Canella, Alfonso  

This teacher SUCKS! He literally does not teach you a thing. The only way I passed was because of other kids taking AGB 260 for the second time. Although I earned a high B, you do not learn a thing. It is very sad because most career paths involve skills with Excel and he doesn't teach anything!

This class is easy but it is the most boring class I have ever taken. No tests, all homework can be done in pairs, but seriously the worst class. I haven't even gone since week 2. half the class is online and he takes attendance on the video conferences. homework isn't too hard but is completely irrelevant to the class power points. he emails us like 15 times a day with articles from the wall st journal which is annoying. take ANYONE ELSE for this class he sucks ass

Canella leads a very autonomous course and surrounds an equity analysis project. Clearly, this doesn't work for some people because they lack the self-discipline or utility to use the very accessible resources he affords to his students to help them. He doesn't really value grades because he thinks performance and effort can't really be quantified, which is honestly a breath of fresh air in the finance department. That being said, you have to work hard to for an A because he doesn't give them out easily. Advice: go to his office hours, set group deadlines, get his feedback, finish the project in chunks... and repeat. He is your best resource in the class, people just didn't find it important enough to use him until the very end of the quarter.

Canella is straightforward and he knows a lot about finance. He gives you all the materials to succeed in the class. It is just up to you to put in work. I would recommend taking him and I am looking to take another one of his classes in the future. It is nice to have a professor that cares about his students and how much they learn.

Professor Canella is a master at instruction and I always look forward to coming to his classes. I've taken him for 431 and 439 and his lectures are always interesting, educational, and he explains everything in a clear, easy to understand manner. He also uses real-world examples when explaining every concept or answering any questions that students have. He takes every question seriously, no matter what it is and explains everything in a way that even a middle-schooler could understand. He's very straightforward and direct in his communication, yet never insensitive. His classes are based on preparing you for the working world. Because of this, he doesn't give quizzes/tests and focuses on case studies and projects. Another part of his class that is unusual is that he weights a high percentage of your grade on participation (~30%) to encourage students to ask questions and actually engage in conversation. He understands that he is instructing for YOUR benefit, not just to hear himself speak. I suggest asking anything that comes to your mind, he will help you figure out any trouble or misunderstandings you have about/in the class. Even if you have questions about finance or assignments outside of class, talk to him after class or email him, he's always willing to help. Beyond being a brilliant professor, he really cares about his students. I look at him as a mentor, and you could ask him just about anything, not just subjects within the realm of finance. During the valuation project that we're given for 431, I would be messaging him on a Friday/Saturday night about specifics/details on the company we were doing our project on and he would respond within minutes and go through the company's 10K with me. I really encourage you to interact with him as much as you can, there's so much to learn from doing so. I'm really disappointed I won't be able to take more classes with him because he is only teaching 431 & 439 but I will definitely stay in touch with Professor Canella. I cannot recommend him enough as a professor, he may be the best instructor I've had!

Canella is a good guy. Learned a ton in the class. Learn by Doing motto through and through. You should take him if you're interested in IB.

Canella is not as bad as everyone says he is. He has a good sense of humor and interesting lectures. Just ask a lot of questions because participation is 30% of your overall grade. For the project, as long as you have a good group, you shuold be fine.

Hands down the worst professor I have had at Cal Poly. On the equity research report, he will completely screw you if you choose a company that he does not like. As far as the presentation goes, make sure to make your powerpoint as aesthetically pleasing as possible, as he marked down every group in the class for not being artsy. For some reason, he thinks this is an art course. Lectures are almost completely tangential, and he teaches you very little that you can use after the class. I cannot stress this enough - I swear he spent more time bagging on Spirit Airlines than actually teaching us how to value securities. Finally, if you are in the position I was in this class, where you knew the basics of valuation from interview prep, DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS. The grade is weighted 30% on participation, and yet he provides no opportunities to ANSWER questions, only to ask them. It felt like I was being punished for having more advanced knowledge of the valuations process, while those who asked irrelevant questions were rewarded. Absolutely ridiculous.

Straight and simple this guy fucking sucks. If you have taken Gorman and have been groomed with his excellence method of teaching don't take this professor. He does not know anything about finance nor does he know how to teach it. through 3 years here at Cal Poly never have I even bothered writing a bad review for a professor I did not like because its normal to get bad teachers and good teachers through a degree. I personally did not learn more than a little excel which came easy from google searches because of Canella's "Figure it out" teaching style. In Finance we don't pay tuition as students to google things, we pay for a professor to teach us. I personally think the Finance Department at Cal Poly should be embarrassed at how low caliber of a professor they hired from a "considered to be good" business school. Do yourself a favor unless you want to suck this guys dick all quarter and select a professor that actually teaches you material in an organized quarter of constructed class. This guy sucks, don't take him for this class or his bonds class. If you have experienced a bad quarter with this professor please join me in emailing John Dobson for his departure from Cal Poly @ jdobson@calpoly.edu (CP Finance Chair) in order to find better professors for this program.

