Data and Policy Summer Scholar Program Online Information Session with Austin Wright

Great, the sound is working well, so we're going to go ahead and begin.

Fun and thank you for joining us today for this webinar about the University of Chicago data Impala. See summer scholar program. My name is Andy Ingram Eccles. My pronouns are she and her and I have the pleasure to be the program coordinator for this four week summer program and this is a particularly special webinar because we are joined by Austin, right? Who is the programs faculty, director and assistant professor here at the university's hair school of public policy? Awesome thank you for joining us today.

Yeah, no thank you for having me. I'm really excited to share a little bit more about the program that we're running here at her's.

Great so to starts off. Will you talk us through a little bit about what the program is part of, its conception, the growth in the primary objectives for the program? Yeah, so the program started when we were thinking about the tremendous opportunities that are full time students have here in the Masters program, not only to learn about how to engage in rigorous policy evaluation, but also to be able to harness those skills that you should open source software like R. And we took a step back and thought.

Well, not all students are going to have an opportunity to leave for two years. This is substantial time investment is a substantial monetary investment. An really we wanted to figure out a way to sort of open those gates for a shorter period of time to allow students who are thinking about potentially going to Graduate School or maybe thinking about switching from a liberal arts degree or an engineering degree to a policy program and wanna know a bit more before they make that substantial commitment. So that's kind of the origin of the program.

And you know, it all started off we. We thought how we structure it. How can we fit all of this content into a summer program? And we saw that we can actually take most of the content that we have in our graduate program right now. Find ways to make it more accessible and be able to communicate that in three weeks, which seems like a herculean feat is intense program. But I think we have structured in such a way that students get a lot of benefit.

Out of the program, learn a lot more about what it's like to be a student here at Harris. Uh, they can set their expectations about Graduate School here in the United States more broadly, and walk away with some really important skills. So even if they decide after leaving a graduate program here, graduate program in the US graduate program in general is not what I want to do right now, or I'm a rising junior. I'm a rising senior in college. I can't necessarily apply to a program right now. What can I do?

You walk away with a bunch of skills. It's going to improve, integrates in the program that you're in right now, and it's maybe going to create a pathway out up an industry job with. This is something that you would like to see and for me like that. That's really exciting because I love teaching. I love seeing students learn new concepts for the first time and the nice part is that that's exactly what our program is designed to do is just sort of, brings some of the skills to students who might not otherwise be exposed.

So you really touch upon that this program is a day in a life as a graduate student here at the University of Chicago, and this program is designed primarily with a really intense and rich academic component. The program also offers some professional development and student life that will touch upon a little later on. Let's go ahead and dive into the academic components. Can you walk us through? What are the courses that students be doing and skills those rich skills that you're talking about? What do they gain? Yeah, so.

The program is primarily composed three parts. Part one is we're going to teach you a little bit more about what it means to engage in a rigorous evaluation of social scientific questions. So if you take an economics class before, if you take in a political science class before, if you taken any class really. Social Sciences, psychology, sociology, all of those factors you have run across the types of questions that were interested in setting, and we're going to give you.

Those are critical skips, right? Those to me are life skills.

A new framework for thinking about it, he said. Uh it's going to be much more scientific framework. It's going to be a little bit more rigorous and then we're going to talk about if we have data? What can we learn about a given context. Even in the absence of an experiment? What can we do to better understand more rigorously evaluate policy says as part of a three week program on what's called causal inference that's problem.

The end of that three reprogram, which are gonna walk away with, is not just better understanding why we should never confuse correlation causation, but understanding what can we do about it? Right in figuring out which of these correlations might actually be telling us something? 'cause That's a life skill to me. The second part of the program is another three be component is focused on coding were specifically going to be coding in R, and it's going to walk students who have never had any exposure decoding for they don't have are downloaded on their computer.

I don't know what our studio is there going to be downloading at the programs, installing the program, setting up the programs and starting from the basic building blocks. How do I load in raw data which is raw data even look like? How do I load that into my computer? How do I navigate the file structure and then How do I start coding for the first time?

And of course, you know some students might already have prior exposure to coding. They might know how to work at R, but the great part about that three program is it allows for flex time because you're going to be covering topics that I doubt no students who become the program like this would have been exposed to before thinking about how can we engage and really cutting edge data visualization? How can we think about processing data, cleaning data in ways that we're still going to be learning how to do it in the summer? Because most of these packages are still being written now.

Uh, best practices are still being determined, so that's what's really exciting for me about that. The causal inference part. These are all properties we well know, right? These are well studied, and you're going to be introduced to those topics for our into that coding component. Think about it that every single day there are dozens of new programs being uploaded in within our that students can use, and that's as exciting as every year were able to expand the number of topics that we can talk about. We can show new ways of solving similar problems, so it's like.

