The best part about this class was the professor. Prof Johannessen is very passionate and knowledgeable about the subject, and he clearly cares a lot about his students. For example, this semester's midterm average was lower than normal, so he gave us the option to Dutch Knockout our grade with the final. The policy memo is submitted 3 times, giving you lots of time to improve. The only downside to this class is that lectures can be very boring, but he posts all of them on Canvas so you can skip.

Prof. Johannessen was the best part of this class. A great professor, super knowledgable in the topic and an overall nice guy. The class content itself was incredibly dry, and lectures were extremely fast paced, but he does post slides and recordings can be requested. Your TA will make or break your grade in this class. 18% of your grade is citizenship in discussion, 32% is your memo, the final is 28%, midterm 10%, group project 7%, weekly HW is 5%. Every single one of these categories is graded by your TA, so if you end up with a harsh grader, you're done for. The batten curve is working against you, this semester a 95% was an A. I did reading for a few weeks and then stopped, they aren't super necessary for course comprehension. Even though I ended up with an A+, I wouldn't necessarily take again–the class is helpful if you're considering Batten. Now I know I'm not interested

This was a wonderful class with engaging lectures. The professor is really passionate about the subject and really wants his students to understand the concepts. He always makes sure you see the concepts applied in multiple ways to help reinforce the concepts. The class also has a lot of different grades, so not one thing can hurt your grade too much. There are assigned reading before every class and they really vary in length. Usually there is a worksheet to complete each week. Over the semester you work on creating a policy memo that you turn in multiple times. Your grade is based on discussion participation, homework, memo, mid term, final, and a group project.

Overall the class was fine, but definitely frustrating at times, as your success in this class often depended on who you had as a TA. Johannessen is a friendly and organized professor, and while the material is pretty dry, he tries to make it interesting and engaging. There is a lot of reading, but most of it is skippable (I would recommend just doing the readings that came from the textbook, as that was most helpful for the memo and exams.) The exams weren't bad - they were open note, but there would often be a few questions that were tricky in their wording. Most of the class is going over frameworks and applying them to politics/government today - it was straightforward for the most part, but some of them could be confusing. As for the memo, there are 2 drafts and a final, and your TA gives feedback on each of them. Definitely go to office hours to get help with this and pray that you have a good TA. Mine was really helpful, but also the harshest grader, so it was discouraging to get really low grades on the first two drafts while my friends in other sections were getting 80s or higher on these. I would recommend this class if you are strongly considering Batten (it ended up ruling it out for me), but if you don't have much interest in government, politics, or Batten, then this class will probably be a waste of your time.

This is an excellent blueprint for how lectures should be in college. Professor Johannessen is an engaging and dynamic lecturer than somehow manages to make a 200+ student class feel personal. These lectures include slideshows with detailed information and real-world examples. I think these real-world examples are probably the biggest strength of this lecture — the professor applies current events to the political frameworks we learn to help exemplify how we can apply the new vocabulary we learn. Oftentimes we will break into small groups discussions to come up with our own examples, then raising our hands and providing our own perspectives. For a politics class, Johannessen does an outstanding job engaging all different perspectives and not criticizing varying beliefs.

The actual course load for this class is very manageable. The readings are helpful; however, if you miss a few it is not the end of the world — the lecture is by far the most important part of the class. If you only listened to the lectures you could probably still earn a high grade on your exams if you are diligent in reviewing lecture material.

The only drawback of this class is the Batten curve — the class must have a 3.5 average. Not knowing what your grade will be is pretty nerve-racking, but that is just a program policy that cannot be avoided.

I absolutely LOVE this class. Time goes by extremely quickly as Professor Johannessen is an amazing lecturer. The readings are all extremely purposeful and interesting. This class has definitely made me interested in majoring in Public Policy. Aleah is a great TA and the discussions are super helpful as they always go over assignments. There is a lot of in-class discussions mixed with lecturing, which is super refreshing. Would 100% recommend taking this class!

Overall a solid course. This course is truly a great introduction to all aspects of public policy, but none of the material is earth shattering. Johannessen is super organized and always made expectations clear, which I appreciated. The course has a lot of components that make up your grade. The midterm sis tricky, but the final is way easier since you simply have more time. The hardest part is the policy memo. Over the course of the semester, you are given three attempts, each attempt counting more percentage wise towards your final grade. The readings are absolutely useless. I did them the first three weeks then stopped doing them. You will be fine without them. The discussion section sometimes felt useless, but my TA was awesome. All the TAs are always willing to provide support and feedback when revising your policy memo. I highly reccomend taking advantage of their office hours in order to be successful with your drafts. Overall if you are Pre Batten or want to see if you are interested in Batten, I recommend this course. The content is very straightforward and the course is not designed to be extremely challenging. Overall a good experience!

Johannessen lectures in a very straight-forward way. Readings are so optional I literally did none of them and got an A. Getting a good TA matters for writing your memo. Prof is very kind and knowledgeable. Class can be a bit dry sometimes but not hard to get the A if you put in the work. All tests are open-note. Learned quite a lot from this class & I'm not a Batten kid - loved how Johannessen teaches.

Class is average. Prof is interesting and makes an effort to be unbiased. Would ask why all the TAs are grad students when they know they have a master thesis due. Should hire TAs who do not have extreme time conflicts. Grading and feedback is slow. Discussions are not helpful as just are repeats of lecture, could be just extra hw given. #tCFS24

Very introductory, easy course. Good for understanding roughly what policy and policy analysis is at a basic level. Workload is very limited (if you don't do the readings), just one memo and group presentation that together took me maybe 8 hours. Exams are all on laptop and open note. Enjoyed the content of the course though, kind of like econ 201 in that all of it is kind of common sense but it helps you think about things in a way you haven't thought about them before. Also enjoyed the lecture style of Professor Johannessen, kept it relatively fast and engaging. Overall, good course but wouldn't really recommend to someone not interested in Batten.