ENGR 1624

This class is split into two parts: the lecture and the lab. Professor Anderson is probably one of, if not the most laid back ENGR 1624 Professor and if you're looking for a super easy and relaxed class, you're in the right place. However, if you want to do any sort of meaningful or hands on project, then maybe look somewhere else. He has some very meaningful lectures about important topics like economics and he genuinely cares about his students, however, if you're looking to learn some more technical stuff then you might be disappointed.
The other part, the lab, was very tedious and annoying. It was all virtual and just super long. It's only 25% of your grade, however, it gave me the most work every week out of anything. It teaches some very important concepts (Excel and Matlab), however, you're basically just self teaching yourself the programs rather than getting taught.

The class was really easy. We never really did much, and the professor didn't take attendance usually. The class was kind of boring, and I was disappointed by the lack of hands-on projects. There wasn't much homework, just the occasional project that was usually a page or two of writing at most. Other sections with different professors had more interesting projects; the 'unique' topics we covered we economics and engineering ethics. While important topics, it was hard to stay engaged. Overall, it was a fine class and the professor was a fine instructor, just boring and not what I had expected.

*during COVID, so completely online [#tCF2020]

Extremely easy going class. Barely to no homework at all. Only big things I remember were we designed a class ring, learned about engineering economics and had to do an excel spreadsheet with like 4 accounting type problems, we had to take pictures of badly designed things and write like 3 paragraphs on it, and that's it.
Bad side of the coin though is that because it's so easy, you're probably going to get extremely bored as there's almost no really intriguing content other than the engineering economics section.
Also, as an advisor, he's a CHEME so he can answer all your questions if you want to be that but if your major is something else you can only get some pointers with him but I would expect that that's the way it is with most advisors. I want to be a civil/environmental engineer so I really should have taken another professor's course, but if you're a CHEME this course also probably isn't for you as it doesn't talk about that at all. Despite all that, still an easy breezy class and an easy GPA booster before you go through your more difficult courses so I'm not complaining.

Unfortunately I cannot split this review up into two parts for two different professors.

Studio: I had Anderson, who is a ChemE professor. He wasn't bad but the best thing about him was that we did almost nothing in his class. What he did have us do though always had meaning behind it. He doesn't assign busywork! He wasn't really a good major advisor though. If you have him and aren't interested in ChemE you will have to decide and research on your own on your major.

Lab: I think the other reviews for this speak for themselves. Everyone complains that this is a lot of work for a 1 credit "course." It helped me to see it not as a 3 credit studio/1 credit lab, but as a 1 credit studio/3 credit lab. Also, this lab only counts for 25% of the final ENGR 1624 grade. With this, each week's lesson counts for maybe 2-3% of your final combined ENGR 1624 grade. I really do hope that they change how they structure this course but it is not as apocalyptic as others make it out to be. There is strength in friends and TAs!

Professor Anderson genuinely cares about his students and really wants to help them. That being said, I was really disappointed with this class. My friends in other sections were building things and learning about the different types of engineering whereas we had constant writing assignments and were learning about economics. I had really high hopes for this class and was excited to learn about engineering but we did nothing of the sorts.

I took this in the spring with other people thinking about transferring into the e-school (different from the fall where everyone was already in the school). The class was easy, but whenever he gave writing assignments, he would say he'd post it "soon" and there would be no notifications when he did. He also didn't grade any of the assignments until after the semester ended. The lab took about 2 hours every week. And since the lab is only 25% of the grade, it's weighted heavily on the lecture part. He is genuinely interested in making this required class more interesting and advising whoever needs it, but he could've done a better job this year.

Anderson is a great person and a ton of fun to talk to/spend time with. He makes class fun and interactive. The class is very easy and doesn't require really any work (besides the online lab portion that everyone takes). Gives great insight and was a great advisor.