One of the most common topics applicants ask us about are the letters of recommendation. These letters are an important part of your application and provide the committee with helpful information and insight into your ability to be successful at Harris Public Policy. In this post, Director of Student Recruitment Devon Reber Drehmer answers some of our most frequently asked questions. We hope these answers will be helpful to you as you are completing your application before the Early Action deadline on October 5!

Prospective students frequently share questions with our team about essay statements. While it’s one of our favorite parts of the application reading experience, we know that writing essay components can be anxiety-inducing for applicants. Here is some helpful guidance on approaching and starting your motivational statement and essays.

At Harris Public Policy, your Career Development Office is looking forward to supporting incoming students with your career pursuits—through your candidate* experience and beyond. After the introductory Career Camp, you will begin your one-on-one career coaching, a personalized approach to your unique career needs that will continue long after you graduate. But there’s no reason to wait until September to start your career readiness! We strongly encourage all candidates to explore our Virtual Career Development Center.

If you are an incoming student starting at Harris in the fall, the Career Development Office (CDO) shared some frequently asked questions that will help you as you begin your career coaching.

In honor of Pride Month, we rounded up a few resources for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer+ (LGBTQ+) students, staff, and faculty at Harris.

In addition to a world-class education, Harris students have the opportunity to collaborate with and learn from world-class research centers and institutes. Below is a summary of Harris’s research centers and institutes, which are tackling some of the world’s most challenging policy issues.

Isabelle Hirschy, MPP Class of 2022, comes from a service background and wasted no time getting involved in the local community at Harris. In this post, she discusses various civic engagement opportunities for students while they study at Harris.

Each year incoming students participate in The Common Read, reading a shared text before arriving at Harris. The main goal is to have all incoming students collectively share in a single learning experience while gaining an appreciation for diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and individual stories. This year’s Common Read, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson, was carefully selected by current Harris students and reflects our ongoing commitment to diversity and inclusion.

Our team has gathered some essay writing tips ahead of the June 15 application deadline.

Thinking about applying to Harris? Our Round 3 deadline is June 15. The Student Recruitment and Global Outreach team would like to share six video tips for completing a successful application!

Andrés Fortunato: MPP Class of 2021, talks about his experience moving from Argentina to Chicago to study public policy.

This summer, Professor Austin Wright led the Data and Policy Summer Scholar (DPSS) and International Policy Action Lab (IPAL) programs in a research project on Covid-19 mask mandates. Teaching Fellows Geet Chawla, MPP Class of 2021, Luke Chen, MACRM Class of 2020, and Anthony Farmer, MPP Class of 2021, worked alongside Wright on a research paper, “Tracking Mask Mandates During the Covid-19 Pandemic.” We asked the Teaching Fellows about their experience this summer.

Sabrina de la Vega, MPP Class of 2021, shared her experience taking one of her favorite courses at Harris.

Harris Student Government (HSG) elections provided an opportunity for returning students to choose their leadership for the 2021-22 school year. Rana Khalil and Kartik Saboo are excited to direct HSG’s efforts as co-presidents as students return to Harris in the fall. Read on to learn more about Rana and Kartik and their plans for the next year!

Since January 2021, we have hosted a Health Policy Living Room Series with Ellen Cohen, Executive Director of the Center for Health and Social Sciences. Read summaries and watch recordings of the sessions.

Many students, regardless of their academic background, choose to enroll in Math & Coding Camp as a way to connect with their peers and begin focusing on graduate school. Math & Coding Camp also prepares you for the math exam, required of all incoming master’s students.

Ryan Webb, Master of Science in Computational Analysis and Public Policy (MSCAPP) Class of 2021, interned as a Research Aide at Argonne National Lab this summer. He wrote this piece to reflect on this experience.

If you are an admitted student, you may still have a few questions about financial aid and student loans. Please see below for information that you may find helpful as you are finalizing your financial plans:

At Harris, we are committed to the success of our international students. We want to make sure that our students not only engage in the culture of Harris, but have confidence in their ability to navigate their new surroundings. One of the ways we support our international students is by helping them build English proficiency and navigate campus resources through the Academic English Pre-Matriculation Program (AEPP), often referred to as Language Camp.

Diversity Week is a time to both celebrate and recommit to fostering a diverse and inclusive environment for the Harris Community. It is a time to reflect within and across all areas of public policy. This year, our focus is on the role of storytelling in public policy. Storytelling and public narratives play a large role in shaping public policy, how it is received by society, and implemented by all. Join the Harris Office of Diversity and Inclusion as we convene a week full of events led by Chicago experts, activists, artists, and our Harris Student Organizations, where we will learn how to understand our roles and others as policymakers and policy consumers.