Polyratings.com: Thorncroft, Glen

Home Professor Search Professor List Evaluate a Professor About Us Contact Us

Thorncroft, Glen

Cumulative GPA: 3.49/4.00 with 59 evaluations
Presents Material Clearly: 3.56
Recognizes Student Difficulties: 3.56

Mechanical Engineering Department, Cal Poly, SLO
Full Statistical Analysis
Evaluate This Professor

ME 236 Junior Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 9:34 am, Mar 21, 2012 Report Evaluation		This class is all about understanding the vocabulary. If you don't know what something means then you will not be answering the correct question. Thorncroft likes his job, likes his students, and like making sure that there are no mistakes in his or his students work. If you make a mistake he will take points away! Know unit conversions. He is also very helpful during his office hours and enjoys talking to students.

ME 231 Junior Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 9:05 pm, Dec 18, 2011 Report Evaluation		Thorncroft does his best to teach the driest class of all time. The average on his tests are really low. I did average on both midterms. The second midterm was ridiculously hard. The average was a 52/100. The first midterm was fair. Not sure what happened on the second one. A lot of people trip up on his exams, but after reviewing the problem and figuring out how to do it, its actually not too bad. There's a lot of room for error. The only way to do well in this class is to practice the problems. He gives a list of "suggested" hw problems, but if you try doing all the homework problems, youll be way better off. He also has online problems which are conceptual. You won't see many of these until the final. He used the exact questions he put on the online hw. The final was a bit hard..but fair. Watch your sig. figs. I studied off Rossman's exams and she is a lot more generous than thorncroft..

ME 236 Junior Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 2:46 pm, Dec 10, 2011 Report Evaluation		Glen is the man. There is no reason to avoid taking this class because he's teaching it. Just watch out when he doesn't have caffeine.

ME 236 Junior Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 1:33 pm, Feb 20, 2010 Report Evaluation		Does an ok job explaining a very boring material. Pay close attention to applied real world examples, and when which equations are supposed to be used. Do not expect exams and final to be exactly like the homework but expect to put concepts that you learn in several homework problems in one big exam problem. He starts the test with conceptual questions which could be the difference form an A to a B. Then, he gives 2 or 3 harder problems that are similar to problems that he did in lecture. Now the final is much harder than the exams, understand how to use and manipulate all equations then after that you will spend most of your time punching numbers in your calculator (need calculator that has memory). Unit conversion is big in the final as you work the problems.

ME 236 Senior Grade Earned: N/A Required (Major) 9:06 pm, Dec 16, 2009 Report Evaluation		Professor Thorncroft is one of the few passionate instructors left at Poly. He definitely tries to make the boring subject matter somewhat interesting and engaging. He does expect you to earn your grade and does not recycle tests or use hw problems with different numbers. His exams are ALWAYS long enough to keep you working for the entire period. All in all he is a great instructor and a pretty cool guy overall despite his rants about everything his students do to annoy him, and his support of Locascio! Also, for this class, don\'t underestimate the subject matter. It is very simple and boring in the beginning but picks up a few weeks into the quarter.

ME 450 Senior Grade Earned: B Elective 5:55 pm, Jul 26, 2009 Report Evaluation		Thorncroft is awesome! Not as good as Kean, but still awesome.

ME 450 Graduate Student Grade Earned: A Elective 7:04 am, Jun 25, 2009 Report Evaluation		I had Thorncroft for 450 too, and I thought he was great. He practically created the course from scratch since it hasn't been taught in eons. I've taken tech elecs that haven't been taught in ages, and the professor usually gets lazy and you end up learning nothing -- but not Thorncroft. He made sure the course actually had logical structure and pertinent content to it. He's also really good at explaining the material, very helpful, and dedicated in office hours. I thought he was really tough and I got B's for ME 236 and 303 but got an A in ME 450. You just need to remember that Thorncroft expects everyone to earn their grade (instead of handing them out) and adjust your expectations and effort accordingly.



ME 450 5th Year Senior Grade Earned: N/A Required (Major) 9:36 pm, Jun 11, 2009 Report Evaluation		I have Dr. Thorncroft for ME 450 and he is NOT a douche bag. Maybe you're the douche bag.

