Comments:FIN 3310 - Dr. Dicks is a brilliant and fun professor. Fall '24 was his first time teaching this course in a large, lecture-style, and he did okay all things considered. He always talked very quickly and went into depth on things that were not relevant to the test. Having to deal with infinite complaints, grade appeals (including mine), and cheating possibilities, he built the best class he possibly could given the task he was given. He made his exams excurichating long and difficult for no reason- all my exams took me longer than 6 hours to complete. His lectures were fast-paced and sometimes challenging to follow, but he definitely highlighted the important concepts and problems that we needed to know. The homework is where I definitely learned the most from the class. Guy is friendly and upbeat, and I know for certain that he worked his butt off for this class to keep up with emails, assignments, etc. He was available when I had a question or emailed him. Remember, 3310 is a HARD course because it's not taught at an Introductory level, so keep others' grades in mind as you read. His class is extremely difficult in my opinion for no reason. Good luck on the exams because no matter how much you study you are almost certain to have not studied the conceptual stuff that's on the exams. There are a lot of homework problems and the quizzes are identical to the homework. He does Mentimeter questions where he will ask you to solve a problem in 30 seconds which is nowhere near enough time to do the calculations that are required, and he takes questions at the end from Mentimeter; however most of these are just jokes that while they do add comedic value to the class are kind of annoying because that's an extra 15 minutes Dicks could of spent teaching. If he didn't do the Mentimeter questions (both kinds) I think he would have more time to teach the actual content instead of having to talk so fast. Lastly I think he taught this class completely wrong- Finance is about the numbers and concepts. What needs to happen is him teach it like a Math class where you just do repetitive varieties of various types of finance questions in class (and then throughout the "word problems"- whenever there is terminology that we do not know he should give you the definition). Then he should post the powerpoint separately as a study guide type of tool- but strictly focus on the word problems and their applications.  - Grade In Class:B+

Comments:FIN 3310 - Dr. Dicks is a brilliant and fun professor. Fall '24 was his first time teaching this course in a large, lecture-style, and he did very well all things considered. Having to deal with infinite complaints, grade appeals (including mine), and cheating possibilities, he built the best class he possibly could given the task he was given. His lectures were fast-paced and sometimes challenging to follow, but he definitely highlighted the important concepts and problems that we needed to know. Guy is friendly and upbeat, and I know for certain that he worked his butt off for this class to keep up with emails, assignments, etc. He was available every time I had a question or emailed him, so it would be great if all my classmates stopped giving him such a bad rap. Keep in mind, 3310 is a HARD course, though, so keep others' grades in mind as you read.  - Grade In Class:A

Comments:3310 - Intro to Corp Fin - David Dicks is a great guy, however, his class is extremely difficult in my opinion for no reason. He talks at the speed of light and you can't understand what he's saying at all. Good luck on the exams because no matter how much you study you are almost certain to have not studied anything that's on the exams. There are a lot of homework problems and quizzes that are identical to the homework. He does Mentimeter questions where he will ask you to solve a problem in 30 seconds which is nowhere near enough time to do the calculations that are required, and he takes questions at the end from Mentimeter however most of these are just jokes that while they do add comedic value to the class are kind of annoying because that's an extra 15 minutes Dicks could of spent teaching. If he didn't do the Mentimeter questions (both kinds) I think he would have more time to teach the actual content instead of having to talk at the speed of light.  - Grade In Class:C

Comments:3310 - Class is super hard. Hw takes light years. Exams also take like 4-6 hours bc of their length. Going to class isn’t that helpful you’ll just have to teach yourself based on the hw and quizzes. Praying I don’t fail this course  - Grade In Class:C

Comments:3310 - What everyone else said. Dude is a great guy on a personal level, he is in fact a finance super genius. But he talks to us like he thinks we are too. Dude has no teaching ability, lectures are all useless when it comes to homework, and the homework is nearly useless when it comes to exams. I hope future finance classes are nothing like what this guy put us through. Nobody learned anything even with high grades, it was just a terrible layout for a class and I hope you don't have to be "Taught" by this guy who is really just flexing his own skills and not developing yours.  - Grade In Class:B

