Esola, Mario  

Civil and Environmental Engineering

2.94/4.00

17 evaluations


ARCE 211


Sophomore
A
Required (Major)
Dec 2016
Pros: Professor Esola is a fantastic instructor. He definitely understands when the class is iffy on a certain topic and is willing to pause class to do extra examples to help everyone out. He has a quirky sense of humor.... but he tries. :) His exam for 211 was sooo reasonable. It was not difficult at all. It was easier than the homework assigned. If you do the work you should have no problem with this class. Cons: He is young and you can tell because he is very busy. I am pretty sure he is a practicing engineer, husband, and father, so he has a lot going on. He is a little impatient during office hours. He seems to be a little rushed. He takes a long time to grade exams but I think he is doing the best he can.


Sophomore
C
Required (Major)
Dec 2016
The worst professor I've had at Cal Poly. Plays favorites and is very disorganized. Takes several weeks to grade exams, and his lectures are a confusing mess.


Sophomore
A
Required (Support)
Mar 2017
Mario was Awesome. He did an excellent job presenting material in a clear way. His quizzes and exams are Extremely fair. He does assign a lot of HW but the problems on the quizzes and exams are much easier than these problems. I highly recommend taking him even though it might be at 7 am. Completely worth it!

ARCE 226


Junior
N/A
Required (Support)
Jun 2016
Mario is a great guy, clearly cares about his students, and is entirely unprepared to teach ARCE 226. Took over a MONTH to grade a midterm. Gave our assignments back to us after we took the final exam. Did not present any relevant information, tested us on concepts that were barely covered in class. I would recommend avoiding Esola for ARCE 226.


Junior
A
Required (Support)
Dec 2016
Mario is one of the kindest and most caring professors I have encountered here at Cal Poly. He is a newer professors so he has not completely mastered the art of teaching yet so sometimes his lectures are a little unstructured. However, he is straightforward with quizzes and exams and never tries to trick his students. If the class as a whole is having difficulty with a certain topic, he is willing to slow down the class and reteach the topics that are confusing. Great guy, great class. Highly recommend him as an ARCE professor!

ARCE 315


Senior
A
Required (Support)
Apr 2017
Try to avoid Esola. He is completely unable to return homework and tests in any reasonable amount of time.


Junior
N/A
Required (Support)
May 2017
Unreliable with return of tests, homework. I swear I probably emailed him at least 5 times throughout the quarter and not once answered my questions or email. He is friendly but make no mistake his test are difficult with some weird twists that will make you question why he only touched on it briefly during lecture.

ARCE 316


Junior
N/A
Required (Major)
Jun 2017
Mario is THE BEST! He is so engaging, so clearly passionate about structures and its integration into our projects, and excited about the ideas we brought to the table. I have truly appreciated his guidance and openness this year in structures (took him for ARCE 226, 315, and 316), and his commitment to the concerns of his students. This course specifically is a pretty hard one to facilitate, given its union with studio, and for his first time teaching it I think he did well. There were many other professors I know of that didn't even talk about studio projects in their 316 classes, and I think that's not helpful at all - Mario's balance of studio structure submittals and general information was perfect. Not sure about how I feel about having a final in the class, but... what can ya do. Thanks for a great class Mario!

CE 351


Junior
A
Required (Major)
Jul 2015
Mario is one of the best professors I have had at Cal Poly. He makes himself available to all of his students and ultimately wants to make sure that they succeed. This class is one of the more difficult classes that CE's need to take so it will definitely take lots of time and practice to master the material. There was one midterm and a final, along with weekly homework and lab assignments (which were quite long). Mario provides his notes and makes a solution set for the problems he goes over (very helpful). He also writes very neat and knows his stuff when it comes to Structural Engineering. Take advantage of office hours because they were extremely helpful. Overall a genuinely nice guy who can teach very well. I enjoyed learning from him.


Junior
B
Required (Major)
Oct 2015
Best teacher I have had at Calpoly. Extremely nice and helpful at all times and knows how to teach in a way that makes sense unlike a lot of other teachers in the CE department. Tests are fair and homework can take a while but he makes the subject very enjoyable and interesting. He made this class my favorite class at calpoly. If you have the opportunity, take him.

CE 352


Junior
B
Required (Major)
Apr 2016
Amazing teacher, the best I've had at Cal Poly. Take him for structures.


Junior
C
Required (Major)
May 2016
Wasn't terrible, but I didn't care for him. Take someone else


Junior
N/A
Required (Major)
Jun 2016
Esola is the man! Literally the most motivated and helpful professor I've ever had.. not to mention super friendly. When the material gets tough he makes himself available for extra office hours/group study sessions whenever you need. That being said, the course definitely lives up to its reputation. Expect to spend 8-10 hrs a week between the take home labs and lecture homework. But overall if you put in the time and show effort on the homework you will be fine.


Junior
N/A
Required (Major)
Oct 2018
It is a very hard class, but Esola is a great teacher, I have no complaints.


Junior
N/A
Required (Major)
Jun 2019
He's dope. Take him.


Senior
B
Required (Major)
Jun 2019
One of the best professors that Ive had at Cal Poly and one that truly cares about his students learning. Im not going to lie this class has more work that Ive ever had at Cal Poly as there was one homework and one lab every week that took at least a combined 15 hours every week. The homeworks and labs prepared you extremely well for the tests and Esola spent his entire office hours helping students understand how to do the homework and would usually spend up to 30 minutes per student. At the end of the day, the class is a lot of work but if you put in the hard work, Esola will reward you. Be sure to go to his office hours as that is how he grades his class, how much effort you put into it.

LA 387


Senior
C
Required (Major)
Nov 2016
Taking this instructor is like being in a Twilight Zone episode. You just can