Schmidt, Richard  

Schmidt seemed to be a decent guy, but I'm not sure he'd ever taught Arch 105 before. His wasn't very helpful when critiquing our projects and refused to give anybody an A of any form on our first project, to the point that he gave someone a B+++ instead. Despite talking to him frequently I'm still unsure what he was really looking for in our projects. He was typically only there when projects were due, but that's pretty normal for Arch 105 classes.

Schmidt was a very nice guy to talk to, but grades pretty harshly. This was my first shop class ever and he expects all his students to be expert masons by the time the final box is due. For a 1 unit class, it requires a lot of outside class time. He is NOT clear on the exact requirements for the final submittal, so be thankful if you get a B. Good news is, it's only 1 unit & the grade doesn't matter at all.

Schmidt was never there for class, hated everyone's projects and was just an overall non-informative professor. Even the Shop Manager would rip on him. I don't think he's ever held a power tool in his life and doesn't do anything to help anyone, except tell you to sand your wood so its smooth... seriously. Horrible Teacher, take Freeby or someone else instead!!!

Schmidt is terrible. He lies to his students and has no integrity. He was supposed to grade our projects during class on a particular day and dissapeared for two hours. Students went to his office several times and didn't find him there. Doug (the CAED support shopmaster) called Schmidt's office a few times but got no answer. He came sauntering back and told us that there were students at his office who needed him. When I called him on it and said students went by his office, he said, "Well, what time did they go by?" in an effort to keep up the lie. He's a fair grader, but he's an ass and I refuse to take another course from him if I can ever help it.

His directions are extremely vague. Most students ended up having to redo things. Half the time he would speak just to the chalkboard. A lot of work that seems to have no reasoning behind it. The other thing is that you never really know what your grade is in the class until the end. Whenever a student asked a question, he just confused the class even more. He has to learn to explain topics better and a grading system would be helpful too. Avoid him if you can.

Well Schmitty's Arch111 class, where shall I begin. I'll start with his inability to get his lessons across to the class. He spends most of the first half of class drawing on the chalkboard, and continues to draw even when the class has no clue what he is drawing. We also spend a lot of time in groups discussing our drawings, but the group work was often pointless. We never discussed our drawings, picking numbers and getting in groups ended up becoming time to complain about how long this class was and should we go to Tapangos or Lucy's for the break. Schmitty students of the future should beg him to develop a grading system early in the quarter, and ask him to use letter grades not checks, check plus, and OK's. I strongly don't recommend anyone to Schmitty's ARCH111 class. If this class is the beginning of ARCH, Thank God I am an ARCE. Schmitty's class should have been less than three hours and you will also spend a lot of outside time working on drawings that you won't get good feedback on. The best thing about the class is you will make friends who also hate the class. And once again do not take ARCH111 with Schmitty. ARCE!!!!!!!!

I would stay clear away from this guy. Like the people above mentioned, you never knew his grading, what he was teaching, or had an interesting class lectures. The most fun you would ever have in the class was in the small discussion groups say how much his class was a waste of time. He is extremely harsh when evaluating your work...saying things like "this is absolutely unnaceptably bad," things that are ok to say in an upper level class, not one in beggining architecture. Again, I can't stress enough, if you want to enjoy architecture, don't take this guy!

This was the worst teacher I have ever had. He is never there during his "office half hour" and he doesn't understand that we have other classes too. Avoid him if at all possible!!

Hm...so where to start. I took the class because I had to. My friends took it the quarter before me and had an awesome teacher so I thought that the class wouldn't be that bad. I was soon to find out that the quarter was quasi-hell. We honestly had about 2-3 hours of bullshit homework everynight. The class consisted of us drawing objects such as pine cones, railroad spikes, and boxes for nearly a month. We then did random pattern drawings for the next month and a half. I dreaded going to class everyday because I knew our class projects wouldnt accomplish anything. Mr. Schmidt didn't grade anything until the last project. We had to keep a sketchbook all quarter and keep all of our work in that and that was about 5% of our total grade when it took up 95% of the goddamn class. I'm warning you, DO NOT take Richard Schmidt for ARCH 111. You will be in for a bitch of a quarter!!

