PUBPOL-814
POLITICS POLICY PROCESS
Offered Fall 2026
Term
Instructor
Overview
Feedback is mostly positive. The strongest signal is that discussion is a clear strength. Best for students who will actually talk in class instead of sitting silent.
DepartmentPPS
Terms offeredFall
Typical enrollment19–35
Semesters of data3
4.4
Hrs / week
110
Responses
163
Enrollment
67%
Response Rate
Evaluation Scores
Overall quality
Teaching, content, and experience combined.
4.5
Intellectually stimulating
Challenges students to think deeply.
4.3
Instructor effectiveness
Explains concepts and facilitates learning.
4.7
Difficulty
Higher means harder.
3.0
Feedback Analysis
Feedback Analysishigh
Analysis based on student evaluations
Based on 352 comments across 6 sections
Feedback is mostly positive. The strongest signal is that discussion is a clear strength. Best for students who will actually talk in class instead of sitting silent.
Student Reports
How hard is the A?
A is doable but not automatic
The signal here is more do-the-work-and-you-should-be-fine than easy-A chatter. Students do not describe the A as automatic, but the evidence also does not paint grading as punishing.
Homework Load
Moderate homework load
Homework load looks moderate. The recurring signal is steady weekly work, but not a course that turns every assignment into a grind.
Lecture Load
Lighter lecture burden
Student comments describe this as more discussion-, seminar-, or workshop-driven than lecture-dependent. The lecture burden itself does not sound like the main source of friction.
Strengths
• Discussion is a clear strength; students repeatedly describe the class conversation as engaging and useful.
• Students repeatedly say the course teaches something concrete, whether that is content mastery, research skill, or a strong foundation.
Tradeoffs
• There is no single dominant complaint theme, but the feedback is not uniformly glowing either.
Best fit for
Best for students who will actually talk in class instead of sitting silent.
Student Responses
Domestic policy history How to research congressional databases How to formulate policy memos
Fall 2023 · Hildebrand, Asher
Public opinion analysis, stakeholder engagement and assessment, writing
Fall 2023 · Hildebrand, Asher
Methods and Skills: Polling and policy history research was very helpful - specifically the skill-assignment coordination was very effective
Fall 2023 · Hildebrand, Asher
In this course, I learned how to think about political issues from various angles and engage in debate, even from the side with which I disagreed. I also learned how to do new types of research, such as public opinion research. Additionally, I improved my writing skills, learning to write in new formats such as memos and Op-Eds.
Fall 2023 · Hildebrand, Asher
Teamwork skills (yuck) and writing skills.
Fall 2023 · Hildebrand, Asher
Rating History
Rating history
Error bars show \u00B11 std dev
| Term | Instructor | Overall | Difficulty | Hrs/wk | Enrolled |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall 2025 | Freyer, Allan 1.5Rate My ProfessorsQuality1.5Difficulty4.2Would retake0%Based on 4 ratingsClick to view on RMP → | 4.5 | 2.8 | 3.6 | 41 |
| Fall 2024 | Hildebrand, Asher | 4.6 | 3.1 | 4.7 | 58 |
| Fall 2023 | Hildebrand, Asher | 4.4 | 3.2 | 4.5 | 64 |