Shefford Baker - Cornell University

Professor: Shefford Baker

Department: TBD

College: Cornell University

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: MSE2610
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Very knowledgeable, the course definitely provides a good preview for prospective matscis. Baker has this idea that the ideal test mean is a 50, so the tests are correspondingly difficult, but the class is curved so don't be scared. Labs and homework were pretty substantial, but they did help me learn the material better.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: MSE2610
• 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:

Fantastic teacher!! Very nice and reasonable to talk to, and motivated to teach students!! A bit of memorization, but also has conceptual stuff.. i agree with the other person, the grading is definitely pretty weird. Like my friends who are smarter than me did worse than me but I'm also really organized, so being organized is key!!

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: ENGRD2610
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Interesting class, great professor, but designed like a highschool class. Your grade has little to do with how much you know the material and can figure out, but lots to do with how well your work is organized, and how you show it. You'll get little credit if a careless arithmetic error is made. Put stuff that wasn't asked for or you lose points!

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: ENGRD2610
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

He's a great person, always friendly, and not unreasonable when his grading or teaching is questioned. He is also very thorough (but sometimes not very clear) in lecture. However, he does have some irritating habits which hurt my ability to learn in the class like starting a new topic in lecture with 2 or 3 minutes left of class.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: ENGRD2610
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

His teaching style is absolutely dreadful. He does not explain to help you visualize the concept, his most used phrase is "it turns out that, this is equal to..." To make it more confusing, there are course notes online, textbook, and his lectures, all cover different things. He is very friendly, but going to lecture is a pain. I dropped the class.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: MSE2610
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Professor Baker is the friendliest professor I've ever had. MSE 2610 is the hardest class I've taken thus far, but it also has taught me a lot. I would definitely recommend taking a class with Baker, but if you're not a material science major or minor, it might be too time consuming.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: MSE261
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

pretty hard class, dun take it unless it's necessary.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: ENGRD2610
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Teaches quickly and covers a lot. Deluge of information, only half the equations are tested (the major ones). Occasional in-class demonstrations. Group labs (3) are harder than necessary and an exercise in lab write-ups and delegation (little learned from them). Homeworks and tests are hard (but at least can make a cheat sheet). Friendly in person.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: MSE582
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

good class. His exams are open book. Most of the problems are similar to the homeworks. He is approachable and friendly. Only problem is that he teaches a bit too slowly at the semester beginning and rushes through at the end with a lot of homeworks and quizzes.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: MSE602
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Extraordinarily well-organized, very clear notes and lecture. Hard work, but do-able. Baker is approachable and very good at conveying information and comprehension. Excellent professor!

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: MSE302
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

No Comments

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: MSE302
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Worst professor I've ever had. Extremely unclear notes. Randomly introduces things without much explanation. A very very terrible teacher. Especially, his notes are extremely unclear and hard to understand. Nice guy, but very bad professor. Sorry guys, but try to avoid him if you can.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: MSE302
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Terrible notes (bad handwriting and lots of errors). Good guy though. Only assigns 1 hw half the semester and all of a sudden assigns more hw and quizzes during the exam week. Poor lecturing style.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: ENGRD261
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

He showed a great interest in making sure you understood material. Went out of his way to explain things on his own time past office hours.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: ENGRD261
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Taught straight from notes without explaining much. Confused the hell out of me sometimes. Can tell that he knows his stuff though. Pretty boring too.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: ENG261
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Despised us all for our ignorance but good natured about it. Okay class

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: ENGRD261
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Lectures interesting but office hours w/ him were useless- he once spent 1hr teaching a group of us the WRONG way to solve a problem. Homeworks constantly being revised b/c of mistakes- tests are extremely hard! Labs/assignments disorganized

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: ENGRD261
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

He makes you work hard, but you learn *alot*! Easy to talk to and all around nice guy.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: ENGRD261
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

i loved the class, though it was hard...

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: ENGRD261
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

One of the best classes I've taken :) Not easy, but worth it.