READ THIS FOR THE SAKE OF YOUR FUTURE IN FINANCE. Please, don't be fooled like I was. No homework, no midterms, no final. Damn, this guy seems dope as fuck right? Wrong. Wrong as fuck. This guy fucking sucks. I have never written a poly rating before in my life and I'm at the end of my third year. I am telling you to avoid this guy at all costs. If your a finance student and actually want to LEARN and understand finance, do not take this guy. Why would you take a teacher that will jeopardize your entire finance education. I understand it for GE'S, but come on. These are major classes. Take it seriously. I unfortunately had him for this class and fixed income securities (he was the only one teaching it), and I have not learned jack shit from him. He doesn't even let you take notes. Like what the fuck? Whoever has given this guy good ratings is either retarded or that kiss ass kid who for some reason gets a 4.0 without even trying to study. if you are a normal finance student like me, DO NOT TAKE THIS FUCK. This guy gives you a final project worth 70% of your grade to value a stock, and tells you to figure out how to do it yourself. If you ask him any questions on how to come across the project or attempt it, he says figure it out your self. Like what the fuck? I am taking this class for you to fucking teach me how to analyze securities, which is a very important and hard task to do. And this guy won't tell you how to do it. I had to teach that all to myself. Easily spent over 80 hours on this project and still will probably get a C on it cause his expectations are fucking retarded. The worst part about it is that he compares your project to examples of students pursuing their MBA in Finance in a CFA competition. Full blown veterans in finance and he expects you to analyze a stock and make the presentation better then theirs. This guys a fucking kook. He is cancer in our finance department and needs to be fired (Again) before he fucks kids up for their futures. I am generally scared for my future in finance because of him. Do not take him.

Canella gets too hard of a reputation. 30% of your grade is 3 excel projects which he does grade difficulty and can be frustrating, but as long as you try and ask for help if needed you will get at least a B on them. 70% of your grade is an insanely long and complex financial analysis on a company and a powerpoint presentation on it. By long I mean 30-40 pages single spaced and a powerpoint of about 80 slides. However you're in groups and if you stay on pace with his recommendations you can succeed. Not saying that the project isn't a b!$@% because it really is but Canella is VERY willing to help if you ask for it and will tell you everything you need to fix and change for him to like it. My group worked a lot with him during his office hours and would have him review our paper as we went along and all of his feedback and corrections really helped us get a good grade. Along with that, Canella is very very knowledgable on the subject and is insanely smart. Class can get annoying though because you do nothing in class related to the project so have to spend 30 hours in the lib the last 2 weekends before its due lol.

The first day of class Professor Canella anounced that his grading policy is 70% hw and 30% class participation. Throughout the quarter we had 6 hw assignments which everyone in the class did well on, so effecticely his grading scale is 100% participation. He doesnt record anything in class for participation, so essentially at the end of the quarter he just makes up whatever grade he wants to give you. Incredibly frustrating. On top of that his 2 hour lectures are dryer than the Sahara Desert. Avoid this professor and take someone who will actually teach you.

Waste of a quarter. Graded on a curve which is only based on class participation in his OFF TOPIC lectures. YOU ARE GRADED ON HOW MUCH YOU PARTICIPATE IN IRRELEVANT INFORMATION TO THE CLASS. Do not get fooled when he gives you A's on the HW because he gives everyone in the class A's because he is too lazy to grade. By giving everyone A’s on the HW he pretty much eliminates them from the grade since he grades on a curve. Also he's claims to be a finance professional but he only buys the index, refusing to buy stocks because he think there too "risky".... some real expertise there hahahaha.

I felt like I was actually learning material that is applicable in the field I am looking to get into. And Canella was great in leading the class in interesting discussions. I would recommend taking this class.

Very knowledgable professor! take his class.

I had a great quarter with Professor Canella in both 439 and 431. 439 took some time getting used to the style of teaching, but I got a lot of real world experience. The class has homework assignments every week which are fairly easy and 30% participation. There are no tests which is a breath of fresh air. In class, at first I didn't like how the whole class was based on people's questions but I grew to appreciate this. You gain a lot of valuable real-world experience and are more prepared for the real world. Professor Canella is a very knowledgeable guy and wants hi students to succeed. Just do the homework and participate in class and you will do just fine.

Do not take this class. You will not learn anything, and the final grade he gives he pulls out of thin air. He says participation counts for 30% of your final grade, but really, it accounts for all of it. At the end of the quarter he looks at the class roster and guesses your class participation, if you're a girl chances are you'll get a better grade. Some students didn't speak at all and ended up with the same grade as students who spoke lots.

Canella is a different professor. He comes from the private sector and so has different views. He is an expert in Finance, and has a lot of experience in the field. His class consists of 5 Problem Sets and 3 Case Studies ....No Tests so that was nice! I have never cared much about grade because once you're in the real world, a letter grade will not determine your success. He has a similar thought so he tries to teach more than just about what the course requires...Class can be kind of boring sometimes, but Tuesday is in class and Thursday a video conference with someone in the Finance sector, so you don't have to go to class.

What can I say? You're going to take a haircut... shhwwwwttttt

he sure does like his women, wet!!