Cole, Matthew  

Economics

2.30/4.00

20 evaluations


ECON 201


Freshman
N/A
Required (Support)
Apr 2016
Rushes though lectures and spends way to much time on unnecessary topics. Avoid if you can. Gets butthurt and acts unprofessional from time to time.


Senior
N/A
Required (Support)
May 2016
exams are fairly straightforward, but some questions on homeworks presented in polylearn that he makes himself are vague, poorly worded, or just straight misleading. Also I don't get why he's teaching if he seems to dislike people so much. He would definitely rather not talk to you. so good luck.


Freshman
B
General Ed
Jun 2016
Cole is probably the worst professor I have had at Cal Poly. Luckily this course was half-online so we only had class one day a week. He rushed through powerpoint, never gave anyone time to write anything down, couldn't answer students questions clearly, and treated everyone terrible. His tests were not too hard and he sent out a practice midterm and final but i pretty much taught myself the entire class.


Freshman
B
General Ed
Jun 2016
Professor Cole is extremely unprofessional, unwilling to help students and very childish. To give an example, he sent out an email on the last week of class saying "For those of your who can't bother to come to class" with a powerpoint attached giving information on the final time and scantron requirement. Clearly, he has trouble with attendance - this is because he gives extremely boring lectures wherein he reads directly from the slides and moves too quickly (so quickly that it's near impossible to take notes for even the fastest typers). His tests are poorly worded and do not correlate with the Aplia material, which is basically all you have to teach yourself. If you take him, you probably won't fail but may not make the grade you'd like. Would not recommend this professor.


Freshman
A
General Ed
Jun 2016
Conclusion: Take other professors if you can. If you can't, just choose another GE or take it next quarter. Dr. Cole may be a good economist, but definitely not a good professor. This ECON 201 was a hybrid class, half online and half on campus. He is still new to Poly. He is strict and serious. He would require you to buy a bundle of the class material from Aplia, including online textbook and online practices, which were totally useless, at least to me. When he was lecturing, he just read all the words on the powerpoint, which were created by the textbook author. And more importantly, he DOES NOT POST POWERPOINT on the PolyLearn! He read very fast and you won't have enough time to take notes. His classes were so boring, and just 50% of people showed up after the midterm. There were some tricky questions on the Midterm and Final. I think he did curve for the final grade. Even though we just met once per week, that two hours were the most suffering to me.


Junior
A
General Ed
Nov 2016
I'm posting this to help Cole's average, as I was shocked when I saw it. He was a fine professor, nothing special, but it was a large lecture hall and there's not a lot of room to get creative in that environment. He explained things fine, and obviously was trying his best. I don't think he deserved this low polyrating at all. The hybrid class (half online half in class) worked out well, as it was only one class a week. I found if I did the polylearn quizzes with the book nearby, and had a calculator for the Aplia assignments, I learned everything I need to for the tests with minimal effort. There was one midterm and one final, 50 MC questions each, pretty simple tests. All in all, it was a very straightforward, simple class and Cole did fine teaching it.

ECON 311


Sophomore
C
Required (Major)
Dec 2016
I cannot stress this enough, do not take Dr. Cole if you can somehow avoid him. I have never had a teacher that did such a poor job of explaining material in class. He makes it very clear he does not care about you as a student and that you are merely a waste of his time. Yes he has a PhD in Economics and I am sure he knows what he is talking about; however, this man could not teach if his likely miserable wife's life depended on it. It is a shame how poor Cal Poly's economics program is and Dr. Cole exemplifies it perfectly. I have had my fair share of bad teachers at Cal Poly, but I would rather aggressively rub sand paper against my ass then have to watch this man stare at the back of the room again while he "teaches".


Junior
B
Required (Major)
Jan 2017
This class is not easy by any stretch of the imagination, be prepared to work hard. That said, it is a very "passable" class because of the way Cole sets it up. 300 points total: 100 hw points, 100 midterm, and 100 final. I failed the midterm and was still able to get a B- in the class because I got 95 out of 100 points on the hw. Cole really knows his stuff and classes can sometimes get a little dry but if you like calculus and econ, Cole's class is very passable. Just be prepared to work hard and spend a lot of time in the tutoring hours in the business lab. If you how Cole that you care about his class, he will definitely work with you to help you in any way possible.


Sophomore
B
Required (Major)
Feb 2017
Cole really knows his material and clearly presents it, because of all the information and the short amount of time lectures run till the end, and there is little time for questions. Is is always willing to explain things more clearly in office hours, and the information he gives out during lectures are clear and detailed. ECON 311 is a really difficult class in general, so if you're looking for an easy ECON elective to graduate, this might not be for you. I'm generally confused with ECON but still ended up getting a B because of the way he sets up the class: 1/3 homework, 1/3 midterm, and 1/3 final; and he also ends up curving the final grade. He also makes a bunch of jokes during class, which I found amusing, but others found awkward.