ME 450 Senior Grade Earned: N/A Elective 5:04 pm, Jun 5, 2009 Report Evaluation		Thorncroft is a douche bag.

ME 302 Junior Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 8:52 am, Mar 15, 2008 Report Evaluation		Glen Thorncroft is a genious. Einstein will shock himself once his circuits are fried. Newton will get hot and bothered in his grave realizing that thermo is better than solid mechanics. The reason is this-Thorncroft will soon write a thesis on global warming that will save the planet from increasing enthalpy. Al Gore's documentary will be petty compared to Thorncroft's Temperature Thesis (or simply- TTT). TTT will explain that open sytems are actually closed systems that manifest themselves into open loop control systems. When they do this, they actually have increasing enthalpy. If you belive this to be 47% true, then you need to take another look at your TS Tables and read TTT once again. It seems as though it is time for another trip to the ***thole called Florida to do some more research Glen. And Glen, if you post this outside your office door and I see it when I come back to visit Poly, I will applaud you over and over and over. T.S. Power was the worst registration system ever. The efficiency of power can't even compare to the efficiency of a standard refrigeration cycle.

ME 236 Junior Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 4:10 pm, Feb 5, 2008 Report Evaluation		This guy is seriously the man. Not an easy teacher but not crazy hard...about the right balance. You will learn a lot, he is excellent at explaining stuff, funny, and interesting. You can tell he loves his job and will learn your name if you work at the material. His tests are pretty time restricted but fair otherwise. Take him.

ME 236 Junior Grade Earned: C Required (Major) 2:05 pm, Nov 13, 2007 Report Evaluation		Thorncroft is a phenomenal professor. He is very thorough, and explains the subject very well. This class is boring by nature, and Thorncroft really did all he could to make the best of it. Take Thorncroft for anything he's teaching.

ME 303 Junior Grade Earned: N/A Required (Major) 10:18 am, Oct 19, 2007 Report Evaluation		Great teacher; however, a little too hard with his exams. They are always....believe me ALAWAYS a time crunch!



ME 302 Junior Grade Earned: N/A Required (Major) 11:29 am, Sep 13, 2007 Report Evaluation		By far the best professor I have had at Cal Poly. He is passionate about the material, plus he's just a really cool person in general. He has a detailed knowledge about thermo, and is really good at passing that knowledge to students in a way the they will understand. Don't be expecting to glide through the class, though. His tests are hard, but if you put in the work, you'll do well. Oh, and he LOVES Lindsey Lohan. Be sure to ask him about when he went downtown just to see her. HUGE fan.

ME 236 Junior Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 12:31 pm, Aug 2, 2007 Report Evaluation		Best M.E. or even Cal poly prof yet. he made thermal measurements nearly interesting, and definitly engaging. He tries hard, brings a smile to class, and really tries to tie the lecture to the real world, i.e. using a dual stage turbine is neccesary due to temperature limitations of the turbine material. makes sense but you miss those details when just crunching hwk problems. Basically a great prof, (and respectably hard grader, forgot to mention.

ME 303 Senior Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 3:16 pm, Jun 29, 2007 Report Evaluation		Thorncroft is easily one of the best professors the engineering department has to offer. He is LoCascio's little pupil, but has managed to do away with most of the things that LoCascio student's constantly complain about. Like LoCascio he shares malcontent towards a certain Prof. Medizade, who is notorious for horrendously underpreparing students for thermo 2. He is amped on everything engineering, if you visit his office you will likely be there for at least 30 minutes even if it is an incredibly simple question. This is why he is awesome. He cares about his students. He does everything in his power to make sure he clarifies every question you have. If you visit his office I can assure you he will explain the material to you in a way that will make sense and stick with you. Why can we assume constant specific heat, ask him, he will tell you, and it will make a world of difference on tests and hw. That being said, I have failed 3 out of 5 tests I have take from him. His midterms are time crunchers, and he expects you to UNDERSTAND any concept he mentions in class (especially the ones he says "not that I give hints" about). It took me 3 sub 50 scores to realize that in order to do well on his tests you need to DO the hw. That means hiding the solution manual and grinding it out. You WILL NOT finish one of his tests if you can't work a hw problem out by yourself quickly. The tests are by no means impossible, but he always throws in some little trick (although he refuses to call them that) that will mess you up. He is forgiving though and will give as much partial credit as you deserve. Furthermore, if you show significant improvement over the quarter he takes that into consideration when assigning grades. I got a 46% on the first midterm but ended up with a B in the class. Take Thorncroft whenever possible, you will not regret it.

