Spring 2027

Interdisciplinary Seminar in Political Economy, Philosophy, & Politics

Interdisciplinary seminar on current policy debates integrating concepts from philosophy, political science, and economics.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Michelle Schwarze3.3/5

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Michelle Schwarze

The course was considered difficult, with biweekly readings exceeding 60 pages and two tough papers. Students were also required to purchase all assigned books for the class.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Synthesize concepts and arguments from philosophy, politics, and economics.

  • Apply concepts and arguments from philosophy, politics, and economics.

  • Engage in written work incorporating an array of primary and secondary sources.

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
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AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

Consent of instructor

  • Consent of instructor
POLISCI 461

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

Prerequisite text tree
  • Consent of instructor

Professors

Spring 2027
Adjusted rating
RMP 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.

For this course: 2.7/5 raw quality · 4.3/5 difficulty · 3 reviews

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

Past student reviews · Michelle Schwarze

Michelle Schwarze led a discussion-based seminar with biweekly readings over 60 pages and two challenging papers. Students found the course difficult but appreciated the engaging format and her effective teaching.

Other students criticized the grading as overly critical and noted that Schwarze was not accommodating to busy schedules. While reviewers acknowledged her subject knowledge, they described her as distracted during participation and unsupportive of creative writing.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2022: 3.35 GPA, 60.0% A/AB (n=10 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.33 GPA, 77.8% A/AB (n=18 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.65 GPA, 88.5% A/AB (n=26 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Past student reviews · Daniel Kapust

Daniel Kapust, a historical instructor, was described as engaging and humorous, creating a productive discussion environment. He was a reasonable grader who prepared students well for exams by effectively explaining readings and concepts. Students found his course structure interesting and valuable for social science majors.

DANIEL KAPUST is recorded teaching in Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2021. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

MICHELLE SCHWARZE is recorded teaching in Fall 2018, Fall 2022, Fall 2024, Spring 2026. 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

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
SEM 001Classroom Instruction0 / 250

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

Meeting source records
Download part 1

Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Michelle Schwarze

Student experiences varied significantly; one found the seminar discussion enjoyable and the material engaging, while another described the semester as dominated by confusion and a lack of understanding.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2024: 3.33 GPA, 77.8% A/AB (n=18 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.82 GPA, 95.5% A/AB (n=22 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.65 GPA, 88.5% A/AB (n=26 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Michelle Schwarze

The course was considered difficult, with biweekly readings exceeding 60 pages and two tough papers. Students were also required to purchase all assigned books for the class.

Past student reviews · Michelle Schwarze

Prof. Schwarze was described as knowledgeable, but some students found her grading too critical and noted she was not accommodating to busy schedules. Another reviewer felt she seemed to tune out during participation.

Topics

  • Current policy debates
  • Philosophy, political science, and economics approaches

Skills

  • Synthesize and apply concepts and arguments from philosophy, politics, and economics.
  • Produce written work incorporating primary and secondary sources.

Grades

Latest available · Spring 2026— not enough history to project Spring 2027.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Spring 2026

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Not enough comparable courses for Spring 2027 in UW–Madison.

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.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records
POLISCI 461 · Spring 2027

Interdisciplinary Seminar in Political Economy, Philosophy, & Politics

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:778:024826",
    "course_id": "POLISCI 461",
    "course_uid": "course_cdb76f98405661d42020c591",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "024826",
    "source_subject_id": "778",
    "title": "Interdisciplinary Seminar in Political Economy, Philosophy, & Politics",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  }
]
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 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "423d4960d2a1d3fd1d5004aa525c012ef9968e6eab9d350dccc2f4af9693e6c6",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}