Reviews for Michelle M. Hugue
Average Rating:| Anonymous Course: CMSC250 Grade Expected: B+ January 26, 2012, 12:29 pm | This class was one of the more boring/frustrating ones that I have taken here at UMD. It seemed like the curriculum we covered was just all over the place, and I didnt feel like I learned much at all from this class. The graduate teaching assistants for this class were not good at all; they didnt care very much about the students and were horrible at grading exams. A lot of people found 5-10 points worth of mistakes on each of the exams, in addition to the fact that many of the points awarded were subject to the grader's own opinion, rather than actually getting a right/wrong answer. As for Dr. Hugue, most of the stuff mentioned below is true. She is pretty crazy, which can make the class funny at times but will also annoy you to no end if you actually are confused about something and want to learn the material. In lecture it seemed as though she just went over random topics with no real sense of organization or purpose. I had to teach myself everything for the assignments and exams. She is a really nice person who will listen to you after class and respond promptly to email. If I had to choose over again Id take this class with Perlis, because I learned more from him the one time I was in his lecture than I did all year in Dr. Hugue's lecture. |
| bigbabby Course: CMSC250 Grade Expected: December 19, 2011, 9:58 pm | Hugue...oh boy. I thought the subject matter of 250 was pretty boring to begin with, and Hugue didn't change my mind. Lectures start off with a TA teaching for the first few minutes, then Hugue going over slides mixed in with random stories about her life. Homework is easy, about 20 minutes a week, and quizzes are just as easy, as long as you've done the homework and stayed semi-conscious in lecture. Tests are okay, alot of partial credit, which is great if you mess up on a proof. Hugue isn't great but compared to the other professors I'd prefer her. From what I hear the other 250 professors are like Hugue minus the stories in lecture, and that's the only thing keeping me from falling into comas during lecture. Also, she's much nicer than the other professors. She wants the class to do well and promises to curve/give partial credit/etc. if it will help the class. |
| Anonymous Course: CMSC351 Grade Expected: A November 21, 2011, 6:01 pm | She's just not a good teacher. I'll agree she's a very understanding person and I like her exam style, but we should have gotten way more out of 351 than we did. I didn't enroll in 351 to hear Meesh talk about random stories from her life for the entire class. It's great when professors can provide relevant anecdotes to the material that they're teaching, but Meesh just provided anecdotes about whatever happened to pop into her strange mind at the time. At least the class is really easy though. I mean we only had 4 hws and one small project, which just goes to show you how little we learned. |
| xenonscreams Course: CMSC351 Grade Expected: A+ May 16, 2011, 7:09 pm | This was my second time having Meesh. She is complicated. I'm a firm believer that a professor is not defined purely by his or her lecture skills, and since she's not your average professor, I have to break this down a little. Lectures: Tough to follow. If you learn purely through lectures, you might want to avoid her classes. Exams: Long, but fair. She does not penalize you very much for missing small details. Just don't ever get caught up on one problem. If it takes you too long, skip it. Homework and projects: Also pretty fair. She doesn't seem to believe in secret tests. She isn't as forgiving about stupid mistakes on homework as she is on exams. Accommodations: Seriously amazing. Is your life hard? Do you have other things going on? Do you mess up sometimes, and does that one bad day sometimes ruin your entire grade for a class? Congratulations, Meesh acknowledges that you are human! That test you took half-asleep and sick and stressed beyond belief? Dropped. That homework you couldn't do because you had so much going on outside of this class? Dropped. That day you have two projects due and two homework assignments due and two exams? Meesh is the professor who will give you an extension. Disabilities: If you have any sort of disability it is really nice to have a professor who understands. Meesh will be the first person to realize that you're not stupid; your brain just works differently. |
| SchrodingersCat Course: CMSC351 Grade Expected: A March 8, 2011, 5:02 pm | really guys! I am puzzled, how could anyone give Meesh 5 stars?? Granted her "lectures" can be entertaining but you don't learn anything. She just sits on her fat ass and tells you stories. Her rare efforts to actually teach result in a tirade of nonsense. The only times I've learned anything in her class are when the TA took over. She often comes to class late, and occasionally even misses the entire class. She doesn't even write up her own notes. I am a math, physics, and cs major and in all my classes I've learned one thing - that the CS department needs to do an overhaul of their professors. And the first thing they should do is fire Dr. Hugue. |
