This may be the best professor I've ever had at UW Madison. He is a great lecturer and really cares about the experience of the students. The class was interesting and fun and the tests were fair, I would definitely advise taking a class with Professor Pollak if you get the chance.Rate My Professors ↗
Current instructor
Seth Pollak
What students say
Original student reviews · all captured dates
Best professor I've ever had.Rate My Professors ↗
Prof. P was the best prof I've ever had! So passionate about the subject & really cares about his students-he'd actively ask for feedback on his teaching and work to apply it. Lectures were super interesting & had cute baby videos that were very helpful in exemplifying concepts. Textbook is dense, but manageable. Take honors section if you can!Rate My Professors ↗
Seth is amazing. He is extremely knowledgable about psychology (obviously) and he cares that his students do well. This class had 3 exams, no final, all multiple choice. If you went to lecture and read the textbook, the exams were extremely fair. He threw out bad questions on the exams, and gave EC for tophat lec questions.Rate My Professors ↗
Prof Pollak is a really famous psychologist and doesn't teach often. I suggest grabbing any chance to have any class with him. He is brilliant and an incredible lecturer. Not the least bit arrogant. In fact he was very compassionate and conveyed a lot of caring for students and was a super nice guy during office hours. 10/10 great teacher.Rate My Professors ↗
Seth Pollak is very knowledgeable and he is a really significant researcher in his field. This class will help you with interacting with any children in your life! This is one of the best classes and professors at UW-Madison! Take his class if you have the chance!Rate My Professors ↗
Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.
Classes with Seth Pollak
Senior Honors Thesis
3 creditsPSYCH 681 is an individual study course for students completing senior honors theses under faculty supervision.
Offering recorded · Fall 2026
No recorded grade history
Undergraduate Thesis
2–3 creditsPSYCH 691 is an undergraduate thesis course focused on conducting research and completing a thesis, recommended for students intending to pursue graduate work in psychology.
Offering recorded · Fall 2026
No recorded grade history
Directed Study
1–3 creditsPSYCH 699 is a directed study course involving independent mentored study with a faculty member.
Offering recorded · Fall 2026
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2022–Spring 2026Current Topics in Psychology
2–3 creditsOffering recorded · Fall 2026
Recent recorded grades — Fall 2019: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=9 letter grades); Fall 2021: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=13 letter grades); Fall 2024: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=10 letter grades).
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2022–Spring 2026Research
1–12 creditsPSYCH 990 is an independent research course involving experimental, observational, or statistical investigation under faculty supervision.
Offering recorded · Fall 2026
No recorded grade history
Recorded teaching history
Explore courses taught by this instructor →Browse recorded courses
Teaching history may be incomplete. Course pages contain course-specific feedback and citations.
Instructor identity & provenance
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