Comments:Fin3310 - RUN!!!! HIDE!!!! Do anything but take professor Dicks. You hear this warning, but unfortunately for you, you have no choice because there is only one professor for this class. You get to class on the first day, he starts at precisely 8 am and zero seconds. “Gooooooooooood morning class we have a lot to get through today so let’s get started”. Then he speaks at the speed of light for 60 out of the 75 minutes, refusing to answer a question. What does he teach during these 60 minutes? He clicks through PowerPoints at supersonic speed, doesn’t explain anything, and then says “uhhhh maybe that’s more for advanced corporate”. He derives all these random formulas but then on the test you just get some Walmart brand Excel as he likes to call it, where normal features like adjusting decimal places or copying and pasting don’t exist. Part of the class grade is mentimeter, where he puts up a new concept that he just talked about that no one understands, and then you have like 10 seconds to answer a problem that should take you 2 minutes, and the best part is it is graded for accuracy! Then there is homework where the only way to do it is by using the “help me solve this” feature on Pearson. Takes between 2 and 6 hours usually but it is only once a week. Tests are at home but lock down browser and take about 4 to 5 hours. Apparently the final is going to be longer. You will have no idea where you stand in the class, because there are 3 tests but the final replaces one of the first 2 if it is better, so someone can fail one test and do average on the other and end up with a great grade in the class if they get a great grade on the final. It hurts students who try the whole semester but then don’t understand the material from unit 3 as well as the first 2 units. You may ask, how does it hurt you if other students do better? Well, it is graded on a curve, meaning 18% get an A, 18% get an A-, 18% B+, 6% B, 6% B- and 20% fail if you are a finance major, but if you are an accounting major only 2% fail and 18% get a C. You are encouraged to not help any fellow classmates or study together, because a few extra percent on their test could be the difference in you failing the class or not. Tests are write in, and zero partial credit. You could spend 60 mins on a problem and get super close to the answer, but you forget one tiny step at the end and so you end up being like 2$ off of a number that’s in the millions, and then you basically immediately lose 10% of your exam grade. I mentioned what he does for the first 60 minutes, what about the last 15? Well, he refuses to answer questions during class, and then the last 15 minutes we put questions in “mentimeter” and he clicks through them while barely answering them. People give feedback like “please slow down” and he says “duly noted” and then does not in fact duly note it. 14 of these 15 minutes are usually spent with people making random jokes or complaining the class is too hard, and half the time there are real questions that don’t even get answered, but even if they do, a lot of the time he is like “oh, that was an hour ago I forget what number you’re talking about. Come to office hours”. So, you go to office hours and get it answered, right? WRONG!!!! He says it would be too much to have students come to his office hours since its such a big class (even though Don Carpenter has office hours with 1/3 more students). So he has “virtual office hours” by schedule only, and he gives you like 30 minute intervals and it is honestly so useless. Even the SI’s have never learned this stuff the way he is teaching it, so they aren’t even that helpful. The only reason I might get a B+ is by teaching myself everything from the textbook and using the help me solve this on Pearson. I will give him credit though because when he puts up the mentimeter 90% of them are just people roasting him saying he is the worst teacher, or saying super out of pocket things, and he never actually gets upset at them, so he is like a free therapist. Except he is the reason we need therapy. At least he wrote “what the sigma” on the board one time, that was funny. But he also said he is good at magic tricks and never showed us one. How fake of him. I would say take literally anyone else, but there aren’t any other teachers except in the spring when Brian Young teaches. Maybe that will be better.  - Grade In Class:B+

Comments:3310 - David Dicks lives up to his name. Brother this guy is such an annoying nerd that just gets up on stage and starts yammering way too fast for anyone to understand. He does not explain how he is doing any of the problems and if you try to ask he still won't help. Furthermore, if you have a question you have to put it in the mentimeter (Kahoot ripoff) and he answers at the end of class. But the real questions get buried beneath all these questions about Diddy and hawk tuah. Which was hilarious the first few weeks but gets annoying fast. So he sits for 20 minutes at the end of class entertaining these questions and giving these cringey responses, when a real question comes up he ignores it. Also his voice sounds like Dwight schrute and now I can't watch the office without wanting to hurl a toaster at the TV. He also wears this lame Baylor t-shirt with a green suit jacket and jeans, it really grinds my gears. My relationship with God has strengthened because, Hallelujah he gives a good curve because everyone does so bad in the class.  - Grade In Class:A

Comments:3310 - good luck. He will talk over your head and show almost no work. If he does show work it will be on a pre made excel sheet that he will not give you. One of the worst class set ups I have ever seen. Also, you grade is based on class rank which is wild. Overall not a good experience.  - Grade In Class:B+

