Chicago Harris

[plddp]

I was admitted but with no funding -- which was only confirmed by emailing the admissions staff. (A bit disappointed that there was no separate letter informing me of the scholarship decision, like the acceptance letter implied.)

Edited February 22, 2017 by plddp

[Wallflower8]

10 hours ago, ngsam191 said:

A friend of mine got accepted to the PhD program. He said he got an email from POI late last week.

Thank you. 

Heard from them, was rejected. 

[thex11factor]

what does everyone think of how they've communicated with admits so far?

[Garcia]

@thex11factor I applied for early decision. Even after they'd extended the deadline, I heard from them when they said they'd send notifications. They called to tell me about my acceptance offer and they've sent out regular communications since about webinars and other information about the school. I'm happy with how communicative they've been.

Edited February 25, 2017 by Garcia

[thex11factor]

On 2/24/2017 at 8:04 PM, Garcia said:

@thex11factor I applied for early decision. Even after they'd extended the deadline, I heard from them when they said they'd send notifications. They called to tell me about my acceptance offer and they've sent out regular communications since about webinars and other information about the school. I'm happy with how communicative they've been.

i think they could have been clearer about how class visits worked..would have been happy to spend 2 days on campus

[dollybird]

I'm totally free to visit a class this Thursday, but I don't understand when/how...? I need to read my emails through again and then maybe make a call. 

[Garcia]

On 2/27/2017 at 8:45 AM, dollybird said:

I'm totally free to visit a class this Thursday, but I don't understand when/how...? I need to read my emails through again and then maybe make a call. 

There was an option to indicate on the registration form whether you were interested in attending a class on Thursday. I didn't do it but I'm assuming they'll follow up with those who do.

[sdiaz1924]

Did anyone sit in on one of the classes today? I was supposed to go but I was unable to last minute. I'm curious what people's thoughts were on the classes they attended.

Also there was a "Get To Know Harris" event today too. I'm curious what that was about.

[CRozy]

Does anyone know how much $ assistantships usually get you at Harris? 

[thex11factor]

what did everyone think of Admit Day?

[Obecalp]

On 3/5/2017 at 9:12 PM, thex11factor said:

what did everyone think of Admit Day?

Seconding this. What were everyone's thoughts? I'm not able to make it out there until early April, but will be attending an open house then. 

[tinpants12]

15 minutes ago, Obecalp said:

Seconding this. What were everyone's thoughts? I'm not able to make it out there until early April, but will be attending an open house then. 

Same here- missed Admit day, but planning to visit in early April. I must have missed the info on the open house - can you share the details? 

And, yes, I too would love to hear other folks' thoughts on Admit Day!

[Obecalp]

@tinpants12, you can register for a campus visit on their website. It's on April 5th. Maybe I'll see you there! 

https://apply-harris.uchicago.edu/register/?id=0da69bc4-1e73-4ebf-92f2-58223f44e873&c=Chicago+Harris+Campus+Visit&f=calendar

[thex11factor]

5 hours ago, Obecalp said:

Seconding this. What were everyone's thoughts? I'm not able to make it out there until early April, but will be attending an open house then. 

I wished I was able to meet with more students. At the reception it was tough to speak to many, and most of the students I met were first year students, who were only able to speak about core classes, not about any electives.

[ginger_root]

I think the event was a big unorganized. Adcom hasn't been responsive to my questions prior to and during the event. Those things gave me red flag about the kind of assistance the administration can provide to students. But I love the professors and the work they are doing. Robinson's talk was a highlight for me. 

I went to the Pearson fellowship info session. It was weird that they didn't/couldn't tell us the value of the fellowship and the no of fellowships awarded, which speaks to my previous point. 

[Garcia]

I really enjoyed it. They provided a lot of information about things like career services, student life and support. The faculty that spoke were inspiring and impressive.

This was the largest group they had ever had attending this event so I think they handled it well considering the number of attendees. 

I met a lot of great people, including current students, both first and second year who were really friendly and answered all my questions.

Overall, it's clear that the recent influx of funding and support from the University of Chicago has allowed them to ramp up their offerings to better serve the increasing number of students they hope to recruit in the coming years.

[thex11factor]

1 hour ago, ginger_root said:

I think the event was a big unorganized. Adcom hasn't been responsive to my questions prior to and during the event. Those things gave me red flag about the kind of assistance the administration can provide to students. But I love the professors and the work they are doing. Robinson's talk was a highlight for me. 

I went to the Pearson fellowship info session. It was weird that they didn't/couldn't tell us the value of the fellowship and the no of fellowships awarded, which speaks to my previous point. 

I second this. I've contacted other programs and received responses within 24 hours both as an applicant and admitted student.

