Current Harris Student

[letsjustgo]

I have a few more questions if any of the current Harris students are still hanging around. These may be more appropriate for program staff but I thought I'd get a student's take as well.

1.) How are group internships distributed? From what I can tell, there is an application process that groups must go through and similarly for the practica and mentorship programs? Are there only a limited few that are chosen for group internships, practica, and the mentorship program? Or do most have a fair chance if they apply and are serious about participating? For those students who are not selected for any of these opportunities, do they still have many chances to gain practical experience during the program?

2.) Are individual internships also facilitated by the school?

3.) Are Research and Teaching Assistantships only available to those selected by specific faculty within the Harris School? Or are there some opportunities to apply?

As always, your help is very much appreciated. I'm not able to come to the new admit weekend so these little Q&As are very important for me.

[brian.sabina]

Hey,

1) I'm not completely sure how group internships are distributed. You might want to direct that question to Elen Cohen who is the Dean of Students. Here email address is: cohen@uchicago.edu. She is very approachable so don't have any qualms about sending her an email. The practica are like classes which you can register for online and then get approved by the professor. Practica spots are limited by the number of projects that are going on during any given quarter. I believe it is on a first come basis as long as the prof. who is running the program signs off on you.

The mentorship program is application based and if you are interested in it you will have to write a few essays and submit a resume in the late summer. I'm not positive but I"m guessing something like 70% of the people who apply get mentors. Most stuff you have a fair chance of getting if you are serious about applying an put some effort into writting the essay or talking to the prof. before hand. As far as additional experiences to gain practical experience, a lot of people start to work part time internships during their third quarter first year and throughout their second year. There are other opportunties to interact with the city and real policy makers. This year I spent spring break on a program called Chicago Civic Week during which we picked a different policy topic for each day for spring break and met with policy leaders in that field. We had about 20 meetings over the course of the break and it was awesome. I"m also on the Chicago Policy Review and I get to intereact with outside policy makers all of the time. That said, the first two quarters are a little insulated given the core, but it's definitely worth it once you finish the core.

2) Individual internships are not facilitated by the school. It is up to you to get an internships. However, the career services department is there to help guide you through the process and make sure that you have all of the tools needed to make that happen for yourself. We have an online job and internship called HarrisLink where they post job opportunties. They also run a networking trip to DC during the winter and bring plenty of recruiters to campus during the fall and early winter.

3) I've found that RAships and TAships are generally open to anyone applying. Most people who are RAs just found a prof. that was doing work that they were interested in and talked themselves into a job. That said I got an RA offer from a prof. because I did well in his class, so it can go either way. Most TA opportunties for MPP studnets are sent out to our class listservs and anyone is able to apply directly to the prof. who is running the course.

Hope this helps!

Fair winds,

Brian

I have a few more questions if any of the current Harris students are still hanging around. These may be more appropriate for program staff but I thought I'd get a student's take as well.

1.) How are group internships distributed? From what I can tell, there is an application process that groups must go through and similarly for the practica and mentorship programs? Are there only a limited few that are chosen for group internships, practica, and the mentorship program? Or do most have a fair chance if they apply and are serious about participating? For those students who are not selected for any of these opportunities, do they still have many chances to gain practical experience during the program?

2.) Are individual internships also facilitated by the school?

3.) Are Research and Teaching Assistantships only available to those selected by specific faculty within the Harris School? Or are there some opportunities to apply?

As always, your help is very much appreciated. I'm not able to come to the new admit weekend so these little Q&As are very important for me.

[pure7b]

Harris admitted student without funding here....

Thank you for your information. It really helps!!!

Can you also briefly talk about how much you spend per year? The official website gives us a list of spending, but I think the costs are over estimated. How you think?

I know the tuition is 38500 in the coming semester. How can we try to save some other costs

Thanks!

[letsjustgo]

Thanks again, Brian! I have what is by far my dorkiest question so far. Is there a calculator that I should look to invest in? If there is going to be calculus involved, it seems like I'm going to need it.

