Selected Student Comments

The selected comments below are students’ answers to the question: “What did you like most about this course and instructor?”

FINANCE OF BUYOUTS AND ACQUISITIONS- The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

“This has been my favorite course taken at Penn (senior) and much of this is because Professor Esmer has been the best teacher I’ve had at Penn.”

“Professor Esmer is one of the best professors I had at Penn so far. FNCE251 is an excellent class.”

“Burcu is still great”

“I love Burcu as an instructor and person. Her lectures are fascinating, and she conveys subject matter knowledge and enthusiasm better than almost any professor I ve had. “

“Great course and Burcu was an amazing professor!”

“Going into the course, I was both nervous and excited – nervous because I was concerned for my grade but excited about the fact that I could immerse myself in an environment of hard-working, high-achieving students. The class superseded my expectations, everything from the way it was structured to the amount of course material learned. Above all else, I’d like to sincerely thank Professor Esmer for the great opportunities to meet and interact with guest lecturers, and her accessibility outside the class time. The fact that I could not only learn about M&A and leveraged buyouts but also apply my knowledge of LBOs, returns, and modeling outside the pen and paper, by presenting to a judge was and will be an unforgettable experience that I will cherish throughout the rest of my college career. FNCE 251 has been an entry-way to develop my passion for finance and finance-related concepts, and I am looking forward to taking more of Professor Esmer’s classes in the future. I enjoyed grabbing lunch with Professor Esmer with few of my closest friends (who were my teammates for all team projects and assignments). I appreciate the professor consistently emphasizing to think like a practitioner (this mentality I will carry forward throughout my internship), and I had the opportunity to put my voice out there amidst a group of talented and self-selected group of Wharton students. I learned to care about self-development and educational value in a college classroom beyond caring about the letter grade I receive on my transcript, which is still significantly important to me. TAs were very qualified and I could go on talking about how the course is helpful if needed. The experiences I’ve gained through taking this class cannot be put in words, because every small interaction I had with a professional and a question I was able to ask my peers and professor really defined my experience in the FNCE 251 classroom.”

“Prof. Burcu is amazing! She knows the material very well and is clearly passionate about the private equity. She also loves her students and goes above and beyond to help them learn!

“Overall, Professor Burcu is incredibly thoughtful and funny and comes off as caring. She is one of the best professors I have had in any finance course.”

“Professor Esmer was highly engaging and made the course very interesting for us. I learned plenty about M&As and the practical execution of buyouts, and would recommend it to others.”

“Professor Esmer is incredibly dedicated to her students and makes it known that she cares about them. It is refreshing to see this trait in a professor and makes her class all the more interesting.”

“I really like Burcu as a person, she is super engaging and personable and wants the best for every student.”

” Professor Esmer does an excellent job engaging students during lecture and providing illustrative and intriguing cases. She truly cares for her students and is enthusiastic about the subject matter.”

” Burcu was the best professor I had at Wharton. She was very engaging, positive and knew how to get students to be interested in the subject every time. Her stories were interesting and I really liked the overall class because the professor clearly put a lot of effort not only into the subject of presentation but also in the way that she presented and lectured. Also she encouraged participation which I really enjoyed.”

“Overall I really enjoyed the course and liked Burcu’s teaching style. She was very responsive on email and made a genuine effort to get to know her students. The course content and cases were informative and I have a much stronger interest in PE now (versus the start of the semester). I also loved the guest speakers, and it was pretty cool to pitch our final projects to a real investor. “

“The instructor introduced lots of real world transactions during lectures, which were very interesting and helpful.”

“Prof. Esmer has been the best professor I had so far.”

“Professor Burcu brought passion and enthusiasm to the classroom, which I really appreciated. She cares so much about her students and about our learning. She was always prepared for every lecture and if we asked questions she couldn’t answer, she would always look it up and give us a response later. Her dedication is truly amazing. Especially since this is the first time she’s teaching at Wharton, I really admire her resiliency and determination in making this a great course. There needs to be more women like her represented amongst the Finance faculty at Wharton.”

“Overall great course!  I think professor Esmer was great, very committed to helping students succeed and made the material seem very interesting.”

“The course was engaging and always interesting to sit in. Professor Esmer always kept us engaged and excited about the material. “

“Burcu brought a lot of energy and preparation to her teaching”

“Burcu showed great passion for the topics. Would recommend this to every major interested in private equity.”

ADVANCED PRIVATE EQUITY – The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

“The best course I have taken at Penn so far. “

“This was an outstanding course that brought in great guest speakers and provided a level of information about the PE industry that is inaccessible elsewhere. All other feedback I have for the course was already given directly to the professor.”

