2.6
Quality2.8
Difficulty42%
Would Retake110
Reviews42%
Would Retake
110
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
14
4
25
3
15
2
21
1
35
What Students Say
“Don't take her classes and avoid her at all costs necessary”
COMM340 - 1.0 rating“Get ready to talk about death every class and all other thing unrelated to interviewing”
COMM340 - 1.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
85%
Textbook Required
79%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Stable
+0.04 avg changeRatings by Course
GEOGEO
5.0
(1)COMM330
4.0
(1)GEL101
4.0
(2)COMM495
4.0
(1)COMM440
4.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
COMM
5.0
COMM100
4.4
102
4.0
GEOGEO
4.0
COMM340
3.3
Reviews (110)
No Comments
I find her to be really unclear. SUPER strict on attendance! Talks a lot and rarely lets you out early. Very passionate, but needs to relax.
I agree very unclear! I would avoid this class if you can.
Her class is extremely easy, so it is easy to get side tracked and slack off. Basically you get an A as long as you do the work. She's kind of annoying but she's nice. There's a ton of pointless discussions in her class.
Pretty good teacher. Strict on the outlines. Requires full sentences. Good teacher though.
She is very very very unorganized. I thought this class would be an easy A, it wasn't. 3 major speeches, few little ones. 9 quizzes online (read the book). She hardly took attendance unless half of the class was missing. Changed her mind a lot about assignments, even the final. Class wasn't really boring, and she is passionate about the subject
Thought the class was going to be horrible but actually wasn't! Just do the outlines for the speeches and read the book for the quizzes. Super easy class if you just do the speeches. She might be a little unclear at times but a good teacher! lots of interesting discussions on everything going on.
I really liked her, she may be a bit unorganized, but is willing to help and work with you. If you go to class and pay attention to the discussion board you should have no problem getting an A.
Keep up with the discussion board and turn in all your paperwork and you'll do fine. She gets a unorganized, but mostly to your advantage, because she ends up cancelling assignments because of it. If you participate you'll get an A.
Fun teacher. Nice. Wants you to get a good grade. Easy online quizes. TAKE HER CLASS
class is easy, but she is a hard grader, for no reason! She will give you a lower grade than you deserve on a speech. I would try to not have her. Its a stressful class
She is very passionate about her work! Nothing is hard about this class, just do the work and you will get a good grade. Do the online quizzes, and all the speeches/outlines! If you missed something, e-mail her or talk to her after class and she will let you re-do it. She is easily distracted, which is good! Use the book for the quizzes!She's nice!
She's a cool teacher, realy laid back. She's easy just read the book because everything in the book is on the quizzes. She's distracted very easily so you can keep her talking for no reason. Overall she's a very sweet lady and i'd totally recomend her
Do the work and you are fine. She provides sample outlines and the quizzes are online.
Very fun class! This professor is very interested in the success of her students, do all of the speeches, pay attention, read and you will have no problem at all! I would recommend her to anyone!
She's VERY passionate about her students' success. A big part of your grade is showing up and participating in class. You almost never use the textbook, and the modules are fun and easy to do. Overall an easy class and a fun one.
pros:Lenient and comprehensive grader. Tries to establish a good student-teacher relationship. Does not use the book, only for quizzes. A guaranteed. Cons: Does not know how to keep her personal opinions to herself. Thinks she knows better. Treats you like high school students. Likes to humiliate people when she is mad. Takes everything personal.
This course was a great life experience. I really enjoyed the lectures and assignments.
Not bad, but there are better GEO teachers at the school. Likes to play favorites with students, and likes to use the class as a theatre for her opinions. Often tells people to work hard on projects but doesn't give instructions until the last minute. Can be strict on grading.
She was nice and seemed excited for each class. However, her instructions were confusing and you really don't use the book till the end of the semester. It is something you'll need to pass the final though.
Loved this class! If you are a COMM major this class is deinately beneicial when it comes to working in groups. She is EXTREMELY helpul and wants everyone to learn and reach your true potential. She cares so much about her students and is so nice!
This professor is so bad that I feel like I have to leave a review.Dont take this class with her!I am not lazy nor stupid so you can trust this comment. Her fill in the blank tests are impossible(you have to be a mind reader to pass),she gives horrible directions for assignments and also humiliates students when they question her poor methods.