And I'm quoting pure7b's question because I don't want the question to go unnoticed because of my post.

Thanks!

Harris admitted student without funding here....

Thank you for your information. It really helps!!!

Can you also briefly talk about how much you spend per year? The official website gives us a list of spending, but I think the costs are over estimated. How you think?

I know the tuition is 38500 in the coming semester. How can we try to save some other costs

Thanks!

[brian.sabina]

Hey,

I spend less than the estimated cost of attendance, but not much. That said, I'm choosing to live a somewhat more expensive lifestyle. I def. don't sweat the extra beer I buy. I'm confident I'm making it up in earning potential. You can live on less than the estimated budget, especially if you live with roommates. You can save hundreds of dollars a month on rent. I think they estimate 900 dollars a month. You could easily find 650-700 a month with a roommate in hyde park.

- Brian

Harris admitted student without funding here....

Thank you for your information. It really helps!!!

Can you also briefly talk about how much you spend per year? The official website gives us a list of spending, but I think the costs are over estimated. How you think?

I know the tuition is 38500 in the coming semester. How can we try to save some other costs

Thanks!

[brian.sabina]

Any basic scientific calculator will do. I wouldn't worry about it too much. I used a graphing calculator that I had hanging around form high school. It helped a little bit, but I would have been fine with a scientific calc. I can't imagine you would need to spend that much money on a graphing calculator. Maybe pick up a used TI-83plus on eBay?

Fair winds,

Brian

Thanks again, Brian! I have what is by far my dorkiest question so far. Is there a calculator that I should look to invest in? If there is going to be calculus involved, it seems like I'm going to need it.

And I'm quoting pure7b's question because I don't want the question to go unnoticed because of my post.

Thanks!

[Slow]

Brian, I know that you said that you can't speak to job placements, etc., but I was wondering if you had a sense of whether the quantitaitve nature of Harris puts graduates at an advantage when compared to graduates from other quantitative policy programs, such as those at Georgetown and Heinz? On an intellecutal level I would love to go to Harris because of its quant focus, but I wonder if the extra cost will really put me at an advantage to those coming out of other quantitative programs. Thanks!

[kyeulsa]

We are coming down to the decision-making wire, and I've found one of my big concerns about Harris is the administration. I'm sure some other students feel the same ... the admissions process was quite painful, and compared to all other admitted programs I've received very little communication from the school (I have about 3 emails from Ford for every 1 from Harris). That said, I do really like other aspects of the program - but I do feel that support from student services, career services, etc are very important to students' success. I was also far more impressed with the Ford career services presentation. Do the current students who are responding on this board feel like they've got a strong administration that is there to help them?

Another question I have is about camaraderie. Do current students feel like they are close to their cohort? Is there a lot of collaboration? I got the feeling like it's a bit competitive between students (vs. Ford which seemed very friendly). I'm not sure if that's accurate just the feeling I got - would love to hear from current students about that.

[sowhat]

Hi All,

I'm a current Harris School student and I'd like to offer to answer any questions people might have. Please feel free to PM me if you prefer.

Hi,

I've been looking into the one-year MA in public policy that Harris offers. I already have an MBA (Georgetown '07) so I don't want to opt for an MPP/MPA, spend another 2 years and take similar classes. I've been working in the private sector (banking) and I want to transition into non-profit / micro-finance. Hence my decision to pursue such a degree, as it will give me additional expertise. (side note: I am Greek, currently live in Athens and have worked in NYC and London).

Do you know if the one-year program is worth it? Is there anyone I could talk to about this?

THANKS!!

[harrisstudent111]

Current Harris Student here, the comments from kyeulsa are dead on. The administration at Harris is completely incompetent. Day to day, they can't manage the program, so I am very concerned about the long term value of my degree.

