3.2
Quality4.2
Difficulty48%
Would Retake89
Reviews48%
Would Retake
89
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
26
4
18
3
14
2
13
1
18
What Students Say
“If you do take it, ACE THE MAP TEST”
INTL101 - 1.0 rating“Lectures are not related to the class and are long-winded, making the material less clear instead of more clear”
INTL101 - 2.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
59%
Textbook Required
0%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.23 avg changeRatings by Course
IPE30183
5.0
(1)INT101
5.0
(1)POLI391
5.0
(1)POLI384
5.0
(2)POLI10504
4.5
(2)Difficulty by Course
107
5.0
32947
5.0
POLI359
4.6
POLI10504
4.5
POLI358
4.5
Reviews (89)
Very good class but it has a lot of reading on online links and in the books. Also it is a participation class so make sure you show up.
SO. MUCH. READING! If you have a heavy course load or work full time, do not take this class. You HAVE to know the readings and there's a lot and they're hard. His test are extremely difficult. He talks very fast. Go to the SI sessions if you want a decent grade. He is a nice person though. Attendance is sometimes counted but not often
There are TONS of readings. If you don't read every reading, you won't fail but you won't pass. However, he gives a lot of extra credit on the tests. For instance, my grade should've been an F on the midterm but after the extra credit and sign-in bonus, it was an A. His lectures are a bit disorganized, but overall he is an amazing professor.
Very enthusiastic. Lectures are interesting and I like the current events discussion. Very engaged in the student's best interest- cares about how we do in class. He's tough but his grading is fair. Makes a big class very informal and encourages participation. Provides notes on topics that are long but useful. SI is great help too.
Way too much work for a 100 level class. I made a study guide for myself for the final and it was over 100 pages and the test wasn't even cumulative. That is a condensed version of the over 300 pages of lecture notes he sent out. I do not recommend this class to anyone. He loves he subject but wanders around the room and is hard to follow.
This guy absolutely loves the topic that he teaches and has the knowledge to back his passion. He's a very enthusiastic lecturer, but just not a great teacher. For a 101 level course, the amount of work given and overall difficulty is absolutely ridiculous!! There is no structure to his class, which makes learning difficult. DO NOT take this class!
1 exam 145 page study guide. Very bland. Recommend avoiding this professor.
Avoid if possible, the class was supposed to be international relations and is more promotion of international ambiguous liberal worldview. The professor walks around class and skims over his talking points and is very hard to follow during class and his in class notes are worse 1 lecture is 60 pages of notes. Professor is HEAVILY liberal based.
This class is horrible. He does not teach, just gives scenarios in class when he should be going off of his 50 page notes just for one class. The amount of reading for a 100 level class is ridiculous. I have a 3.6 GPA and studied for the test but only knew 4 questions for sure out of 50. DO NOT TAKE ANY CLASS WITH HIM. HE IS HORRIBLE.
Tough grader, heavy readings but lots of extra credit and he provides the notes to the students. Froitzheim encourages you to do well and class participation matters. It is not an easy course but you will learn a lot. If you are serious, take the class. If not, don't.
I read these reviews before I select my professors, so I'm not kidding around here. Froitzheim means well, but the level of reading he expects is absurd for a 100 level class. I have never even read so much for a 300 level class. The tests are difficult beyond compare and include material that was never reviewed in class.
More professors need to be like Froitzheim. He's an awesome dude with a contagious passion for his subject. Although he requires an insane amount of readings, they're all really important in the comparative politics field, and he genuinely cares about his students learning the material. It's a shame some students don't appreciate this.
I took Froitzheim for 105 & 109. There are a TON of readings & he rambles a lot. Readings don't really match with the lectures & he doesn't relate the readings to the course material. Tests are tough & he expects a lot from his students. Overall he's a nice guy, but a "meh" professor. You don't have to go to class, but I highly recommend going.
Professor Froitzheim talks extremely fast and his notes are all over the place. Notes are also very long, some of them clock in at 98 pages. He is very enthusiastic about the subject, but doesn't teach very clearly. Rather, he teaches through long, drawn out analogies that he expects the class to participate in. Expect to read 200 pages a week.
I would NOT take his class if you do not have to. He does not cover test material in class. He gives 127 pages of notes, but only goes over about 5 pages of them. Nice guy, but this is a 100 level class, and it is harder than most of my 400 level classes.
Acts tough, but secretly cares a great deal for his students and their success.
