Current instructor

Mark Copelovitch

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.51/5 from 77 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

POLI140 · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
Professor Copelovitch is a great prof with great lectures. The tests were a little difficult, but as long as you go to lecture consistently you'll do fine.
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POLI140 · course not matched
Quality 4/5Difficulty 3/5
Copelovitch is a good lecturer- he has clear and straightforward slides and connects material to real-world examples, which help reinforce concepts. Not a lot of work for class, but pay attention to detail for tests. ID questions graded harshly. must work hard for A, tests are bulk of grade. lecture isn't mandatory but important to get an A
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POLI140 · course not matched
Quality 4/5Difficulty 3/5
Professor Copelovitch was very passionate about IR, and it was great learning from him. Although the lecture was very content-heavy, he did his best to keep everyone engaged and relate to our age group through pop culture, which I appreciated. I will say you have to work pretty hard to get an A, and it really depends on your TA as well.
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POLI140 · course not matched
Quality 4/5Difficulty 3/5
This professor had good lectures, but sometimes talked fast. But he's still a great professor who is super knowledgeable. My TA didn't really give that much feedback on assignments, which was annoying. Overall, class is manageable, but you will have to work hard to get an A, and there aren't a ton of assignments to balance out bad test scores.
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POLISCI 140
Quality 3/5Difficulty 3/5
From a TA for Prof. Copelovitch: Students seeking a fair grade should avoid this class. He has a predetermined average for students & will redirect TAs to re-grade all material so that it comports with that average. You will not be graded as an individual. Most of my students deserved As. They did not receive them. I wish I'd fought back more.
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POLI140 · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
Professor Copelovitch is highly intelligent and respected in IR and it shows in his lectures. Beware that the majority of your grade is from very long midterm essays that weren't super clear on grading criteria. I feel like I learned a lot from this class and would take another class with Professor Copelovitch.
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Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.

Classes with Mark Copelovitch

Selected Topics in Political Science is a topics course for exploring current issues in the field.

Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2007: 3.12 GPA, 41.2% A/AB (n=17 letter grades); Fall 2010: 3.14 GPA, 43.1% A/AB (n=72 letter grades). Includes jointly taught sections.

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Spring 2026

Directed Study involves directed study projects for juniors and seniors, arranged individually with a faculty member.

Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2022: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=1 letter grades).

No recorded grade history

International Political Economy: Analysis of key classical and contemporary theories in international political economy.

Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2015: 3.67 GPA, 88.9% A/AB (n=9 letter grades); Spring 2018: 3.56 GPA, 77.8% A/AB (n=9 letter grades); Spring 2022: 3.75 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=8 letter grades).

No recorded grade history

Recorded teaching history

Distinct courses recorded per term

Explore courses taught by this instructor →
Browse recorded courses
TermCourseTitle
Spring 2027POLISCI 401Selected Topics in Political Science
Spring 2027POLISCI 699Directed Study
Spring 2027POLISCI 864International Political Economy
Spring 2027POLISCI 990Research and Thesis
Spring 2027POLISCI 999Independent Work
Fall 2026POLISCI 140Introduction to International Relations
Fall 2026POLISCI 699Directed Study
Fall 2026POLISCI 990Research and Thesis
Fall 2026POLISCI 999Independent Work
Fall 2026PUBAFFR 799Independent Reading

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

Instructor identity & provenance
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