ME 303 Junior Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 8:36 pm, Jun 26, 2007 Report Evaluation		OK. So if you did't learn thermo 1 that well, thermo 2 isn't any easier. Thorncroft is a good but tough professor, and he knows it. I couldn't put much time into ME 303, and so my understanding and grade definitely suffered. I reccomend paying attention in lecture, visiting him in office hours, and putting your time into the homework. Do this and you should pass. Thorny is a cool guy. I got C's on both midterms, did OK (I think) on the final, and came out with a B-. I've never been so happy for a B- in my life.

ME 303 Senior Grade Earned: N/A Required (Major) 12:18 pm, Jun 17, 2007 Report Evaluation		Glen is definetely one of my favorite profs. He's really passionate about teaching and pretty damn good at it. His lectures are complete, easy to follow, and very entertaining which saves much studying time... The trick with his classes are: 1) Go to lecture 2) Do as many HW & Extra problems before the exams, and you'll be set...

ME 236 Junior Grade Earned: C Required (Major) 6:02 pm, Apr 2, 2007 Report Evaluation		Thorncroft is an almost perfect professor for ME courses. He is easy going, but he's not lazy. He is the balance between LoCascio and Patton. LoCascio wants you to learn so much so well that you end up failing, where Patton would give you a C for putting smiley faces as answers on the tests. Glen truly cares about his students knowing the material, but doesn't crucify them when mistakes are made. He is a tough but fair grader, so STUDY for the exams and final. I got a C because I didn't study for the 1st exam. Glen is the Best professor in the ME department, period.



ME 236 Junior Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 10:17 pm, Dec 15, 2006 Report Evaluation		ME 236 is better termed Engineering Measurement and Statistics. For such a dry class Thorncroft does a great job keeping it amusing. A nice guy and great professor, but a hard ass when it comes to grading. Thorncroft is excited to teach, explains things very well, and is dedicated to his students. I have to admit that I didn't work that hard in this class, and so I can't complain about gettng a B+. The labs and homework are pretty easy and straightforward, but like I said, Thorncroft is a hard ass when it comes to grading. I thought I rocked the final, and yet I still can't figure out how Ii got a B+, but oh well. Anyway,take this guy. He's a veteran professor for ME 236 and is fun to listen to.

ME 303 Junior Grade Earned: D Required (Major) 10:46 am, Oct 19, 2006 Report Evaluation		Thorny is one of the most energetic professors you will have. He is so excited that he is a huge nerd that has never had a woman. And he is definitely not gay since every lecture he would be ogglin the titties in the front row. Not that I can blame him though, if theres a room filled with pimply geeks and one hotty with big funbags what can you do? His lectures were excellent and interesting, but the tests were insanely difficult and irrelevant to the homework. I think Dr thorncroft is going to be locascios replacement as the teaching nazi on campus when he retires.

ME 236 Sophomore Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 7:23 pm, Mar 28, 2006 Report Evaluation		Thorncroft was awesome, one of the best teachers I've had so far. You buy his lecture notes from el corral for like 10 bucks, and i just took all my notes in that. There is a homework due each week and 1 midterm the whole quarter, and its a common final. Just go over the lecture notes and homework questions to prepare for the test/final. He is also excellent at explaining things if you ask questions, or even better if it's 1 on 1 in his office. Definitely get him for 236, I've heard he's good for thermo too so I'm gonna try and get him for that.

ME 302 Sophomore Grade Earned: A Required (Support) 4:52 pm, Mar 27, 2006 Report Evaluation		Thorncroft is a good professor for this course, his lectures are organized and he presents the material really well. Definitely recommended.

