harrista

Some of the things Team Harris said:

- Students and student life : highly motivated student body but not super competitive, good dynamic with lots of group study, general helpfulness, quite a big class with around 150 students
- Quant: the core courses (7 out of 18 courses over 2 years) are quant-focused which is good for building skills in that area. There's two levels available to these core courses. The pre-semester maths camp helps get everyone to the necessary level and after two quarters everyone is handling the coursework. People who don't enjoy maths would probably have to put in some extra work.
- Professors: some excellent professors, lots of economists and political scientists with different focuses, plenty of interesting talks to go to all the time

I also asked a bunch of stuff about U of Chicago's reputation and about the city in general, like living costs and outdoorsy-ness factor. For what it's worth, I think some of the negatives that people have raised aren't necessarily a bad thing for me - I don't expect professors to be my best friends as long as they're moderately accessible and having done puppet shows for credit and analysed romantic comedies for a law exam in undergrad, conservative course content could be good!

@Nutmeg704 would you mind sharing some of the feedback you've gotten about Harris from alums? @Hopefully_MPP it'd be great if you could share your impressions after the skype conference! Also if anyone has other insights please PM me if you don't want to post it publicly, I'd love to get as much information as possible from loads of different sources. Kind of like talking to people at open day but without the plane trip.

It's fine there, there's a few people in my cohort who live at 61st and Woodlawn.  Just make sure it's a good building with security front doors.  There's a lot of university police patrolling that area, plenty of emergency phones around there and it's a well-lit and safe feeling walk from campus to 61st and Woodlawn, but like anywhere in Hyde Park you just have to stay alert and preferably move in groups if it's late at night.  
 
The issues with living around there are that it's far to get groceries or to anything vaguely fun in Hyde Park other then the campus pub, and if you're getting public transport to go downtown it's a trek to get to the bus or metra stop.  There's plenty of night shuttles run by the university to take you around though and during the day there's two free bus lines for UChicago students which leave from outside Harris.  The sidewalk snow shoveling is also not great south of Harris but the only reason you'd go south by foot is to get to a cafe on 63rd.  
 
 

Thanks everyone for your input.  Let the paperwork begin!

You can do a research subject supervised by a professor so I think it really just depends on your area of interest and their area of interest.  You don't get any electives until third quarter of first year so I don't know too much about it yet.  There are also people who write for various publications on their area of interest, like one of my classmates here who wrote about urban policy for The Atlantic.  
 

I don't have a budget but $1200 should be plenty for rent and utilities, especially if you're willing to live a little further away from the water.  My friend lives on 61st, one block from the law school and pays $700 rent for a really nice one bedroom apt in a good secure building.  But otherwise if you want to live somewhere more central, it's around $1000 for a one bedroom and utilities (my electricity is about $20, internet $30 and cell phone is $70).  
 
For other expenses, it really depends what you like to do.  If you like to go out to nice bars downtown or in Wicker/Lincoln Park, it'll cost a lot more than say hitting up the campus pub. 
 

Congrats everyone who got an offer!  Wishing you all the best with what will no doubt be a month of difficult decision making about where to spend the next two years of your life and for those who end up coming to Harris, I look forward to meeting you soon!
 
 
 
Very few Harris MPP students get into the PhD program as I believe there are only accept very few PhD candidates each year (check the website, but I think this year was maybe 3 and you have to have a ton of prior econ/stats/game theory knowledge).  Some go on to do PhDs at other universities after the MPP - I know of someone from the class of 2013 who is now at Northwestern doing a PhD.  
 
Good luck everyone with the decision making! 

I can't speak about grad housing, though I have heard generally good things about it, and the prices are competitive with the surrounding properties.
 
The further west you go, the cheaper the housing will be and the more you will get for your buck, especially if you're not adverse to living with roommates. There are some really great places going for as cheap as $450 a month northwest of campus, which includes A/C, heat, in-unit laundry, electricity, gas, hot water, and internet. The problem is, of course, the further west you go, the farther you will be to almost everything. You won't be close to the school (~15-20 minute walk which is not terrible, but you'll hate it in the winter), and you won't be all that close to groceries, though you will be moderately close to the bus stop depending on where you live (but some of the bus routes go in loops, so it can still be inconvenient, either getting to campus or back). If you are looking at specific streets, I can probably say more about how convenient it is to live there by location.
 
South of 60th street, prices also get lower, because that area is generally considered to be less safe. I haven't lived down there, so I can't say for certain how dangerous it is. Location-wise, it's not terribly convenient either. There are basically no grocery stores south of 57th street, unless you want to consider University-owned convenience stores "grocery stores." (The two main ones in Hyde Park are located on 55th and 53rd, so if you want to buy groceries, you will probably end up having to take the bus.)
 
The further east you go towards the lake, the pricier the apartments will become, as East Hyde Park is where most of the stores and shops are located. Woodlawn and Kimbark are known as the "ghetto" areas. By "ghetto," I simply mean that lots of undergrads tend to live there, so the units are typically in poorer condition, and it might get loud in the buildings due to parties, etc. You will have more access to the 6 bus (which goes downtown) if you live close to S. Hyde Park Blvd., and if you live on 55th, you'll also pretty much get direct access to the 171 and 55, both of which take you right to campus (and back as well). Lots of restaurants, shops, cafes, etc. to the east, and the groceries are close by.
 
North ... it can get inconvenient unless you live near a 172 bus stop and along the evening shuttle route. I wouldn't go north of 51st, personally, and there are a few crimes as well (though mostly petty crimes), since some streets can get pretty deserted.
 
I've heard decent things about Mayfair, but I've also heard that their management has gotten pretty bad recently. Mac always gets terrible reviews (which is unfortunate, since they own most of the property in the area). There's also Kass Management Company, which likewise has gotten less than stellar reviews (but they are not absolutely terrible if you're willing to be firm with them, I've heard), and they seem to own some pretty nice properties/locations east of the university if you're willing to put up with them ...
 
Also, there's always Regents, if you're willing to shell out a little more money and if you're willing to basically take the bus all the time to get to and from campus.

Your elaboration begs a question for me, and forgive me because I do not mean it to sound cruel, but what is your back-up plan (career-wise)? The path you've set out is extremely narrow, and you've indicated that you understand that. Only one person in the US gets to be the ambassador to Turkey or France, with relatively little turnover. So only a handful of people will ever achieve these jobs, and I think it's important to consider what else you might want to do/be able to do with the degree/school you choose. Consider what your secondary plans might be, then look at your programs and see if any of those schools situate you better to find a job in that area. By all means, consider how you can pursue the career of your dreams, but don't do so at the expense of at least a modicum of practicality. Make sure that whichever program you choose will prepare you for a more realistic/obtainable job. Again, I don't mean this to sound like I'm pooh-poohing your dream. You should go after what you want, but have a secondary track in mind as well.

P.S. Whatever you end up doing, you should know that Revolution expects to make a lot of money (at least $90,000 given his years of experience in finance) and that he has only the finest educational pedigree.
 
This information seems to end up in every thread, so I figured I would get a head start.

Thanks everyone for your input.  Let the paperwork begin!