Current instructor

Lyn Van Swol

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

Raw average: 4.28/5 from 68 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

CA368 · course not matched
Quality 4/5Difficulty 2/5
Prof Van Swol is super knowledgeable in her field, and it's very apparent. The class itself was interesting because it's easy to recognize the content in everyday life. The textbook is nonnegotiable, and your exams will include material from it. Listen to it, and you'll be fine.
Rate My Professors ↗
CA368 · course not matched
Quality 4/5Difficulty 2/5
Exams are all multiple-choice, drawing from specific examples & theories (mostly from lecture). There are a few papers, but nothing is too hard if you pay attention and take good notes. Lectures are fairly interesting, but slides are somewhat disorganized. However, she is clearly knowledgable about the topic and uses fun examples, so overall good!
Rate My Professors ↗
CA368 · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 2/5
She was one of my favorite professors at UW Madison! She's funny and makes very interesting lectures. I liked listening to her talk which actually made me pay attention. Exams were fair and you lowkey do not need to buy the textbook, just google the studies it mentions before the exam. CA 368 was really interesting- definitely reccomend!
Rate My Professors ↗
CA368 · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 4/5
Very knowledgable and passionate. She was funny and engaged with her students.
Rate My Professors ↗
CA368 · course not matched
Quality 2/5Difficulty 2/5
Her lectures were structured terribly and often went on tangents, the class itself lacked a concrete structure and was very disorganized.
Rate My Professors ↗
CA368 · course not matched
Quality 2/5Difficulty 3/5
I had her this past sem, she is very spacey and did not give us much information for papers, assignments, or quiz/tests. Half the lectures are online and one in-person lecture per week. she would often last minute cancel discussion sections, not send the link to online review, and overall was not on top of her teaching. this class was disorganized
Rate My Professors ↗

Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.

Classes with Lyn Van Swol

COMARTS 299 is a Directed Study offering an intermediate-level project, such as independent reading, research, or production, under faculty supervision.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

No recorded grade history

COMARTS 368 teaches persuasion and social influence skills, exploring nonconscious processes and campaign creation.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Lyn Van Swol is described as a great, friendly, and respectful professor who delivers entertaining and exciting lectures. Reviewers found the class interesting and enjoyable, noting that the workload outside of class was not excessive.

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026

COMARTS 698 is a directed study allowing students to complete advanced independent projects, such as research papers or productions, under faculty guidance.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

No recorded grade history

COMARTS 699 is a directed study allowing students to complete advanced independent projects, such as research papers or productions, under faculty guidance.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2022: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=6 letter grades); Fall 2025: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=7 letter grades); Spring 2026: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=6 letter grades).

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026 · limited sample

COMARTS 760 covers advances in communication theories through in-depth review and evaluation of behavioral and social scientific perspectives on human communication.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2017: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=6 letter grades); Fall 2022: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=8 letter grades); Fall 2024: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=10 letter grades).

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Fall 2024 · limited sample

COMARTS 799 is an independent study course focused on independent research and writing under instructor supervision.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2022 · limited sample

COMARTS 990 is a research and thesis course focusing on independent research and writing under instructor supervision.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

No recorded grade history

Recorded teaching history

Explore courses taught by this instructor →
Browse recorded courses
TermCourseTitle
Fall 2026COMARTS 299Directed Study
Fall 2026COMARTS 368Persuasion and Social Influence
Fall 2026COMARTS 698Directed Study
Fall 2026COMARTS 699Directed Study
Fall 2026COMARTS 760Advances in Communication Theories
Fall 2026COMARTS 799Independent Study
Fall 2026COMARTS 904Communication Science Colloquium
Fall 2026COMARTS 990Research and Thesis

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

Instructor identity & provenance
{
  "instructor_uid": "instructor_5e969180481168b4459f9f6c",
  "source": "enrollment",
  "source_instructor_id": "vanswol",
  "identity_basis": "netid",
  "identity_status": "source_identified",
  "name": "Lyn Van Swol",
  "email": "VANSWOL@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": 68,
    "quality": 4.28,
    "difficulty": 2.87,
    "quality_count": 68,
    "difficulty_count": 68,
    "profile_id": "rmp:1093879",
    "source_url": "https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/1093879",
    "match_basis": "exact_name",
    "observed_at": "2026-09-07 16:22:25.729352+00:00",
    "courses": {
      "course_a54fb931d3a848c691620152": {
        "review_count": 1,
        "quality": 5,
        "difficulty": 3,
        "quality_count": 1,
        "difficulty_count": 1
      },
      "course_f31522dc42623fdab5304530": {
        "review_count": 1,
        "quality": 4,
        "difficulty": 4,
        "quality_count": 1,
        "difficulty_count": 1
      }
    },
    "bayesian_quality": 4.13901949626059,
    "prior_mean": 3.6596857835465957,
    "prior_weight": 20
  },
  "current": true,
  "courses": [
    {
      "course_uid": "course_0b9a4da0ade705aa7f8b498b",
      "course_id": "COMARTS 299",
      "title": "DIRECTED STUDY",
      "credits_min": 1,
      "credits_max": 3,
      "gpa": null
    },
    {
      "course_uid": "course_1fcaec8ca3cf93a616f0aa95",
      "course_id": "COMARTS 904",
      "title": "COMMUNICATION SCIENCE COLLOQUIUM",
      "credits_min": 1,
      "credits_max": 1,
      "gpa": 4
    },
    {
      "course_uid": "course_2c8eab31294e527aa8e832be",
      "course_id": "COMARTS 698",
      "title": "DIRECTED STUDY",
      "credits_min": 1,
      "credits_max": 3,
      "gpa": null
    },
    {
      "course_uid": "course_5f42941708a50f667d631c2c",
      "course_id": "COMARTS 699",
      "title": "DIRECTED STUDY",
      "credits_min": 1,
      "credits_max": 3,
      "gpa": 3.988
    },
    {
      "course_uid": "course_a54fb931d3a848c691620152",
      "course_id": "COMARTS 368",
      "title": "PERSUASION AND SOCIAL INFLUENCE",
      "credits_min": 3,
      "credits_max": 3,
      "gpa": 3.138
    },
    {
      "course_uid": "course_baeba6dae06592b8d56c4465",
      "course_id": "COMARTS 799",
      "title": "INDEPENDENT STUDY",
      "credits_min": 1,
      "credits_max": 3,
      "gpa": 4
    },
    {
      "course_uid": "course_c33801031942020cd3ea546a",
      "course_id": "COMARTS 990",
      "title": "RESEARCH AND THESIS",
      "credits_min": 1,
      "credits_max": 9,
      "gpa": null
    },
    {
      "course_uid": "course_ea9a0d7b112ac591626310c2",
      "course_id": "COMARTS 760",
      "title": "ADVANCES IN COMMUNICATION THEORIES",
      "credits_min": 3,
      "credits_max": 3,
      "gpa": 3.904
    }
  ],
  "revision": "e243353dcb7d79b7247ced91d69443ef4c2a6349",
  "instructor_url": "/instructors/LYN_VAN_SWOL"
}