Kurt Schmidt

School: Drexel University
Department: Computer Science
Location:Philadelphia, PA
Overall Rating
rated by 20 students
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Easiness
Rating Comment
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 Pros: He's a laid back guy to the point that it is almost a con for him
Cons: He can be a pretty hard with grading
If you are thinking about taking a class with him just be prepared to visit the CLC a lot.
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 Pros: Kurt is a great guy and knows his shit. He explains the conceptual side of things better then anyone else and still has a very strong grasp of basics like syntax
Cons: Old school in his teaching style, leaves actually learning every little detail you need to know up to you. Honestly this is really a Pro you need to learn how to teach yourself.
Quizzes can be brutal.
Take him and learn to love it, this is what cs is.
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 Pros: Nothing
Cons: Disrespect his students
Arrogant
Not helpful when it comes to exam question or homework related question
Ignore this guy if you can. He simply cannot teach.
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 Pros: He knows how to create 100-150 plus powerpoints with 2 or more per lecture
Cons: Complete jerk. Don't bother attending his office hours, he will deny that they are his office hours. Also, don't bother using anything other than Unix, or submitting anything if it hasn't been built in Unix. You won't get anything better than at most a 40 percent. On any given grade. Also, expect condescending emails. Does not know how to coordinate a course.
One of the worst professors I have had. Also, don't expect the textbook or lecture slides to help at all. Also don't expect any grade curve.
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 Pros: Kind of friendly, willing to answer questions during/after class. Grades midterm pretty fairly.
Cons: Unorganized, not the most effective lecturer. 3 hour class makes it hard to pay attention past 1 hour. Assignments on his websites aren't always specific or clear. Notes on website are especially unhelpful. Will sometimes make students feel VERY stupid for asking questions - and not just stupid questions.
1 midterm, 1 final. Grade breakdown is 60% hw/assignments, 20% midterm, 20% final. He's mediocre at best, but as far as I know, the only professor that teaches this class usually.
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 Cons: He is arrogant and obnoxious to the students.
He is an average teacher but his bad attitude makes his classes terrible.
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 Ok, ill be truthful.
"schmiddy". is a rather easy guy if you take him. he is not the best teacher, and his classes are hard, but its manageable. he curves grades like no other (good), and also drops your lowest grades. other than that, if you want an easy A/B look elsewhere. he gives work, there hard, but if you can manage to get a C/B on most of them (def do able if you study), expect to get a B+/A on the class.
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 Professor Schmidt is an okay teacher... he came off as not very knowledgeable. Just about every other week we talked about a topic where he told us to talk to the teacher teaching the other section, because that was "her specialty". The lectures were a joke. He didn't have anything planned, and even though he did have slides, he didn't follow them and just showed us what came off the top of his head. He grades pretty fairly, and will give you points back, but there is a lot of work, with little instruction beforehand from him.
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 he acts to much as a know-it-all, outright says that you will have to learn stuff yourself, and does very little to help, however his assignments and labs are challenging, and u actually learn if u do them right. my only complaint is that he himself teaches very little, and like i said, most of the work has to be done by you
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 Kurt Schmidt has a bitter/sarcastic sense of humor that really adds to the rather dry material of the class. The assignments were easy, the homeworks were easier...and there weren't too much of either. His exams tend to be a bit harder as it is difficult to hand write code (especially when dealing with linked lists). I've found this professor to be very encouraging and he just genuinely seems to want everyone to learn. Take him over Nowak, or whoever else they're offering.
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 Although he is a great guy with a lot of C/C++ knowledge, this course was not his best, mainly because it was run by Dr. Johnson and Schmidt was just following instructions. He was much better for 260, but I would still recommend him over other instructors.
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 In general a nice guy. Gives difficult exams. Assignments are decent, don't expect to slide by without doing any work.
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 The guy's a great teacher. He just puts code on the board the entire lecture, spaces out sometimes, but you get everything he says in class. If you don't get it he'll explain until everyone understands. His assginments are pretty straightforward, and he gives you everything you need in class or in his own code. His exams are harder, but fair. I'm taking him again for 265, and I wish I could take him later (but i doubt it)
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 I found him a little bit intimidating he now allows you practically take the course in JAVA or C++, but he teaches in C++. His assigments are are painfully easy however he makes up for it on the tests. There is some math that goes into the class, reccurance relations and proving bigO. It helped taking 270 with nowack at the same time because these subjects overlap. He will always assume you know what hes talking about, so when he busts out some small STL function that you have no idea what it is, ask him, he will be more than happy to explain. He also seems like a very tenured C++ programmer, so feel to pick his brain about the C++ lang.
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 He is OK, but there is something weird about him. He acts toughy on lectures, but caring outside of them. Although he tries hard to explain material, it is hard to really understand him. One assignment was really hard, but if you get assignment written by him, it is relatively easy. His grading mostly non negotiable, but he does curve. The TA - Sam was the best of all. Sam can explain material very clearly. If given a choice, I would chose another teacher. Still, he does try to listen to you. I went once to him to get an explanation for a problem but his way of talking is hardly recognizable. Expect to work hard there.
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 Excellent teacher, really knows his stuff and able to explain a problem from several perspectives. Only person I've seen thus far to actually get class participation to where it didn't resemble a conversation with a wall. If you have interest in CS you will love him. But don't expect to float through his class.
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 Kurt Schmidt is a pretty good teacher, but he has a tendancy you assume you know more than you do so he'll talk over your head unless you say otherwise. I found the assignments to be very straightforward and almost disappointingly easy, whereas the tests were much more difficult. Not a bad guy though
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 Prof. Schmidt is enjoyable and informative in lectures. Furthermore, he is very approachable after and outside of class. He is very willing to help students, and he is often available to do so. He's a great guy, and I'd definitely take him again.
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 Firstly, let me state that I'm female and not once did I feel uncomfortable in this class. If you pay attention gals, he doesn't treat the guys any differently. He's just friendly and outgoing, and if you think he somehow is attracted to you and than I'll tell you right now A) he'd never act on it B) it doesn't effect your grade and C) you think waaay to highly of yourselves; C was the most important on that list. You can't be afraid to ask questions, and be stubborn about it if he doesn't get to you as soon as you put your hand up. He actually pays attention on the discussion boards and responds promptly to questions there as well, and is very helpful if you ever need to seek him out for his office hours. Contrary to what somone said, he DOES teach C++, but you have to be willing to learn. Just copy the code he writes on the board and you'd be fine for most of the assignments even with only a very basic understanding of the language. He's not easy, by any means, but he's not impossible or horrible either.
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 After having the pleasure of running into some of the trolls the cs department keeps on staff this man is a freaking saint. His workload is medium. If you try in the class and ask him for help or even make yourself known he will go out of his way to help you. His class might not be that fun, but its not a very fun subject. Just go to class and take notes. He does not have lecture notes on the web. If you are getting owned in the class just talk to him and he will help you out. And on top of it all he is not a bad guy. You can actually talk to the man.

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