Comments:4360 - Dr. Dicks is without a doubt the most intellectual man I have ever met. When he teaches or talks to you, you can see the gears turning in his head. He's so knowledgable about finance it's scary... I think he could assume any CFO role at a major Fortune 500 and be fine... HOWEVER, with that intellect and aptitude comes a slurry of math equations, new terms, and speed-run level teaching. He talks over most everyone's heads and I really didn't understand most of the homework problems, but damn did I enjoy his class and learn a lot from what he said. Honestly, the biggest takeaways from his class come from his personal stories and anecdotes related to class topics. He speeds through homework problems and no one really comprehends them, but he then tells a real-life story and it sticks. It's an odd teaching style. He's clearly a great man, husband, and father, and he wants his students to succeed. If he comes off intellectually brash, it's nothing personal. He's simply so smart that you may not feel the smartest when you're in his room. It's humbling, but a great learning experience. I'd take him for every finance course at Baylor if I could.  - Grade In Class:B+

Comments:4360 - Dudes pretty chill and tests are at home open book open note recommend the class over a lot of others  - Grade In Class:B

Comments:FIN 4360 - Dr. Dicks is a thinker. The topics are indeed advanced, but what's more so is how he thinks and talks about those topics. His classes are engaging and have a good balance of lectures and exercises. Now, it is a minor issue but it drives me nuts. I believe Dr. Dicks' first name is David, not Davis!  - Grade In Class:A

Comments:Adv Corp Fin - Dr. Dicks is perhaps one of the most intelligent people I have ever encountered. His class is challenging, but it is engaging, and you learn a lot. His class is structured in a very organized way where you will have a lecture/learning day followed by an application/exercises day. This is the type of class where you really need to have read the textbook before class or else you will be lost. At first, the class seems intimidating, but if you try and stay engaged during class, you won’t regret taking it especially if you’re a finance major. Dr. Dicks is probably one of the best professors I have ever had at Baylor, and his intellect and wit are unmatched.  - Grade In Class:A

Comments:4360 - The material was pretty challenging in my opinion. Professor Dicks definitely knows the material well and is really interested in what he teaches, but some of it definitely went over my head at times. The class was a little different when I took it because there was no participation grade due to COVID. Homework can definitely take a decent amount of time, but you can redo it until you get it correct. Quizzes are usually based directly on the homework so those were pretty easy. There's only one midterm and then the final, and I thought those were pretty hard and some of the problems I thought were past the scope of the class / were pretty hard to solve. Our exams were online, which kind of sucked due to no partial credit, but it might be different in future semesters. He also grades the class on a curve I believe. He definitely is passionate about the material and wants you to learn, but the class is challenging and takes a decent amount of effort on your part.  - Grade In Class:A

Comments:adv corp - This is the class where you kind of have to teach yourself because he talks over everyone's head during class. I tried going into office hours but just left more confused. He also gave out a 5 hour final during the coronavirus.  - Grade In Class:A

Comments:Adv. Corp - Teaches hard, tests easy. I mean that to the most extreme degree. I wish every single class at Baylor was like this. I believe Professor Dicks to be the most intelligent professor I have ever encountered. It's quite intimidating at first, but as the year goes on, you will absolutely love it. He has a wonderful almost eccentric sense of humor, and understands the material so well that he can illustrate it without any help. He answers questions thoroughly and often answers questions that you don't even know how to ask. He is always telling interesting stories and making rather dry but humorous jokes, and his personality makes it very easy to engage and stay engaged the entire class period. His advanced corporate is one of those classes that you smile through the entire time, and when you stand up at the end, you are just in a daze from trying to comprehend everything that you went over in the class. He teaches about 10 levels over your head, but on the exams, simplifies it to an extreme degree. You will spend months in fear and panic afraid that you understand nothing, and then a week before the exam he will put all of the pieces together and it will make sense. If you put the work in (and it is a lot of work,) and truly do your best, you will receive an A, fall in love with finance, and be astonished at how much he has actually taught you. If you don't, you will stumble through the class and receive a "gentleman's C" or B. Professor Dicks is one of those rare professors where the sky is the limit. He fundamentally changed the way that I viewed finance and made me so happy that I chose finance as my major.  - Grade In Class:A

Comments:4360 - Dr Dicks is a great professor. He is on a tenure track I believe, and rightfully so. The dude is super smart and sometime talks way over everybody's head. But he is still pretty good at dumbing down super complex concepts for the class. He is very helpful and very understanding. Only pain in this class is the online homework/quizzes, but they are an easy 100, just time consuming. Midterm and Final make up 50% of your grade and the other 50% comes from participation and online stuff. His grading scale is unbelievably generous too. This class is also a great class if you aren't sure what other finance classes to take. Touches on surface level of many other finance classes and kind of lets you know what it entails. All in all, great class and Dr Dicks makes what could be a very boring and difficult class, into a class I can look forward to.   - Grade In Class:A