Howard Olson

He's a stud. All you need to know

H. Olson is awesome. I heard he was a good professor so I took one of his classes for the heck of it-Intro to Real Estate. He is a good lecture and brings in real life examples. Because of this course I now want an internship in Real Estate to se if I like it as much as I think I will. There are only two manadtory exams, if you make a presentation you are waived the third exam. Go to class, he has the lectures all planned out, they go pretty quick. Tests are sorta difficult but hey, you have all semester to study for two tests!

Professor Olson is a very entertaining and knowledgable professor. He has a lot of experience in his field and brings interesting examples into the classroom. I learned a lot about real estate this semester even though i didnt have much interest in it before the class. His discussions are interesting and productive. The tests were very difficult. They're all on his notes in class (dont even bother reading the book). They were based off of very small details he may have mentioned in class. The mathematical problems are easy, but he has quite a few true and false questions that nit pick at a small off-topic part of his lecture. His notes are very unorganized making his tests difficult. I would suggest taking his class, but make sure to write down everything he says in class and study over it before the tests

In class Olson openly admits that he chose the teaching profession simply because it offered him the freedom he was looking for in a job. This fact is evident throughout the course since Olson's lectures are highly disorganized and he really does not know how to convey the knowledge he has to the students. His classes become philosophy lessons on the environment, life, religion, etc, rather than actually covering real estate issues. The class ends up being a complete waste of time. So in the end, Olson is very knowledgeable and seems like a good guy but he is a very poor teacher. Do what you must...

I've taken him for both 348 and 458 now, and I'm not sure what to think. He definitely knows his stuff, but I'm not so sure we're really learning all that much. 458 seemed like a repeat of 348, but with a few new stories. In 348, I got low 80's on the tests and got an A in the class, then in 458 I got high 80's on the tests and got a B. Frustrating that you have no idea where you really stand as far as a grade because he waits until the end of the semester to determine the scale. Also did "presentations" during the semester, which were basically students regurgitating news articles. If you did a presentation you didn't have to take the final, unfortunately his poor scheduling and offering of articles to present didn't allow everyone to do a presentation, bad concept if you ask me. Either way, he's a friendly guy and has some good stories, I'm just not so sure his class is that valuable and feel sort of cheated that I got a B in such a lax class.