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Dibs Fall 2026

POL SCI 50

Introduction to Comparative Politics

Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Not open for credit to students with credit for course 50R. Comparative study of constitutional principles, governmental institutions, and political processes in selected countries. P/NP or letter grading.

Course statistics

Predicted GPA
3.01
n = 879 · 9 terms · ± 0.018
A range
42%
of letter grades
Taken P/NP
3%
88% of those passed
D / F / W
9.0%
incl. withdrawals

Sections in Fall 2026

Sections offered, with live enrollment and predicted GPA
Section Status Enrolled Seat risk Meets Instructor Predicted GPA
Lec 1 Open
91 of 95
96% full
 fills MW 11:00am-12:15pm Thies, M.F.
2.80n=643 · this instructor

Enrollment history

Final enrollment per term, averaged across that term's sections. Four years deep, summer excluded. Per-section live curves are on each section page.

  • 10421F
  • 6722W
  • 12322F
  • 7923W
  • 9623F
  • 6824W
  • 13224F
  • 17825S
Enrolment by term: 21F 104, 22W 67, 22F 123, 23W 79, 23F 96, 24W 68, 24F 132, 25S 178
Peak 178 Most recent 178 in 25S 8 terms on record

Grade distribution

  • A+ 45 · 4.9%
  • A 212 · 23.2%
  • A- 112 · 12.3%
  • B+ 99 · 10.9%
  • B 125 · 13.7%
  • B- 63 · 6.9%
  • C+ 39 · 4.3%
  • C 69 · 7.6%
  • C- 39 · 4.3%
  • D+ 6 · 0.7%
  • D 18 · 2.0%
  • D- 3 · 0.3%
  • F 49 · 5.4%
  • P 23 · 2.5%
  • NP 3 · 0.3%
  • I 4 · 0.4%
  • DR 3 · 0.3%

Grey bars are non-letter outcomes — P/NP, S/U, incompletes. They are excluded from the GPA entirely rather than scored, because counting a P as a 4.0 would be a fabrication.

By instructor

Instructor Predicted Raw n Terms A range
THIES, MICHAEL F 2.80 2.80 643 7 33%
HOMOLA, JONATHAN 3.43 3.46 174 1 59%
FRIEDMAN, JACK 3.67 3.80 62 1 92%

“Predicted” is shrunk toward the course average, which is itself shrunk toward the department — so an instructor with a handful of students sits near the course mean rather than topping the list.

By term