ME 302 Junior Grade Earned: B Required (Support) 11:59 pm, Mar 25, 2006 Report Evaluation		I liked Thorncroft, a good lecturer, put out a lot of effort for review sessions, made a lot of extra effort to help students. I didn't think the test were unfair at all. He even says he tries to make the tests UN-like the homework but I didnt find that to be true. Pretty standard questions. I do agree that he is a hard grader. As an example I answered every question on a particular midterm correctly and got a B+. I'm really not exaggerating, he took points of for not showing fundamental algebraic steps, a missing assumption here and there, and seemingly whatever the hell he could find that wasn't perfect~ all while supposedly taking into account a serious time crunch (both midterms where a rush to finish). If I could do it over again I would still take Thorncroft. He allowed the material to be pretty fucking cool, and I learned a lot a lot.

ME 236 Senior Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 10:19 pm, Dec 13, 2005 Report Evaluation		Throncroft is a good teacher for a crappy class. If you have a rough load one quarter and need some extra sleep, sign up for 236 in the middle of your busy days and take a nap. No joke, you really dont have to pay attention in this class. Everything you need to know is written up in his course pack. The lab is pretty boring and he grades your reports very closely, so follow his guidelines or your grades will suffer. The tests are very straight forward and fairly easy. There was one midterm and one final with 6 or so labs and a lab quiz each week. If you need to take 236 take thorncroft and stay away from anyone else. You cant go wrong with a gay, pot smoking proffesor.



ME 302 Junior Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 3:18 pm, Aug 31, 2005 Report Evaluation		he is a great lecturer, but difficult grader! it is almost impossible to get an A. he gives very few A's. i learned a lot and studied my butt off. you must do a lot of studying and a lot of hw in order to pass. he is nice and helpful in office hours. but his grading sucks b/c he is too tough w/ his grading scale. u will learn a lot b/c he pushes you too. u must have a lot of time on your hands for this hard class. be prepared!

ME 302 Junior Grade Earned: N/A Required (Major) 11:58 am, Apr 14, 2005 Report Evaluation		glen is a great guy, and a great teacher. very precise, doesnt leave anything out, not an easy A, thermo isnt a pushover class, it is very challenging. he is probably one of the best professors at cal poly for mechanical engineering, but if you already have a tough couse load, maybe wait a quarter, a lot of people didnt pass. VERY FAIR, HIGH CALIBER PROF, BUT ALSO VERY CHALLENGING

ME 236 Junior Grade Earned: C Required (Major) 11:43 pm, Mar 22, 2005 Report Evaluation		Thorncroft is a fun teacher who turned boaring statistical analysis into something manageable and fairly interesting. He grades very hard but what engineering teacher besides Niku doesnt? Also, I saw him smoking pot in his car one day before lab.

ME 347 Junior Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 3:05 pm, Mar 17, 2005 Report Evaluation		Thorncroft is a very good teacher. He is pretty tough, but very fair. I feel as though I have a great understanding of the subject. If you want to know fluids then take him.

ME 236 5th Year Senior Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 9:52 am, Jan 4, 2005 Report Evaluation		Thorncroft is a good teacher. I enjoyed his corny sense of humor (at least he's trying). As for the class, the class notebook is all you need. Attendence is not necessary to do well. If you have any questions, Thorncroft is very helpful in his office. I would take him again if I had the chance.

ME 236 Junior Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 12:02 pm, Dec 15, 2004 Report Evaluation		He knows it...he's a dork. But his nerdy sense of humor is absolutely essential in a statistics class. I'm sooo glad I took it with him. It's actually pretty interesting some of the stuff you can do with the equations. My only problem with the class is the huge jump in difficulty between the tests and the homework. Homework is super easy! Maybe and hour to finish each weeks assignment, and pretty decent grades on them. The tests, on the other hand, are tricky as hell! and it sucks because without a textbook, there's no way to actually learn the material any better if you wanted to be proactive. ALL you can do is do the homework! No extra problems out of a book, no extra review guide, nothing. But, he curves, so it works out. Take this class with him. And I'm pretty sure he's not gay.



