COMM 3721

Dennis is a little kooky but very funny and very knowledgeable. He's teaching pretty complex stuff (linear algebra, coding, options pricing, etc.) but he does a pretty good job at getting it down to an approachable level. I cannot stress enough how important it is to keep up with the notes, go to lecture, and do the homework. He cold-calls every class to have someone present their homework and your grade gets docked if you don't have it or are not present. The midterms are coding in VBA and are both take-home, and you're on your honor to do it within a certain time limit. The coding is usually pretty difficult so make sure you keep up with the VBA. The final was billed as being particularly difficult but as long as you've kept up & paid attention in class you should be fine. The curve is very generous on it.

A lot of people say this class is hard, but it really isn't that bad at all. There are 4 components of your grade: HW/participation, Midterm 1, Midterm 2, and the Final Exam. First component is an easy 100% as long as you actually do your hw - additionally there is around a 1/30 chance he cold calls your name everyday so even if you don't do it its possible to get credit. For both the first two midterms they are all VBA , so you should know if your program works when you turn it in? Not to mention that you have 3 hours for them and can usually be done in less than 1. Lastly is the multiple choice final exam which is hard, but it's not as impossible as it is made out to be. I found it impossible to pay attention in this class partly due to the day and time I had it at and didn't really know any of the actual finance components until I studied for the final and ended w/ an A-. If you want a straight up A you should probably pay attention and don't wait till the last second to study. Overall would recommend not only for Finance people who have to take it and non-Finance people who want to learn VBA and make excel a little more interesting.

Dennis is a cooky guy, sometimes it was a little much hearing his enthusiasm about Excel at 9:30AM but I'd prefer it this way over being dull and monotone any day. The review below summarizes the class well. A ton of people complain about the final being impossible, but it really is very doable and if you have the diligence to read through the text once or twice the week before the test and redo the homework problems, you can easily pull out an A- or A. I think it is just natural for comm schoolers to act like deer in headlight at the sight of math.

QF is a really useful class for learning applicable finance skills and Professor Dennis does a very good job at structuring the course. Your grade in the class consists mostly of 2 take home coding midterms and a multiple choice final exam. The text book is written by Dennis and only costs ~ $25 at the bookstore. If you've had any coding experience before, this class really isn't that hard. The final exam is a bit tough, but all of the questions are related to things you covered in class. I'd recommend this class to even non-finance majors looking to sharpen their excel skills and learn how the pricing of derivative securities works.

A requirement for finance concentrators. The two midterms focus on VBA and are take-home in excel, and since he gives you a lot of time they're generally okay. But the final is the worst I've ever taken. If you haven't taken econometrics you don't stand a chance. Dennis is a nice guy and he tries to make the course interesting, but the truth is that you have to cover so much material in such a short amount of time (also once a week does not help with motivation) that it's a pretty difficult course.

I've never done so badly in a course! The second take home midterm got me cause they're graded out of ten points and a few minor mistakes have you looking at a 70/60. The final was impossible. Rumor has it the average was a 37% last year. Good thing this class was only 1.5 credits. Dennis is a nice guy, but the material is so boring. To be fair, I had it at 2:00pm when I usually get tired, so I almost always zoned out during class. It involves a lot of mathematical theory, etc. that I wasn't good at. Wish this class was optional. It has been my least favorite class I've taken at UVa so far.

The homework is pretty hard and time-consuming, and sometimes I felt like the problems he assigned weren't that helpful at understanding the concept. Cold calls in class are not fun, but they aren't so bad. Go to office hours to get the right answers. Material moves pretty quickly, so definitely keep up. I thought the final was definitely challenging, since it was mostly finance-based. The VBA midterms are pretty easy though.

This class is incredibly difficult, and I put in considerably more work to this class than I did to many 3-credit classes I've taken. Professor Dennis isn't a bad guy, although I've never seen anyone quite as excited by Excel. The class is interesting and you learn how to do quite a bit of cool stuff, but the homeworks are very hard. He randomly cold calls about 2 people every class to present the homework (he literally shuffles a deck with everyone's name on it and draws people) so doing the homework can be a little demotivating because your only incentive is to not get embarrassed (and to learn the material I suppose - it's not graded and "homework, attitude and participation" are only 5% of the grade). The midterms are tough take-homes but are timed (I know many people blew the time limit and didn't get caught - not making any comments just my observation) and the final is an in-class, closed book 36-question multiple-choice killer. Luckily, the whole thing is curved to a 3.2 no matter what every year, so as long as you keep up with other people in the class you're looking at a B+