Worst professor I have ever had, she igrnores you if you ask questions, the entire class failed the midterm and she blamed us for not studying just because one person passed the midterm, she rambles on saying nothing for the enitre time i did not learn anything from her. DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS
Really confusing and unorganized. Gives terribly unclear directions and doesn't cover in class what she tests on. Very strict and picky with grading but doesn't give clear enough instructions to do so. DONT TAKE HER CLASS.
Ughh where to begin. 1st Do not take this class you will regret it. 2nd Midterm the entire class failed and she blamed us for not studying. 3rd she never goes over anything that is on the tests just expects you to know it. 3rd you take the entire semester to do one group project which can be completed in 1hour. If you want to fail take this class!
Gives unclear instructions, manipulates people's grades, stingy with giving people max. amount of points, embarrasses students in front of the class, it's her way or the highway and attendance is basically mandatory.
She is honestly the worst professor I have ever had. She has no knowledge about the subject do not expect to learn anything in her class
Most rude professor I have ever had! Hard class don't expect to pass...
You will need the text for quizes, but buy a cheaper edition. She's bipolar. Plays favorites and takes everything personal. Doesn't respond to texts/emails Gives little instruction and does so last minute. UNORGANIZED. Wastes time talking about herself so if you want to leave early move on. Go face to face for help and you may be helped.
she is awful!
Her lectures are interesting, she talks a lot about herself. You have to read the book to do good on her quizzes that are online. If you practise your speeches you will do good, she gives good advise and if you listen to them you will do good.
Loves to talk about herself! One of the best classes I've taken. Helpful if you go to her office hours, because her class instructions can be a little difficult to understand. Gives an outline for each speech. Wants to help her students anyway possible.
This was the worst class i have ever taken. Take this class and be ready to fail! Does not explain clearly! This class was the cause of my anxiety and depression! I have never failed a class until i got to her class.
VERY UNORGANIZED. Find a good group of people in your class because this class is all about working in groups. I didn't really learn anything, had to teach myself the information because she doesn't really teach.
The clarity of assignments does not exist. The organization also falls into this catagory. Good luck understanding anything that is going on.
Honestly, this class was SOOOO boring. I did not learn anything. Nothing is planned, EVER! If you miss one day, she will give you crap for the rest of the semester. The group work is a joke. Yah its an easy A, but you have to show up. She gave random lectures and quizzes when she felt like it. Did not learn anything but how to make time pass...
By far the worst professor at CSUSM. She is unclear, you will have no idea what is going on. She grades the work based off of how much she likes you. She will add assignments and will tell you the day it's due. Just throw out the syllabus because it means nothing and she doesn't follow any aspect of it. I learned absolutely nothing.
Absolutely horrible. Completely insensitive to others and self centered. You will learn all about her personal life, including her salary, student loans, mortgage, and non stop family anecdotes. She adds and takes away assignments, also changing due dates and giving little to no notice. Don't take her classes and avoid her at all costs necessary.
So disappointed I ever took this class. One word of advice: DONT
Get ready to talk about death every class and all other thing unrelated to interviewing. And if you have any sort of family emergency, personal issue, or even difficulty understanding something do not expect any sort of sensitivity or help from her.
Making lives stressful, one student at a time
This professor is kind of all over the place. She is a very nice woman and willing to help when you go see her during office hours, but is unorganized and talks too much about political and family issues.
She lacks any sense of organization. She changes plans without informing students. If you go up to the podium and read your notecards you'll get an A, though If you want a stress free semester and to actually better your public speaking skills, I do not recommend the class.
By far the least intelligent teacher, let alone professor, I have ever had. She never told us due dates so the whole class was unprepared on those days. She pushes her far right wing beliefs on the class and doesn't listen to logic. She goes off on tangents about her family and politics. She doesn't believe in global warming! Don't take this class!
Absolutely horrible. Unorganized, rude, and childish. Avoid her at all costs necessary.
She had back to back classes so she showed up late to almost every class however she seems very connected with the Latino theme of our class. She gives outlines for every speech and as long as you show up to present it's an easy A. She does not remind you about when homework is due so you always have to be on top of it when it comes to assignments.
Not that bad. We had barely any homework. The class was mostly just a group activity. There is a final exam, as well as a final reflection. The work is not hard at all. Just show up to class because participation matters a lot.
Professor Matsumoto is in general a nice person, but she can get a little crazy when it comes to her projects and assignments. The class isn't hard, if you do your work you will get a good grade, but she assigns a lot of busy work. Don't miss class, you won't pass.