ME 236 Sophomore Grade Earned: N/A Required (Major) 4:16 am, Dec 9, 2004 Report Evaluation		Thorncock is tricky! He said he wasn't going to test on some material and ended up testing us on it anyway. However, he is a very good in his office hours. If you get stuck on the HW he is very helpful guiding you through the process. He is not the worst ME professor, but he should work on his lecturing skills. For this class, take another professor if possible; you will regret taking him.

ME 236 Senior Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 6:09 pm, Nov 4, 2004 Report Evaluation		No I'm not

ME 236 Senior Grade Earned: N/A Required (Major) 11:01 pm, Nov 2, 2004 Report Evaluation		Thorncroft is gay

ME 236 Sophomore Grade Earned: C Required (Major) 6:16 pm, Jun 21, 2004 Report Evaluation		This is a boring class, but Thorncroft did the best anyone could expect of him. He was super enthusiastic about everything, the material just lagged. It is a stats class, so it just isn't very interesting my nature. Take him, he lessens the pain.

ME 302 Junior Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 7:37 pm, Apr 1, 2004 Report Evaluation		Thorncroft was a really good instructor. His lectures are motivating, dynamic, and really hold your interest. They are also EXTREMELY organized. His tests are NOT easy by any means. The midterms are time crunched and you have to know your shit and know it well. Averages are typically in the 50's and 60's for his exams. I'm going to go out a limb and say he was the best ME prof I've had(tie with Davol). He is a really smart guy and is also extremely helpful in office hours. His final is also very difficult though not as raced as the midterms. There is a conceptual page for each of his tests that always threw me off. I ended up with a B+ cause I did so-so on his final and pretty good on the midterms. I loved this class and might follow up on it by going into renewable energy sources. He's an awesome guy who strives on professionalism and damn good humor.

ME 236 Junior Grade Earned: C Required (Major) 10:56 pm, Dec 25, 2003 Report Evaluation		Thorncroft is an excellent instructor, however, the class was just very boring, because of the material. Make sure you always have the correct format for the homework, and study well for the tests. Could have gotten a better grade if I would have known that.



ME 236 Junior Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 8:05 pm, Dec 17, 2003 Report Evaluation		Dr. Thorncroft is one anal son of a bitch. I lost 3/10 points on every homework for format. but thats because im not anal at all. that aside, this guy kicks ass. 236 is basically statistics, and its boring as hell, but he makes in as painless as possible. he gives handouts instead of making you buy a book. this is great for several reasons: you save at least $50, you never have to take notes, or even pay attention in class (though you may want to because hes got a great sense of humor). all test material is straight out of the notes, and theres no fluff in there so you dont have to filter out what you need to know like you do with a textbook. his midterm was fair, final was easy. homework is twice a week and takes about a half hour. the lab is a pain in the ass. its basically doing a statistical analysis of boiling water and thermocouples. 5 times. but labs always suck, at least you get out of this one early. anyways thorncroft is great, im stoked to have him again for thermo.

ME 302 Senior Grade Earned: F Required (Support) 10:11 am, Oct 28, 2003 Report Evaluation		I went to every class meeting. I read the book and I still couldn't figure out 302. My advice is find another professor.

ME 236 Junior Grade Earned: C Required (Major) 2:56 pm, Sep 4, 2003 Report Evaluation		Dr. Thorncroft is awesome, He's one of the best in the M.E. dept. He will try to help you anyway possible to get the material and he is enthusiastic teacher I've seen in the dept. Especially when you consider the coarse he's teaching. Basically the coarse is statistics and more statistics. The labs are interesting and he goes to every group with questions to get your brain to think. He takes the labs very seriously and gives you tips on what's expected for the next lab report and so on. He will dock your grade for not taking heed to his hints. Don't be late to the lab, he takes that as a slap in the face. The midterms and final are fair with no tricks. The homework is doable but he's more into that you attempted it verses copy someone else that got it.

ME 236 Junior Grade Earned: B Required (Support) 2:47 pm, Aug 5, 2003 Report Evaluation		Thorncroft is a great guy. His lectures are fun, his labs go by quickly, and you'll come away with a lot of new knowledge. His tests are difficult, so don't coast into them. And take the labs seriously. He'll go easy on the first one and bombard you with suggestions for future labs. Follow all of them carefully. Remember, the lab section tests how well you write labs, not how good your results are. Write them carefully!

