Professor Anil Rao Reviews
Class Ratings
Professor Rating
Prof: Anil Rao / Fall 2025
Feb 6, 2026
Difficult conceptually, but he gives guidance in office hours for every HW, project, and quiz. The quizzes are more like mini project involving derivations which are based on his course notes (fully open note and untimed). Requires basic programming/MATLAB skills and a strong foundation in DEQ/calc.
Orbital elements, orbital propagation, orbital transfers. Very interesting but probably not very useful for most people's career paths. This class does however teach useful analysis skills and will improve your understanding of MATLAB.
Professor is excellent and really cares about his students succeeding/learning. Would take more courses with him if I could.
If you go to office hours when you are stuck, he will help you will succeed and get an A+. There are plenty of extra credit opportunities too. This class does require a lot of effort to understand, but I was never stressed about grades. Each assignment builds on the previous, so don't get behind.
Class Ratings
Professor Rating
Prof: Anil Rao / Fall 2021
Aug 31, 2022
Project heavy, lots of intensive homework assignments, pretty cool material.
Moderately/extremely useful for space orbital projects in the future.
Can put students on the spot can embarrass students that don't know what they're doing. If you accept the embarrassment of not knowing and get to his explanation, he will absolutely help with projects and homework assignments.
Class Ratings
Prof: Anil Rao / Spring 2021
Sep 2, 2021
Course is heavy on derivates, calc, and physics. Material is cumulative.
Can come off as angry and very particular about small details. Really wants you to learn, and will be accommodating if you come to office hours and speak to him.