Not worth your time. Final consists of things we went over once. He had to re tally my grade because they screwed it up.Rate My Professors ↗
Current instructor
Jonathan Renshon
What students say
Original student reviews · all captured dates
Professor Renschon is a great lecturer and always connects the material to interesting concepts and ideas. Although the class can be challenging, Renschon was very receptive to feedback and implemented many extra credit opportunities throughout the semester. My only criticism is that the readings were often redundant or completely unnecessary.Rate My Professors ↗
I did not love PS170 lectures were quite boring and there were lots of readings (like 80 pages a week) He also chooses not to put the grades tab on canvas so if you want to know your grade you have to personally ask. The class also had flipped lectures pretty often that he just reused online lectures from summer for which was a bit annoying.Rate My Professors ↗
You'll succeed in this class only if you are already good at conducting research. The in class assignments were the most stressful because you are given no information about their content before the class when they are due, and you are not allowed to pick your own research topic. I would never take this class again.Rate My Professors ↗
I've switched majors so I've taken research methods in both SOC and JOURN (both 600 level), but PS170 was so much harder. Horrible explanation of topics, makes artificial/incorrect distinctions that don't aid understanding, incoherent grading (not salty 94 final), can't imagine the impression of the PS dept. freshmen are getting from this classRate My Professors ↗
You'll be fine in this class if you took statistics before because this class uses statistical concepts w/o the math, however, you'd be fine without prior stats. The lectures were fine, all the information you need for the assignments and the exams is provided in the slides that he presents and posts. Attendance is mandatory, he accepts late work.Rate My Professors ↗
Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.
Classes with Jonathan Renshon
Directed Study
1–4 creditsPOLISCI 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 samplePOLISCI 800 describes major political science approaches and explores professional development and career issues.
Offering recorded · Fall 2026
No recorded grade history
POLISCI 801 is a dissertation proposal research and writing seminar providing structured support and mentorship for political science doctoral students.
Offering recorded · Fall 2026
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Fall 2022 · limited sampleResearch and Thesis
1–3 creditsPOLISCI 990 is a research and thesis course conducted under the direction of faculty.
Offering recorded · Fall 2026
No recorded grade history
Independent Work
2–3 creditsPOLISCI 999 is an independent work course where students conduct research or projects under the direction of a faculty staff member.
Offering recorded · Fall 2026
No recorded grade history
Recorded teaching history
Explore courses taught by this instructor →Browse recorded courses
| Term | Course | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Fall 2026 | POLISCI 699 | Directed Study |
| Fall 2026 | POLISCI 800 | Political Science as a Discipline and Profession |
| Fall 2026 | POLISCI 801 | Dissertation Proposal Research and Writing Seminar |
| Fall 2026 | POLISCI 990 | Research and Thesis |
| Fall 2026 | POLISCI 999 | Independent Work |
Teaching history may be incomplete. Course pages contain course-specific feedback and citations.
Instructor identity & provenance
{
"instructor_uid": "instructor_598ea13eed55f9d7b4060eb9",
"source": "enrollment",
"source_instructor_id": "renshon",
"identity_basis": "netid",
"identity_status": "source_identified",
"name": "Jonathan Renshon",
"email": "RENSHON@WISC.EDU",
"first_observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
"last_observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
"ratings": {
"review_count": 15,
"quality": 2.87,
"difficulty": 3.47,
"quality_count": 15,
"difficulty_count": 15,
"profile_id": "rmp:2016825",
"source_url": "https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/2016825",
"match_basis": "exact_name",
"observed_at": "2026-09-07 16:30:39.811773+00:00",
"courses": {
"course_734c4b488732ae039c8cccdf": {
"review_count": 1,
"quality": 2,
"difficulty": 3,
"quality_count": 1,
"difficulty_count": 1
}
},
"bayesian_quality": 3.3212490191694832,
"prior_mean": 3.6596857835465957,
"prior_weight": 20
},
"current": true,
"courses": [
{
"course_uid": "course_0ad086f79f3d4866d9b151ff",
"course_id": "POLISCI 990",
"title": "RESEARCH AND THESIS",
"credits_min": 1,
"credits_max": 3,
"gpa": null
},
{
"course_uid": "course_538456bed3a30a6d4bb5ce0b",
"course_id": "POLISCI 801",
"title": "DISSERTATION PROPOSAL RESEARCH AND WRITING SEMINAR",
"credits_min": 3,
"credits_max": 3,
"gpa": 3.988
},
{
"course_uid": "course_7845af936ffcf58975cb34fc",
"course_id": "POLISCI 800",
"title": "POLITICAL SCIENCE AS A DISCIPLINE AND PROFESSION",
"credits_min": 1,
"credits_max": 1,
"gpa": 3.953
},
{
"course_uid": "course_7ca3686bd02a900eeb9fd3ab",
"course_id": "POLISCI 999",
"title": "INDEPENDENT WORK",
"credits_min": 2,
"credits_max": 3,
"gpa": null
},
{
"course_uid": "course_865b1bb72dbb40a60d118741",
"course_id": "POLISCI 699",
"title": "DIRECTED STUDY",
"credits_min": 1,
"credits_max": 4,
"gpa": 3.762
}
],
"revision": "e243353dcb7d79b7247ced91d69443ef4c2a6349",
"instructor_url": "/instructors/JONATHAN_RENSHON"
}