HY1

Hey there - I'm a different Harris first year who happened upon this thread. To answer the quant questions - you'll be fine. Yes, it's definitely a quantitative program, especially in the first two quarters, but there's a really wide range of backgrounds, and absolutely everyone gets through it. I'm very quantitative, but did not have an econ background before I got there, and the econ has been fine. Really. So has the stats. I think there's a bit of an overstatement of Harris = Quant = Impossible Quant that is not true. I'm not going to say it's easy, and you're just going to blow through all of the material, but with economics degrees, you're definitely ahead of the game. Also, while the first couple of quarters are quant-heavy, and it feels like they dominate your life, almost everyone is also involved with at least one student organization to provide the outlet for their specific policy interests. As far as international - something like 40% of the class is international students, so yep, there's plenty of stuff there. I definitely know of a second year who interned with the World Bank last summer. I also just want to reiterate some of the other stuff that Harris students have put here. Yes, they're doing a major overhaul this year. It's awesome. The new Dean is great, and while the student affairs staff is going through some growing pains, in my limited interactions with them so far, I'm confident they'll be all worked out by the fall. CDO is, undeniably, the weak spot, but like the other first year poster said, if you have some initiative, it's really not a problem to find internships. I have a great one for this summer that I'm very excited about. You just can't just wait for one to fall into your lap - but it does feel like CDO is getting better too, and being more communicative about opportunities. The last thing I want to say is that I'm genuinely challenged by my classmates every day. We're very collaborative, but also aren't afraid to speak our minds, and in most classes I'm usually surprised by the insights and backgrounds my classmates bring. I had other choices too, and honestly couldn't be happier where I'm at.