Historical instructor

Jake Vander Zanden

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.27/5 from 15 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

ZOO115 · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 2/5
Jake was one of my favorite professors this semester. He is extremely funny, making his lectures very fun. We took many small field trips, which allowed us to learn in the real world. Overall, great experience, would retake his classes!
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LIMN315 · course not matched
Quality 4/5Difficulty 2/5
Jake is a great guy with immense knowledge and passion for his craft. I thoroughly enjoyed my time in his class and would recommend him to anyone.
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ZOO510 · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 2/5
I really enjoyed Prof. VZ and his lectures. He made class loads of fun, along with Prof. Lyons, and you can tell he is passionate about his area of study. Highly recommend taking his class!
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ZOO510 · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
Probably one of the best professors that I have ever had at UW-Madison. He is so smart and really loves exactly what he is teaching. If you love animals, especially fish, this is definitely the class for you! He really loves when you engage with lectures, so if you are curious about something feel free to ask questions. A pretty awesome guy overall
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ZOO510 · course not matched
Quality 4/5Difficulty 3/5
Loved him. Made me really like fish ecology. Doesn't post his lecture slides so go to lecture.
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ZOO510 · course not matched
Quality 4/5Difficulty 2/5
Excellent professor, had him for limnology but he was even better for ecology of fishes. Kept lecture interesting and fair grading. Few easy papers and projects, and reasonable tests. Excellent zoology course.
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Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.

Classes with Jake Vander Zanden

No teaching recorded in Fall 2026.

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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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