This class was a lot of work. But thats not the problem. What is truly troubling is that fact that you won't learn a damn thing. The class is supposed to teach "graphic analysis an communication" but schmidt will not teach you these things. He will simply grade what ever ability you already have. For example, our final project was a presentation board. I wasn't entirely sure about how to do my layout, but i tried many arrangments on my own before asking for help. Schmidt spent several minutes "helping me" (shuffling my drawings this way and that) and finally a layout was done. But when grading time rolled around, he ripped hard on the LAYOUT, saying it looked like the drawings were randomly placed and that the board was much less that the sum of its parts. How do you even respond to that?

I don't think Schmidt is THAT bad, but he gives A LOT of homework. But if you're an Arch major, you should get used to it anyway. He doesn't give very clear instructions and I was confused about what the homework was a few times. He expects you to read the syllabus for assignments which is not very fun. Overall, if you can avoid him, do it. But if you end up having to take him, it is not that bad.

After reading a lot of the comments about Schmidt I felt I had to add some things. Many of the students evaluating Richard are freshman, and appear to have a complete lack of understanding of working hard and independently. Freshman syndrome? I heard classmates complain about not getting to leave early every day, or that his assignments were to broad/vague, and I wondered why these people were in college. I've actually taken Schmidt a few times, and enjoyed each class. These design classes are here to teach you to direct and apply yourself without being "babysat" by a professor like you were in high school. After spending a few years finding my own direction I've realized this, and realized how important it is to put all you've got into these courses. You'll only get out of these classes what you put in. If you don't have the passion to involve yourself in a higher level of work/thought, why take architecture classes? I'd advise independent thinkers to take his classes, and use Richard as a resource when you're lost. He's more than happy to help with explaining things and very understanding of personal struggles. He cares about the students that care about architecture and learning. I think he seems a boring lecturer because he works much better one on one, when he can address specifics. Remember that.

Wow has this guy changed since I took his Arch 111 class. There was a grading system to this class and he didn't criticize us as harshly as he did. Do not stick around his lectures. They are so boring. Concepts that can be discussed in 2 minutes take him a 30 minutes to explain. He even began to respect some of us. Although the projects were still abstract and the concepts we discussed will have no bearing on me in the future, I did learn some things in this class expecially about model building. Oh yeah, I hope you didn't forget how to draw pictures with tonal values. Fear the Nine Square Matrix Project. I worked hard in this class and it paid off this time. The final project is still weighted because he does look for improvement. What a difference a year makes is all that I can say. He did a much better job, unfortunately some of us still chose to harp on our first experience with him

Overall, a miserable and useless experience. His grading "system" is vague at best, like everything else in his class. I often didn't know what I was supposed to accomplish on assignments even after I had handed them in. But he is a generous grader, with very few people getting low grades.....his only plus.

This guy sucks avoid him at all costs.

Where to start... This class was composed primarily of model building (we built 9 throughout the quarter). Once finished we would present them in front of the class and "discuss" them. What this really meant is Schmidt would say anything negative that he could think of. And this, most definitely, was NOT contructive criticism. It just gave me LESS MOTIVATION to do well. Secondly, he is all head knowledge. He will quote anything you want him to out of the book we use, but when he drew on the board, I really had to wonder what REAL experience he has had. Lastly, because we spent the majority of our time doing models, I do not feel I actually learned any design techniques. Considering the name of the class is Design Fundamentals, I think this is a major failure. He's terrible at giving directions, and I still don't understand his grading system. To summarize, I was not encouraged to improve on my desgin ability, but rather was criticized repeatedly throughout the quarter for the design ability I do have (which is limited considering this is the FIRST design class we are supposed to take). Avoid him if possible.