| Anonymous Course: CMSC311 Grade Expected: D December 23, 2010, 2:50 pm | She doesn't teach anything. She just sends an email before every midterm listing what you're supposed to have taught yourself. And she isn't that generous with partial credit. I got zero points on one page even though I showed work. Just saying. I'm not one to go to office hours just to buddy up with a teacher. I just don't have time or heart for that. So I can tell you that she actually doesn't give a damn about you unless do that. Won't even answer your emails. Anyway, I read the book, did my best on the labs, and still failed. Just another perspective. Thanks for reading. |
| chunkymunkey Course: CMSC311 Grade Expected: November 6, 2010, 3:02 pm | Dr. Hugue, like any other professor will not 'hold your hand' through the coursework. You'll be expected to study the course material and apply it in projects and tests. However, unlike most professors, Dr. Hugue spends most of the class period telling stories about former students who now work for big software companies (google, microsoft, etc) and other irrelevant information. My advice is to go to class for the quizzes but not to expect anything out of her. |
| Anonymous Course: CMSC311 Grade Expected: A May 24, 2010, 5:35 am | It's funny how many times people can say this, but be forewarned: Meesh does not teach you by holding your hand in lecture. You are expected to *gasp* read the friendly book! Now I know this is crazy for us computer science majors, and some of us get frustrated initially by Meesh's style. But know this: Meesh does have your best interests in mind. If you like your predictable, vanilla boring professor don't take Meesh. If you want an adventure and can motivate yourself to learn the material on your own with pointers from an instructor -- go for Meesh. |
| Anonymous Course: CMSC311 Grade Expected: May 18, 2010, 7:35 pm | Meesh doesn't teach much, but she cares about students. Tests are long but not too hard, and OMG at the partial credits she gave. Imagine a 3 point true false question, its funny that you could get 1 point for getting the wrong answer... |
| tecrun19 Course: CMSC311 Grade Expected: B March 8, 2010, 3:37 pm | I have had Meesh for 3 classes CMSC311, CMSC351 and CMSC420. Yeah that's right 3! And if she taught any others I would take them. First to address the complaints from people 1) She doesn't teach - Oh god she doesn't stand in front and read from the slides THE HORROR. She actually teaches you to learn on your own. She doesn't leave you totally helpless. She gives you all the resources you will ever need and tells you what to look at and what you need to know. She even sends out emails before a test or quiz telling you what you need to study. Also if you didn't talk about it in class it wont be on the test, simple as that. 2) She is crazy - If you are taking a computer science class with Meesh then you are in a major with a lot of crazy people, deal with it. Besides it makes the class more interesting. 3) Her exams are looooong - Her average 311 exam is about 1.4 times the length of what it would normally be to finish in a normal amount of time. This is actually to your advantage because say her test is out of 200 points originally and you got a 120. What she does is let you keep that 120 but adjusts the total to say 130 and now you have an A+. She has adjusted the totals to a point where some people get above 100% and they get to keep that grade. Her long exams also allow you to answer what you know. Don't know anything on page 2 of the exam? Skip it, you have 18 other pages to possibly answer a question. Other positives 1) Her TA's - because many students love Meesh they will come back to TA for her. She usually knows these students very well. This means they are the best TA's in computer science. I'm talking about nice people you can talk to and they can generate the implementation for an entire PR quadtree in their heads (420 structure) 2) Her Grading - PARTIAL CREDIT, omg the level of partial credit is amazing. I have gotten points for writing totally wrong answers that other teachers would give a 0 for. This goes for projects and almost anything else as well. If you have three tests she also drops the lowest one (this also applies to HW's and quizzes) 3) The projects - They are real world things you might actually do once you get out of school. Designing structures, reverse engineering programs, efficiency of different searches. Actual useful things; not the theory stuff that some teachers try to put in their class. She knows her stuff and loves teaching, and loves her students. Best teacher I will have at UMD |
| Anonymous Course: MATH220 Grade Expected: December 7, 2009, 2:43 pm | Terrible. She may be a nice lady but shes a nervous wreck half the time and I just could not deal with her, so I switched teachers. Do not take her class. |
| umdcupcakes Course: MATH220 Grade Expected: A December 3, 2009, 1:50 pm | Meesh is an awesome woman with a great personality. Take her Math220 class if you've already taken calculus or you are good at learning on your own. Though I attended every class, only 50 people would show up on average out of 150 students. Meesh says she has ADD and dyslexia, which I believe from listening to her lectures. It was almost impossible to learn from her notes, so I did a lot of outside studying which wasn't difficult. She really does care about her students and enjoys making us laugh and making us happy. I would recommend her for those who have taken calc before and have a good basis for learning more. |
