Michael Orrison - Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, CA

Professor: Michael Orrison

Department: Mathematics

College: Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, CA

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: MATH30B
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

He has a passion and talent for teaching math, and this really shows through in his lectures, which are concise, helpful, and inspiring. The assigned reading is useful, but not necessary. You can easily pass the class without reading any of it. Tests and problems sets contain tricky proof-based problems, but it's manageable.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: MATH70
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Fantastic professor. Any course by Orrison is no joke but also every class I've ever taken with him were the ones I learned the most. Will try to take another one of his classes again.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: MATH30B
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Prof. O is amazing. If I talk to him more, I would probably be a Math major. Great guy to talk to outside of class. I also took his Math of Voting class, which was chill and hella fun. His lecture is always exciting and you learn from it a lot.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: MATH30B
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Nice enough and a fairly good lecturer, but the amount of homework he assigned was absurd. Easily 8 hours a week or more, and that was working with other people. He also seemed to assume we all had taken extensive high school calculus, occasionally skipped teaching things because, as he told us, he assumed we'd already seen it.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: MATH171
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Great (but extremely challenging) professor! Expects you to put a lot of effort into his class. Sometimes it feels like he thinks his class is the only class we are taking. Tests are difficult. Readily available to meet for any extra help you may need. Extremely clear instruction. Overall, fantastic professor!

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: MATH30B
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Prof O is awesome - I intend to take another of his classes as soon as I can!

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: MATH189
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Absolutely one of my favorite professors. He explained the material very clearly and obviously loves the subject. He sometimes assigned problems on topics we hadn't fully mastered yet, but his office hours were very helpful.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: MATH55
• 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:

I took discrete math, which apparently has a great deal of variation in the curriculum based on the professor. Unfortunately, Orrison required us to get textbooks, but otherwise the course was excellent. He kept lectures interesting and clear. The homework load was easily manageable.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: MATH25B
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Wonderful professor. Knows his stuff, and is always willing to help students!

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: MATH63
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

First experienced his teaching discrete dynamical systems in math 12. I always loved when he came in to teach, he was always so enthusiastic about math, leading into lecture in a way that i couldn't help but be enthralled. don't BS on tests or homework though, or he will crush you...

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: MATH12
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Inspiring Prof

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: MATH171
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Great lecturer. Sometimes hard to find, but once you do is super friendly and easy to talk to. Really cares about his students, not just the material.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: MATH5563
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Great professor. Lectures well, very helpful in office hours, and enthusiastic about the material and about your learning. However, be warned - he is HARD! One of the toughest, if not the toughest, profs at Mudd. But you WILL learn. A lot.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: MATH171
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Definitely loves to give you lots of work, but supposedly if you complain enough he'll scale it back. He tries not to tell you how everything works, because he'd rather you site at home and think about so you really understand it.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: MATH
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

The exam has nothing to do with what you learned in class... and there are only so many problems such that if you screw up one, you are done for. Very unenthusiastic in helping students. He is a good lecturer, so more the reason why I get frustrated in his inability to assess properly.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: MATH171172
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Great enthusiasm for algebra, uses his 'interesting' sense of humor to keep us all laughing and paying attention, and is one of the best teachers I have ever had.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: PROBSTATS
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Never trust a nice prof. He's a really awesome guy and I've never fallen asleep in class, but he simply asks for an unreasonable amount of time from you. We had easily 6 hours of homework a week for a 1.5 credit class near the end. Makes it hard to hate him. Still better than Raugh though.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: PROBSTATS
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

seriously EVIL. Piles on work like no other, expects way too much out of his students, but its so hard to hate him because he's just so darn NICE! But he doesn't understand when he's being unreasonable, and won't listen when we tell him we're not learning anything because the book's hws are crap.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: MATH14
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Best math teacher I've had (out of Benjamin, Borelli, Bernoff, Su, Cameron, Raugh)

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: MATH171
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Piles on the homework with a shovel in non-core courses, but is always in his office and glad to help. His enthusiasm for the material is infectious.