ME 134 Freshman Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 1:44 pm, Mar 4, 2003 Report Evaluation		I really enjoyed professor Throncroft for the lab. He really likes howstuffworks.com, he's funny, and he'll make the class interesting. I look forward to taking him for a later ME class.

ME 236 Junior Grade Earned: C Required (Major) 7:55 am, Jan 17, 2003 Report Evaluation		Thermal systems is not exactly the most exciting class. It's kind of like statistics goes to the ME department. Even so, Thorncroft was great, he has this great sense of humor...sometimes it's swing and miss, but he tries anyway, which I appreciate :). Be on the lookout out though, he's kind of a hard ass in some regards: 1) homework will not be accepted if it's more than 5 minutes late. 2) watch your labs, he is a real stickler for...everything--grammar, format, page layout... 3) when you are studying for the midterm, be sure to study EVERY SINGLE PAGE of notes that this guy has given you...because I promise you that you will need to know them all. Anyway, Glen was a great guy and made this class a lot of fun. I would recommend taking him to anyone.



ME 134 Freshman Grade Earned: C Required (Major) 5:22 pm, Jun 7, 2002 Report Evaluation		Thorncroft is a good man. Nice guy that enjoys helping. His labs are fun and pretty easy.

ME 236 Sophomore Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 10:59 pm, Apr 3, 2002 Report Evaluation		Glen is absolutely great. ME 236 is not exactly the most exciting class in the world. It's a lot of statistics and just number crunching with data. But his zeal for engineering just shows through it and he really makes it an enjoyable class. He presents material clearly. His tests are fair as is his homework. I definitely recommend Glen to anybody to take, especially if you aren't sure if you're in the right major, he can definitely help convince you.

ME 134 Freshman Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 2:58 pm, Apr 3, 2002 Report Evaluation		best teacher in the department

ME 134 Freshman Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 3:56 pm, Mar 19, 2002 Report Evaluation		best teacher ever

ME 134 Freshman Grade Earned: N/A Required (Major) 1:46 pm, Jan 4, 2002 Report Evaluation		Professor Thorncroft made this introductory course to mechanical engineering both interesting and fun. He was a fair grader, and you get to do a lot of cool things in the class. I would definitely recommend him for ME134 lab.

ME 134 Freshman Grade Earned: A Required (Support) 10:07 pm, Mar 15, 2001 Report Evaluation		I just had to give Dr. Thorncroft props for being an awesome teacher. He was really interesting and I learned a ton from him. His tests are fair. As long you do the homework you will do fine on them. He is also really helpful in his office hours.



ME 134 Freshman Grade Earned: A Required (Support) 4:23 pm, Mar 2, 2001 Report Evaluation		Tc is a great professor. Me 134 isn't the most exciting class but he is really funny despite being pretty goofy. The lecture consists of a lot of homework, which is graded fair but tough, one midterm, and the final. The lecture is worth 60% of your grade. The lab, which is worth 40% of your grade, is literally an automatic A if you go to class, participate in the labs and do the projects, which are fun and not oo hard. I would say you can get a B by going to the lab and trying in the lecture. I would strongly recommend Thorncroft, he is a great guy and is very helpful and easy to talk to.

ME 134 Freshman Grade Earned: A Required (Support) 4:25 pm, Jan 31, 2001 Report Evaluation		I took 2 years of Physics in high school (one of them Calc-based), so ME 134 was a breeze-and-two-thirds for me. It's extra-basic mechanics with some history of ME thrown in. In other words, anybody could teach it, but Thorncroft kept it interesting (I stayed awake for most lectures, even the stuff I learned in 6th grade). He's a dork and knows it, but is entertaining. Demos were cool. The final was easy. The midterm asked some tricky trick questions, by which most of us were tricked. Know the difference between pound-force and pound-mass and you'll be fine. Homework is graded harshly (I lost 10 points--on a 30 point assignment--for having a partially incomplete problem statement), to make you get learn the way engineering students do homework problems in engineering classes. Very fair, very easy, the lab was loads of fun.