| cgut117 Course: MATH220 Grade Expected: B December 1, 2009, 10:57 am | She is an extremely nice woman and wants her students to do well BUT!!!!! she is the worst math teacher I have ever had. If you're good at teaching yourself math than this is a good class for you. She claims to have ADD and be Dyslexic. She really doesn't teach, she is all over the board, and I really don't have clear notes from the class. She tells funny stories and is really nice. She wants her students to do well, she drops a lot of quizzes and homeworks. However, I would have been able to do much better with a different teacher. I got to the point where after the second exam i started going to different lectures because hers were useless. She has the potential to be a good teacher, but definitely not for math. |
| FatJesus Course: CMSC411 Grade Expected: August 19, 2009, 10:33 am | Read all the posts below. She is fun, knowledgeable, cares about her students, and works with you if you don't understand certain concepts. Her teaching style isn't for everyone, but I find you can extrapolate your compatibility with her from the prior reviews. Bottom line is: SHE CARES. She wants you to succeed and she'll fight tooth and nail for her students. This review isn't nearly as long or as passionate as it should be, but I think the others get it across nicely. |
| blackshellbowser Course: CMSC311 Grade Expected: A- May 26, 2009, 8:43 am | The things that people get scared of with Meesh is: 1). She doesn't teach 2). Her exams 3). She's crazy 1). She does get sidetracked often with stories, most of which have some life-meaning to them (other times she's just being silly). Yet don't think you won't get ANYTHING out of her. She does know the material but you are expected to learn most of it from the book. If you go to class she'll help you. Oh, and don't be intimidated by her snide-ness. Most of the time it's not because of you! 2). Her exams...midterm was about 25 pages of questions and final was about 35 pages. Yes it's painful. However she follows her format of easy questions first, hard questions last. Her exams are two packets, one of which she grades herself. She reads everything you write, so always write something for her questions! The only way to get a zero on a question is if you don't answer it! The point of the exams is to show what you know and she often asks the same question in different ways, so there's lots of opportunities to get points for knowing your bits :) She is referred to as the queen of partial credit. Oh and she curves...usually a 60% is an A on her exams. 3). Yes she's crazy...but she cares for her students. I promise that. Misc: The book is helpful. Often problems on quizzes and exams come right from the book's problems! The labs (projects) are pretty cool IMO. Sometimes they can be downright frustrating, but Meesh and the TAs keep that in mind. All in all Meesh is a professor who wants her students to do well in the field. She gives great advice and knows a lot of people who work in Google, Microsoft, etc. You can never get screwed over by Meesh in terms of grades. |
| MADgood Course: CMSC311 Grade Expected: A May 22, 2009, 2:58 pm | I agree with everyone here, in that she cares about her students and wants them to do well. I would like to give a good review, but unfortunately I'm unable to delude myself enough to do so. Her lectures usually comprised of the following : 10-30 minutes of content, 30-50 minutes of unrelated stories, 15 minutes talking about her teaching philosophy. The content was explained relatively well. However questions usually resulted in mockery (although not in mean way). The unrelated stories were really not useful in any way for me and I'm surprised that other people here took something away from them. She seemed hell bent on divulging every last bit of personal information about herself and others, almost always unprompted. On several occasions she made the entire class pretty uncomfortable with her stories. The part of the lectures which I disliked the most was when she talked about her teaching style. Her philosophy is based on the idea that not everyone learns the same way. While this is a valid point, her solution was essentially to all but eliminate the lecture aspect of the course. Her goal was to shift more of the learning responsibility onto the individual. However, she mostly succeeded in wasting the time of those who went to lecture and in stripping the students of a valuable resource (a teacher!). It especially bothered me how often she would bash the teaching methods of other (specific) profs and glorify those of her own, during the time when she should actually be teaching!! That said, I loved the projects (labs) for this course. The quizzes were pretty fair. The tests were rather difficult and long, and I'm not really sure how I feel about them. Could have been be a great class if the teacher had actually made use of the lecture time. |