Part 2 you walk away with the ability not only to communicate to potential employers and faculty and graduate programs that you know how to code in this platform, but you can also use it in everyday Life, which I think is is really is really nice. This is the first three weeks you take these two one in the morning 1:00 in the afternoon, then in the 4th week of the program you engagements called the capstone. So this is Part 3 the capstone is an independent research program. Are you working alongside a faculty member?

And so last summer.

I taught a capstone UM on the impact of cyberattacks on publicly traded companies, and so the idea was my students gathered information about cyber events that occured against publicly traded companies in the United States. I then purchase data on daily stock prices for all of those companies that allows us to analyze the impact of these revelation that a company is vulnerable to cyber crime.

On that company, stock price service is a really exciting exercise for Maine for the students and I got to see them blossom right because what are we doing in that one week? You're flexing the skills that you learned in the causal inference component. But How do I ask and answer really difficult questions? And then how can I use these newly discovered our skills to actually execute? To think about that potential as that's just one example we also had, we had a capstone.

Um on refugees and migration, right? And then, that was a really exciting project for the students that they got engaged in that as well. and I will say that you know that capstone, at least for me, is one of the most fulfilling components of the program, because it really is.

The students flexing those skills in an environment where they're getting guidance from a faculty member who's helping them think about it. Deep pressing global challenge and, and I think if I if I were to project out what we want students right, we want students who were excited about learning how to solve the world's most important problems, how to be apart of changing the status quo, and how can you use the tools available here at the University of Chicago.

To make an impact. Uhm, and these projects are the first step in the direction that I hope will be fulfilling life. That kind of work.

These are definitely the first.

Tools the first steps for students to really build up those skills to make that change in instruction level. But if we can project down the line in the future, how can students really take these skills so they've done this research? They looked at the data they've seen some of these causal inferences. But then what do they go onto a graduate program and write papers? Do they go work at company and write policy memos? How can people actually neutralize policy and a science based policy to make that change?

This is a great question and I think he was so far in our program we've had.

Graduates of the summer program go on to a number of prestigious graduate programs in the United States and abroad, which is really exciting and see we have a number of those students here now at Harris that are in the classroom. The nice part for them, right is they've already been exposed to the core material that they would learn the graduate program, so all of those alumni of the program that are now in graduate programs will be able to dial it back a little bit precisely because they already had exposure to.

The statistics score, and they've already had exposure to coding, so there already a static head of the rest of the competition right in their coordinates. That's really exciting thing. If I really do better for my perspective. When I was in Graduate School, what would have given to add that prior exposure? So that's one thing, but that of course is focused on students who are thinking about going to Graduate School, which I think is is an important thing to think about as you come and spend time here in the summer. This would be great training for a graduate program.

You don't necessarily need to go undergraduate program, so our students here we've had students go into public policy degrees an other social science degree, programs, and it's fantastic. It's not necessarily forever, right?

You can use these same tools in an industry environments. Well yeah, so we know that.

Firms like Air B&B, Twitter and Facebook. Google all of them get engaged in active experimentation, guided by the kind of causal inference that be teaching the class right? So if it is the case that a student decides graduate degree is not for me, I would rather transition and industry. They now get to walk away with the same skills that are in high demand across these companies. That because they are engaging and actively learning. How can we improve our platform?

How can we better serve our customers? How can we ensure that they have access to different products and what are the kinds of products that they really want right add on top of that, decoding component, which is how you actually execute it in a technological environment it's a winner combination.

Definitely outlined that these skills are highly valued and highly sought after in academia and industry in different policy areas, different sectors. That's a really rich skill set that surged have. But as the students are exploring different opportunities to learn these skills or different programs they can do during the summer, why would you, Chicago's program B stand out in their operations options? Why are we unique and really training that skill set? Yeah, so this very question.

Yeah, I think this is this is a a broader question about the nature of where we are as a social science.

And the answer is that Harris is arguably the most rigorous of the policy schools in the United States in terms of its quantitative core. We have a really intense program of mathematics are really intense program statistics, and the reason why those foundations are there so that the students who walked out of the Harris program walk away with a brand and people thinking about them being admitted to pH DS or going into industry. You're going into government, know exactly what they're getting.

You're getting a student who's been rigorously changed.

And well, that's important, and that's part of our mission. Were careful to recognize that not all schools are like that, and that's an important thing to message to students. Is that the experience that you might have here is going to be very different than the experience you might have somewhere else where you're going to think about policy programs, but you're going to think about that from a very different perspective, and they're important, perspective said. I don't want to say that they're not, but they're different. An in my mind. They can be less rigorous.

Things like an ethnographic approach, things like in anthropological approach, things like it, qualitative approach, useful case studies are valuable, but at the end of the day what do we need right now? We need rigorous answers that are quantifiable and here is in a unique position to help with that. That's exactly the set of skills that we bring in the summer program that students can expect to get.

