Current instructor

Michael Doescher

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 3.48/5 from 89 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 220
Quality 5/5Difficulty 4/5
Mike was genuinly fun to learn from not text heavy made light jokes and was actually someone whose class i enjoyed
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COMPSCI 220
Quality 5/5Difficulty 1/5
His overall does not reflect him well anymore. He used to be not a great professor but he had a heart attack and now he is super relaxed all the time. He gives out extensions super easily and he seems to really care about teaching. He is incredibly smart and knowledgeable.
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COMPSCI 220
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
He was great, played Fortnite lobby music to start class one day, and it was a great beginning.
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COMPSCI 220
Quality 4/5Difficulty 2/5
His lectures are very helpful in understanding the niche code rules, and the only con really was that when he made a mistake, he would fix it and move on quickly. I did not have to do any extra reading/work outside the class besides the graded assignments. The class in general is very manageable, and I did not come in with code experience.
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COMPSCI 220
Quality 4/5Difficulty 3/5
Mike is an amazing professor! I had never coded before taking CS220 but the content was easy to follow. Although attendance is not mandatory (notes are provided), I'd still recommend attending them since it was so much easier for me to understand. Projects take a lot of time but are still manageable. The exams are easy if you do the practice exams.
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COMPSCI 220
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
Ignore the bad reviews they are mostly from a bad semester (not his fault). Lowkey hilarious teacher and explains the class clearly. Very accommodating to students and tries to make sure everyone has a fair chance
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Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.

Classes with Michael Doescher

Introduction to Data Science programming using Python with no prior experience required, emphasizing analysis of real datasets and visual communication.

Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources

Past student reviews · Michael Doescher

Michael Doescher taught a project-heavy course in which projects were time-consuming, and one student also found them repetitive. He live-coded during lectures, which some found engaging, though another student said lectures did not help because he spent time on unrelated content.

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Spring 2026

Introductory Data Science Programming I for Research course covering Python, programming basics, web scraping, database queries, and tabular analysis.

Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.86 GPA, 96.6% A/AB (n=29 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.77 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=13 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.92 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=6 letter grades). Includes jointly taught sections.

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Spring 2026

Recorded teaching history

Distinct courses recorded per term

Explore courses taught by this instructor →
Browse recorded courses
TermCourseTitle
Spring 2027COMPSCI 220Data Science Programming I
Spring 2027COMPSCI 319Data Science Programming I for Research
Fall 2026COMPSCI 220Data Science Programming I
Fall 2026COMPSCI 319Data Science Programming I for Research

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

Instructor identity & provenance
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