Mike Olinick

This class was difficult, but Mike cares about his students and has a unique charm when teaching. Expect this class to push you, but it is worth the effort. The exams are difficult, and you need to keep up with the reading to be successful. But it is clear that Mike has a passion for teaching and mathematics, which comes through in the way he teaches.

Professor Olinick is definitely up there are far as individuals go—humorous, kind, involves the class with jokes—but as a professor, he is unfortunately assumes students have both the same interest in and knowledge of math as himself. Because of this, it can be very easy to fall behind and if you do not understand the material from textbook readings the night prior, you likely wouldn't understand lecture as Olinick is prone to tangents or focusing on specific portions of the content. Two things to note: he was not particularly accommodating in finding time to meet outside of his normal office hours and did not respond to several emails sent over the course of the semester; one exam had content he said would not be included and did not contain content he said would be included.

Professor Olinick is definitely up there are far as individuals go—humorous, kind, involves the class with jokes—but as a professor, he is unfortunately assumes students have both the same interest in and knowledge of math as himself. Because of this, it can be very easy to fall behind and if you do not understand the material from t …Read more

Professor Olinick is very passionate about teaching but his lectures are boring and I dont believe he teaches things in an intuitive way. As someone who already took Calc II before taking it with Olinick, I find myself more confused on some topics because of his teaching style. He is a very nice teacher and Homework is optional