Historical instructor

MICHAEL TOPPING

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 5.00/5 from 4 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

SOC 170
Quality 5/5Difficulty 2/5
Michael is so nice and so much fun even if you are not a soc major! He tells so many stories about topics or just life in general which makes it so much easier to understand. he also gives extensions to the two writing assignments if you ask!!! I got a one-week extension when I had tests in other classes which helped a ton!
Rate My Professors ↗
SOC 170
Quality 5/5Difficulty 1/5
Best professor ever, 2 tests (open note) and 2 writing assignments. He is hilarious and makes the class so much fun, I would really recommend taking him!
Rate My Professors ↗
SOC 170
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
Professor Topping is absolutely hilarious!!! He makes class so much fun and covers really cool topics well. You have an online quiz each lecture but its only 3 points and its on the stuff you read for the class so its easy to get done, other than that you have 2 exams, open note and 2 essays you need to get done
Rate My Professors ↗
SOC 170
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
So much fun! This is my first class in college ever and I think that he really understands that this is a new experience for so many and tries to make it engaging whether you're interested in sociology or not. I would def take again if he taught another class I need
Rate My Professors ↗

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

Classes with MICHAEL TOPPING

No teaching recorded in Fall 2026.

View last recorded teaching term →

No courses match this selection. Try the full catalog or another term.

Recorded teaching history

Explore courses taught by this instructor →
Browse recorded courses
TermCourseTitle
Fall 2023SOC 170Population Problems

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

Instructor identity & provenance 
{
  "instructor_uid": "instructor_2fa5227916e5347b2f07f1d1",
  "source": "madgrades",
  "source_instructor_id": "5187015",
  "identity_basis": "source_id",
  "identity_status": "source_identified",
  "name": "MICHAEL TOPPING",
  "email": null,
  "first_observed_at": "2026-09-06 23:14:58.172943+00:00",
  "last_observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
  "ratings": {
    "review_count": 4,
    "quality": 5,
    "difficulty": 2.25,
    "quality_count": 4,
    "difficulty_count": 4,
    "profile_id": "rmp:2943214",
    "source_url": "https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/2943214",
    "match_basis": "exact_name",
    "observed_at": "2026-09-07 16:17:25.143566+00:00",
    "courses": {
      "course_eb97963ac46895311ec0acd6": {
        "review_count": 4,
        "quality": 5,
        "difficulty": 2.25,
        "quality_count": 4,
        "difficulty_count": 4
      }
    },
    "bayesian_quality": 3.8830714862888294,
    "prior_mean": 3.6596857835465957,
    "prior_weight": 20
  },
  "grade_statistics": {
    "gpa": 3.905,
    "graded": 100,
    "counts": [
      86,
      10,
      3,
      1,
      0,
      0,
      0
    ],
    "sections": 1
  },
  "current": false,
  "courses": [],
  "revision": "e243353dcb7d79b7247ced91d69443ef4c2a6349",
  "instructor_url": "/instructors/MICHAEL_TOPPING"
}