Current instructor

Marc Renault

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

Raw average: 2.33/5 from 168 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

COMPSCI 577
Quality 2/5Difficulty 4/5
Marc is just not a very good lecturer, and I sometimes thinks he actively hates teaching. He clearly likes the material, but I would not use him as a resource to ask questions. Grading is overall very generous if you actually complete the bonus points, just takes some time.
Rate My Professors ↗
COMPSCI 577
Quality 4/5Difficulty 5/5
This will be an extremely difficult class, no matter who teaches it. Marc does a decent job with the material; I think people are upset they have to actually think critically and not ChatGPT everything. The Star Wars theme is a nice touch, and if you do the work and pay attention, passing is guaranteed, and an A is well within reach.
Rate My Professors ↗
COMPSCI 577
Quality 1/5Difficulty 3/5
An absolute piece of (fill in the blanks). Doesn't explain what he teaches and instead if someone asks for clarification, he would start denigrating them for asking "basic and obvious" questions. A bit suprising why the university still lets him teach this course given that it's a compulsory course for a lot of students.
Rate My Professors ↗
COMPSCI 577
Quality 3/5Difficulty 5/5
Unlike most I actually enjoyed Marc's lectures and I feel like I learned a lot in this class. However I hate the way the class is organized. The final is so hard, every question is unnecessarily confusing, and they're not similar to the practice questions. It just measures your ability to write down random stuff and pray for partial credit.
Rate My Professors ↗
COMPSCI 577
Quality 2/5Difficulty 5/5
People here blurr the lines between content and professor. Yes, Marc's lecture style is a bit bland and is pretty poor for people not strong in math. But the subject itself is notoriously difficult, heck you briefly talk about unsolved CS problems who said this would be easy? I flunked the final but everyone passes the class in the end
Rate My Professors ↗

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

Classes with Marc Renault

Introduction to efficient algorithm design paradigms and analysis of computational intractability.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Marc Renault is described as kind and reachable, with clear expectations and well-structured course materials. Reviewers note he explains topics well, though the class content itself remains difficult.

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026

Recorded teaching history

Explore courses taught by this instructor →
Browse recorded courses
TermCourseTitle
Fall 2026COMPSCI 298Directed Study in Computer Science
Fall 2026COMPSCI 577Introduction to Algorithms
Fall 2026COMPSCI 681Senior Honors Thesis

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

Instructor identity & provenance
{
  "instructor_uid": "instructor_5b07ff954db288ff1052dd87",
  "source": "enrollment",
  "source_instructor_id": "mrenault",
  "identity_basis": "netid",
  "identity_status": "source_identified",
  "name": "Marc Renault",
  "email": "MRENAULT@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": 168,
    "quality": 2.33,
    "difficulty": 4.2,
    "quality_count": 168,
    "difficulty_count": 168,
    "profile_id": "rmp:2316450",
    "source_url": "https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/2316450",
    "match_basis": "exact_name",
    "observed_at": "2026-09-07 16:21:19.997838+00:00",
    "courses": {
      "course_de12e29109d0c90ee086fcec": {
        "review_count": 124,
        "quality": 1.77,
        "difficulty": 4.5,
        "quality_count": 124,
        "difficulty_count": 124
      },
      "course_9a1a7bf1933981bcbaca47ac": {
        "review_count": 6,
        "quality": 2.33,
        "difficulty": 3.67,
        "quality_count": 6,
        "difficulty_count": 6
      },
      "course_9b1d5f832c492d1c4a3ce19c": {
        "review_count": 35,
        "quality": 4.09,
        "difficulty": 3.23,
        "quality_count": 35,
        "difficulty_count": 35
      },
      "course_37a551eb9007bebe6a41c6b3": {
        "review_count": 2,
        "quality": 5,
        "difficulty": 4,
        "quality_count": 2,
        "difficulty_count": 2
      }
    },
    "bayesian_quality": 2.4714559344198506,
    "prior_mean": 3.6596857835465957,
    "prior_weight": 20
  },
  "current": true,
  "courses": [
    {
      "course_uid": "course_a495c0d9f6ed226e1fc144ee",
      "course_id": "COMPSCI 681",
      "title": "SENIOR HONORS THESIS",
      "credits_min": 3,
      "credits_max": 3,
      "gpa": null
    },
    {
      "course_uid": "course_ab3594f7de436ad02e0bd6e1",
      "course_id": "COMPSCI 298",
      "title": "DIRECTED STUDY IN COMPUTER SCIENCE",
      "credits_min": 1,
      "credits_max": 3,
      "gpa": null
    },
    {
      "course_uid": "course_de12e29109d0c90ee086fcec",
      "course_id": "COMPSCI 577",
      "title": "INTRODUCTION TO ALGORITHMS",
      "credits_min": 4,
      "credits_max": 4,
      "gpa": 3.04
    }
  ],
  "revision": "e243353dcb7d79b7247ced91d69443ef4c2a6349",
  "instructor_url": "/instructors/MARC_RENAULT"
}