I also wonder if they needed to hold the event last Friday, 2 weeks after notifying R1 applicants. If this was a larger class, any extra time for planning helps.

[sfab]

Yes, I agree that the event was a bit unorganized. The afternoon sessions where you could choose between hearing about Policy Labs, Student Panels, etc. was the most frustrating part of the day. It was clear that they did not anticipate ~300 people there and staff seemed a bit overwhelmed, but everyone I interacted with was super nice and helpful. And I should also mention I've been satisfied with my communication with Harris.

I think they were aware of their quant-heavy image and everyone tried to play down those concerns. I mostly talked to first-year students; they were all really helpful in answering my questions. One thing I noticed was that current students could not stop raving about how much they enjoyed working with their classmates. It's definitely a positive thing, but I thought it was interesting how so many students emphasized that over other aspects of their program.

Ultimately, it seems like Harris is being responsive to student concerns and is trying to change things. Students seemed satisfied with the support they are getting from staff, but Harris seems very much in a transition phase. That can be really exciting or frustrating (or both!), depending on your perspective.

I really enjoyed my time at the Admit Day and loved spending time the following day exploring Hyde Park and the university, but ultimately I'm looking at the best funding options. They did say they would reconsider offers if you provide new information (other offers, updated transcripts, etc), so if you were disappointed by your offer I suggest reaching out!

Edited March 8, 2017 by sfab

[sdiaz1924]

On 3/7/2017 at 8:19 PM, sfab said:

Yes, I agree that the event was a bit unorganized. The afternoon sessions where you could choose between hearing about Policy Labs, Student Panels, etc. was the most frustrating part of the day. It was clear that they did not anticipate ~300 people there and staff seemed a bit overwhelmed, but everyone I interacted with was super nice and helpful. And I should also mention I've been satisfied with my communication with Harris.

I think they were aware of their quant-heavy image and everyone tried to play down those concerns. I mostly talked to first-year students; they were all really helpful in answering my questions. One thing I noticed was that current students could not stop raving about how much they enjoyed working with their classmates. It's definitely a positive thing, but I thought it was interesting how so many students emphasized that over other aspects of their program.

Ultimately, it seems like Harris is being responsive to student concerns and is trying to change things. Students seemed satisfied with the support they are getting from staff, but Harris seems very much in a transition phase. That can be really exciting or frustrating (or both!), depending on your perspective.

I really enjoyed my time at the Admit Day and loved spending time the following day exploring Hyde Park and the university, but ultimately I'm looking at the best funding options. They did say they would reconsider offers if you provide new information (other offers, updated transcripts, etc), so if you were disappointed by your offer I suggest reaching out!

I agree with you. I have also had great communication with Harris so I can't complain about that. I did really like that all the admitted students I spoke with were very easy to talk to and very interested in myself and my background. That was awesome. 

It was very relieving to hear from current students that the quant aspect of the program is not as intimidating as it seems. 

I know the Pearson Institute was a big focus of the event but I would have also liked to learn about other research centers at UChicago that student get involved with like the Urban Labs, NORC or Chapin Hall just to name a few. 

[tinpants12]

On 2/24/2017 at 3:02 PM, thex11factor said:

what does everyone think of how they've communicated with admits so far?

I've been frustrated with their communication. Other schools have provided more information to admitted students (HKS has a admitted students website with tons of information and GSPP sent out a long document that answered many of my questions). Also, other schools have been more responsive. For example, I emailed HKS with questions yesterday and received a response in 20 minutes. By contrast, I wrote an email to Harris with a number of questions two and a half weeks ago and am still waiting for an answer.

I'm sure they are busy with 2nd round applications, but still... I mean, I'm trying to decide whether to give them tens of thousands of dollars! Has anybody had substantive communication with Harris staff? If so, whom did you communicate with? What's the trick?

Edited March 14, 2017 by tinpants12

[thex11factor]

6 hours ago, tinpants12 said:

I've been frustrated with their communication. Other schools have provided more information to admitted students (HKS has a admitted students website with tons of information and GSPP sent out a long document that answered many of my questions). Also, other schools have been more responsive. For example, I emailed HKS with questions yesterday and received a response in 20 minutes. By contrast, I wrote an email to Harris with a number of questions two and a half weeks ago and am still waiting for an answer.

I'm sure they are busy with 2nd round applications, but still... I mean, I'm trying to decide whether to give them tens of thousands of dollars! Has anybody had substantive communication with Harris staff? If so, whom did you communicate with? What's the trick?

I agree with you on the admin front; however, you will find better success in the Facebook group of admitted students. There are a number of threads with some excellent questions being asked - and current students are very responsive!