One more issue you should be aware of, most faculty at harris have no interest in teaching and very little respect for students. There are notable exceptions. Kerwin Charles, and professors who teach the stats sequence are excellent. Outside of them, however, things are bleak. Notes, assignments, and tests are riddled with typos and errors, and the quality of lectures in most classes is terrible. For the price you will pay for the MPP, you should expect more. Find somewhere else to go.

[state_school'12]

Current Harris Student here, the comments from kyeulsa are dead on. The administration at Harris is completely incompetent. Day to day, they can't manage the program, so I am very concerned about the long term value of my degree. One more issue you should be aware of, most faculty at harris have no interest in teaching and very little respect for students. There are notable exceptions. Kerwin Charles, and professors who teach the stats sequence are excellent. Outside of them, however, things are bleak. Notes, assignments, and tests are riddled with typos and errors, and the quality of lectures in most classes is terrible. For the price you will pay for the MPP, you should expect more. Find somewhere else to go.

Yikes, that's quite a troubling comment. Do your class mates share your assessment? Re the administration, I can only say that my stress level went up a few notches when I got an email that my application was incomplete. Apparently my transcript was missing. I checked with my UG, and they confirmed they sent it. Turns out it was a "clerical error", and my application was complete after all. Ah well.

I see that PhD notifications are going out. Last year, MPP notifications went out at the same time (over a period of about a month ), so it's possible a few folks got notifications today.

[senatorsmith85]

Fuck...that ruined my Friday--now I'll be hitting refresh on the results page until 6 (Central time is the devil...).

It seems that a handful of people heard when the PhD folks did in early March and then everybody else got an email telling them they'd hear 3/18-22. AND it seems a disproportionate number of those early notifications got the full-tuition Dean's Scholarship. So maybe they let Dean's Scholarship winners know earlier than the rest?

[state_school'12]

Fuck...that ruined my Friday--now I'll be hitting refresh on the results page until 6 (Central time is the devil...).

It seems that a handful of people heard when the PhD folks did in early March and then everybody else got an email telling them they'd hear 3/18-22. AND it seems a disproportionate number of those early notifications got the full-tuition Dean's Scholarship. So maybe they let Dean's Scholarship winners know earlier than the rest?

Yeah, that's my thinking. I'm pretty sure I have no chance at the Dean's Scholarship, so I'm not stressing too much. But I'm glad that Chicago appears to be ahead of the game this year.

[senatorsmith85]

It may be the case that the real advantage of the Dean's Scholarship is the earlier notification, not the $90k...

[GC Addict]

Any current harris students still hanging around? I was recently admitted to Harris. I don't have a math background; took 1 maths class that too 5 years ago. Any suggestion which books I should start reading to pass the math placement exams ( if I am not wrong all the students need to take and pass the math placement exams if they don't want to take extra maths during the first semester). I know there is maths camp but I don't think it will be enough for me.

Edited March 15, 2012 by GC Addict

[carrollm88]

Hello there!

I am very interested in the dual AM/MPP program at UChicago.  Having my undergrad degree in Social Work, I don't have much quant courses (thinking back, maybe 1 econ course, and 2 math courses). Is this really going to hurt my chances, or do the current Harris students know of many accepted students in this position?

 

Thanks so much!

[1091098098]

This may not be the right thread to post this in, but any current Harris applicants being driven crazy with the short essay questions? So much to talk about, such little space! 

[harrista]

Hello there!

I am very interested in the dual AM/MPP program at UChicago.  Having my undergrad degree in Social Work, I don't have much quant courses (thinking back, maybe 1 econ course, and 2 math courses). Is this really going to hurt my chances, or do the current Harris students know of many accepted students in this position?

 

Thanks so much!

