Simon A. Cole - University of California Irvine

Professor: Simon A. Cole

Department: TBD

College: University of California Irvine

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: CRM165
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Cole is polarizing. He might acknowledge you or make you feel like you're a ghost. His courses are A+ in regards to preparation for upper levels of academia, but you have to deal with his interesting personality. I did great in his class, very involved and participating is my thing so I enjoyed it. Smart dude, making odd decisions.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: C165
• Grade Received: B-
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Prof. Cole is the most bland, tasteless, and un-interesting professor I've ever met. Seems nice enough in class but if you go to his office hours he is as helpful as a rock. Class is boring, all of the lectures and homework is expected to be done before class, leaving only in-class group work. But you can't even skip bc you'll lose group points.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: C114
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Professor Cole is truly an expert in his field and makes the classes enjoyable. He does teach in a different style, but it is doable. If you do the work, you will learn a ton and have a great experience. Highly recommend.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: C114MISCARJUS
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

No textbook. Had to watch Making a Murder on netflix but it was interesting. exams were tough and super specific. He is awkward. Does not lecture or teach much, but the class was ok. 99% of it was group work and you dont pick your group which can be sketchy. overall it was interesting class but the tests were way too hard

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: CRIM132
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

He is a really nice professor, but the class is an active learning class, which I dislike very much. I didn't know what I was supposed to focus on. Class isn't mandatory necessarily, but the assignments do need to be done online. I really struggled in this class simply because I had no idea what to study and the questions on exams are specific.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: C132
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

I can't tell whether I actually enjoyed this class or not. He's definitely knowledgeable about what he teaches, but he's very clearly not invested in actual teaching; that's why the class is structured entirely on Canvas. Midterm and final asked for very specific information that felt irrelevant to the topic of the class. Pretty strange overall.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: C132
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

lots of readings he posts on canvas. He does not lecture you do activities in class that's all you do. Tests are hard, low average half of the grade is the activities, a few participation points, calls people randomly, tests are worth almost half the grade get ready to study a lot if you want to do well. Class is not easy.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: C132
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

If you're interested in the content take the class. Material is interesting, but readings get dry and long. You don't need to read them though because homework is done in class as a group so you can't get answers wrong. Tests aren't easy and not many questions but homework combined is worth more than tests. Easy, interesting class if you try.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: C132
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

This professor is terrible. U show up to class and do hw the whole time. He doesn't teach you anything because he does not lecture. You have to rely on the readings to learn & even then the readings are too complex to understand because he doesn't teach the material beforehand. The mean for the exams are low & I dont think he curves. AVOID HIM.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: C114
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Class was focused on exoneration cases. The majority of the course was spent in groups and working on the exoneration cases. He was helpful when we needed specific help on cases. I was not very fond of Maurice, who was there to help with the exoneration cases. He wasn't very helpful. Overall, I enjoyed professor Coles class, he is a nice person!!

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: C165
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Seems like a nice guy, but awful class. So much busy work, class is required for participation but he doesn't teach in it, just goes over homework. Assigns readings, cases and videos for homework and expects you to have the time for everything. Midterm and final are take home, but took me 9 hrs to finish.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: C165
• 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:

the absolute worst professor. his tests are ridiculously long and at the most inconvenient times

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: C114MISCARJUS
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Terrible Professor Overall. He lectures based on the readings and has mandatory participation. He will call on you and if you don't knowcan't remember or say anything wrong about the reading, he calls out in front of the whole class and doesn't give you credit. He never has enough time to finish lectures and MAKES you watch extra 30min podcasts.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: C114
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

The course is interesting but professor Cole was so unorganized! Most of the time in class was spent on iclicker questions instead of lecturing! Videos were interesting but midterm and final were difficult. Would take him again but be prepared to read

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: C114
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

This class is not easy. You have to have a general interest on the subject. Professor Cole can be awkward and sarcastic, but I didn't mind. The class is unorganized and the quizzes are hard. Just do the reading (one of the books is really interesting) and do well on the essay. He curves and that helped a lot!

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: C165
• Grade Received: WD
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Syllabus is TENTATIVE. Professor can and does assign case briefs (bulk of homework) sometimes without much advance notice. However, professor was knowledgeable and developed the curriculum appropriately. What I liked most (despite the amount of time dedication) was that he posted lectures online . Lots of reading but yet interesting. (won't doze)

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: C114
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

He is very annoying. Calls on people to talk about terms we havent learned because he doesnt teach. He wasted all of class on iclicker and then forced us to watch podcasts ON OUR OWN TIME. He didnt even say we had podcasts in the syllabus. He is too sarcastic too.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: CRM165
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Textbook required for case studies. He made lecture entertaining. Not an easy A class. Only take this if required for major/minor. Expect to read and do work for the class, around 30 minutes on each case study per week. Multiple choice for exams was very specific. Got As on midterm & final case studies, but did not do as well on multiple choice.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: C165
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Do all the case briefs, readings, and lecture podcasts. Case briefs are 30% of your grade. The midterm is 20% and the final is 30% - part 1 mult. choice, and part 2 case brief. His podcast lectures are not helpful as his tests are specific to an article or a justice. He rambles. Very knowledgeable, but tests on a wide span of material.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: CRMLAW165
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Professor Cole is very passionate about this subject & has funny/sarcastic sense of humor which makes the class even more entertaining.I really liked that the lectures were posted online in a podcast style because I was able to copy down the notes without being rushed& able to rewind.Hard class & large workload but if you do the work,you'll be fine