Lots of guest speakers which are great because of industry experience. Both professors brought interesting lessons and assignments, and the course was great. “

“Useful real world knowledge and a demonstrated openness by the professors to answer any and all questions about advanced subject mater”

“Overall excellent course with very valuable projects and great professors”

ADVANCED CORPORATE FINANCE- The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

“Very stimulating course, Professor Esmer is fun to learn with, and she try to make everyone concentrate on her teaching, I think she did a pretty good job”

“I love this professor”

“Thank you for a great semester! I really enjoyed this class” 

“The work assigned really helps to develop skills and learn material,..”

INTERMEDIATE CORPORATE FINANCE – Kelley School of Business, Indiana University

“Burcu was one of the best instructors I have had at this school. I am sad to hear she is leaving. Not only did she emphasize with her students but made the subject very interesting. Did she kept the class atmosphere very fun and I actually enjoyed the class. Expectations were clear and there were no surprises when it came down to what was important material.”

“Professor Esmer is one of the best instructors I have ever had. She was always willing to help me out with my doubts and questions. She is also a genuine human being and caring teacher who always asked about my health and motivated me to do great in life. She made a course like F305 interesting, simple, and fun learning experience for all of us. We will miss her.”

“Prof. Esmer is very knowledgeable and energetic. She is kind and extremely helpful. Definitely one of the best professor I have ever had in IU. The materials are not challenging per se but does require some thoughts.”

“Professor Esmer has been one of my favorite professors not just at IU, but throughout much of my academic career. She’s incredibly willing to help out students when they have questions. Perhaps what made the most impact was her attitude during class; regardless of whether or not she was having a great day, she always came to class with a large smile and an appearance of energy. She came to each lecture clearly prepared. I know in my future career, I’ll be using many of the skills learned in this class. Sad to see her leave.”

“Professor Esmer is amazing!”

“Professor Esmer is energetic and enthusiastic in her teaching and she always like her students to contribute in class. She is also a fun teacher to attend to. Overall, Professor esmer is one of the best teacher I have ever taken in Kelley. Also, she could explain all of the material clearly and I can understand the material easily.”

“Open office hours and highly available to answer questions, even outside of regular hours. Extremely nice to talk to.”

“Cares about her students and the material she teaches”

“She makes the course more interesting. The course itself was just an intermediate level of corporate finance, which should be boring. I don’t think the materials taught is really meaningful, but Professor Esmer was able to make me interested to come to class.”

“She is willingly to create an environment where student sees their professor as a colleague and be able to interact easily in the class.”

“Professor Esmer make the class fun and she teached the class enthusiastically”

“Professor Esmer is a great professor. I thoroughly enjoyed taking her course and I learned a great amount. She is an awesome person, and Kelley will miss her .”

“She was enthusiastic about the material and seemed to really know it. Her class was interesting.”

“Her humor in lectures.”

“She is a very nice professor, and she made the class very interesting and motivated. Also, the projects helped me better understand class materials.”

“Professor Esmer made the class sessions fun and interactive. “

“Enthusiasm in the class made for a good learning environment. Class was fair and there were no surprises.”

“Burcu was very approachable and created a warm environment in the class room. Tests were very fair and straightforward. She made the material not seem so daunting”

“She is passionate about her teachings”

“Esmer was interesting to listen to and had a clear understanding of the material.”

“The teaching style and enthusiasm was great to come to class to.”

“Very enthusiastic, really cares deeply about her students.”

“Always available for questions regardless of whether it was during class or outside of class. Also very enthusiastic about teaching real world application of the material.”

“Was always available to meet, kind”

“I enjoyed lectures and the material was taught in an effective way for students to completely understand it.”

“Always very energetic and interested in making sure we understood the material”

“Professor Esmer was always prepared for class and was energized. She was very encouraging about questions.”

“she makes lesson time and the course material very interesting”

“She is passionate about this finance topic and cares about students. She provides lots of study material to help us master the topics.”

“I liked how she always had a joking personality about things. It reminded not only me but the entire class that even though crunching numbers can be frustrating and tedious at times, life goes on and its important to enjoy what you are doing.”

“She is a really good teacher and explained the material in a way where I could understand”

“She’s so nice, and she’s very enthusiastic on the course materials. I was very impressed.”

“Did her best to make the class engaging and fun even though it’s finance. She made herself seem very approachable and down to earth. Very funny “

“She is a really good teacher and explained the material in a way where I could understand”

“She makes the learning environment fun. Great person!”

“I feel relaxing during the class and meanwhile effective in learning”

“The project helps me understand the real life application of the concepts that I learned at class.”

“She is teaching great!”

“I liked how even though the course was condensed from taking it in the summer, the work was still very manageable. The professor was also very kind”

“nice and approachable”

“Her teaching is very clear.”

