I’ve taken Professor Branstetter for Poli Sci 119 for two quarters in a row and both quarters I received As. He’s an exceptional professor who actually cares about his students and their learning. He goes above and beyond to ensure you understand the material. For Spring 2019 I took Political Theory in Translation. This class consisted of three short essays which were based on a prompt he gave us. They had to be about 4-5 pages double spaced and you don’t even have to read the materials to get an A on them. He doesn’t believe in the standard grading scale because he thinks it’s arbitrary so he only does whole numbers 100,90,80,70...etc. This kinda sucks because he rarely gives out 100s which he will tell you at the beginning of the class. The grade for this class is the average of your three essays so add your scores up and divide by 3 and that’s your grade in the class. This was kind of nerve wracking because if you mess up on one paper you’re pretty much screwed from getting an A so just don’t mess up lol. In Fall 2019 I took him again for Intro to Comparative Political Theory. This class was a lot more Political Theory heavy unlike the other class I took. Here we discuss political thought and different political thinkers and actors. For this class you have no midterm no final no tests and no quizzes!! It’s just 18, 400-500 word statement journals that are argumentative papers essentially. He gives you a quote from the reading and you either have to agree or disagree and defend your position utilizing the reading. These are spread out throughout the quarter but aren’t due until exam day of finals week at midnight. This is bittersweet bc theres no one to hold you accountable for procrastinating but you also have less stress during midterm szn. Also, attendance is not mandatory to succeed in this class, however if you want to attempt to score an A+ I would attend lectures because he goes into detail regarding the readings you’re going to have to write about. If you do ALL 18 journals you get an A- , if he thinks they are ALL superb you get an A+. If you don’t do at least 400 words for ALL of them or you miss some statement journals you get a D, and if you don’t do at least 12 of them you FAIL. So essentially if you do all the work somewhat decently then you get an A-. If you don’t want an A- which does affect your GPA I would NOT take this class. The readings were dense but they weren’t too long and it wasn’t a lot of them. I love Professor Branstetter so even though I didn’t really like the class bc the material was kind of boring to me I would recommend taking it just for the sole fact that he’s teaching it!!

For Spring this class was on Marxism, and it was by far my favorite class I've ever taken at UCLA. I took his PS10 class in winter and loved it so much that I enrolled in 119 for the next quarter. I really didn't think I'd enjoy theory because it has a reputation for being dry, but Professor Branstetter is so passionate and engaging about all his subjects. He also really takes the time to get to know his students and is so easy to talk to. His class consisted of a midterm, final, and weekly reading quizzes. The quizzes weren't bad, he drops the lowest two and gives extra credit (he also enjoys drawings of Karl Marx). The midterm and final were take home and the book and study guide covers everything you'd need to know. The readings were dense but I actually found it interesting if you give it a chance instead of skimming through it. He explains everything very thoroughly even if you don't get it the first time. He provided really good commentary on modern capitalism and I would often leave class still thinking about what he said in lecture. I can't recommend his class enough, and I'd take any of his future classes given the chance.

Professor Branstetter is probably one of my favorite professors I have had at UCLA so far. He genuinely cares about his students and stresses the fact that placing such a high importance on grades can create a stressful culture in college, and that he cares more about making sure we engage with the course content and share our honest ideas. If you have the chance to take a class with him, do it! You will not regret it. The class grade was entirely structured around 2 papers (4-5 pages single spaced) on interesting and mostly open ended topics. By submitting your papers you automatically receive a B+, and by making substantial revisions on your papers you receive an A. Also, we got to watch the Barbie movie in class and discuss. Would recommend to anyone!

I took professor Branstetter's Pre-Modern Asian political theory class and although the material itself was engaging, and he was a really awesome lecturer, the exams were not it. There was two exams that he only graded on so you had to make sure to ace them or else your grade was doomed. The readings were also extremely long and challenging, like I kid you not I read most of them and it took me weeks to actually finish them in their entirety. I do like the exams were open note and unlimited tries, but he and his graders take forever to grade them, leaving you with minimal time to actually be able to rewrite them. I somehow got a good grade in the class by simply doing the readings and reviewing the lectures and powerpoint slides, but god the readings made me 1000% stressed.

Overall, 119 with Branstetter was an easy and very manageable class. Lectures were recorded and honestly you didn't need to watch them every day. The grade structure was simple: 50% was your midterm and 50% was your final. However, both were take home short answer exams that you could answer by rewatching lectures and using your notes. We were also allowed to (in theory) retake them as many times as we wanted until we got the grade we wanted. While this sounds nice, the grader took so long to grade that the most resubmissions I knew of anyone being able to do was just two per exam. I believe in the end most people did get an A, but there was a bit of stress in the uncertainty.

Branstetter is extremely knowledgeable in his field and is a super engaging lecturer. You can tell he truly cares about student understanding and our success, and he is super kind. The only issue I had with the class was the grading resubmissions, but I would still take this class again in a heartbeat.

You do not need to go to class. Grade is based off of 1 midterm and final. You can redo the midterm and final to get the score you want. I recommend you do show up though, he is a nice guy who likes the company. Make sure to watch his slides/lecture videos that he records for the midterm and lecture. 9/10 (he lost 2 point bc I was mad core stressing about whether my edits on the exam was right, but he gains a point back bc he was willing to walk me through what I needed help with).

I took Pre-modern before with Professor Branstetter and now I am taking his modern class. He is easily one of the best professors in the poly sci department. He engages the students in the content and explains the concepts cohesively. I was very interested in pre-modern so taking the modern class is like a refresher of. the content but with newer thinkers. I think everyone should go take this class w/ Branstetter.

This is one of my favorite classes I have taken at UCLA. John is such a nice person and genuinely cares so much about his students. The classes are engaging, and the workload is super manageable. There are also no tests which is a huge bonus.

I absolutely loved this class! It is really unique and gives us such an important insight into political theory through a non-Western lens.
Professor Branstetter is truly the most understanding and accommodating professor, it is a real joy to learn with him!

Being a student which hates the density that is associated with political theory, and theory in general I was skeptical of taking a course like this. However, Professor Branstetter is quite literally the best in the department and simplifies something so complex with pop culture references and analogies. I didn't quite know what to expect when I enrolled besides the fact that he has a reputation as an engaging lecturer, boy did he live up to that and more! He even records lectures still, without any more COVID protocols and made our midterms and final take home exams! We had two midterms, one on week 4 and another on week 8, with a final due at the end of finals week. Very manageable workload, and easy to review considering he posts the lectures. Branstetter is so inspiring and a pure joy to learn from in class every day. If you get the chance to take his class, I highly recommend it because you will come out of it with respect for political theory or even with more adoration for it than you had before!