Current instructor

Justin Sydnor

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.71/5 from 7 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

RMI 660
Quality 5/5Difficulty 2/5
He explains content really well, and holds extra office hours for weeks with homework. Four (rather difficult) homework assignments on excel during the semester. 4 Unit exams are online, unlimited time, open book, open note. Very conceptual but thats okay because everything is gone over well in lecture and in his slides. Final exam is reasonable.
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RMI 660
Quality 5/5Difficulty 2/5
Sometimes Justin over-explains concepts/ideas, but that's honestly the only criticism I have. He's a really nice, smart professor who wants his students to succeed. The content is pretty fun (a mix of psych & econ) and it's very manageable. Overall, I'd highly recommend taking a class with Justin.
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RMI 660
Quality 4/5Difficulty 4/5
Justin belongs to a new class of economists -- behavioral economists. Thus, 660 is a course Justin teaches with a lot of passion! His combination of humor and research make every class period intriguing. You'll learn how human biases affect decision-making and the best interventions and nudges to use to help improve your judgement moving forward.
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RMI 660
Quality 5/5Difficulty 2/5
Professor Sydnor is an awesome guy -- super approachable, always willing to help, gives good feedback (although it sometimes can come pretty late). The class was unlike the other RMI courses I took at UW (its all about human behavioral patterns and managing the associated risk of those behaviors), but was very insightful and actually pretty fun.
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RMI 660
Quality 5/5Difficulty 2/5
Justin is great! The class is super interesting and his lectures feel more like a discussion. He is really big on how you communicate your ideas, which is good. The class is super interesting. It's kind of a mix between psychology, econ, and a little bit of analytics. I would definitely recommend taking this class if you need an RMI requirement
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RMI610 · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
Justin is simply fantastic. One of my favorite professors at UW.
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Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.

Classes with Justin Sydnor

RMI 920

Seminar in Actuarial Science, Risk Management & Insurance I

3 credits

Doctoral seminar in actuarial science, risk management and insurance focusing on appreciating existing literature and developing skills for independent scholarly work.

Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.93 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=7 letter grades). Includes jointly taught sections.

Justin SydnorTyler Leverty

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2025–Spring 2025 · limited sample

Recorded teaching history

Distinct courses recorded per term

Explore courses taught by this instructor →
Browse recorded courses
TermCourseTitle
Spring 2027RMI 399Reading and Research-risk Management
Spring 2027RMI 920Seminar in Actuarial Science, Risk Management & Insurance I
Spring 2027RMI 990Risk & Insurance Independent Research Phd Thesis
Spring 2027RMI 999Reading and Research-risk Management and Insurance Phd
Fall 2026RMI 990Risk & Insurance Independent Research Phd Thesis
Fall 2026RMI 999Reading and Research-risk Management and Insurance Phd

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

Instructor identity & provenance 
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