“Amazing professor. Always available for help. Tries to be as helpful as possible”

” I thought this course has really helped me learn a lot about corporate finance. I feel like I have learnt the overview of  finance much better now. Professor Esmer was an outstanding professor. She was always willing to help and she taught the class in a very enthusiastic manner and made class more interesting. Professor Esmer was definitely one of my favorite professors.”

“She was quite funny and made class enjoyable. She is very good at putting herself in her students shoes.”

“Very involved in class discussions. Got everyone involved”

“The course was extremely valuable and introduced me to the core concepts of corporate finance. It will definitely come in handy in the future regardless of which area of business I’m involved in. The instructor is extremely friendly and is always available to guide us and explain concepts. I had a great experience!”

“The course materials are really helpful for my future career.”

“She was extremely available for office hours. When you come into her office hours she gives you a ton of one on one time.”

“1. Enthusiastic—truly enjoy teaching the course. 2. Available—whenever struggling in this course, she was consistently available in her office”

“Professor Burcu made herself available to us very often not only during her office hours, but also, anytime she was in her office. I really enjoyed doing the value a company project, even though it was challenging at times. I think it will benefit my classmates and I a lot in the future.”

“She explains material clearly. “

“She made the class interesting for people that were more engaged.”

“I liked how the professor designed a project that we had to complete that encompassed a significant amount of the material that we learned in class. She also was very enthusiastic about the things she was teaching and clearly demonstrated her passion for teaching”

“The enthusiasm that she brought everyday and also that she was constantly available for office hours.”

“She often used real world examples. Also, our projects were about real life companies.”

“Our professor was always prepared and excited for class lectures, which led the class time to be used efficiently and effectively”

“Very enthusiastic about teaching the students. Encouraged more about applying what you learned to actual real life situations.”

“Material learned in this class was valuable and will be applied in a future career.”

“She’s always available if you need help”

“The enthusiasm that she brought everyday and also that she was constantly available for office hours.”

“I enjoyed the occasional humor and I appreciated you and the class getting side-tracked at times only to reconvene and cover the material after a minute. It woke the class up.”

“Burcu Esmer is a very enthusiastic teacher that cares a lot about her students and her course. She is extremely smart and is capable of answering any questions you may have regarding the course matter. She always made time for her students even when it wasn’t during office hour times, which really reflected her care about her students success. She encourages her students to do well and is an overall wonderful teacher.”

“She was willing to help us whenever we had any questions. Taught the slides pretty well.”

“I like that you always were very enthusiastic when teaching the material. I also liked that you were very eager to help students when they came in during your office hours. It was also very easy to make an appointment with you if we could not meet during your office hours. Overall, the fact that you are setting up extra review session next week and conducting office hours all day Thursday, showed me that you really do care about your students and want them to learn the material”

“Prof. Esmer’s passion for finance”

“Professor Esmer was always helpful and happy to come to class. She kept you engaged by making it more interactive which was nice.”

“The instructor was always available to meet for office hours and I found it extremely beneficial to attend her office hours. She also was very flexible and understanding with students. In addition, I felt like (the first two exams, at least) were very fair and representative of the material, nothing absurdly difficult but rather to the point.”

“Professor Esmer made class interesting and was always willing to answer our questions. She also gave good examples to make the material more clear.”

“Professor Esmer was extremely approachable and truly cared about the success of the students.”

“She genuinely cared about the students and how well they learned the material”

“Very nice and enthusiastic, took interest in getting to know students in the class and was always well-prepared.”

“I loved Professor Esmer, she has great personality! She would blatantly acknowledge when topics were boring and would try to make it more interesting but would understand if we were losing focus.”

“Burcu is funny and always tries to make the class as upbeat and interesting as possible. She’s accessible for questions and makes lots of time outside of class to answer project or grade questions.”

“Genuinely cared about the students and always wanted to help! I liked that we had a few opportunities to get extra credit as well.”

“You were very enthusiastic about teaching. You love the material you teach and it shows! Also, you were always available to meet for questions or to go over projects etc”

“She was very excited to teach every day even though sometimes the materiel was boring. She also was also very available for help outside of class.”

“Very enthusiastic and reachable for help”

“She liked relating to other students and always asked what we did over the weekend. She always made herself approachable and eased the class environment by making jokes, so it was easy to ask questions.”

“Nice, very enthusiastic.”

“Teacher is awesome”

“projects were interesting, good experience”

“She was enthusiastic about finance.”

“Professor Esmer was extremely well prepared for each class meeting and brought energy to every presentation.”

“I enjoyed how the professor seemed to care a lot about the subject material and she wanted to ensure that her students understood the material well.”

“She was very enthusiastic about the coursework which made it easier to listen to her”

“She was friendly and sympathetic to students.”

“The instructor is always very helpful.”

“hard class good professor”

“Professor Esmer is very friendly and energetic during class and office hours.”

“I enjoyed her energy and the projects really helped me better understand the course material”