Admissions Blog

Last summer, amid a global pandemic and from their own homes, two students in the University of Chicago’s MS in Computational Analysis and Public Policy (MSCAPP) program rolled up their sleeves and got to work helping federal agencies better leverage data and technology. Eric Son and Launa Greer (both MSCAPP class of 2021) participated in the 10-week Civic Digital Fellowship, which promotes itself as a “first-of-its-kind internship for mission-driven, student software engineers, data scientists, product managers, and designers to innovate at the intersection of technology and public service.” Although neither had previous experience working in government, each recognized this as a unique opportunity to put their hard-earned computer science and data science skills gained through their first year in the MSCAPP program to the test.

We are excited to be hosting meet and greet sessions for admitted students with current students from our Harris Ambassadors program January 25–29. These sessions will be a great opportunity for newly admitted Harris students to ask questions, learn firsthand about the Harris student experience, and connect with current students as well as other admits.

2020 brought new challenges for all of us. But throughout the year, the Harris community showed impressive resilience and a sustained passion for social impact. Watch our 2020 Year in Review video and read our top highlights of the past year. Please note, Harris will be closed December 23, 2020—January 3, 2021, and your Admissions team will have limited access to email during that time. There may be a delay in response time until Monday, January 4. Happy Holidays!

To help the first-year Chinese Harristas better prepare for their summer internship applications, the Career Development Office (CDO) and the Harris China Working Group jointly organized a weeklong series of internship panels in late October in which second-year Chinese students shared their internship experiences in the fields of strategic consulting, financial services, and the internet industry. During the panels, students not only learned about the internship application process and timeline, but also dove into deep conversations with panelists regarding career paths and professional development.

From climate change to COVID-19, Harris research is informing both national and international policy. We rounded up recent news articles featuring contributions from Harris faculty and staff.

Ana Camila Vasquez, MPP Class of 2022 and Pearson Fellow, writes about her experience attending the 2020 Pearson Global Forum.

Our admissions team tries our best to answer your questions as thoroughly as possible—on the phone, online, and especially on our blog. With regularly updated information, the admissions blog is a great resource for anyone looking to learn more about Harris. We’ve gathered our top five posts from the fall to help you as you complete your application for the next deadline.

Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor to President Obama and Senior Distinguished Fellow at the University of Chicago Law School, delivered the keynote address for our Diversity Days 2020 programming. She discussed her background and trajectory into her role, the unique challenges she faced, and advised students to listen to “the quiet voice that lives within all of us” to choose which path their careers will take. Watch the interview and other Diversity Day highlights.

Now that we’ve sent messages, made calls, and released decisions, we want to share a message to show how impressed we were with our applications from Early Action. We reached out to some of our staff readers anonymously and asked them to share what impressed them about this group of applicants.

This is an exciting time for our admissions team. We are preparing to release decisions to students who submitted their completed application for the Early Action deadline on October 5. It was a pleasure getting to know more about you, all that you have done to improve your communities, and all that you are planning to do with a graduate degree in public policy. Read more...

The Admissions team has rolled out a series of virtual sessions on application tips. We have rounded up the recordings for your reference as you complete your application.

The relatively short time you spend in graduate school is a long-term investment in your future. It opens doors for your professional path, advances your leadership skills, and increases your earning potential. Following are some tips to help you understand the financial planning needed for your graduate school investment.

Thanks to all who attended our Virtual Open House last weekend! If you missed it or would like to review, the recordings are available here.

Are you interested in applying for our Data and Policy Summer Scholar Program? Read this note from Lana Kugli Ou, who completed the DPSS program in 2018 and will join the MSCAPP program in fall of 2021!

Its first in-person event of 2020, the University of Chicago Center in Beijing successfully hosted a parent reception for incoming Harris School of Public Policy students on September 19. Abiding by University health and safety guidelines, the Center welcomed 16 guests to its space to listen to Harris staff speak on Zoom, along with 46 other online participants.

We talked with Geet Chawla, Master of Public Policy (MPP) Class of 2021, about how his team won the Clinton Global Fellowship.

Thinking about applying to Harris? Our Open House offers a high-level overview of the value of a policy degree, our degree programs, and the network of students you will meet here. If you missed our recent Open House, or you attended and would like to review the sessions, you can access the recordings here.

We spoke with Jennica Betsch, MAIDP’20, about her summer internship with Innovations for Poverty Action.

Learn more about the recently launched Center for Effective Government, a hub where scholars, practitioners, and students can investigate efforts to change the way our political institutions are governed.

BrightHive is a company working to promote and enable responsible data sharing. BrightHive provides legal and ethical frameworks, technical standards and tools, and guidance through a data governance process to help their partners establish data trusts—collectives of organizations securely connecting and collaborating to create new, shared data resources. Two Master of Science in Computational Analysis and Policy (MSCAPP) students from the Class of 2021—Amanda Whaley and Hana Passen—interned together as Knowledge Engineers this summer with BrightHive. Whaley and Passen worked on the Strategic Initiatives team, getting hands-on experience building partnerships and collaborations. We asked them to write about their experiences.