Wayne Sandholtz - University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA

Professor: Wayne Sandholtz

Department: Political Science

College: University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: IR349
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Ignore the two reviews below. When he said he needed to lower the students' scores, it was obvious he was making a joke. Sandholtz is an excellent professor -- one of the best in IR here at USC. He takes teaching seriously and his exams/grading are fair.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: IR349
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

He mentioned that the tests are too high in average (in fact its only 88). And he explicitly literally said he needs to reduce the exam scores in the next exam. He grades by wanting to making students get Bs, not how student perform

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: IR349
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

His tests are so heavy and they are not fair games. He teaches well, though. I got an A but I hate this class because he is definitely not a fair grader.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: IR101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

decently easy for a GE but there was a lot of busy work. midterm and final were pretty challenging however.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: IR101
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Sandholtz is a great professor who's there to help his students. Go to his office hours, it will definitely help for the midterm and final exam. Attendance is mandatory because of the clicker points so be sure to do the readings to answer the questions correctly. Basic assignments and easy extra credit. Overall easy A.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: IR101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Definitely one of the best IR professors at USC. What I found most helpful about Prof. Sandholtz was how easily accessible he was to students and willingness to get to know students. His lectures are very straightforward and the class itself is very do-able. Be sure to attend lecture for clicker points. I would definitely consider taking him again.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: IR101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

One of my best professors so far (though now he teaches at USC). He explains IR concepts very well with concrete, relevant examples. There are clicker questions each day to ensure attendance, but come straight from the easy-to-read textbook. I felt like a more worldly citizen by the end of his course, and he will help you with anything.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: IR101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Lectures are mandatory being that he has clicker questions. He utilizes current and past events to teach IR concepts. He is funny and very nice. VERY little homework other than weekly posts for discussion. Understands that GE's should not take up your life but instead provide a general knowledge of the subject being taught.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: IR349
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

By far my favorite professor. I am so glad Professor Sandholtz choose to leave UCI and teach at USC. His methods of incorporating current events into his lessons made each class more interesting and demonstrated the relevance as it applies to everyday life. One of the few professors left that cares about what he teaches.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: IR349
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Awesome class! Learned so much! Professor makes the material accessible and interesting. He is upfront about his expectations - an A is super-attainable if you put some work in!

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: IR101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Excellent new professor at USC. His lectures are generally pretty varied although sticks to powerpoint use. He uses videos and contemporary news events to make the class more relevant. Midterm and Finals are graded stringently by the TAs but he gives you a study guide that has everything for the text. Discussions are enjoyable too but the TAs lack.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: PS21A
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

A little soft-spoken, but he knows what he's talking about. Take a laptop for notes, and do the reading before class. Study for the map quizzes, and be sure to take notes- he doesn't put the slides online! Midterm and final were a bit tricky- they were both based on events that were based on the vocab. overall he's a great professor!

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: INTL14
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Very good professor. Lectures are informative and sometimes humorous. The only bad part is that he goes through slides waaay too fast. I hand-wrote my notes, which I wouldn't recommend. So if you're not a fast typer, get ready to take pictures of the slides with your phone or whatever. Overall though, the class is interesting.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: PS2
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

This class was easy as long as you do the reading and pay attention in lectures. The midterm was a bit hard, but he gave us a big curve to boost up our grades. The two assignments that we had to do throughout the course were pretty easy, all you have to do is to follow the instructions. Map quizzes were easy, too.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: IS14
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

He's really passionate in this class and knows what he's talking about. Read the book to get those easy clicker points. Grade is also based on map quizzes and participation on both lectures and discussion. I remember he boosted up our grade when the average of the midterm was low. Pretty easy class!

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: PS41A
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

study for the map quizzes easy points and discussion & Lecture is mandatory. Every week you need to bring in a newspaper clipping. there's 2 papers that need to be done. They're not hard at all. Exams were a few multiple choice and short answer questions. I didn't do well in the exams but everything else save me. I ended up with a C+ in the class.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: PS41A
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

The grading scheme for this class was nice, since only 45% consisted of exams and it was really easy to do well on the rest (2 assignments, map quizzes, and discussion section attendance). However, the way some of the exams were graded by the TA's was a bit questionable. And Sandholtz goes through his slides way too quickly. But I still got an A-.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: PS41A
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Professor Sandholtz is a great teacher!

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: INTRL41A
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Honestly, this professor is a good lecturer. It helps ALOT to read the material before class, that way you know exactly what he is talking about even if he is going through the slides a bit fast. It's a easy class if you want a B, but in order to get an A, you need to definitely work for it. If you can, get Rachel Adler as your TA, she's the best.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: IS14
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Boring lectures, extremely fast speaker, very very veryyyy basic concepts. Easy class. Must complete every assignment to pass the class. You'll feel like youre in high school again. Easy A. oh & he looks like steve jobs.