Froitzheim's class was the most challenging, yet rewarding, class I've ever taken. He talks really fast but it's not important to write down everything he's saying. In fact, I stopped taking notes in class in the last few weeks because he emails (sometimes 100+ pages worth A CLASS) all his notes. Literally word for word his lectures. Learned a ton.
Teaches from a piece of paper. Lectures aren't clear.
When starting this class I was terrified. He turned out to be my favorite professor. The class is tough but if you do all the readings, the notes, and go to class you will pass. He is a great professor and more professors should be like him.
He is very enthusiastic and outgoing - he clearly has a passion for what he does. However, for the first exam, over the course of four weeks, there were easily at least 800 pages of incredibly dense material. Definitely the most difficult class I've ever taken in my 3 years at VCU. Unless it's the only class you're taking , would NOT recommend.
So at the beginning of the semester it seems like it was going to be a CRAZY amount of work, but eventually we all realized that you can sort of bs your way through the class. Froitzheim is a great lecturer who is really passionate about the subject, so even though I found IPE boring I still enjoyed listening to him lecture.
Woah. Froitzheim is a great guy but he did a pretty terrible job teaching this course. As an honors course, he assumed we were very bright and would understand his lectures. Unfortunately, the lectures were super passed faced and the reading was EXTREMELY lengthy. He provided notes, which were often unclear and multiple pages in length.
A great professor, but if you don't like to read, this class is not for you!
Don't take a 3 hr class because you will probably not be able to pay attention to his lectures that long. A lot of reading, but most of it is really interesting. Tons of extra credit, so even though the class is challenging it is easy to get an A. If you have enough time to devote to the readings, you'll learn a lot from his class!
You can tell he really loves the subject. I didn't always go to class and barely scraped by with a C. Once gave my class 98 pages of lecture notes that, which was longer than the chapter we were studying. There is a lot of reading. Understanding all of the readings and his lectures is essential if you want an A. Study for the map test it saved me.
Froitzheim is the most brilliant professor I've ever had. He is also probably the smartest person I have ever met. I still refer back to the notes I took in his 100 level course for my 3-400 level Poli-Sci courses. I am so thankful to have studied under him, and you should take him if you really want to learn political science.
I thought he would be difficult at first because he assigns a lot of reading, but i didn't read most of it and still got an A. Read the notes he sends out and you will be good.
This class has a lot of readings so don't take it if you're not prepared to put in the work required for each week . All of his tests are pretty straightforward because they just have questions from the readings and sometimes the book. He posts notes before the tests and they are substantial, I'm talking 90+ pages,but helpful.
Prof Froitzheim is one of my favorite professors after this semester. He's really down to Earth and cares about his students. The notes he gives out are long and can be dense but without them I probably would have failed. Study with friends in the class, it makes the material less dreadful. DO THE EXTRA CREDIT (it's literally watching movies).
Took his Politics of Developing Areas course over the summer and this class may be fine when taken during the semester, but I wouldn't recommend taking it online over the summer. 10 "daily papers" (1 page), 2 short papers (3-4 pages), 2 long papers (5-7 pages), and a final exam make up the grade. Overall, good class but wouldn't recommend.
Froitzheim is incredibly smart, but that is almost a problem here. He loves to talk about his own opinions and theories in class instead of synthesizing the information you actually need to know, which leaves you pretty on your own for the test. The 200+ page notes he sends out are disjointed and not really helpful. The class is reading intensive.
Lectures are not related to the class and are long-winded, making the material less clear instead of more clear. He just doesn't know how to summarize the information effectively; our class ended up two weeks behind because he would draw out simple concepts unnecessarily and then not have time to go over more important things. Smart guy, bad prof
Lectures are very interesting- he's very intelligent! He sometimes calls out folks and if they can't recall something from the readings and it kind of makes them feel bad- but it's not horrendous. He gives A TON of extra credit (I'm talking 5 whole points added to your average). No quizzes, no homework- just exams. STUDY FOR THE MAP TEST.
Professor Froitzheim made me enjoy a subject I wouldn't have been interested in otherwise. While he can get off subject at times, he made the material interesting and used metaphors that made it easier to understand. He doesn't assign any homework, but his tests aren't easy so be sure to study.
Listening to Froitzheim lecture is a privilege, but the class itself is pretty difficult for an intro level course. He assigns tons of readings and expects you to remember specific authors and titles. There is a map test; you have to memorize the location of every country and its capital. He offers a lot of extra credit, though.
The hardest class I've ever taken and its only a 100 level course. The volume of the content is so large it is impossible to actually learn anything. All you can do is cram (for weeks before each test) to survive. Thought cramming was only for the night before? Not in this class - there's so much content it takes weeks.