This class could have been so easy, but she literally makes everything 10x more difficult than it needs to be. She does not follow the syllabus and she is not very clear with instructions. She will keep adding random assignments throughout the semester. If you question her in any way, she will give you an attitude and make you out to look stupid.
Offers "extra credit" as she says she'll enter it at the very end of the semester. She never did. The class was very easy though- do your work and pass with at least a B. Decent professor if you just want to pass the class without learning much.
A fair assessment is that this professor loves what she does, she has high expectations, she makes herself available for office hours, the course has multiple assignments and students can do well if they put the time into their group projects, this IS a group course. Why students may perceive this course as difficult is that we have other classes.
Doesn't follow the syllabus whatsoever. Professor Matsumoto is very unorganized. If you're reading this before deciding whether to take her or not, DON'T.
Is not super clear on instructions and students are often left confused on assignments and rely on each other. Assignments are not extremely hard however. Can sometimes go off on tangents, which I didn't really mind and has readings that you need to do an assignment for each chapter, but they aren't difficult. There are 3-4 speeches and one paper.
Professor Matsumoto is very professional! She has a lot of knowledge about many topics such as internships, the Latino community, and politics. Always refer to the syllabus, she's an easy grader if you put in the effort!
She is a great professor and really cares about her students. Yes she is confusing but that is why you ask lots of questions in class and go to her office hours. She is an easy grader as long as you do the work and turn it in on time! You also need to show up if you don't you will not pass. Decent amount of work. I learned a lot. Would take again.
so unorganized could not even go by the syllabus. She would have assignments due she never even brought up in class to discuss. Many times assignments were time consuming and pointless. Not very approachable when asking questions. Slowest grader ever, I did not know my grade until final grades were posted. If you do the work you will do fine.
Very unorganized, she wouldn't follow the syllabus. She doesn't put in grades until the very end of the semester , so you have no clue what your grade is. She didn't explain the assignments well or didn't explain them, so when it came time to do them ,we didn't know what to do.
Worst teacher on campus. She was extremely rude when I tried visiting her office hours. Wont recommend. She was very unorganized and wasn't able to give us our grades on time. DO NOT TAKE.
Unorganized, most due dates she had for assignments were wrong and make sure to take the online quizzes which is the only reason you would need the book. Easy to pass, just show up to class. Make sure to print outlines or else you won't be able to present. She usually gives you full points for just doing your speech.
I took the PASO GEO course with Professor Matsumoto, so most of our topics were related to Latin America. All the assignments and information are online, so attending class is not necessary unless others are giving a speech that day. Textbooks were used to complete reading reviews, about 13 of them. She has office hours and gives helpful feedback.
Makes things a lot harder than it has to be for a GE class, compared to other GEO102 professors she has the most work for sure. I did feel like my public speaking got better though.
Dr. Matsumoto is a great oral communications professor. She is very educated and knows what she is taking about. If you want to pass you need to do the work. Also be prepared with a printed outline ready for your speeches along with turning it in online. If not you cannot give your speech. All in all, great professor and very passionate.
While she comes off as (initially) a very organized teacher, she is noticeably very disorganized when you consider what the course schedule looks like on the website. Many students miss deadlines as a result. She is harsh when it comes to grading and is sometimes unforgiving. The quizzes are relatively easy if you do the reading as instructed.
She is very headstrong and opinionated but honestly you have to clock her. Her opinions are honestly so embarrassing you'll see if/when you take her. Her class is not that hard she gives you outline examples, you only have 2 major essays.
I took her for both Comm340 and Comm310 and she was by far the worst professor at CSUSM. So unorganized!!! She's super rude too, and will go out of her way to embarrass you. All she does is talk about herself every class. She's super insensitive if you miss class. Doesn't stick to the syllabus. Tough grader! I learned nothing but how to pass time..
Love her! Uses unorthodox teaching that more teachers should do! Lets students apply what they have learned instead of just lecturing! Understanding, helpful, great teacher to talk to about anything! Expect a group project! Easy grader but expects participation- and you should anyways DUH! Go to office hours! Very welcoming! great professor!
There is a lot of work, given that this is a group class. I enjoyed my group and thought that we worked well together even though it was a lot of effort it felt rewarding. Professor Matsumoto has a different teaching style and doesn't "hand hold" on assignments and wants students to take responsibility for themselves. Read her assignment calendar!
