One of the worst professors I have ever had at UCLA. He has a very arrogant take and approach on topics that are supposed to be “ambiguous.” He graded harshly and didn’t teach the materials at the level he graded at. Never take him if you have a choice, good luck!

I just want to preface this by saying that to be quite honest, I am usually the type of student that does the bare minimum to get an A and does everything last minute.

Dr. Trojan is a great professor. There are definitely ways to finesse not doing all of the readings for this class, but his lectures really made me think deeply and question and strengthen my own political beliefs by the end(which really took me by surprise, as I am not someone who tends to be that interested in American Politics). He does go on weird weird little tangents but honestly in the most charming way. He facilitates great discussions, and if you make yourself go to the unrequired live lectures the first few weeks, you'll find yourself wanting to go and participate. Take this class. It'll make you think.

Horrible professor. Not clear. Not helpful. Would not take again.

I'd like to preface my review by urging everybody to take the other student's reviews of Dr. Trojan with a grain of salt.
Dr. Trojan is an extremely knowledgeable professor who goes out of his way to both help and challenge his students to do well and learn something new. These intentional challenges come in the form of identifying students' preconceived notions of text and concepts that most don't even realize they carry with them. Dr. Trojan has a very lively, happy, upbeat personality that carries with it a contagious aura of happiness and an excitement for attending class. Dr. T takes a more modern approach to lecture and allows for constant student engagement, discussion, and questions throughout lecture while he guides conversation in various directions, typically on the basis of the required readings. This method is effective for identifying key concepts and ideas that many students often miss or have a tough time understanding. Some students have pointed out his lecture style is terrible, but I'd rebuttal by stating that they more than likely are not attending lecture and are not engaging with the text/lecture itself. The workload of this class is quite heavy with a huge emphasis being placed on multiple weekly readings, which are provided free of charge, as well as annotations for the text being required. The majority of students' grades rely on two papers throughout the course and a large 10-15 page final paper. Participation is greatly encouraged, helpful, and will provide a better experience and platform for learning. Overall, the workload is tough, but if you manage your time well and put in the time and effort, you'll do well. Dr. Trojan is a great professor with so much to teach and give. It is obvious he loves his job and truly cares about his students' learning and doing well. I strongly encourage any poli sci student willing to stick through the heavy workload to give Dr. T a try at least once to experience something new and exciting with an extremely unique and likable individual.

Worst professor I've encountered so far during my time at UCLA. He and his TA are harsh graders and will easily deduct points and will not provide useful or helpful feedback and will instead be vague and confusing if there is actual written feedback, and will not provide where the points were deducted from. The interventions (mini-essays) were graded and the TA provided a rubric with highlights of why they likely cut points but did not explain exactly where the problem was, preventing us from learning from our mistakes for the next intervention. They also take forever to grade and by the time they finish grading the intervention, you would most likely have already finished with your other one. Also, the course reader that is used in this was very expensive being over a hundred dollars, including taxes, and is honestly not worth it because you could find the articles online. Overall, my experience in this class was very unpleasant and I would never take another course with this professor again unless I had no other choice. I would recommend taking this class only as an absolute last resort.

He makes me sad. His book is expensive. Do NOT buy it, you can find the texts he talks about online for free and even the right page numbers if you are snazzy. He has pop quizzes normally on Thursdays and the last day/week of quarter. Do NOT show up late and make sure you join the groupme.

The grading is as follows: Interventions 33%; Class Contract 1%; Annotated Bibliography 4%
; Introduction Pre-Write 2%; Peer Review 10%; Term Paper Final 40%; Quizzes / In-Class Exercises 10%.

Go to his OH for interventions BEFORE you turn them in. His grading team is wack though lowkey. His interventions are weird and you can not cheat on them. Listen to class lecture for quizzes if you did not read. Do not wait until last minute for the interventions or essays or you will die.

I highly recommend you take another class if you have the opp. to do so. He will stress you out. He does, though, remember your name which is cool and he makes an effort to remember information about you. But, he does not round.

I felt that this class was quite horrible. The professor purposely ignored the emails of most of his students during the duration of the semester. Whenever he didn’t feel like dealing with an issue, he simply chose to ignore the issue altogether. The grading was a bit harsh on very complex topics. He graded fairly in the beginning half of the semester and chose to randomly start grading harder on the last assignment due for the most amount of points at 50% of the overall grade. Overall, I would never take this class again. Move at your own risk.

Honestly, this was a brutal class for me. Im an IR concentration and took this class because I needed to take a theory class as one of the courses outside of my concentration. Out of all the upper div courses ive taken over the past two years this has been my least favorite by far. The prof was very subjective in his gradings, and did not really have any rubrics or guidelines for writing the papers which made up the majority of the grade. The final paper had very vague instructions and when I spoke with him during office hours he did not seem very approachable at all and was not willing to give many suggestions regarding how I could improve my work. That being said, if you know that you love theory and want a professor who is just as big of a fan of it as you are, this is the class for you. If you are someone outside of the concentration looking to take a theory course to get your requirements fulfilled, and only slightly interested in the topic or not very well versed in the writings of political theorists then definitely stay away. If I could go back in time to stop myself from taking this class I definitely would, I do not feel like I learned that much and feel like a lot of the views shared in the class mirrored that of the professor and were not very open to debate or other interpretations. Again, definitely would not recommend this course unless theory is your forte and something your are deeply passionate in.

The workload of this class was really heavy. Tons of readings. Have to write a total of three papers (two short ones and a longer one) throughout the quarter. The grading of this class can be said to be determined by the three papers, which Prof called interpretive arguments. Basically you have to follow the rubric he designed when writing, and make sure you stick with interpreting the meaning of the text instead of talking about your thoughts on it. An A for this class is not impossible, but it would likely cost you a lot of energy.

The best professor I have ever had in my three years at UCLA. Very knowledgeable with the subject, is very helpful in mastering the coursework, flexible and understanding, adds humor to the class, workload is perfect and assigned weekly, not overwhelming and reinforces the knowledge being learned that given week. Overall a great professor, would recommend to anyone looking for an awesome class/professor to have.