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Somayaji, Shan

Cumulative GPA: 2.37/4.00 with 20 evaluations
Presents Material Clearly: 2.68
Recognizes Student Difficulties: 2.16

Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, Cal Poly, SLO
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CE 207 5th Year Senior Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 6:19 pm, Nov 8, 2006 Report Evaluation		Shan is a great professor, he stands up for his students. He stood up to the civil department and would not let them force him into a common final. He had great detail in all of his lectures. His tests followed straight from his homework. Take him if you get the chance, a true professional.

CE 207 Sophomore Grade Earned: C Required (Support) 7:21 pm, Aug 18, 2006 Report Evaluation		Ok, so my problem was not that I didn't do well in this guy's class, that was my own fault, I'm kind of lazy and an ME, indoctrinated to not put effort into CE. But Somayaji totally WENT NUTS on our class. When he was going over the midterm, he asked if there were questions and then treated a guy like a lazy, dishonest moron when he asked one. Not that you have to worry though, he doesn't teach any more, either evidenced or caused by his 20 minute screaming match with the head of the CE department. Just be glad you never had to suffer his arrogance or incompetence. He was aweful.

CE 207 Sophomore Grade Earned: A Required (Support) 10:55 pm, Jun 16, 2006 Report Evaluation		He's not a bad proffessor, but not a great one either. He assigns homework every week, which isn't collected, and a quiz every week which is based on the homework from the week before. The midterms weren't too bad, just like longer quizzes. He seemed pretty helpful when I went to his office hours, though in class he says he wants you to be able to show him that you've done some work on the problem before he'll help you. Overall, he's a decent instructor. Not the best, but not the worst either.

CE 204 Junior Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 6:54 pm, Nov 3, 2005 Report Evaluation		It's true that in class this guy always seems to have just woken up on the wrong side of the bed, but the fact of the matter is, as a lecturer, he's not bad. He can be a little fast at times, but as long as you can keep up, he conveys the material very well. Keeping up isn't that hard considering he hands out a note sheet of the current lecture everyday before class. His tests and quizzes are EASY, the thing is, he isn't much into partial credit and the length can make them seem a bit harder than they really are. Considering they are almost if not exactly like the homework problems, they shouldn't be difficult, providing you put honest effort into the homework. As for the guy in office hours, I don't agree at all with these people who say he isn't helpful. Sure he can be a little crass at times, but he's like that with everyone, get over it. Not the greatest, but definitely not as bad as some of these kids below make him out to be. There are PLENTY of worse teachers out there.

CE 204 Sophomore Grade Earned: D Required (Support) 8:06 pm, Jun 7, 2005 Report Evaluation		Prof. Somayaji is not a pleasant professor; it's as if he's just plain sick and tired of putting up with teaching for all these years. Although it is clear that he knows his material very well, if you don't know it, then... tough luck. In class he always appears to be in a bad mood, goes about the lecture extremely fast and then erases the board and moves on to the next topic, so make sure you take FAST notes! He generally ignores the class while he is lecturing, and when he is asked a question he appears very irritated that someone has interrupted his lecture. He is not very helpful at all, and even in office hours, instead of helping his students, he insists that they try to find the solution themselves instead of bothering him. So basically, if you don't get the material (which is often), you're screwed. I'll credit him for knowing the material and trying to get students to think for themselves, but unless you want a stone-cold professor who doesn't give you a bit of help, don't take Somayaji. I retook the class with ElGhandour and passed the class, I would definitely recommend him over Somayaji.

CE 204 Junior Grade Earned: B Required (Support) 12:38 am, Apr 28, 2005 Report Evaluation		This guy obviously did not enjoy teaching the class. He wasn't helpful with problems unless half the class didn't understand. There were 4 tests and 2 quizzes that accounted for 100 points. There was some curving at the end of it all, but don't expect to hear what the class average is or what kind of curve to expect. Do the homework he assigns, and know how to do it right. Almost all his test questions were straight off of the homework. I failed the first 2 tests, then got my shit together and ended up with a B in the class.

CE 204 Junior Grade Earned: C Required (Support) 12:16 am, Mar 25, 2005 Report Evaluation		It is obvious that professor Somayaji is burnt out from putting up with Cal Poly's shit. He spent a good 10 minutes the first lecture complaining about our rediculous class size (100+) which understandably for this class is way too much. That said; he'd rather have you wallow in your own problem and exhaust yourself than just help you, which I suppose is just a teaching method and shouldn't be taken personally. One thing I will say is that he is a master of the material and does give you a pretty good idea how the quizzes/midterms will look -- it's just up to you to follow through and do all of the assigned work. An average professor, I wouldn't pick him first, but would be happy to take him again. And yes -- weird food analogies all the time, wtf?



CE 204 Junior Grade Earned: C Required (Major) 12:10 pm, Mar 23, 2005 Report Evaluation		the first thing you'll notice is that this class startes off easy, and it will stay pretty easy for a while. Then about the sixth or seveth week it will get tough. By the last test, you'll probably think this class is rough. I had a B going into the last test, and look what happened to me. Low stress class, except for the night before the tests. Homeworks not due, and there is no final. He's not that great of a teacher, but the class isn't all that bad. Just don't slack off. Get every piont you can in the beginning of the class, cause you're going to need it at the end.

CE 204 Sophomore Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 2:18 pm, Mar 22, 2005 Report Evaluation		Professor Somayaji isnt that bad. He has all of his homework solutions in his office hours, the tests are sometimes similar to the hw. you dont have to put a lot of work into this class to pass. He puts 5 short answer/multiple choice questions in the beginning which i never was prepared for. Then there are two to three actual problems. He is not that bad, i recommend taking him over the other ce teachers.