This professor is highly unorganized and often forgets the assignments she assigns. We met in class twice a week for 50 minutes and each class I would walk away more confused than before. Don't expect to know what your grade is throughout the semester, and be prepared for heavy group work with little to no instruction. Find someone more organized.
Class is super easy just follow instructions which she is specific about. She is very sweet and has a big personality! Do your work and participate and you guys would get along just right.
disorganized, unrealistic expectations, does not clarify assignments. All she wants to do is talk about herself. Exams are difficult, gives horrible lectures , I did not learn a thing! I think she is a nice person but being a professor is something she is not good at. I would avoid taking any classes with her.
The professor claims she is so on top of our work but we are at the final week of school and she has not graded even half the course work. On top of that half of the semester students were teaching themselves because of the lack of class that were being held. One of the worst professors ive had so far.
Professor Matsumoto is an awesome Professor. You get the grade you work for. She outlines what she is looking for and will help you find it. Also, show up to class and let her know youre there. Participation is what keeps the class engaged with the Professor. Utilize your communication skills, people.
She can be unclear & unorganized. I blame that to her teaching other classes and give leniency when professors had to switch their entire curriculum online. She is passionate and quickly understood she was giving out to much work and cut down on the workload for both the classes and her sake. I would take her again.
I really thought that she wouldn't be bad because of the mixed reviews but she was the worst professor I've ever had. My class and I hated her. She was always passive aggressive and never cared about her students. Having computer problems? Too bad. Save yourself the trouble because there are better GEO professors on campus.
I really enjoyed this class! The professor cares about each student and their success in her class. She does not put up with last minute, dumb excuses, and she does want to see participation. She responds to text messages more often than emails. Lots of speeches, quick and easy. Her class is an easy A if you participate and follow directions!
If you do all the work and participate this class will be an easy A. She will not put up with late work. Can be slightly passive aggressive but do what you got to do. We did small speeches often but they are easy.
This class is an easy A if you do what you're told. Im not sure if she's like this with all her classes, but she accepted a lot of late work.There is no physical textbook but you will use WebAssign for weekly quizzes and video recordings.
I personally think this was my easiest class ever all you have to do is put in effort and work for what you want. You get what you work for !!!!
Easy class, she is just an empty-headed, obnoxious person.
Her class would honestly be pretty good if she weren't there. She doesn't know what she is doing or what she wants you to do. Just a poor instructor, and so disorganized. Good on her for getting hired though, I can't imagine interviewing her.
Very unorganized and gives you a short sentence for assignment guidelines so you don't know what to do at all. the whole class is usually wasted from students asking questions because everything is so unclear. Didn't go to class one day because I was sick and my grade dropped from 85 to 60. She loves talking about her lavender farm though.
Maybe I just haven't come around to her way of thinking, but the rest of my time in college has taught me that maybe I don't want to understand her point of view. Learning respect, organization, and structure in my college experience has leant me no aid in managing her nonsense. I am learning how to exercise extreme patience with adults however.
It does not matter how poorly she handles the class, she will still spend the entire class period talking about how amazing of a person she is, how connected and interesting her life is, and how confident she is in her ability to teach the class. And once she has run out of things to say about herself, she will move on to complaining about students
Catherine is very unclear with her expectations, so be prepared to ask a million questions and still be unclear after your efforts to gain clarity. Also, be sure to go to class; sometimes, she takes attendance, and sometimes she doesn't, which mirrors her teaching methods, which are confusing and ridiculous.
At the start of the semester she told us if you just turn in every assignment you will pass. Little did we know the challenge she was issuing: Try and figure out when things will be due. She will hide assignments in late modules, post the submission link the day that assignments are due, and her beloved syllabus is as helpful as wet toilet paper.
I could tell by the second class it was going to be BS, but I didn't drop her class by the withdrawal date, and it has become the greatest regret of my college career
The words that I would like to use to describe Matsumoto are not allowed on RateMyProfessor. So I will have to limit myself to describing her instruction as "trash", although that is a severe understatement
I was discouraged by the reviews but this class isn't bad honestly. She just talks a lot about politics and personal stories. Do the speeches and work and it's an easy A.
