Current instructor

Andrew Kydd

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

Raw average: 3.26/5 from 43 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

POLI347 · course not matched
Quality 1/5Difficulty 3/5
AVOID!! Kydd has an ego and doesn't respond well to criticism. Don't take his class if you care about the material or if you want a professor who responds well to questioning. Class was interesting for the most part, but material was incredibly ideologically biased because he picks and chooses what information to present.
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PS345 · course not matched
Quality 4/5Difficulty 3/5
DON'T. SKIP. LECTURE. Just don't do it. Listen, I've been there, I know how tempting a lax attendance policy can be, but don't fall for it. Prof. Kydd's courses are very lecture & reading heavy. Your best bet is to go to lecture, and make sure you have a good understanding of the main conclusions of each paper.
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PS345 · course not matched
Quality 4/5Difficulty 4/5
The course can occasionally be dry but it the generalities you can pick up from doing the readings are lasting and informative. It is difficult to all of the dense, lengthy, and many readings. However, giving each a shot will give you an understanding of the subject matter and will leave you with a landmark to return to if you want to learn more
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POLISCI 347
Quality 2/5Difficulty 2/5
FYI, this is for POLI SCI 529 - Arab-Israeli conflict. Professor Kydd has jokingly performed the Nazi salute, chuckled at terrorist actions, and made fun of dire circumstances. I know he doesn't have any ill intent toward anyone, and I want to make clear that he is in no way a bad person. He just isn't my type of person.
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PS345 · course not matched
Quality 3/5Difficulty 3/5
Super dense readings and sometimes required 5+ readings to be done for a day. Little information was given about the final, even up till finals week, and the paper had little direction but ask questions if needed. Noted this class is 50% graduate work, do the readings, study for the final, and attend lectures!! Easy A if you really put in the work.
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POLI347 · course not matched
Quality 4/5Difficulty 3/5
Kydd obviously is very knowledgeable about this content. Some people found it hard to pay attention because he is a bit dry but the content is interesting. Do the readings and take notes on what he says during lectures. You can copy down the slides later. STUDY FOR THE FINAL. If confused about the outline for the paper, get clarification with TA.
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Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.

Classes with Andrew Kydd

AAE/POLISCI 835 introduces game theoretic analysis tools and their application in political science for formal modeling.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2008: 3.72 GPA, 88.9% A/AB (n=9 letter grades); Spring 2024: 3.83 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=6 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.57 GPA, 71.4% A/AB (n=14 letter grades).

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2024–Spring 2026 · limited sample

POLISCI 699 offers directed study projects for juniors and seniors arranged with a faculty member.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2022 · limited sample

Recorded teaching history

Explore courses taught by this instructor →
Browse recorded courses
TermCourseTitle
Fall 2026AAE/POLISCI 835Game Theory and Political Analysis
Fall 2026POLISCI 699Directed Study
Fall 2026POLISCI 990Research and Thesis

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

Instructor identity & provenance
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