ME 134 Freshman Grade Earned: A Required (Support) 10:51 pm, Jan 18, 2001 Report Evaluation		Dr. Thorncroft is awesome, totally awesome. I refer to him as "The Game." I was lucky enough to have him my first quarter at Cal Poly. After having him I knew for sure I wanted to be a mechanical engineer. The material that ME 134 covers isn't very interesting, but Dr. Thorncroft made the class exciting. His lectures were thorough, straightforward, and always humorous. He gives homework assignments each week. They're based on his lectures and not extremely difficult. If you have any problems go straight to his office hours. He's always willing to help students out with anything from differential gears to scheduling classes. There is a midterm and a final. Both are straightforward and medium in difficulty. Please learn that 1 pound-force = 32.174 pound-mass. It'll be on both exams. If you can, get Dr. Thorncroft for the lab section also. By far the best teacher I've had at Cal Poly.

ME 134 Freshman Grade Earned: A Required (Support) 11:58 pm, Jan 8, 2001 Report Evaluation		Thorncroft is a very exciting professor and would recommend anybody take him. He is perhaps the funniest educator i have had and is passionate about the material. His tests are harder than the homework but arn't impossible, and Throrncroft is more than willing to help you prepare. The tests are part multiple choice, fill in, and one major written problem at the end. The midterm had tricky questions and seemed 5 times more difficult than the homework so watch out, but the final i felt was incredible easy. The course had the more "difficult" stuff (it's not that hard)in the begginning so be sure to study hard for the midterm and you'll be set for the final as well. He is better in the lab where you can talk to him than he is in the lecture.

ME 134 Sophomore Grade Earned: B Required (Support) 4:30 pm, Jan 8, 2001 Report Evaluation		He's very entertaining, but his tests are a lot harder than you'd think, since the homework is totally easy. I pulled through with a pretty good grade, but my advice is to study a lot for the midterm.

ME 134 Sophomore Grade Earned: B Required (Support) 12:34 pm, Dec 14, 2000 Report Evaluation		Thorncroft is a very informative and helpful professor, although 134 is a review of basic physics, he is able to challenge his students. The homework load is not excessive, but you have to be careful to turn is homework in the right format or else homework points will magically disappear. The lab is entertaining, although some of it is oversimplified and menial. Overall, Thorncroft gives ME students a good introduction to their major.



ME 134 Freshman Grade Earned: B Required (Support) 1:12 pm, Mar 2, 2000 Report Evaluation		Professor Thorncroft is great at making mechanical engineering interesting to students. However, the material of ME 143 is pretty lame and useless. Some of the projects are cool, but some just seem like a waste of time. I had Thorncroft for the lecture, but had the misfortune of getting Ellis/Lipper as my lab instructor. I have heard that Thorncroft is a much better lab instructor. About all that the homework in this class is good for is as a review of physics.

ME 134 Freshman Grade Earned: A Required (Support) 2:33 pm, Feb 7, 2000 Report Evaluation		Glen is a very organized and energetic professor. You can tell he loves to teach. He clearly explains what he expects students to know for tests and quizzes and does his best to make students undestand the material. He is very willing to help students during office hours and non ofice hours and he will help until you fully understand the material. If you put enough effort into the homework assignments and take notes during lectures, then the quizzes and tests should not be a problem.

ME 134 Freshman Grade Earned: N/A Required (Support) 4:30 pm, Nov 1, 1999 Report Evaluation		Thorncroft is an excellent teacher. He is really good at not making class boring. He understands that mechanical Engineering is not exciting but he finds ways to make it intresting. I would heavily suggest taking him.

ME 302 Junior Grade Earned: C Required (Major) 10:53 pm, Jun 18, 1999 Report Evaluation		Outstanding professor. He enjoys teaching and tries his best to make sure that his students understand the material. His exams are long. He makes them so that he can do them in 30 min max. So this means that it would take a student 1 hr min. to finish them. He does this to make sure you know the comcepts.

	Home Go Back Professor List Professor Search