He's a great guy but a bad professor. Interesting lectures, actually wants to be there. However, this is the worst course structure I've ever experienced. The only assignments are labs and exams, and the labs are so different from lectures they should be a different course. As a result, studying for exams is extremely difficult.Rate My Professors ↗
Historical instructor
TIM OSSWALD
What students say
Original student reviews · all captured dates
Quality 3/5Difficulty 2/5
Quality 3/5Difficulty 4/5
Although he is very interested in what he teaches, he treats students as knowledgeable colleagues, leading to confusing exam questions and completely disorganized lab structure. He also is terrible at operating technology required to lead lectures. I was interested in the first part of the course, but found it less than ideal towards the end.Rate My Professors ↗
Quality 3/5Difficulty 4/5
Professor Osswald really knows his stuff, but the class structure/flow seemed kind of random (especially after spring break). Im not very interested in the material personally, so the lectures were also pretty boring. He cares about his students and doesnt write trick questions in the exams, its mostly the class structure I have a problem with.Rate My Professors ↗
Quality 4/5Difficulty 3/5
He definitely is very knowledgeable on the material for lecture and is very passionate. A bit hard to pay attention to as he goes off on a LOT of tangents. Exams were surprisingly difficult in comparison to the labs and lecture material.Rate My Professors ↗
Quality 5/5Difficulty 4/5
This class is definitely worth taking if you are looking to work for any plastics manufacturing company. It is more in depth than ME 313 or ME 418 (also taught by Tim). You should prepare for exams with practice problems from the book. Sometimes you have to use excel for homework problems. Making a study group for the class is helpful!Rate My Professors ↗
Quality 2/5Difficulty 4/5
Not a fan. The homework assignments do almost nothing to help you understand the content of the class. Instead, the homework asked you to make huge graphs using technology that was never discussed in class. Most of the students in the class are graduate students . There is also a prerequisite course that was not listed on the course page. STAY AWAYRate My Professors ↗
Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.
Classes with TIM OSSWALD
No teaching recorded in Fall 2026.
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Recorded teaching history
Explore courses taught by this instructor →Browse recorded courses
| Term | Course | Title |
|---|
Teaching history may be incomplete. Course pages contain course-specific feedback and citations.
Instructor identity & provenance
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