The perception I have of Harris is that it is a very self driven program, as demonstrated by the flexible course selection and ability to choose your course of study at UChicago. The lack of response by admin is a red flag for me, but I really like the course offerings. But as I understand, Harris staff is not as large in number as other programs (or at least public facing).

In comparison, I've been in contact with McCourt admin and faculty in recent weeks, and they are enthusiastic to respond. Not many admits use the FB group, but current students are very happy to respond.

All else being equal, I think you are in fantastic shape with HKS. I'd pick that any day over any other program.

At the end of the day, this is grad school. As current students told me as I visited different programs, no one is going to hand hold you in course selection and networking. We are adults now and you get treated like adults. In the real world, you will be at organizations with varying degrees of support and aid. Better get used to it.

[Think T@nk]

A little late to the game here but I'd echo the general consensus on admitted students day being a positive experience. Perhaps the day could have been a bit more organized, but it was clear that the crowd pretty dramatically exceeded expectations. Understandable that things got a little chaotic with so many people showing up. 

Either way, on the stuff that actually matters, I was very impressed by Harris. The current students that I met were great--down to earth, very sharp, and enthusiastic about the experiences they'd had so far. The faculty that presented were excellent. I particularly enjoyed the presentations by Ethan Bueno de Mesquita and James Robinson, and the fact that both are in leadership roles at Harris seems to bode well for the direction of the school. The administrators that presented--the director of recruitment, the director of career services, and the director of student life--were also very good. Having cruised through these forums seemingly endlessly over the past few months, it seems like there have been major concerns in the past about the people who have occupied these kinds of roles. I am pretty sure that all the administrators who presented were hired in the past few years, and seeing these folks in action assuaged my concerns--these guys clearly have their shit together now. 

All in all, I came away from the day feeling confident that Harris would be a great place for me. I'm almost certainly going to enroll. The school clearly has a huge amount of positive momentum and energy, particularly compared to some of the other policy schools I've visited. Yes, it does seem like it will be a challenging two years, particularly with the quarter system--it seems like most professors basically are trying to get you to learn a semester's worth of material in 10 weeks or so. But isn't that a good thing? If we're paying all this money to get a masters degree, shouldn't we be pushing ourselves to learn as much as possible? Maybe it's just a personal preference, but having worked for several years before going back to school, I want my MPP to be an intense academic experience that equips me with a wide range of skills and tools that I didn't have before. I have no doubt that Harris will provide me with that.

Also, for any forum readers interested in urban policy (as I am), Harris has a huge amount of opportunities in that space. A ton of coursework geared towards urban and municipal topics, great opportunities to do applied stuff via the Policy Labs, and an array of organizations to get involved in outside the classroom (the Urban Labs, the Place Lab, perhaps the new Mansueto Institute for Urban Innovation?). Harris--and the University of Chicago more broadly--seems to recognize that they have a serious competitive advantage in addressing a wide range of city-related topics, and they've clearly been making major investments to back that up. If you're interested in city stuff, come to Harris and lets hang out!

[3dender]

I found the disorganization very off-putting, as well as the repeated claim "I can't believe how many people came!"  That comes off as a weak excuse for their disorganization, but it also doesn't even make sense, unless they're admitting how poor of planners they are.  They knew how many they admitted, and they could figure out percentages of how many would likely show up.  It's not rocket science.

I got the feeling they were trying to dazzle us with their wealth and prestige, and I definitely picked up a "cash-cow" vibe (mentioned from last year's thread).  But it was inconsistent because they cut corners in other ways if you were paying attention -- e.g. not having any place for us to sit down and eat lunch, having mediocre food, etc.  (Downright terrible, gas-station level coffee was not a good first impression either.)  The lunch arrangements can't honestly be blamed on size of turnout either, as even 100 people would have struggled to find adequate seating in that particular facility.

Ultimately I was glad to go, just to help me better figure out what I need in a program.  I didn't know cohort size would matter as much to me as it does now, but yeah I don't want a cohort of 200 and class sizes of 50+.  The faculty and career services dept. were impressive, and by far the most attractive aspects presented.  But all in al I'm pretty sure I will go to Sanford instead (tbf: they offered me $50k vs. Harris's $20k).

[zling]

Hello all! I'm curious whether anyone here has applied to the Pearson Institute fellowship, and if you have heard back yet or gotten any details on the awards?

I wrote to the office, and while they were very responsive to questions on activities and research, they went silent on the administrative/finance part (e.g. how many Fellows are selected each year, what funding was available, or even whether the results would be out before the deadline to accept your admissions decision).

[MarieG.]

I applied to Harris and got about a little over 10,000 annually in scholarships. Is this standard for everyone else?