Historical instructor

Christopher Mckelvey

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.64/5 from 94 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 400
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
ECON 400 is not a bad class, although it does take work. Mckelvey is one of the best professors I had at UW and one of the top 3 economics professors. Highly recommend.
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ECON 400
Quality 2/5Difficulty 2/5
This guy just likes to hear himself talk. The class is 80% fluff, especially when all homeworks are just stata commands and reading a regression. Not only is attendance mandatory but the professor seems to think he's teaching a class that is 400 people when it's maybe 100, meaning he couldn't care less about individuals.
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ECON 400
Quality 5/5Difficulty 4/5
Professor Mckelvey is definitely the best teacher I met in UW-Madison. His lecture makes the complex definition and theorem easier to understand, and his slides are also well-structured. He is very helpful and very willing to answer any questions during office hour. It is not that easy to get an A, but still worth to take it.
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ECON 400
Quality 5/5Difficulty 5/5
Very good lecturing with entertaining speech while explaining the concepts well. As a non econ/data science/stats major I still feel like I was able to understand the content well. 1 problem set a week, 12 excused absences, and 2 exams makes for a relaxed courseload. Be aware that exams though are 64% of your grade and have an average of 60-65%.
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ECON 400
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
Christopher is the best professor I've had here. He makes the material engaging and explains concepts clearly. The class is challenging and exam heavy, but his office hours are great, and if you do the problem sets and understand them, you can do great on the exam just by paying attention in class.
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EC410 · course not matched
Quality 1/5Difficulty 3/5
His slides in class are bad and more like notes for himself. He basically overcomplicates everything by explaining a lot of the incorrect ways to work. The class used to be optional attendance, but it's mandatory now because no one would show up. I don't think the material is that difficult, but you will need to teach yourself.
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Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.

Classes with Christopher Mckelvey

No teaching recorded in Spring 2027.

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Recorded teaching history

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

Instructor identity & provenance
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