Globalization isn't a difficult class and I'd say the most aggravating things about this class is that Froitzheim ultimately doesn't represent his topics well. Utilitarianism and the prisoner's dilemma shouldn't take 90 minutes to cover, they can be summed up in around 10 minutes tops. Do the reading, read the notes, easy A. Beware of rambling.
This class is challenging. The very first assignment is a map quiz on all the countries of the world and their capitals. You only get 2 more tests and a final. Lecture heavy but he posts lecture notes that may be up to 200+ pages long. The prof. is incredibly knowledgable in his field and cares for students. It's worth it but not an easy A at all.
Very knowledgeable about his subject. Also cares a lot about his students. However, gave absolutely way too much work for 200-level class.
Unless you're passionate about politics & int'l studies, don't take this class with this professor. It's a 101 course, & my 400 level classes are easier than this. He rambles in his lectures, & gives unclear notes that are over 90 pages long. That doesn't even include the textbook & online readings he assigns. If you do take it, ACE THE MAP TEST.
Not an easy class, you definitely have to work for it. Go to class, read textbook, do readings, AND read lecture notes, and you'll get a good grade. Froitzheim is extremely passionate and knowledgeable about this subject. He's a great guy, but he was a lawyer prior to being a professor, sohis lectures can get a bit mixed up and confusing at times.
The people complaining about his class are LAZY... go to class... read his notes... get an A... Period. I studied his notes and got over 100% on every single exam... yes he rants during lecture... but he's super knowledgeable and passionate... plus he gives so much bonus on exams and extra credit... how could you not get an A... unless your lazy...
Taking International Law with Froitzheim was one of the most challenging things I've ever done, but he made the class interesting, kept it real, and made himself available. Truly a gem of a professor; he knows his material, knows what its like to be a student, and will bend over backwards to help you put yourself in a position to succeed. 10/10
John Froitzheim was incredibly disorganized and rarely followed his syllabus. His lectures and exams showed little relation to each other. If a student answered a question during a lecture, he often took exactly what was said and would rephrase it to make himself sound intelligently superior. Extremely vague and unhelpful in his grading criteria.
Rambles for days. Took first three weeks to go over the intro and then spent the rest of the semester trying to catch up, which entails him speaking rapidly non-stop for the class length. Expects you to read 6 books over the semester and write 4 papers, (who has the time?). Only upside is that he loves to push back deadlines, so they're flexible
Don't take this professor if you care about your well-being. He has no regard for his students and goes on useless tangents that teach nothing. His tests are hard and long and rarely cover anything talked about in the class. Don't waste your money on this guy take it at community college.
I took his writing-intensive Honors IPE section. He was very energetic and knowledgeable but could get pretty off-topic and fall behind. This class was VERY intense (I read 5 books plus a textbook, and wrote four 6+ page reports on them) but he was a fair grader, incredibly flexible about deadlines, and gave us extra credit and revisions.
Professor Froitzheim's courses are some of the best and most challenging I've ever taken. There's a ton of readings which he condenses into notes but they can still run 200+ pages. There's always engaging discussions at the start of class and he looks like a slimmer Tony Soprano with good hair which is pretty cool.
If there is another professor teaching the class, opt out of Froitzheim. There's 200+ pages of notes and a ridiculous amount of readings. He really is not clear about what is going to be on the test and basically gives weird off the all examples instead of actually going into detail about the information.
Expect more coursework than in any 300 level class. Have to go to class to understand the structure of the 180 pgs of notes each section and even then he goes off on tangents and takes 2-3 class periods to 'survey' a specific ideology. Way too expansive to justify this class as a 109. Good thing is he is lenient on deadlines and offers E/C.
Way too hard for a 100 level class. And he rambles a lot and is all over the place.
Great lecturer, but he doesn't cover everything you will be tested on, and assigns some of the most dense readings I've ever seen for a 100-level course. He also clearly holds some very neoconservative and neoliberal positions, so if thats a turn off I'd avoid him.
I was taking 300 level classes as I was taking this class, and this one was the most stressful. There's so many readings to the point where you can't even enjoy the material being taught. Do not take if you don't have to.
Only bad part about this class is the amount of notes you have to read, but this professor is very helpful and he cares. Although there it may seem hard it is very possible to get an A. With a lot of extra credit and huge curves on the exam the professor cares and wants everyone to understand the material. His lectures are amazing!!!
Three things: Great teacher, a lot of readings, and it is very possible to get an A.
A lot of these rating are scary for John but he is a great teacher. Yes theyre are a lot of readings and it is a 100 levels but welcome to political science. It is not hard to get an A.