CE 204 Junior Grade Earned: N/A Required (Support) 7:19 am, Feb 24, 2005 Report Evaluation		BORING! Strength of Materials has some interesting material. Somayaji made it the hardest class to sit through. Not to mention, the monotone accent he brought to class. This professor is unwilling to help his students and lets you know "Don't come to my office...I will demand your departure if you do!". I did pass the class, oh and I also gained two hours of sleep on Tuesdays and Thursdays. All in all, needs to read this message THEN maybe his balls will drop and he will learn how to TEACH--not ramble.

CE 204 Sophomore Grade Earned: N/A Required (Support) 6:16 pm, Feb 8, 2005 Report Evaluation		Lots of comments from students on the last midterm about how there wasn't enough time. So he threatened to take 50% off of the next midterm for commenting on how there wasn't enough time. Enough said.

CE 204 Senior Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 11:02 am, Jan 31, 2005 Report Evaluation		He's just not a pleasant guy. I guess his class is ok if you're a senior and you already know must of this stuff, but if I was a sophomore, I'd crap my pants. Sophomores who got C's in statics ask what might seem to the rest of us like a stupid question. But he makes it pretty apparent that he in fact feels that they are stupid. While its funny, I am glad I had Jeff Jones for statics, makes Somayajis class a joke.

CE 259 Senior Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 3:07 pm, Feb 19, 2004 Report Evaluation		Somayaji is a great professor. He does sometimes come up with some weird comparisons when talking about concrete, he referred to concrete not being like potato chips. Usually done with all the labs in 1 1/2 hours and you write lab reports at home. Good professor to take.



CE 259 Senior Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 9:45 pm, Feb 3, 2003 Report Evaluation		somayaji is a great teacher. his tests are pretty easy. his labs were graded easily and he is very knowledgable about the subject. take him for all classes he teaches.

CE 259 Senior Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 10:05 pm, Feb 1, 2003 Report Evaluation		Somoyajii is a challenging proffessor. You will need to work hard in this class, but you will learn a lot. He is a really nice guy if you take the time to talk to him. I also took him for 205 and 206 i got a C and B+ respectively. He demands a lot but it is very doable. if you had the opportunity to take him take it.

CE 355 5th Year Senior Grade Earned: C Required (Major) 12:41 am, Jan 8, 2003 Report Evaluation		I had Dr. Somayaji for CE 259, 351, and 355 and got an A, B, and C respectively for each of the classes. He will overwhelm you with handouts, but its generally thorough during his lectures and well-mannered. He took the edge off of structures courses for me, and allowed me to feel comfortable. It is possible to get an A in each of his classes if the homework is adequately studied. One downside is he RARELY if ever teaches from a textbook or assigns progblems out of one; however, I found him to be a great professor and would recommend in him strongly to other students.

CE 204 Sophomore Grade Earned: B Required (Support) 11:25 pm, Sep 8, 2002 Report Evaluation		dr. somayaji, aka "geve", epitimized the concept of learn by doing it yourself. his lectures were sometimes difficlult to keep up with b/c he went pretty fast and his handwriting was not the easiest to read. he assigned 8-12 homework problems per week. the assigned homework was very challenging, quite time consuming, but definitely doable. on several occasions he gave us an entire assignment and never lectured on the material. when this was mentioned to him he explained to us that we are engineers and know how to read a book. this was a major cause of frusteration and late night cursing. other times we would spend a week or two doing example problems which never showed up on our homework or test. we also learned not to ask questions during lecture. he comes off quite irritated when you ask questions during class. however, he is great during his office hours. he does not correct the assigned homework, but does collect it in a neatly organized homework binder at the end of the quarter. he does not give you points for the binder, he only takes away points from your total grade in the class. there are only 100 points possible in the class, so every point lost counts. he gives 4 moderately difficult tests, 2 quizez straight for the homework and there is no final. in my opinion, ce 204 is easier and more enjoyable than me 211. the problems are more practical and sometimes actually fun to do. even though "geve" pissed me off more often than not, he is a good guy and i would take another class from him.

CE 355 5th Year Senior Grade Earned: B Elective 4:20 pm, Jun 17, 2002 Report Evaluation		Dr. Somayaji definitely knows his concrete, but doesn't like teaching. Or maybe it's more accurate to say that he doesn't like students. In-class questions are usually answered curtly, frequently with a not so subtle display of disdain. I also had 559 with him, so you might ask why take another class if I don't like him? I'm close to graduating, and I need the tech electives. This is the only time I'd "recommend" Somayaji. If you can wait another quarter or if soemone else is teaching another section, then don't sign up for his class.

CE 259 Sophomore Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 8:42 pm, Aug 1, 2001 Report Evaluation		Somo is a hard teacher in the fact that he expects you to learn. No coasting through any of his classes. Fight for it and you will see the rewards



CE 355 Sophomore Grade Earned: A Required (Support) 2:55 pm, Mar 23, 2000 Report Evaluation		Dr. Somayaji knows his concrete. He expects a lot from his students though. He assigns homework but does not grade it. Infact, at the end of the 1/4 he collects it and deducts from your final grade if you did not complete it. His exams are very thorough. Expect to spend the entire hour working on the problems with little time to go over the test at the end. He is great in office hours. He will go into detail about anything you ask and knows his subject so well it is virtually impossible to stump him. If structual engr is you game I would highly recommend taking him whenever you can.

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