Fall 2026

Topics in Political Science

POLISCI 400 is an umbrella course for variable credit topic courses, including summer forums and intensive sessions.

offering recorded1–4 credits
Recorded instructors · Fall 2026 Michelle Schwarze3.3/5

Summary

1 / 6

Historical coursework was manageable with attendance, featuring optional reading not tested on exams.

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

Sophomore standing

  • Sophomore standing
POLISCI 400

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • Sophomore standing

Professors

Fall 2026
/5Adjusted rating
/5RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 3.15/5 from 39 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2014: 3.50 GPA, 71.4% A/AB (n=7 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Michelle Schwarze is the current instructor, but no reviews exist for her teaching of this course. Historical reviews highlight Katherine Cramer and Andrew Trexler as engaging instructors who foster discussion and care deeply about student success.

ANDREW TREXLER is recorded teaching in Fall 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

JONATHAN SCHWARTZ is recorded teaching in Fall 2016. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

KATHERINE CRAMER is recorded teaching in Spring 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

MICHELLE SCHWARZE is recorded teaching in Fall 2014, Fall 2015. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

RICKY CVEYKUS is recorded teaching in Spring 2019. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Fall 2026

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction27 / 700

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Historical reviews highlight engaging instruction and discussion-focused formats, though no current reviews exist for Michelle Schwarze.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.63 GPA, 83.8% A/AB (n=210 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.72 GPA, 86.6% A/AB (n=164 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.62 GPA, 80.0% A/AB (n=210 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Historical coursework was manageable with attendance, featuring optional reading not tested on exams.

Students valued deep material exploration through discussion and praised historical instructors for genuine care and accessibility.

Grades

Historical instructor

Fall 2026 · Projected

Before grades are released

– average GPA

Approximate 80% prediction interval

About this estimate

The course’s semester-average GPA, not an individual student’s grade. The center uses 5 same-season terms, weighted toward recent results.

The range uses the finite-sample 80th-percentile rank of absolute errors from earlier same-season forecasts. Each forecast uses only records from earlier terms. At least four forecasts are required; bounds are rounded outward and limited to 0–4. This is an empirical estimate: changing instructors or grading policies can reduce its coverage.

8 earlier forecasts · 0.11 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Fall 2026

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1283 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

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Selected offering source records
POLISCI 400 · Fall 2026

Topics in Political Science

Recorded 2026-09-07
POLISCI 400 · Fall 2026

Political Violence

Recorded 2026-09-07
POLISCI 400 · Fall 2026

Revolution, Reform, Resistance

Recorded 2026-09-07
Raw records
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    "run_id": "20260907T155543-ce3781c4",
    "semester": "1272",
    "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1272:778:015917",
    "course_id": "POLISCI 400",
    "course_uid": "course_72b1ebead6ff5d756edddb78",
    "term_id": "1272",
    "source_course_id": "015917",
    "source_subject_id": "778",
    "title": "Topics in Political Science",
    "credits_min": 1,
    "credits_max": 4,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring, Summer"
  },
  {
    "run_id": "20260907T155543-ce3781c4",
    "semester": "1272",
    "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1272:778:015917.69",
    "course_id": "POLISCI 400",
    "course_uid": "course_72b1ebead6ff5d756edddb78",
    "term_id": "1272",
    "source_course_id": "015917.69",
    "source_subject_id": "778",
    "title": "Political Violence",
    "credits_min": 1,
    "credits_max": 4,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring, Summer"
  },
  {
    "run_id": "20260907T155543-ce3781c4",
    "semester": "1272",
    "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1272:778:015917.73",
    "course_id": "POLISCI 400",
    "course_uid": "course_72b1ebead6ff5d756edddb78",
    "term_id": "1272",
    "source_course_id": "015917.73",
    "source_subject_id": "778",
    "title": "Revolution, Reform, Resistance",
    "credits_min": 1,
    "credits_max": 4,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring, Summer"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-09-07

Download the original dataset
Model outputs & technical records
nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance
{
  "model": "nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4",
  "model_revision": "1355db6a052410cfd62085d94b58866fd0f2c3c5",
  "task_version": "14",
  "output_id": "85754794fb30a3eb9c27cbea80efc31c3683e3d7aec6576b7cc5d5493c1ad53a",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "e243353dcb7d79b7247ced91d69443ef4c2a6349",
  "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00"
}