| agardner Course: CMSC311 Grade Expected: May 1, 2009, 8:18 am | As a number of reviewers have pointed out, much of her lectures seem to be spent on stories about her life or her former students. Yet I found myself learning the required material from the lectures too, all the while enjoying the stories along the way. While at times lectures may seem 'wasted', her teaching style worked well for me in the end. I got along well with her as a professor, and I enjoyed going to class. I also found myself paying more attention to her lectures (be it during stories or actual teaching moments) than I did other professors, which probably contributed to being able to learn more from her than others. Beyond her lectures, she was hands down the most helpful professor I have had, both within class/office hours and outside of these times, when she is easily accessible through a number of means. Her replies are always speedy and helpful, and you can tell that she truly does care about her students. While her style of teaching may not be a good fit for everyone, she is easily one of the best professors I have had at this University. |
| Anonymous Course: CMSC311 Grade Expected: May 26, 2008, 12:31 am | Projects aren't too tough - 4 throughout the semester. Quizzes and exams aren't difficult, but they require you to think fast and to write fast. If you're a careful test-taker and like to look over your work numerous times, then you'll have a difficult time adjusting to her exams because they are huge packets. To maximize your chances of doing well, you need to spam the exams as much as possible as she gives plenty of partial credit - don't waste time checking over your answers and attempt every single page. Didn't learn much from lectures - learned most of the material from the book or doing her/TA's worksheets. She's a nice person who wants you to do well, and she's very fair. |
| pluralfacade Course: CMSC311 Grade Expected: C May 17, 2008, 3:04 pm | You will not learn anything from her lectures, except about her personal life and former students who now work for Google and Microsoft. She uses CMU's slides, CMU's textbook, and her TAs write the projects. However, she really does want her students to do well and she's really fair with grading. Unfortunately, for slow, careful test-takers such as myself, her extremely long tests and quizzes are hell. |
| bbygyrl123 Course: CMSC311 Grade Expected: B December 22, 2007, 6:34 am | One of the few teachers in the department that really cares about her students. She will do far more for you in class and out just to make sure you are generally doing well. Her stories are hilarious and her lectures are entertaining. Awesome teacher! |
| intrusion Course: CMSC311 Grade Expected: December 16, 2007, 6:29 pm | Unorthodox but very worthwhile teacher--I learned a ton. You will have to read the textbook sometimes, but the lectures are not as wasteful as they may seem. I personally feel that I learn better when I have a rapport with the professor, which is easy to do with Dr. Hugue. Strongly recommended. |
| Anonymous Course: CMSC311 Grade Expected: A December 16, 2007, 5:49 pm | Meesh is a great professor. She keeps class interesting, she keeps class entertaining, and most of all, she manages to teach the material (as a previous reviewer said, "somehow.") Yes, a lot of the class will be spent on jokes and her personal life. But in the end, you will learn more than with 75% of the other professors, and you will actually like going to class. Also, her exams are very long. If you're a fast test taker, then this is fine. If you're not that fast, then this might be a little scary, but they're not too bad (they are very sharply curved.) |
| unitar Course: CMSC311 Grade Expected: A December 3, 2007, 8:18 pm | Michelle Hugue is one of my favorite teachers at the University of Maryland so far, and is, along with Nelson Padua-Perez, probably tied for my favorite computer science teacher. By keeping class entertaining, in a way that only she could, "Meesh" has taught me, and the rest of the class, an enormous amount about low level programming, without most of us even realizing it happened. Additionally, she has been very responsive every time I talked to her after class. She never ceases to amuse and is always enlightening. Have fun! |
| tomriddle Course: CMSC311 Grade Expected: B- | Pretty interesting person but that is about it. You will not learn anything from her... you will have to learn it on your own. This isn't so much a bad thing, but it makes you feel like you waste going to class. Half of her class time is spent telling stories while the other half is spent with her somewhat teaching the material. Tests are extremely long and hard... she curves the test using a bell curve pretty much. Projects are interesting but she isn't very helpful if you need help, use the TAs. Quizzes are very easy but do not prepare you well for her exams. One more thing: read the instructions on her assignments and exams, and answer every possible question you can on the exam (she gives some partial credit for somewhat sensible answers)! |
| mike Course: CMSC311 Grade Expected: A | One of the most interesting professors I have had at Maryland. She knows the material well and she cares a lot about how her students do, both in the class and in life. However, she often goes off on tangents and talks about her personal life. Some people like this and some hate it. Her tests are very strange; she gives you extremely long tests that almost no one finishes and curves them insanely. For example, about a 60% is an A. So as long as you focus on what you know, and know most of the material, you'll do fine. There are also a lot of pretty fun projects. |
| Andrei Course: CMSC311 Grade Expected: A | Great professor. Don't let the stories bother you, you actually learn a lot. Somehow. |