COMM 3720

DO NOT TAKE CORPORATE FINANCE WITH PROFESSOR PARHAM!
Easily one of the worst classes I have taken at UVA. Parham had no idea what he was doing the entire semester and was essentially making things up as he went along. He started the semester by breaking up the class into groups of 7 people. This was way too big of groups. It was impossible to coordinate so many people. He then promised us we would get 10 small group projects that would congregate at the end of the semester to a big group project. Not only did we only get 4 small projects during the semester, the final project was completely different and had nothing to do with the 4 we had already completed. We essentially wasted our time.

Along with this, he had us take in class pop quizzes every day that were self graded. These were extremely frustrating since most of them were too difficult for the time constraint he gave us. Also, since they were self-graded, there was no way to know if your other classmates were being honest about the grades they were receiving, and thus reporting much higher grades than they actually achieved.
The worst part of the semester was the 8 hour continuous take home midterm. According to Parham, the rules of the exam were that we had 8 hours with minimal breaks (basically bathroom and lunch) to take a 40 question test on our own, but open notes. He told us it was impossible to complete all 40 questions in 8 hours.

Not only is this a ridiculous way to make students take a midterm, there were also no consequences whatsoever for people who cheated. A large amount of students took more than 8 hours on the exam and completed all 40 questions. Along with this, he told us in class that some students obviously cheated off of one another, but since he didn't really understand honor code, he wasn't going to get them in trouble.

Finally, I learned NOTHING about corporate finance from this class. All we learned was a little bit of economics, a little bit of statistics, a little bit of accounting, and a little bit about BitCoin. I wasted so much time sitting in his class for 75 minutes twice a week. The only things I know about finance is what I learned in ICE.

Considering how horrible his class was I wouldn't be surprised if we don't see Professor Parham at UVA next semester/year, but if he somehow still has a job here, under no circumstance should you take his class. If all the other corporate finance classes fill up, please just take corporate finance next semester.

It is an embarrassment to the McIntire School of Commerce to have this man as one of its staff members and I sincerely hope they rectify this soon.

This was the most ridiculous class that I've ever taken. Parham split us into groups and assumed that we knew how to code. His first few homework sets included R and Python (which is not a pre-requisite to a finance class) and would hurt our grades if we didn't know how to use them. He also had this strange theme of wizardry which was entertaining at first but when people's grades started coming back was completely absurd and annoying. Keep in mind that I got an A in this class and feel that I learned absolutely nothing. Avoid him as a professor at all costs.

This was the most ridiculous class I have ever taken. I honestly felt like my IQ level was dropping every single second I spent in the class. On top of it all I learned absolutely NOTHING about corporate finance nor did he know anything about finance in general. He assumed we all knew R and Python and made us waste time on this stupid group projects which were never turned in nor graded. Additionally, the final project was essentially an ICE project and had nothing to do with the mini projects he assigned. Grading was ridiculous and he obviously just favored kids who kissed his a** during class and went along with his wizardry bullsh*t. DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS. Professor Erwin is a better teacher and that is saying something. Honestly is absurd that McIntire hired this man and that my tuition went to a full semester of his ridiculous nonsense.

Parham has obviously adapted his class a lot from last year based on these reviews. In terms of actually learning about corporate finance, his is the best option. We went (sometimes painfully) in depth with bonds, risk, capital structure, etc. and are definitely better versed in the important topics of Corporate Finance than the students of any other professor. Homework takes a couple hours a week, and you can work in groups so it isn't too bad. There is one midterm, a final group project, and a final exam that make up the rest of the grade outside of in-class quizzes and participation. The exams are very hard and most people don't finish, but the whole class is graded relative to each other, so your absolute grade on the exams don't really matter, just how you do compared to the class. Parham definitely seems intense at first but lightens up over the course of the semester. Many people defer to taking the class with Chen or another professor because their grade distributions are better, but the work in this class is actually more rewarding because you can leave feeling like you learned a lot about corporate finance in a fairly interesting environment -- and it really isn't that much harder to get a good grade.

After the first day of this class I thought, "F--k this I'm going to hate this class." And probably every other student did too, some even dropped during the first lecture. But joke is on them! Parham is definitely an intimidating guy at first, but I have grown to greatly enjoy the class. His grading is unorthodox, the homework assignments are hard(but you can work in groups) and he grades his tests using a standard normal N~(0,1), yeah you are going to need to be a stats wiz to be worthy of a good grade. I recommend this class if you actually want to learn and understand finance,(Chen's class is a joke,) and you'll be much better prepared for your internship in New York. The class gets easy during the second half and everyone gets a B or above so don't be scared.

Parham is my favorite professor at the University. He’s really different and challenges you unlike any class at comm school. He clearly took the course recommendations to heart last semester and has improved the course significantly. He goes in depth on many of the concepts, and has made me feel prepared for my internship unlike ICE finance has. I really would recommend this class over any other I’ve ever taken, but be prepared to work hard. No one gets below a B in the class so even if you just slide by, you will enjoy the experience and be way better prepared for upper level finance classes than if you took it with any other teacher.

Professor Parham is one of the most challenging professors I have ever had, but this class has been the most rewarding class I've taken in college because of him. He really scared us all at the beginning of the semester, because the first few homeworks were really hard and we just didn't know what to expect. But as the semester went on, we realized that he cared a lot about making the course the best he could for us, making changes to the course in the middle of the semester based on our feedback. We had a homework assignment about once a week that you could work on with other students, one midterm, a group project, and a final. He also has office hours every week before the homeworks are due, and he gives you smarties for coming! His grading is really strange, but it all works out in the end, so don't panic (he has to constantly remind us of this too). I feel very prepared for my finance internship this summer, as Professor Parham taught me to think critically and creatively about financial issues in a way that I never had before. I highly recommend Professor Parham. Be prepared to work hard, but you won't regret taking this class.

Professor Parham's class is definitely challenging and not an easy A. But, he cares about the success of the students and that they understand the material. Midway through the semester, he asked for recommendations to improve the course and actually implemented them by the time we came back from Spring Break. Everyone learned much more than the other sections of Corporate Finance, and he is engaging and entertaining in class. The class requires a lot of weekly work, but he has office hours. Additionally, he has a grading system that weights harder questions (those that most students get wrong) more, which was a little bit frustrating but he curves everything to a normal curve. So, even if the raw scores are low, the real scores are much better. I highly recommend taking Parham's class even though it is challenging!!

Try to avoid taking this class if possible. Very few things I learned in this class are actually helping me in my investment banking internship this summer. Professor Parham teaches Corporate Finance in a very distinct way, almost to the point where it seems like what you are learning is pointless beyond doing well in the class. If you aren't a good test taker, this class will only drop your GPA. I would take Corporate Finance with Chen, or really any other professor. Theres also a good amount of time you have to put into assignments every week if you want to do well. Save yourself the hassle. That being said, you're not doomed with Parham. I would just avoid him if you can.

Having read the course forum reviews before taking this course, I was nervous about having Parham because I saw some very negative comments on his teaching style and the course. However, I have to say that I had the complete opposite experience. While Professor Parham challenges the class, especially with the weekly homework assignments, he will also teach you extremely practical and important financial lessons. I learned invaluable skills for my finance internship and for other finance classes. In addition, Professor Parham makes himself extremely available to students and he truly cares about his students. Office hours often were packed with students sitting on his carpet. He had a question on the exam about recommendations for the second half of the course. Furthermore, he went out of his way to reach out and highlight students on accomplishments in the class. To anyone not sure whether to take this course, I would just say that although there may be a transition period in understanding how Parham teaches, you will ultimately be the better for it--especially if you want to go into finance.