FIN321
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

He's just not a good professor. His grading criteria is awful and gives you very little feedback on what you did wrong.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: FIN321
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

In other online classes I have excelled. The ease of working from home just works for me. However, FIN321 with Joel Gold is the exception. His lack of understanding and failure to help support students caused many to do poorly. The work is easy, but boring. I returned a weeks worth of work a day late and was told it couldn't be excepted.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: FIN320
• Grade Received: C-
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Take him and NOT Bennett for this class. He does go pretty fast and acts like you already know the material but HE CURVES GRADES. Quizzes are multiple choice and you get cheat sheets but STUDY EVERYTHING IN DETAIL.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: BUS201
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

I was excited to learn more about personal finance as I know it will be useful in my future. The class was helpful and I did learn things. Assignments were straight forward, but seemed more like "busy work" than actual homework that complemented learning. Prof. Gold was hard to get in touch with. It often took days for him to respond to me.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: BUS190
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Took the online Personal Finance course with him. Very easy, just weekly homework assignments, a few quizzes and NO EXAMS! The final is a research paper. Awesome, very helpful professor. Met with him and he was lovely!

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: BUS190
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Professor Gold is hands down one of THE best professors I have ever had and he know's so much about personal finance. I took this class just as a filler and I ended up loving it!! He's wicked funny and as long as you do the assignments and go to class, there's no way you can fail.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: FIN320
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

If you're a business major this class is required and I would recommend it because Gold teaches the basics.. it is an introductory finance class. But, if you're a finance major and plan on continuing, take it with someone else. Gold curves grades though!

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: FINA320
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Professor is AWFUL. If you like teachers who misplace HW (all the time to numerous people), forgets what he assigns, starts a problem and then stops in the middle to go to another one, then he will be a great match for you, otherwise, DONT take this class. completely useless.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: FIN321
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Good professor. Subject is extremely interesting and helpful in the real world. He is definitely approachable and funny! Outstanding professor. One of my favorite.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: BUS190
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Joel Gold is really great. I took his personal finance course last year- if I was a business major I'd take all of his classes!

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: FIN320
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Prof Gold is extremely well trained and educated. Good personality, a bit ADD (moves pretty fast in class), but always helpful. Suggest you attend all classes and do the homework. This is a good course to take for understanding the financial and investment community.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: BUS200
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

He can be very flaky at times, forgetting what homework he assigned or when things are due. The class was interesting, and the assignments didn't require thought. The only reason to go to class was to find out what to do for HW, which wasn't listed on the syllabus. I didn't learn much of anything and I wish I hadn't taken the class at all.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: FIN321
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Do not take this class if it's not required for you. If it is, make sure you go to every class or you will get a crappy grade even if you ace all the quizzes and the final. Gold spends the entire class talking about himself, hardly teaches anything, and keeps you there until the very last second, claiming ‘you should get your money's worth’. HA!

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: FIN321
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Stay away! This would have been great class if a Prof. that could teach(Smoulk, Bennett) had. Self absorbed and really has no direction at all. Help? Forget about about it. You need to teach the material to yourself...because he cant.