Admissions Blog

We've been making our rounds at several large fairs this autumn and we've still got many others yet to go. You can see our previous blog post about where we've been and where we are going. You can also always refer back to our Events page to look up and register for upcoming events. We wanted to write a post that detailed some of the best practices for fair attendance that we've utilized and observed.

Many incoming applicants to Harris have questions on how their work experience will be viewed, the level of importance placed on having significant work experience, and the length and format of their resume. We see students who have a variety of professional backgrounds. Many of our students have a few years of work experience in a particular field, while others have recently graduated and have not yet begun their professional careers but typically have had some internship, volunteer, or extracurricular experience while pursuing their undergraduate degree.

I had the opportunity to see the smash hit musical Hamilton in Chicago.  For those of you outside the US, Hamilton is phenomenon that has captured hearts and playlists of people of all ages. Created by Lin Manuel Miranda, Hamilton chronicles the life  of Alexander Hamilton one of the more influential and colorful founding fathers of the US. There are geniuses...outliers...and then Lin-Manuel Miranda. You could lock six billion people in a room for a year and not one could come up with something as original as Hamilton.

We frequently receive this question from eager applicants searching for opportunities to strengthen their application, as well as students who are concerned about specific aspects of their application. Actually, we probably receive this question from almost all incoming students. 

Students in the early stages of the application often call or email our office asking when they will be able to see the essay questions. Usually we sense a slight panic in their tone implying that writing essays may not be their favorite weekend activity, or that they need to immediately see the essays in order to have extensive time to prepare as no length of time will be enough for them to write, re-write, have peer-reviewed, throw away, retrieve out of the garbage, review again, throw away again, start over, and then submit the original draft their kind friends peer-reviewed.

Our Mentor Program at Harris is a longstanding cornerstone of our commitment to empowering students to be connected with experienced professionals throughout their program duration. Since 1988, the Mentor Program has paired students with dedicated industry professionals who want to support the next generation of policy leaders (that’s you!). 

Year 1

Whether you're a prospective student visiting campus, a current student living in Hyde Park over the summer, or a staff member who wants to extend their lunch break, the University of Chicago has a wonderful assortment of museums and collections for all interests. Check out a few of them today! 

The Robie House

During our trip to D.C. this summer, the recruitment team stopped by several internship sites of current Harris students. One such visit was to the Sunlight Foundation, where Andrew Yaspan, Faraz Ahmed (both MSCAPP '18), and Saeb Ahsan (MPP '18 and Pearson Fellow) are working with the Foundation's 'What Works Cities' initiative.

We're hitting the road! Please join Harris Public Policy for our Idealist Grad Fair tour this fall in a city near you. Please note that we will be hosting a post-fair event in every city, so stay tuned for more information as we get closer to our fall travel schedule! Idealist Grad Fairs are free to attend, and feature hundreds of schools with public interest and public policy graduate programs.

New York City: Tuesday, September 19th from 5-8 p.m.

Today we welcome Katherine Baicker as the new Dean of Harris Public Policy! Dean Baicker joins Harris from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Heath, where she was a professor of health economics. Baicker's research and expertise focuses on healthcare economics, the effectiveness of public and private health insurance, and is a leading expert in current research on the randomized expansion of Medicaid in Oregon. 

Please join the Harris community in welcoming Dean Baicker, and keep up with her introduction to Harris by following #MeetDeanBaicker on our social media channels!