Historical instructor

ALAN SORENSEN

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.06/5 from 67 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.

What students say

Original student reviews · all captured dates

ECON 101
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
I liked him a lot. I wasn't sure what to major in and taking Econ 101 with Sorensen inspired me to become an econ major.
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ECON 101
Quality 4/5Difficulty 3/5
His lectures are very similar to the readings which makes them repetitive. The grading distribution for this class is very frustrating (percentile ranking) which makes it hard to know where you stand. (percentiles are only posted after the first midterm). I would take it again, but skip the readings in favor or attending lecture and section.
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ECON 101
Quality 1/5Difficulty 5/5
Lectures are unnecessary towards the exams, but some of them were interesting. Homework and exams were super hard for no reason. He makes the grading super complicated as it's based off of quizzes, homework, participation, exams, and then extra credit points. He 100% relies on TAs to teach the vast majority of the content that appears on the exams.
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ECON 101
Quality 4/5Difficulty 4/5
Pretty engaging lectures and very manageable in terms of homework. By no means was this class easy but if you go to lecture and study you should be fine. Finished with an AB even after averaging around a 75 on each exam so the curve is pretty generous.
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ECON 101
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
Professor Sorensen is a great lecturer. They were engaging and entertaining. My only complaint is he doesn't go in depth into the mathematical concepts. He kind of relies on the TA's to do that and the exams are a little more math heavy so I would definitely attend discussion
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ECON 101
Quality 4/5Difficulty 3/5
Excellent lecturer. Explanations of math could be better (relies a bit on TAs to do so), but overall entertaining and knows how to get people's attention at early morning lectures.
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Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.

Classes with ALAN SORENSEN

No teaching recorded in Fall 2026.

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Recorded teaching history

Distinct courses recorded per term

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Browse recorded courses
TermCourseTitle
Spring 2025ECON 101Principles of Microeconomics
Spring 2025ECON 762Empirical Analysis of Industrial Organization and Public Policy
Fall 2022ECON 899Recent Advances in Economics
Spring 2022ECON 101Principles of Microeconomics
Spring 2022ECON 762Empirical Analysis of Industrial Organization and Public Policy
Spring 2022ECON 990Thesis
Fall 2021ECON 990Thesis
Fall 2020ECON 111Principles of Economics-accelerated Treatment
Fall 2020ECON 990Thesis
Spring 2020ECON 101Principles of Microeconomics
Spring 2020ECON 762Empirical Analysis of Industrial Organization and Public Policy
Spring 2020ECON 990Thesis
Fall 2019ECON 990Thesis
Spring 2019ECON 990Thesis
Fall 2018ECON 899Recent Advances in Economics
Fall 2018ECON 990Thesis
Spring 2018ECON 101Principles of Microeconomics
Spring 2018ECON 990Thesis
Fall 2017ECON 699Directed Study
Fall 2017ECON 903Workshop on Industrial Organization
Fall 2017ECON 990Thesis
Spring 2017ECON 761Industrial Organization Theory
Spring 2017ECON 904Workshop on Industrial Organization
Fall 2016ECON 903Workshop on Industrial Organization
Spring 2016ECON 761Industrial Organization Theory
Spring 2016ECON 904Workshop on Industrial Organization
Spring 2015ECON 761Industrial Organization Theory
Fall 2014ECON 903Workshop on Industrial Organization
Spring 2014ECON 101Principles of Microeconomics
Spring 2014ECON 698Directed Study
Spring 2013ECON 761Industrial Organization Theory
Spring 2013ECON 904Workshop on Industrial Organization
Spring 2012ECON 101Principles of Microeconomics

Teaching history may be incomplete. Course pages contain course-specific feedback and citations.

Instructor identity & provenance 
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