Junior
A
Required (Major)
Aug 2017
Cole was a solid teacher. Not an easy class at all(one of the hardest Econ classes) and somewhat unexciting, he will admit at the beginning that if you don't have to take this class you should not chose it as an elective. That being said I thoroughly enjoyed the course, learned a lot, and came out with a high A. If you put in 6-8 hours a week of work it is very possible to get an A. The final replaces the first midterm score so it can count for up to 66.6% of your grade, so study!


Sophomore
B
Required (Major)
Nov 2017
I feel Cole get's too hard a rap. If you are looking for an extremely entertaining and active and animated professor, Cole is simply not for you. He knows his stuff and does continuous examples to help nail it in. His issues are he's a fairly dry in his lectures and sometimes a bit monotone, but the content and information is all there and fairly easy to understand


Freshman
B
Required (Major)
Nov 2018
Underrated professor. Provides good notes and does a pretty good job explaining the material. Make sure you show up to every class or your grade will pay for it. This is a hard class, if you want a good grade you have to put the work into it. He's also a fair grader on the exam and problem sets.


Sophomore
B
Required (Major)
Nov 2018
I'm technically still taking the class and have an A but I put B there just in case lol. I thought ECON 311 was going to be the hardest class ever because everyone says it's super tough. I don't think it is. It's true that the material can be tricky, but it doesn't require a ton of work or effort. The hardest part is the first few weeks when you're still figuring out what's happening. Overall, I like Cole. He gives good examples in class and his problems sets are very similar to his tests. If you need this class then take it with him.


Sophomore
N/A
Required (Major)
Dec 2018
^^UPDATE: The final was wayyy harder than expected and much harder than the midterm. I'm pretty sure I failed it. You should still take Cole, but beware of his finals because omfg that was the saddest test I've ever taken. A bunch of people took the full three hours and a bunch more quit after like an hour. Good luck. Study everything, even the stuff that isn't on the practice problems.


Sophomore
A
Required (Major)
Dec 2018
Not a bad teacher, seemed like a fine guy. To do well in the class, make sure you get A's on all four homework assignments, check them with the Orfalea tutors, as they make up 1/3 of your grade. The other 2/3 of your grade is the midterm and final, weighted evenly, which are pretty straightforward. I thought the first midterm was fairly easy, and consisted of problems similar to those on the homework, while the final was a bit harder, and had problems from the lectures in addition from the homework/review problems.

ECON 312


Sophomore
A
Required (Major)
Mar 2017
Personally, I love economics and it's really easy for me to understand. Going into this class I was nervous because Dr. Cole had some pretty bad reviews. I realized after however that Dr. Cole was actually I really good teacher. Something about this generation wants everything just handed to them. Most of the kids in this class were just a bunch of whiners. Economics takes patients and effort. If you're don't have those skills than you shouldn't have been accepted into Cal Poly in the first place. Dr. Cole was definitely way better than I expected and super funny. Relax going into this class because it's not that hard and if you think it's hard switch you're major to automatic A majors like liberal arts or nutrition #stopcryingcpstudents

EHS 328


Sophomore
C
Required (Major)
Nov 2016
Trump 2016 -> Kanye 2020 -> Vermen Supreme 2024 -> ??? -> Profit

ECON 404


Senior
A
Required (Major)
Feb 2018
Talks to the roof of the classroom and never makes eye contact. Flusters through his lectures which are from previous years of teaching that are frequently not updated. Teaches by reading from his own notes, then expects students to learn by taking notes from notes. Expects students to not feel emotions when the subject being presented is in a dry, rote, redundant manner. He fails to teach even himself, as any question addressed towards him is met with an exasperated sigh by much of the class as they prepare to have their time wasted by the ramblings of a man who would prefer to be drinking beer and eating pizza at his home than be in a classroom setting. Do not take his classes. It will be a waste of time.


Junior
A
Required (Major)
Apr 2018
This class is very doable if you show up everyday and take good notes. His exams had all the things on his problem sets plus the obvious main points that were excluded from the problem sets. There is a Midterm, Final, two problem sets, you have to write a summary on a trade podcast, and create a research proposal. None of the outside work takes too much time and all the material is presented clearly but sometimes the lectures go fast. I recommend it for ECon students who need more 400 level classes.


Sophomore
N/A
Required (Major)
Mar 2019
Cole is my favorite econ professor. I've had him for 311 and 404 now, and something about his teaching style just clicks for me. His lectures can be a bit tedious sometimes, but overall he's pretty entertaining and interesting. The class has a midterm, final (not cumulative), two problem sets, a literature review, and a few of podcasts. Not a heavy workload at all tbh. His problem sets can be challenging, but he is super helpful in office hours, and if you redo the practice problems and problem sets, you'll ace the tests. Don't listen to everyone who says he's super hard because they're probably just first years who either a) are taking his class as a GE/support class or b) are freshmen/sophomores taking his 311 class and have never done anything above a 200 level class before.