First off... he wants to save paper by giving us small handouts that doesn't really tell us what he wants on the assignment, which is a total waste. His grading system is mystery. Sometimes the amount of work is a little over the edge on what he wants completed. On many of the models, he'll think of every negative comment he can make, so be prepared to fight back!! If there is no one else to choose, I guess he'll be an some what easy "B" REMEMBER: POWER IN NUMBERS.... if the whole class can persuade him into something, he'll change it

This class is probably one of the easiest class... pretty layed back. If you aim for the minimum requirement you'll pass the class but you'll never know what he wants to earn an A. be prepare to work every night. He's really picky on the craftsmanship on paper models. You wont need a brand new sketch book for this class, just use an old one from previous class, 20 sheets will be more than enough to last you the whole quarter. Schmidt doesnt explain the materials clearly and his lectures are really boring. I would take anyone else than him. if u want a easy class with C/B grades, Schmidt would be perfect for you. but if u want an A, i suggest taking someone else.

Richard Schmidt is one of the most laid back Arch professors in the program. ARCH 221 is about building little models of designs you make, so getting an A in the class depends on how good you are at talking. You could probably give this guy a rock and still get an plus on a project, if you're really good at bullshitting. He's a really nice guy, though, and he's really helpful with your ideas, especially when you don't know jack about which materials you should use on the more complex assignments. Oh, and if you take this guy, make sure you GET YOUR REASERCH ASSIGNMENT DONE the day he assigns it because the books in the library will disappear if you wait too long. That's all you really need to know. This clas is A LOT of work for what it's worth. Good luck.

don't take this professor.........he is the devil

Not that hard of a class, but don't expect to learn anything. There is very little emphasis on design, and only the ideas discussed in the book will be accepted. There probably won't be another teacher for ARCH 221, so you are stuck with him. Just be sure you don't get him for an ARCH design studio.

The work load for the class wasn't too bad. It consisted of a three week drawing, two daylighting models and a final project which we did not have adequate time to finish. There was no change in Schmidt's directions whatsoever. Still the same old vague handout, pushing us in no clear direction to go in. Let's not forget the inconsistency in directions. He would tell someone one thing and then another person the exact opposite. The criticism on projects was considerably less this quarter as compared to the last quarter. As usual, the class lasted no more than an hour except the day we turned in a project. Unfortunately, as an ARCE major, you have to take the Arch 221,222 series.

Schmidt was not very good. I don't know what it was but it just seemed like we never really knew what to do for each assignment, and he didn't really help us understand anything if we had a problem. If you can try to avoid him, but if you're stuck with him just do the work and you should be ok

Everything you read on here is 100% true. The completely neutral critiques, the ability to turn in anything at all, the ridiculously boring lectures he gives on theory. Since you can get away with anything, you really have to be self-motivated if you want anything cool to show for your 10 weeks of work.

Schmidt. PROS: 1. Schmidt is a very practical professor and if you are interested in studying architecture from a useful point of view instead of just doing a bunch of abstract bs, I would recommend Schmidt. He is good at giving practical feedback about why your idea would/would not work in the real world. 2. If you are like me and have a lot of trouble meeting deadlines, and often need extra time to make a design really nice, then this class is great. Schmidt is really lenient on deadlines and often gives extensions when he sees that everyone is behind. 3. He is really nice. He doesn\'t just rip your design to shreds but he does point out flaws in your idea. 4. He does have particular things he wants in a design but gives a lot of leeway for you to do your own creative things on the project. This is really nice because if you\'re a person who wants the assignment totally spelled out he does give really long handouts, and if you want to do your own thing, he lets you run with your ideas. CONS: 1. Awkward. During crits or lectures he will pause for people to ask questions or offer input, and no one ever did... Lots of long silences before he just says \"Okay then\" and moves on. 2. He is very quiet at first. HE DOES GIVE FEEDBACK, but you REALLY need to have a strong idea and tell him as much as you can about your design. The more you tell him, the more you get out of the class! The people in my class whose ideas were not very well thought out/explained didn\'t get much critique from him and this really frustrated them. Overall I really enjoyed taking Schmidt, but I think it really depends on what you are looking for. If you like a slower pace, it\'s a great class to take, but just remember that you get out of it what you put in, and the more you tell him about your ideas the more feedback you get from him.

