POL SCI 149
Special Topics in American Government and Politics
Description: Lecture, three or four hours; discussion, one hour (when scheduled). Requisites: course 40, two courses in Field III. Designed for juniors/seniors. Intensive examination of one or more special problems appropriate to American politics. Sections offered on regular basis, with topics announced in preceding term. May be repeated for credit with topic change. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
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Most Helpful Review
Hands down the best professor I had at UCLA. He cares about his students and treats them with respect. His classes are not easy, but an A is totally doable if you put in the work. He manages to make personal connection with every student in a class of over 150 students. I would strongly recommend taking his class if he is still teaching.
Hands down the best professor I had at UCLA. He cares about his students and treats them with respect. His classes are not easy, but an A is totally doable if you put in the work. He manages to make personal connection with every student in a class of over 150 students. I would strongly recommend taking his class if he is still teaching.
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2019 - PS 149 is an okay class, even though the subject material: Presidential elections seems very intresting. The class covers the 1948, 1964, 1972, 1984, 2008, 2012, and 2016 elections. However it is important to note that the class covers the material from a journalistic lens rather than a poli sci or historical view. Lecture was more like a giant "discussion" where Sasha would make some leading statements and members of the class would talk about the readings and events. Since partcipation does not matter class became boring affairs where six people dominated the class. After Week 2, a vast majorty of the class stopped showing up. The class grade was based on a couple of assignments: 10% 2 Short Assignments These assignments were easy but tedious because they were thrown at the begining of class and involved analyzing and researching articles that Sasha posted, and writing a short paragraph for each. However the number of articles was over dozen, and the first one was due on the second class meeting. The assignments were graded leniently and were given full credit if the instructions were followed. 25% Discussion Forum The easiest part of the class was the weekly disucssions (all ten weeks) on CCLE which depending on the week and your last name you either had to respond or post something that occured recently in politics that related to the 2016 election. It is important to note that the response group needed to allude to one reading from the week to get full credit. However Sasha was also lenient on ther grading for these assignments. 30% (10% each) Essays Throughout the quarter there are three larger written assignments each with different prompts and approaches. One asked to explore Barry Goldwater's loss and how susbquent events have changed or not the view towards his landslide loss against LBJ. The second one asked to exmaine and analyze the GOP 2012 Autopsy and argue if it was effective or not. The last one was unqiue as it was bacially writing an essay prompt for a future essay assignment for a future redition of the course. The essays were easy but the grading was very vague, and felt like grades were given at random. 35% Final Research Paper (12-15 Pages) The final research paper given during week 7/8 had us pick a democratic candidate from the 2020 field and have us analyize how their candidacy tries to reflect or reject the narrative outcome of the 2016 election among a variety of factors. Even thouugh Sasha said the paper would require immense research, it was not that hard to write if you are familiar with American politcs. Also Sasha gave extra credit if you picked a candidate that nobody else picked. Overall the class was not terrible but it was not extraordinary because it felt as if we were learning more about journalism rather than how the American electorate and poltical parties have metamorphized and deplpyed different stratgies in the last 50 yrs. The only redeeming qualities of the class is connections Sasha has because he brought great guest speakers who brought great insight about the world of politics.
