PLAP 4360

If you can get into this class you should definitely take it. I have been lucky enough to take several classes with Professor Stroupe. He is incredibly nice and knowledgable. This class is very much hands on. You work in groups to run a mock campaign.

One of the most chill and fun courses I've taken at UVA. You don't learn a ton in an academic sense, but you do learn a lot about the world of politics. This courses meets once a week for 2.5 hours. Stroupe told us the waitlist for the course was six times the class size, and we were all very fortunate to be permitted for enrollment. The first 1-2 hours of class every week was fluff - which is awesome. We had a lot to talk about - being in the midst of a presidential campaign - but it was mostly just a discussion of current events and campaign news. Those discussions were very interesting, even if they weren't all that much academically-grounded. The rest of each class was dedicated to the center-piece of the course, which is a fictional U.S. Senate campaign. The class is split up into three campaigns (Democrat, Republican, Independent) and competes to win on "Election Day". Each week, we got our hands dirty with a different aspect of political campaigning - with Stroupe being sure to engineer a few plot twists along the way. This fictional campaign is the reason you take the course. It's a lot of fun. As for the rest of the class, there is a mid-term exam and a (cumulative) final exam. The exams cover the material found in the readings, which amount to about 3 books worth. The exams are also graded pretty generously. Perhaps the most substantive assignment the entire semester is a campaign research paper, which involves an analysis of the tactics used by a particular campaign. I found the writing of that paper to be a very rich and rewarding experience. Ultimately, it's an easy course. Stroupe also ensures that it's a lot of fun. Take this course, if you can.