I didn't think Schmidt was as bad as he was made out to be by the previous comments. He just gives really "neutral" critiques-- you can't really tell when he thinks a project is really good or bad. Also he is pretty traditional in his designs but he still goes with you when you don't follow his method. Overall though, he is a really nice and understanding. He is REALLY lenient with deadlines; he always says that the project is due a certain date but then for sure it would be due a few days after that. Maybe he changed a lot but as for the comment that says that he gives really small handouts with no helpful information... thats completely wrong. In fact, his handouts were all 5 + pages or longer filled with information on what he wants and techniques on how to do it.

Schmidt could probably put his course up online and it would feel very similar to him actually being there. He basically gives you detailed handouts on projects, answers questions, and comes around to your desk once a day to say hi. If you think you know what you're doing and doing and are self motivated, then maybe this class will be fine for you. Otherwise, don't expect to learn much.

Schimdt\'s great. I\'m not trying to compare him to the other \"cool\" teachers of second year but he\'s great. He presents the project very clearly and always has time to answer every single question you can think of. And he answers them. He doesn\'t leave you more confused or try to change your direction. He\'ll explain, give a concrete example, and give you a starting point if you\'re stuck. None of is to say that he\'ll spell out the project for you. The projects we had were encompassed so much that most everyone starts off overwhelmed. But there is no requirement to ask him anything. You have the freedom to do your own thing if that\'s what you prefer. With Schmidt I actually learned things and didn\'t \"discover\" them. Passive heating, lighting, venting, sustainability, and Chingian organizational principles are now concrete things to me. I don\'t know why everyone\'s reviewed him so poorly. Maybe he\'s changed his habits since then.

I really enjoyed Schmidt this past quarter. He is extremely informative- I learned more knowledge about how a building works and how a building is designed to be BUILT than I have learned in any other architecture-related course at cal poly. If you are more interested in the abstract concepts of design and architecture- maybe not for you. But if you want to get a good core knowledge behind you then I highly recommend this class. We learned a lot about sustainability techniques and how to apply them to our design in detail. He gives very comprehensive prompts that should be read and usually starts with a short powerpoint lecture on topics he asks if you would be interested in learning. Usually you need to approach him for critique but he will give it! It is lots of hand drawing, computer work optional, but it is nice to stay go back and forth once in a while. Schmidt knows his stuff- he should probably be teaching practice instead of Arens- and he makes you realize that architecture really is about problem-solving and not just abstract forms.

I'm submitting this revue prior to getting my grade, but I have a pretty good feeling that I've done well. All arch courses are highly subjective, and this is no different, so my feeling is based mostly on Richard's positive attitude toward me throughout the course and especially now, at the end. Richard Schmidt is not as demanding an instructor as - say - Whitney Moon, but he's not as easy as most people claim he is either. Mostly, he's just a small, mellow little man with a slight demeaner, and that makes people not take him seriously. His assignments, on the other hand, are not mellow. They're broad in scope and, if you apply yourself and take them seriously, can be great tools for learning. Most people in his classes don't apply themselves because they know he won't call them on it. That's lame. People need to realize that they can't always expect their teachers to be coaches. We have to learn to take charge of our own education. Intense teachers are great, but they won't be around once we graduate.

im sure schmidt is a fine ECS teacher, but for studio he was terrible. I'm pretty sure he never said the word design once in the entire quarter. we spent a good deal of time budgeting a mobile home renovation (his suggestion was to paint the walls and buy a new oven, and thats it). he did know a lot about ECS but whenever i tried to get feedback on my design, he would answer skeptically "well how is that going to work?" and all of his answers to my questions came down to budget, ECS or code. so over-all a very practical teacher, but very VERY dry.