Professor
Thomas Sherrer
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2021 - This is by far the most engaging, interesting, and pertinent political science class I've taken at UCLA. "Professor" Sherrer is exceptionally talented and gives engaging and clear lectures (it's amazing to have a professor that actually speaks like a normal human being and not a robot programmed to spew out overcomplicated academic jargon, as do 90% of the tenured faculty here). The readings for this class are fairly light and the vast majority of them were actually very interesting. I think there may have been only two or three that were boring (the majority were Washington Post or NYT articles, excerpts from a very recent/engaging book, and super cool voter psychology studies). None of the readings felt like filler or irrelevant to the course (again, credit to Sherrer for planning the class so well). Grading is fair and is based on a midterm (30% of grade, was super easy), a short writing assignment (20%), an infographic (10%), and a final (40% of grade, very fair but marginally harder than the midterm). Sherrer is very organized and uses very clear slides. He also recorded lecture and did not require attendance. I highly, highly recommend this class and Prof. Sherrer in general. I wish UCLA's political science department offered more classes related to this topic.
Fall 2021 - This is by far the most engaging, interesting, and pertinent political science class I've taken at UCLA. "Professor" Sherrer is exceptionally talented and gives engaging and clear lectures (it's amazing to have a professor that actually speaks like a normal human being and not a robot programmed to spew out overcomplicated academic jargon, as do 90% of the tenured faculty here). The readings for this class are fairly light and the vast majority of them were actually very interesting. I think there may have been only two or three that were boring (the majority were Washington Post or NYT articles, excerpts from a very recent/engaging book, and super cool voter psychology studies). None of the readings felt like filler or irrelevant to the course (again, credit to Sherrer for planning the class so well). Grading is fair and is based on a midterm (30% of grade, was super easy), a short writing assignment (20%), an infographic (10%), and a final (40% of grade, very fair but marginally harder than the midterm). Sherrer is very organized and uses very clear slides. He also recorded lecture and did not require attendance. I highly, highly recommend this class and Prof. Sherrer in general. I wish UCLA's political science department offered more classes related to this topic.
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2023 - By far the easiest yet most valuable class I've taken at UCLA. Each week consists of a guest speaker and Q&A session from a different career within political science. There's only a few assignments that make up your entire grade (no tests or quizzes) and all of them are super easy. Sherrer also gives really good advice on financial and educational planning that will help you make good decisions to guide your future. If you need a bump in your GPA and want some life skills along the way, this is the class you need to take.
Fall 2023 - By far the easiest yet most valuable class I've taken at UCLA. Each week consists of a guest speaker and Q&A session from a different career within political science. There's only a few assignments that make up your entire grade (no tests or quizzes) and all of them are super easy. Sherrer also gives really good advice on financial and educational planning that will help you make good decisions to guide your future. If you need a bump in your GPA and want some life skills along the way, this is the class you need to take.
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2020 - Professor Sherrer is such a cool dude and a great teacher. He is engaging and so passionate about American politics. He had great lecture slides and encouraged us to engage in breakout room discussions with our peers every class. This helped us feel a bit more connected to each other during online school. The class was made up of two homework assignments that were full credit if submitted on time, attendance and multiple choice and short answer midterm and final. There was no textbook required and instead, he provided really interesting chapters from books he enjoyed. I would highly recommend taking this class and any class he teaches at UCLA.
Fall 2020 - Professor Sherrer is such a cool dude and a great teacher. He is engaging and so passionate about American politics. He had great lecture slides and encouraged us to engage in breakout room discussions with our peers every class. This helped us feel a bit more connected to each other during online school. The class was made up of two homework assignments that were full credit if submitted on time, attendance and multiple choice and short answer midterm and final. There was no textbook required and instead, he provided really interesting chapters from books he enjoyed. I would highly recommend taking this class and any class he teaches at UCLA.
Most Helpful Review
Summer 2025 - Sherrer is not empathetic and honestly an unkind man. While his class is informative and simple, he is not supportive to his students and insists on enforcing his policy despite unforeseen circumstances possibly hindering in-class participation. I had technological issues and still made it to his two-hour class session despite working full-time and taking three other classes; he refused to accommodate me for my technological issues all because I "didn't let him know beforehand." I showed him proof that I was having these issues before class and was preoccupied with a multitude of heavy responsibilities and he was not empathetic and quite unsupportive about it. I politely tried to reason with him for a week and he was not cooperative. I am not looking forward to finishing the rest of this class with him and am disappointed at how "great" he seemed despite not being true to his character in class. I ended up not receiving points for a class I was present for and my grade will now struggle because Sherrer insists on being apathetic and indifferent. It is really very disappointing.
Summer 2025 - Sherrer is not empathetic and honestly an unkind man. While his class is informative and simple, he is not supportive to his students and insists on enforcing his policy despite unforeseen circumstances possibly hindering in-class participation. I had technological issues and still made it to his two-hour class session despite working full-time and taking three other classes; he refused to accommodate me for my technological issues all because I "didn't let him know beforehand." I showed him proof that I was having these issues before class and was preoccupied with a multitude of heavy responsibilities and he was not empathetic and quite unsupportive about it. I politely tried to reason with him for a week and he was not cooperative. I am not looking forward to finishing the rest of this class with him and am disappointed at how "great" he seemed despite not being true to his character in class. I ended up not receiving points for a class I was present for and my grade will now struggle because Sherrer insists on being apathetic and indifferent. It is really very disappointing.
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