Hey Striped,
Not sure if this is helpful at this point, but I figured I'd shoot you a message anyway.
I'm a PhD student at UChicago. You had some questions about the MAPSS program, so here is what I've observed firsthand: MAPSS is kind of a crapshoot. It's a cash cow, I believe, in the sense that it's a very, very big program and students aren't offered a lot of guidance. A lot of the professors are at the top of their field, or are under a tremendous amount of pressure to move to the top of their field. They are busy with their own research, and they also have their PhD students who