I love John, he's super knowledge and is always willing to work with you on deadlines or if you are having any issues. It's a lot of work, especially reading, but he knows that and curves heavily as a result. It's easy to get a good grade, you just have to put in a bit of effort to get it. He also offers a ton of really easy extra credit, like EASY
Terrible teacher! Lectures the entire class and talks way too fast to write stuff down or really follow what he is talking about. Passionate about the subject and demonstrates it by giving nearly impossible online tests- yes, they're open book but you still won't find the answers. Definitely not an 100 level class. Would not recommend to anyone.
Not my cup of tea but objectively an excellent professor. Gives a lot of work and a lot of feedback but grades pretty easily even if he trashes you in the comments. Puts in a lot of time and effort. Is definitely loud and somewhat abrasive though. If you don't share his high energy or sense of humor (like me) you might be turned off.
Don't be fooled by these ratings. He is a caring man who often gave students extensions to finish their assignments. I never read the readings, and did just fine. Don't be scared away on the first day of class when he talks about participation: just allow him to use you as an example. He is a passionate man who cares about his students.
He is an amazing professor. Yes! the class is reading and lecture heavy but the way he teaches it forces you to learn while he talks. Do the readings before class, he has a habit of calling on people but don't be scared!! There is a pretty hard writing assignment but believe me, if you start early it won't be as hard and he grades them fairly easy
I took the Honors POLI 365 course, and while it was not my favorite course, I will say that it made me a better reader, note taker, and writer. Dr. Froitzheim is strict and likes to challenge you, but he is fair and will help if you ask for it. Outline key points before class, fill it in as he lectures. Lots of writing, but you can revise.
WAYY too dense of readings. Shouldn't be reading 300 level theory in an intro class. The lectures are long and you can't take notes; there's too much material to organize. Read the notes he posts and use the powerpoint points as a guide for what to pay attention to. Good extra credit. Wish I took another prof, he is better suited for higher level.
This class was asynchronous, but very difficult nonetheless. The professor provided 5+ hour lectures at times, spoke very fast, required many textbook readings, and 70+ pages of notes depending on the unit. This was one of the hardest classes I have taken. However, I found that if you just watch his lectures you'll pass the tests/class.
This class was asynchronous for Fall 2020. He assigned weekly lectures that were sometimes 6 hours long, and in addition to that there were between 5-15 readings per week. There were quizzes every 2-3 weeks, and they were all around 70 questions long. Prof. Froitzheim is kind and very passionate about this subject, but I still would not recommend.
Really great professor. Very challenging and very work heavy but he cares about his students. Hes not focused on due dates but rather you turning in good work. Works with students outside of school. Highly recommend any of his classes. As long as you apply yourself you will pass.
This was the worst class I have ever taken, and he was also the worst professor I have ever had. Quizzes are about 70 questions and are still timed, and he expects you to read over 500 pages a week for a 100-level class. He leaves a bad taste in the mouth, students and faculty alike, and the only reason he keeps enrollment is because it's required.
Overall, he's a great professor and if you're a political science major, then you should do fine. I ended up renting the textbooks, but realized you don't have to use it as much because he covers a lot of it in his lecture notes. As long as you go to his class and don't miss anything, you should relatively be okay.
Frozitheim is a great prof. In class, he made things easy to understand and even interesting to learn. Here's my advice to y'all, he assigns reading that you literally have to have a Ph.D. to understand, but you don't have to read it. I stopped doing the reading after the first test and got an A. The tests are online, so take that for what it is...
HORRIBLE prof. Teaches a 100 class like its a 400. 200+ pages of reading per week, plus a 60-80 question MC quiz every other week. Lots of extra credit opps but they're annoying and hard. It's an intro level class, it shouldn't be this difficult or intensive.
Professor Froitzheim is very disorganized. A lot of the information that is presented in the course could be cut down or simplified. The questions on exams are extremely specific. The grading scale is unfair to students who tend to do worse on tests by making 70% of the grade your exams and only 30% the huge papers you do.
Terrible professor. Terrible exam. Questions are ridiculously specific with absolutely no way to remember most of them, and only given TWO MINUTES per question with "open book and note". Grades are split across a paper, and midterm. Not a single person scored a above a 61 on the midterm (OUT OF 100). That says a LOT. Avoid this class if you can/
Froitzheims lectures are long, confusing and he talks too fast. The recommended reading is essentially required. The test questions had little to do with the content taught in the lectures and most students nearly failed every exam. The only way people passed was through the ridiculous curve he put on the exam. DO NOT TAKE ANY CLASSES WITH HIM.
