This class was pretty hard. It is basically statistics and I wish I had known that before coming in... It is obviously lecture-based. No quizzes, just midterms that are essay questions. Same for the final. Lots of reading every single class I could barely stay on top of it. Class notes are very important because he summarizes readings in class, so it's best to attend lectures. His lectures do drag on though are about 40 slides each. You can always go back and review the pdfs of the lecture slides though which is nice. The midterms and finals expect you to know the authors and their main points. I would not recommend this class to people who want to learn about domestic or international politics. I would recommend it to people who want to understand the logistics of politics, like voting systems, democracy-building, and state-building. Just all numbers, not really political information of today.

PLCP 1010 was undoubtedly my favorite course this semester! We learned so much regarding methodology, political theories, statistic analysis, and more. I went into this class thinking it was going to be centered around politics, however, statistics played a large role. I am not a math person whatsoever, but I still succeeded in this course! I would recommend this class to everyone no matter their major; these lectures go beyond politics and are applicable to so many areas in life. We had two midterms and one final! The exams are straight from the notes and readings (the important readings he goes over during class), and they are essay/short answer format. They are timed writings, and he does ask a lot for the amount of time you have. However, they take the time into consideration when grading! The readings are dense, but so insightful. I read about 60% of the assigned readings and still averaged an A in the class. As long as you attend lectures, you'll be fine. Waldner also does not take attendance, which is extremely helpful especially during the pandemic when people were sick left and right. However, attendance for discussion sections are mandatory. #tCFfall2021

I loved this class! Waldner is clearly very passionate about the material and you really don't have to do the readings to do well in the class. The discussion section is kinda pointless but still fun if you're interested in the material. Fortunately this semester he cut back on all the coding and statistics so the courseload has gotten even lighter. Overall a good intro politics class that I def recommend to everyone interested.

This complexity of the material of this class for a 1010 is A LOT, but Professor Waldner does a great job in lecture of breaking it down. While there are a lot of readings, you can get away with skimming the intro/conclusions and tables, then paying attention in lecture to what Waldner highlights from them. I took this course as a first-year interested in majoring in Politics-Foreign Affairs, and I would strongly recommend the course. It is a lot of work but it is definitely worth it.

Prof Waldner was a great lecturer and really cared about all his students. He always offered his help pretty much 24/7, especially at the beginning of the year when we were learning to use R. Using R was definitely not hard at all since all you had to do was run the pre-written code and answer questions based on the stats. The beginning of the course was pretty stats heavy, but not too bad. There were a ton of readings assigned for every lecture, but I stopped doing them after the first week and just read the summaries of them provided in the discussion sections and did fine (B+ final grade). I had Sally Bonsall as my TA and she did a good job at summarizing the important parts of the lectures and the readings in her powerpoints. However, I know Simonas Cepenas had some more in-depth slides of the readings, but less in-depth of the lecture. To get the best of both worlds, I just had someone send me Simonas' slides before exams. I really liked Sally as a TA because she made discussions interesting and I think she might have been a slightly more generous grader.

#tCF2020

Waldner is a great lecturer who really cares that each student understands the material. I would not recommend Tolu as a TA, she is smart, but her discussions were very stressful and not as helpful as the other sections seemed to be. There is a lot of stats, but not hard to understand. The midterms and final were very fair and followed the course material very well - they were essay format.

Professor Waldner is a great person with a good heart and an intention to help students gain an overall understanding, but his delivery is quite confusing. The expectations of this course greatly exceed the introductory level. The readings are extremely lengthy and the volume is way too high. Depending on your TA, your discussion sections will either save your prep for midterms/finals or be a demoralizing experience. The fact that we had a virtual class (and therefore open note exams) was an absolute lifesaver, I would not have survived without them. This is definitely not an easy A class, you have been warned!
#tCF2020

PLCP 1010 was an overview of the major theories and methods of comparative politics. Professor Waldner was an engaging lecturer. There were a lot of readings and they were pretty dry. Discussion sections depended on your TA... Tolu was not particularly helpful in explaining the material. The assessments were writing-based. There were also a few easy but dense homework assignments that used R programming. Ultimately, the course was really interesting as someone who has never studied comparative politics, but it was a fairly standard large lecture intro class.

This class was sometimes very challenging to me, but as a future foreign affairs major, it was extremely interesting. The readings can get very long for an introductory class, but by the middle of the semester, you're able to see what information is actually important for the exams. The beginning is focused heavily on statistics, which was a little more difficult, but nothing that can't be done. Discussion sections were VERY helpful. Overall, I'd recommend this class, especially if you are looking to major in the Politics area, but aren't completely sure. Also, I highly recommend Simonas Cepenas as the TA; he made very helpful, concise, and direct powerpoint slides with all of the relevant material. #tCF2020

This was a great class. The first portion of the semester is very statistics heavy, but it all has a purpose later on and helps add context to the more theoretical topics towards the end. There is a ton of reading, most of the time it isn't necessary to do all of it, just make sure you have the general ideas for the exams. Dr. Waldner is a very caring professor, it is obvious that he really wants every student to succeed. This class wasn't exactly what I was expecting, but I learned a lot and am still happy I took it. #tCF2020