Spring 2019 - PS 149 is an okay class, even though the subject material: Presidential elections seems very intresting. The class covers the 1948, 1964, 1972, 1984, 2008, 2012, and 2016 elections. However it is important to note that the class covers the material from a journalistic lens rather than a poli sci or historical view. Lecture was more like a giant "discussion" where Sasha would make some leading statements and members of the class would talk about the readings and events. Since partcipation does not matter class became boring affairs where six people dominated the class. After Week 2, a vast majorty of the class stopped showing up. The class grade was based on a couple of assignments: 10% 2 Short Assignments These assignments were easy but tedious because they were thrown at the begining of class and involved analyzing and researching articles that Sasha posted, and writing a short paragraph for each. However the number of articles was over dozen, and the first one was due on the second class meeting. The assignments were graded leniently and were given full credit if the instructions were followed. 25% Discussion Forum The easiest part of the class was the weekly disucssions (all ten weeks) on CCLE which depending on the week and your last name you either had to respond or post something that occured recently in politics that related to the 2016 election. It is important to note that the response group needed to allude to one reading from the week to get full credit. However Sasha was also lenient on ther grading for these assignments. 30% (10% each) Essays Throughout the quarter there are three larger written assignments each with different prompts and approaches. One asked to explore Barry Goldwater's loss and how susbquent events have changed or not the view towards his landslide loss against LBJ. The second one asked to exmaine and analyze the GOP 2012 Autopsy and argue if it was effective or not. The last one was unqiue as it was bacially writing an essay prompt for a future essay assignment for a future redition of the course. The essays were easy but the grading was very vague, and felt like grades were given at random. 35% Final Research Paper (12-15 Pages) The final research paper given during week 7/8 had us pick a democratic candidate from the 2020 field and have us analyize how their candidacy tries to reflect or reject the narrative outcome of the 2016 election among a variety of factors. Even thouugh Sasha said the paper would require immense research, it was not that hard to write if you are familiar with American politcs. Also Sasha gave extra credit if you picked a candidate that nobody else picked. Overall the class was not terrible but it was not extraordinary because it felt as if we were learning more about journalism rather than how the American electorate and poltical parties have metamorphized and deplpyed different stratgies in the last 50 yrs. The only redeeming qualities of the class is connections Sasha has because he brought great guest speakers who brought great insight about the world of politics.
Most Helpful Review
Hands down the best PS professor I've had at UCLA. If you want to actually learn and stay engaged in the material take Prof. Lebow. She is truly just a really cool lady who has a great deal of knowledge and cares about her students learning. Her classes are not the kind that are easy As and require no work, which are the types of classes we all love, but instead challenge you to think about the material and offer your own opinion. I have a great deal of respect for Prof. Lebow and I think she is easily the most fair professor/TA/administrator I've come across in my three years at UCLA.
Hands down the best PS professor I've had at UCLA. If you want to actually learn and stay engaged in the material take Prof. Lebow. She is truly just a really cool lady who has a great deal of knowledge and cares about her students learning. Her classes are not the kind that are easy As and require no work, which are the types of classes we all love, but instead challenge you to think about the material and offer your own opinion. I have a great deal of respect for Prof. Lebow and I think she is easily the most fair professor/TA/administrator I've come across in my three years at UCLA.
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Most Helpful Review
Summer 2021 - This class was an easy A. Furthermore, for political science undergraduates who are solely relying on a poli sci degree to get them a solid career, I would highly recommend you guys take this class with Professor Leslie. Every lecture you will hear from successful poli sci majors who have great careers and they are willing to connect with you even after the class is over. BTW: The professor mentioned halfway into the course that he had given quite a bit of extra credit to students who had 1: their camera on for lectures and 2: left questions in the chat during every speaker's presentations for every class lecture. If you do this, you will likely end with an A+ in the class. If you do not do both of these things, you will end with an A in the class. As long as you guys do every assignment, which are super easy, and put at least some effort into them, you will 100% end with at least a solid A in the class. I want to give a shoutout to the other review here from summer of 2020 because if it was not for them, I likely would not have taken this class.
Summer 2021 - This class was an easy A. Furthermore, for political science undergraduates who are solely relying on a poli sci degree to get them a solid career, I would highly recommend you guys take this class with Professor Leslie. Every lecture you will hear from successful poli sci majors who have great careers and they are willing to connect with you even after the class is over. BTW: The professor mentioned halfway into the course that he had given quite a bit of extra credit to students who had 1: their camera on for lectures and 2: left questions in the chat during every speaker's presentations for every class lecture. If you do this, you will likely end with an A+ in the class. If you do not do both of these things, you will end with an A in the class. As long as you guys do every assignment, which are super easy, and put at least some effort into them, you will 100% end with at least a solid A in the class. I want to give a shoutout to the other review here from summer of 2020 because if it was not for them, I likely would not have taken this class.
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