Professor
John Branstetter
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2025 - Professor Branstetter is an amazing person and professor. The content has been switched from previous quarters but is very interesting and involves a lot of philosophical questions. The grade is all points based. You get 3 points per section you attend (30 points total) and then 7 points a week (10 of them) for a one-page (single-spaced) essay. You are allowed to submit the essay as many times as you need to get the grade you want and they are encouraged to be submitted every week, but are technically not required to submit it until finals week. However, the weekly readings are very chunky (sometimes over 200ish pages). He has a zoom and a recorded option and does not take lecture attendance. Overall, this class is one of the best Poli Sci lower divs and a really easy GE. Enrollment for this class is super hard to get, but worth it to keep trying (he sometimes will give out PTEs depending on how the department is feeling).
Fall 2025 - Professor Branstetter is an amazing person and professor. The content has been switched from previous quarters but is very interesting and involves a lot of philosophical questions. The grade is all points based. You get 3 points per section you attend (30 points total) and then 7 points a week (10 of them) for a one-page (single-spaced) essay. You are allowed to submit the essay as many times as you need to get the grade you want and they are encouraged to be submitted every week, but are technically not required to submit it until finals week. However, the weekly readings are very chunky (sometimes over 200ish pages). He has a zoom and a recorded option and does not take lecture attendance. Overall, this class is one of the best Poli Sci lower divs and a really easy GE. Enrollment for this class is super hard to get, but worth it to keep trying (he sometimes will give out PTEs depending on how the department is feeling).
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2025 - I really enjoyed this class. I didn't think I would be interested in Marxism, but it was very interesting, and since there were no tests, I feel like I could better take in the content and interpret it instead of having to memorize things. Professor Branstetter is amazing and really knows what he is talking about. The lectures were definitely long at an hour and 50 minutes (and mine was at 8am). There were only 10 assignments, each a 500 word essay responding to the question of the week (and you worked with the same partner on all of them).They are all due finals week, although it is heavily encouraged to submit earlier, as you can edit and they will regrade it until you get the score you want. Even though there are little assignments, you read one chapter of Marx's Capital about every class period and the book is over 600 pages that you read throughout the quarter. Overall, it was a great class and I feel like I learned a lot about capitalism and the economy.
Fall 2025 - I really enjoyed this class. I didn't think I would be interested in Marxism, but it was very interesting, and since there were no tests, I feel like I could better take in the content and interpret it instead of having to memorize things. Professor Branstetter is amazing and really knows what he is talking about. The lectures were definitely long at an hour and 50 minutes (and mine was at 8am). There were only 10 assignments, each a 500 word essay responding to the question of the week (and you worked with the same partner on all of them).They are all due finals week, although it is heavily encouraged to submit earlier, as you can edit and they will regrade it until you get the score you want. Even though there are little assignments, you read one chapter of Marx's Capital about every class period and the book is over 600 pages that you read throughout the quarter. Overall, it was a great class and I feel like I learned a lot about capitalism and the economy.
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