 

I'm a current Harris student and you have more quant background than me!  I had zero econ/math/stats in my undergrad (I did arts and law) and hadn't done math since high school.  I worked hard for the GRE and I'm sure that a Q164 score helped convince them that I could handle the quant focus of the coursework.  There's a lot of diversity amongst the students so there are people with less quant than me who didn't learn calculus in high school and then there's some who did their undergrad in pure math.  There have a 3 week math camp before semester to refresh your algebra and calculus skills and I know a couple of people who had never touched calculus before and managed to pass, but even if you don't it's no big deal - it just means you have to do a not-for-credit math course during first quarter once a week and sit a final exam.  

 

You can also check out this other thread here..

 

This may not be the right thread to post this in, but any current Harris applicants being driven crazy with the short essay questions? So much to talk about, such little space! 

 

Yeah I heard they made them really short this year... I know it's tough but think of it as practice for drafting memos!  

[belle00]

This may not be the right thread to post this in, but any current Harris applicants being driven crazy with the short essay questions? So much to talk about, such little space! 

Good Lord. I just turned in my application (nothing like last minute updates!) and I couldn't agree more. How in the WORLD am I supposed to dress such overwhelming issues with such little space?!? I feel like my application overall was so weak. Not thrilled

[belle00]

Good Lord. I just turned in my application (nothing like last minute updates!) and I couldn't agree more. How in the WORLD am I supposed to dress such overwhelming issues with such little space?!? I feel like my application overall was so weak. Not thrilled

Supposed to address*** clearly it's been a long week, ha. 

[terrapin]

Good Lord. I just turned in my application (nothing like last minute updates!) and I couldn't agree more. How in the WORLD am I supposed to dress such overwhelming issues with such little space?!? I feel like my application overall was so weak. Not thrilled

It was definitely interesting. 300 words goes by quickly. 

[terrapin]

Looks like they extended their "priority" deadline 11 days to the 21st. Anyone know if this is a common practice? It doesn't really help anyone who got their application in on time, as far as I can see.

[oatmealcraisin]

Looks like they extended their "priority" deadline 11 days to the 21st. Anyone know if this is a common practice? It doesn't really help anyone who got their application in on time, as far as I can see.

Coming out of lurking to offer some insight (by which I mean, join the speculation). While I don't think it is common practice, I do know from an email exchange with the admissions office that there were some IT issues roughly around the time of the arctic blast that hit Chicago. Since that was so close to the original deadline, it is possible they extended the deadline for applicants who were negatively affected.

Another possibility is that the number of applications received was below internal projections. While this does suggest a less competitive applicant pool and maybe makes it easier to get in, the double edged sword would be that there could be something in the mpp market driving applicants away from Harris. Here's to hoping that's not the case.

Long story short, I wouldn't get concerned about the extension. The applicants who rightfully needed it will be able to take advantage, while those who were too disorganized to get it in by the proper deadline probably suffer disorganization in the application components (GRE prep, transcript, etc.) and probably aren't threats for grabbing a slice of that scholarship money we're all jockeying for.

[terrapin]

Coming out of lurking to offer some insight (by which I mean, join the speculation). While I don't think it is common practice, I do know from an email exchange with the admissions office that there were some IT issues roughly around the time of the arctic blast that hit Chicago. Since that was so close to the original deadline, it is possible they extended the deadline for applicants who were negatively affected.

Another possibility is that the number of applications received was below internal projections. While this does suggest a less competitive applicant pool and maybe makes it easier to get in, the double edged sword would be that there could be something in the mpp market driving applicants away from Harris. Here's to hoping that's not the case.

Long story short, I wouldn't get concerned about the extension. The applicants who rightfully needed it will be able to take advantage, while those who were too disorganized to get it in by the proper deadline probably suffer disorganization in the application components (GRE prep, transcript, etc.) and probably aren't threats for grabbing a slice of that scholarship money we're all jockeying for.

 

My thoughts as well. Either way, it feels good to be done with the application.

[nandanroom]

Another possibility is that the number of applications received was below internal projections. 

 going by the no. of email reminders they sent for completing applications, it might actually be true !

Edited January 16, 2014 by nandanroom