Current instructor

Michael Swift

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 3.95/5 from 19 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 537
Quality 4/5Difficulty 4/5
He seems like a nice guy and is passionate about what he teaches. The projects in OS are pretty bad but the course content is interesting and presented well. The exams are also not hard and very manageable.
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COMPSCI 537
Quality 5/5Difficulty 4/5
good course but covers a lot of material and exams are hard. textbook is really good. mike swift is chill and is good at answering questions.
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COMPSCI 537
Quality 5/5Difficulty 2/5
A lot of people say that you should take OS with a certain professor, but I really don't think professors matter. OSTEP is genuinely the best textbook I've ever read. It explains things so clearly, and even though it is now very much outdated/wrong on some parts (ex: modern SSDs and data races), I highly recommend to just read the book for CS537.
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COMPSCI 537
Quality 5/5Difficulty 4/5
Swift clearly knows what he's talking about and is passionate about the topic. It's a lot of work but well worth the time. Definitely recommend!
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Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.

Classes with Michael Swift

COMPSCI 681

Senior Honors Thesis

3 credits

Senior Honors Thesis is an individual study for seniors completing theses for honors in the Computer Sciences major, arranged with a faculty member.

Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources

Fred SalaMing Liu+20 more

No recorded grade history

COMPSCI 699

Directed Study

1–6 credits

Directed study projects for Computer Science juniors and seniors, arranged with a faculty member.

Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2016: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=7 letter grades).

Fred SalaDan Negrut+49 more

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Spring 2026 · limited sample
COMPSCI 899

Pre-dissertator Research

1–9 credits

Pre-dissertator independent research supervised by a faculty member for students who have completed a master's degree but have not reached dissertator status.

Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources

Fred SalaSong Gao+63 more

No recorded grade history

Recorded teaching history

Distinct courses recorded per term

Explore courses taught by this instructor →
Browse recorded courses
TermCourseTitle
Spring 2027COMPSCI 681Senior Honors Thesis
Spring 2027COMPSCI 682Senior Honors Thesis
Spring 2027COMPSCI 699Directed Study
Spring 2027COMPSCI 790Master's Thesis
Spring 2027COMPSCI 799Master's Research
Spring 2027COMPSCI 899Pre-dissertator Research
Spring 2027COMPSCI 990Dissertation
Fall 2026COMPSCI 681Senior Honors Thesis
Fall 2026COMPSCI 699Directed Study
Fall 2026COMPSCI 702Graduate Cooperative Education
Fall 2026COMPSCI 790Master's Thesis
Fall 2026COMPSCI 799Master's Research
Fall 2026COMPSCI 899Pre-dissertator Research
Fall 2026COMPSCI 990Dissertation

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

Instructor identity & provenance 
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