Current instructor
Original student reviews · all captured dates
Somesh himself is a decent professor. However, there is no transparency whatsoever in this class. The curve by which the class is graded is unknown until the end of the semester after the grades are in, meaning you have no idea what your grade is. Makes everything easy until an impossible final exam (worth 30%) which only focused on like 4 conceptsRate My Professors ↗
Somesh is extremely passionate about crypto. He does well at making lectures engaging and understandable. He is very helpful outside of class as well, and he usually does not move on until the class understands a topic. The exams/quizzes are difficult, but if you study and understand the materials, they're not too bad and the graders are generous.Rate My Professors ↗
Somesh was one of the best professors I have had in the CS department. He is funny, engaging, and helps guide students to find solutions to the homework easily, without just doing the work himself. He introduced lots of tricks and ideas to help make difficult subject matter easy to understand, and made sure the class still had fun.Rate My Professors ↗
6 homework assignments, one 100% for turning in your name,lowest dropped so it was graded on 5 homeworks+free 100%, 2 midterms and a final. Low maintenance, so good to take with hard classes but the exams were kinda impossible unless you memorize every word of each topic. The final was a trick, it was weird math and didn't include half the topics.Rate My Professors ↗
Somesh is one of the best professors I have had for a while. He is very engaging with the class, and makes very complex ideas around crypto easy to understand. He gives plenty of time for homework (with there only being 7*) and assigns them only when discussed in lecture, Overall, a very nice guy who loves the material and wants you to love it too.Rate My Professors ↗
Easily the best professor I've ever had. He's engaging and attempts to learn all students' names even in classes with over 100 people. He's both funny and incredibly knowledgeable. Made CS 435 my favorite class I've ever taken and inspired me to go into the software security field.Rate My Professors ↗
Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.
COMPSCI 699 offers directed study projects for junior and senior students arranged with a faculty member.
Offering recorded · Fall 2026
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2022–Spring 2026COMPSCI 702 is a Graduate Cooperative Education course where students apply computer science principles in a hands-on, professional setting.
Offering recorded · Fall 2026
No recorded grade history
COMPSCI 790 is a Master's Thesis course for graduate students, focusing on independent research and thesis completion.
Offering recorded · Fall 2026
No recorded grade history
Offering recorded · Fall 2026
No recorded grade history
COMPSCI 899 is a pre-dissertator research course for master's graduates preparing for doctoral dissertation work under faculty supervision.
Offering recorded · Fall 2026
No recorded grade history
COMPSCI 990 is an advanced mentored reading and research course for students with dissertator status.
Offering recorded · Fall 2026
No recorded grade history
Introduction to the technical aspects of cryptography and secure digital information transmission.
Offering recorded · Fall 2026
Somesh Jha is praised for being laid-back, engaging, and clear, with students noting his generosity and responsiveness. Reviewers also mention confusing grading criteria and mandatory paired homework assignments.
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2022–Spring 2026| Term | Course | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Fall 2026 | COMPSCI 699 | Directed Study |
| Fall 2026 | COMPSCI 702 | Graduate Cooperative Education |
| Fall 2026 | COMPSCI 790 | Master's Thesis |
| Fall 2026 | COMPSCI 799 | Master's Research |
| Fall 2026 | COMPSCI 899 | Pre-dissertator Research |
| Fall 2026 | COMPSCI 990 | Dissertation |
| Fall 2026 | COMPSCI/ECE/MATH 435 | Introduction to Cryptography |
Teaching history may be incomplete. Course pages contain course-specific feedback and citations.
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