Great Class. A lot of material. Froitzheim breaks the class down to units so you are get quizzes every couple of weeks. Quizzes are on-line and you have plenty of time to finish. Read the textbook and notes he gives you and you'll do fine. The guy really cares about his students and the material, and will help you get through. You learn a lot.
Froitzheim relied on quizzes for a large part of the grade, and the quizzes were extremely long and required detailed notes. The final is almost 4 hours worth of work, cumulative, and the past quizzes aren't accessible for students to view for studying. The workload was not balanced well and the material was very specific for a 100 level course.
Very lecture-heavy. Energetic guy who talks fast and a lot, so keeping up with his lectures can be somewhat difficult at times. Assignments were bi-weekly quizzes that are pretty long but not super difficult as they are all open note and open book. Poli109 isn't very exciting so just take notes and do the quizzes you'll be fine
Froitzheim is great. His lectures are consistently engaging and funny. You can actual pay attention and uses understandable examples to demonstrate concepts. He's also very knowledgeable and there's a lot you can learn from him even if you know a lot about the subject. Worth talking to during office hours.
The topic was interesting but there is way too much reading! Sure a lot of the readings are interesting but its too much. His notes for the weekly readings can range from 70 to 100 pages which leads to ridiculously long exams. The midterm had 80 questions and the final had 140! It is absolutely ludicrous!
He stated multiple times that he is doing an overhaul of the class. I, unfortunately, was one to face the brunt of that. There is an INSANE amount of reading. Way too much to absorb at all, or even most of it. The tests are open book, but super long with giant paragraphs for questions. You will have to do a lot of searching to find the answers.
I highly recommend his class for students with a strong interest in what he's going to teach. Those with a passion in the course topic will highly enjoy and feel engaged with his lectures. Would not recommend for those only looking for a course-credit, the material taught can feel really intense to those with no prior experience.
This class had an insane amount of readings. Quizzes had paragraphs for every question out of the possible 70-90 questions. He fell very behind and assigned a paper for our last quiz with only a few days to complete on top of a 20-page research paper during finals week. My suggestion: find another POLI350 professor before sticking with Froitzheim.
An absolute no for me. For a 100 level class and as a political science major, it was difficult to grasp comparative politics. Quizzes were 60 or 70+ plus questions with a final of over 100 questions, very lengthy questions as well. I did not enjoy this class much and although he was interactive in the lectures, it still was painful to sit through.
Great Class. Tests came out of the readings and the lectures. On-line tests with a flexible deadline allowed me to take the test anytime within a 10 day window. Most of the class does well with A and B scores. Generous extra credit. Comprehensive exam and quizzes are long. Gives lecture notes. Do readings and you should be fine.
This class is a writing and presentation workshop. Froitzheim starts with methods and then gets into topics like state formation, democracy, authoritarian rule, civil war. The goal is to teach you how to write and to present through workshops. He's demanding and will be critical but you will learn how to write and present better. Fun class.
Great Class. The course begins with a review of methods and intro to comparative, then gets deep into democracy and dictatorship. Heavy emphasis on democratic backsliding. Choice of research paper or final cumulative exam. Lots of long quizzes but great discussions. Participation matters.
This is a heavy reading class. Mid-term and Final, mix of essay questions and multiple choice. Need to know the notes and materials. Two papers, one easy, the other tough. Also a map test. This is a very heavy class, but grading is generous and most students end up with A or B scores if they do the work. Do the work and you should be fine.
This is a heavy class for a 100 level, but it is taught for POLI students so expect a lot. Grading is easier than other 100 levels, based on 5 long quizzes, a comprehensive final, and an easy map test. Extra credit is generous. Froitzheim grades on an 85% curve, so grades tend to be high in the class. However, tests are on-line and very long.
DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS! especially if you aren't a political science student. Dr. Froitzheim took over 3 months to grade my first paper - making for a world of stress. His exams are well over 100 questions long and include writing 2 essays as well. He is generally rude, and does not seem to understand how to teach an online course. Ruined my life.
Very nice guy and really entertaining, gets off track sometimes but reasonable when it comes to the content on the exams (they're really long)
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
59%
Textbook Required
0%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.23 avg changeRatings by Course
IPE30183
5.0
(1)INT101
5.0
(1)POLI391
5.0
(1)POLI384
5.0
(2)POLI10504
4.5
(2)Difficulty by Course
107
5.0
32947
5.0
POLI359
4.6
POLI10504
4.5
POLI358
4.5