OolongMilkTea

I created an account just to give my review of MAPSS, because I wanted to present a different and more positive perspective of the program. I just graduated as part of the 2017/18 cohort, and I am extremely thankful for the opportunities that the program has given me, and I can see that the program will be suitable for certain types of students. MAPSS is great for people who are serious about academia, and for those who aren't sure, the program is still great for you to decide whether academia is right for you. As many of MAPSS alumni will tell you, MAPSS will show you the worst of academia, and if you go through the program still having an interest in academia, then you know that academia is right for you ? For background purposes, I entered the program straight from undergrad after failing to get into any PhD programs I applied for. I managed to complete the program in nine months, wrote a thesis which I was proud of and that I got an A+ for (my advisor encouraged me to publish it), and so far have heard back from two of top choices in this Fall 2019 PhD application cycle. The Lows of the Program - The program is extremely compressed, and it consists of three quarters plus a summer. This means that you have a month to do fieldwork of any kind during winter break, and you pretty much need to have an achievable project in mind when you enter the program. Writing thesis and doing coursework at the same time is not easy, but there are ways around it, including using coursework for research and as fodder for your thesis. I asked my professors for some of my classes if I could use the final papers to flesh out sections of my final thesis, so in the end I did not have to write out a completely separate thesis and received very helpful, timely feedback from the professors at the same time. - People here have mentioned that some faculty members do not look kindly on MAPSS students. That is true, and you need to learn to avoid them by speaking to other graduate and PhD students in the department to figure out who you can best work with. Even after finding an advisor, you will have to manage the advisor's schedule in relation to yours, i.e. they will not spoon-feed you and treat you like an independent, adult graduate student. You will have to take the initiative to set up meetings with advisors, tell advisors specifically what you need, when you need it by, and remind them of the deadlines of your program. - Some of the MAPSS courses are terrible and substandard. I actually liked Perspectives and found it useful, but the few data/methodology courses that I took were mostly garbage (why did I sign up for more than one I seriously have no idea), and you can avoid them by just signing up for courses by actual professors beyond the MAPSS department itself. - As OP mentioned, the grading system of Perspectives is weird, because they gave out many Bs in general to "scare" students into performing and working harder during the midterms, and then usually recalibrate after the finals. Don't be too frightened about Perspectives in general. The Highs of the Program - I actually really liked the people in my preceptor group. I found them very perspective, friendly, and hardworking. So I beg to differ from the general view that MAPSS students are inferior; far from it. MAPSS is an extremely large program comprising diverse people of different majors and expertise, so I don't think it is very fair to say "MAPSS students are X" when really there are so many people of different backgrounds in there. - If you know what you are doing and have an idea of what you plan to get out of a one year's master's program, MAPSS is great for you, and you can even save more money and time by completing your thesis and graduating earlier than 90% of the cohort in June, which is what I did. A master's degree in 9 months from an accredited institution, is simply just crazy. - MAPSS also writes a glowing letter from the department which can take the place of a letter recommender when applying for PhD programs, which is immensely helpful because you then only really need to look for two more letters for your applications. - MAPSS has its own fantastic career services office that give loads of personalized advice and workshops right from the start of the program, and you can still contact them for their help in job search after graduating. - Being given many opportunities to participate in academic conferences and engage with people within the department. The amount of exposure you get in MAPSS is actually pretty good, but you need to be able to source those opportunities out and also talk to people within the department. The PhD students are always your best resource, and I made a few great friends in the department who were able to help me revise my master's thesis and also help me edit my PhD application proposals. IMHO, they are better resources than the professors themselves, and I would not have done so well without all the relationships that I have forged in UChicago. For perspective, I only met my advisor in person twice outside of class for my thesis and had two email exchanges with him before I submitted my thesis, and most of the help I got was from the PhD students and other students in the MAPSS program. - You get to take life-changing, mind-blowing classes taught by established professors in their fields. 'Nuff said. ***You should only apply to/accept an offer to MAPSS if you have: i. Enough funds or funding. Financing a master's education, even for a year and partially funded, is very expensive. You will also need to have enough funds to last you through a gap year after MAPSS if you are set on academia (see point three below). ii. You are interested in academia or pursuing academia. MAPSS is not designed to be a professional or a terminal degree, so it will be a waste of your time if you are simply planning to enter industry right after graduation. iii. You can afford the gap year after MAPSS. MAPSS is only one year, but you cannot apply for a PhD program (I mean you can, but the department will not support you when you are applying just months into MAPSS) during MAPSS, which means that you can only apply for the following cycle of PhD programs. This means that you WILL have a gap year after MAPSS, and you need to plan that into your schedule, such as taking up part-time or full time work to tide you through. Hope this helps!