Depending on the course you take and her preparedness that semester, Matsumoto can bee hit or miss. Just be prepared to practice patience if you commit to her instruction
From the first week of school, Dr. Matsumoto didn't seem like she knew what she was talking about and communication about the class was lacking. She would only take attendance sometimes, resulting in inaccurate participation grades and she was often late herself. Nothing felt like it was learned in class, and most of the work was done on Cengage.
The professor is usually always late for class. Attendance is mandatory and points will be heavily deducted for missing class, even for arriving late to class. Speech outlines are very helpful and overall every speech was graded very leniently. As long as you do the work and attend class you will pass.
There are MANY interviews throughout the semester. You become the interviewer and interviewee. As a result of family matters, it was difficult at times to contact her outside of class. There is one group project at the end of the semester. No extra credit. She does attendance for points. There are quizzes due each week. Good Luck!
(Pt. 1) Her class is awful, straight up. She always talks about how much of a saint she is and more about her personal life than actually teaching. She thinks she's better than all of us just because she's in an interracial relationship. She talks about "etiquette" and wants us to write e-mails a certain way. Her mannerism to students needs fixing
(Pt 2) I asked to be excused, but she never told me I had to write a mesaage a certain way, so I always got marked down for it. All of us are young adults in the class, but she treats us like third graders. She's been on me for being late, but she is always late herself. She sends us mail at 2 in the morning and expects her 7:30 students to read it
(Pt 3) With her complaining about us not being present at 7:30 AM, I know people in the PM classes that would never take this class again. In no way do I dislike her as a person, she is a nice person, it is just that she needs to teach more, be less self centered, work on her mannerisms, and stop complaining about students.
Honestly at first she was cool but then she started to make everything difficult more than it should be. She did some things that weren't part of the syllabus. also she did like tops 2 lectures and the rest is just her talking about herself
Catherine Matsumoto is a very easy teacher. She is nice if you act like you are in college. If you turn in work complete she gives you full credit. Also if you do a speech she gives you a 100 no matter what. No matter how bad the speech. Just have to do it
Class itself was easy, but she didn't actually teach much herself. All assignments were just cengage or speeches, and most of the assignment outlines were vague. Like many others said, she was very frequently late herself and often just talked about/ connected everything to her life rather than teach. Easy class, but not a very helpful one.
Matsumoto was a nice professor and the class was pretty straightforward. You have a reading and quiz due every week and attendance is mandatory. Unfortunately you are in a multi-part group project throughout the semester but as long as you do your part it will be fine. Show up, do the work and you can get an A.
Understanding for the most part and is a relaxed grader if you are one of the first people to give your speech. No final or exams for this class, but you will have to purchase Pearson for this course to do all homework.
She's not as bad as the ratings say, but don't expect it to be an easy A either. You have to communicate effectively and still do the research/writing for your speeches beforehand. She will notice the effort you put in and if you take extra steps to try to improve. Despite that I think she loves what she does, but can grade a bit strictly.
just ask for help and she will
love this professor
This class was not difficult. Most of the class is doing research and writing outlines for the in class speeches. There is only three the whole semester that you have to do. The difficult part of this class is public speaking. The textbook portion of the class is online, but it is easily accessible when it comes to the online work.
The professor is relaxed but sometimes disorganized. Attendance is a must, but grading is lenient. I found unstuck AI helpful for speech prep alongside the textbook. Overall, an easy class if you stay on top of the work.
I didn't mind her. She wasn't my favorite, but I never had any complaints. You basically only need to go to class on presentation days which there's a decent amount of, but that's to be expected from this course. She was strict on how you structured your outlines but that's pretty much all she really cared about.
She's nice, but sometimes gets off topic. It gets kinda awkward in there.
Super easy class, only two big speeches. Lectures are rarely about the class, and she spends 95% of the time talking about herself and her political views. And if you do a speech, she doesn't agree with personally she will argue about it to you in front of the class.
She was okay, but she can be passive aggressive at times. She's very passionate about you being a responsible adult, so if you don't have all your stuff together I would recommend taking another class because it is something she will fail you for. Other than that she's not too bad. Her expectations are clear, you just have to do the work.
canvas and syllabus was very confusing; was stubborn about answering questions
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
85%
Textbook Required
79%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Stable
+0.04 avg changeRatings by Course
GEOGEO
5.0
(1)COMM330
4.0
(1)GEL101
4.0
(2)COMM495
4.0
(1)COMM440
4.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
COMM
5.0
COMM100
4.4
102
4.0
GEOGEO
4.0
COMM340
3.3