And they also know that when they leave here, when they communicate to graduate programs, the faculty back at their home institution, potential industry, higher hiring firm, they can communicate that those skills are what they walk out of here with. And that's why I'm so excited about the program. That's why I took it out because I teach in the core here, and I see our students here really gain the benefits of the type of work that we do.

And we wanted to bring those benefits to just a wider audience.

Well, I said thank you so much for your time today to chat with us and tell us more about this summer program. Appreciate yeah, absolutely.

So now we're going to transition into maybe a different component. We are now going to expand and talk about the program beyond the academics. Then we'll chat about the application process and the tips that we have. And then we're going to leave time for Q&A. At the end some time for questions, so continue to use that chat box feature to type in your questions. And as we dive in, I am really pleased to say we are being joined.

By the program director Schilling Leo like to introduce yourself sure. Hi everyone, uh this is Shilling uh it's really great pleasure to talk to you through this web and R and I've been working with Austin Andy for the GPS program on this is our third year so again we've received a lot of great students from the summer program. Some also joined us as a hair student in the future years so today we hope that we can address all the questions that you may have.

Um and make the GPS is a great experience for you.

So she will you expand on the career exploration component, because again, this program is very holistic. It goes beyond the academics and within the correct version we have a couple of different programs in that. Will you tell us more about that? Sure, so as Austin already mentioned from the academic perspective, because this program design the curriculum is really technical in the sense that it will equip you with a skill set that you will need not only for your.

Future studies but also career wise and also because Harris itself is a professional school so all the students here, whether it's a summer student or a degree student with us, they all have the same mindset of being a young professional. That's why for the DPS as program we want to make sure that our DPS is students. They are. They have the same level of access in terms of how Paris train our students for the career exploration mainly.

For example, how to do network, how to create your LinkedIn profile? How to?

Get more knowledge from your peers etc and also for those who are thinking about graduate studies in the future, how to prepare for your graduate study, application materials, etc. So this is like some bullet points for us today out what has been offered in the past. So for example we have invited different positive leaders or professors to share his or her.

Research process and their outcomes to expose you to a wider range of policy areas. We invited our career development office folks to do career networking workshops. Do some exercise, peer interviews, mock interviews, etc. We also connect you with other huge call community members to share their resources and paths and so this picture, for example, on the slide is one coffee chat that I organized with a group of students.

In one of the best popular cafe on campus. So again, even though the program as as dimension is pretty intense in terms of the academic part but but we want to make sure that Meanwhile our students they enjoy the career part as well.

One thing I'd like to add is on our website we have a section all about our summer program alumni and some of the outcomes they've experienced. Austin Professor Austin, right, just mentioned some of the graduate programs they've gone into, so you can read a little bit more about where our alumni have gone on our website.

Now let's talk about the student life part, 'cause while you're here in Chicago, you're studying hard in the academics. You're learning these great career tools for yourself, but you're also here to have fun. You're going to be spending four weeks of your life here in the city of Chicago, and we've designed a few things that can help you make the most of your summer fun. And one area is the staff know Shelly and I are here the entire somewhere. We're here to support you. We serve as an academic advisor. Suit life advisor.

For your time with us, we also have some graduate assistants who are here to maybe give you some additional recommendations. You'll see them in that graduate admissions panel and other ways throughout the program to just be an additional resource for you, but one of the key areas that we like about the student life experiences a cohort groups because the summer program student body is about, you know, 50 students or so. We like to help make it easier to connect in a better way, and so we've put. We've arranged cohort groups about 10 to 15 students per group.

And amongst those cool heart groups, you do fun activities. One example is we have a photo challenge. So each week cohort takes pictures of themselves doing things, whether it's a steady night in the dorms or they've gone downtown to a great museum or restaurant, they just document their time in Chicago. It's a really great way to make sure that you're capturing these memories. And on this website web and are you can see some of those pictures that students admitted as part of their photo challenge.

And we also have graduate teaching assistants. We know that there's going to be a lot of academic components to this, and it may be a learning curve for summer view, so we are proud to say we have graduate teaching assistants every night of the week to help you with. If you want some additional practice. If you have questions, or if you want to stretch problem. If you want to push yourself even further than those teaching assistants can help you in that regard.

And we also encourage you to really utilize the city and all the resource that it has, as well as the resources on campus. For example, the resident Hall that you'll be staying at is 24 hour front desk service, so there's a point of contact for you when you're coming in and out at all hours of the day. You have access to the On Campus Library, the Recreation Center, dining halls, counseling and health services are all available to use. To really maximize these different opportunities.

But I'll be honest, my best part. My favorite part about the Chicago campus is one. It's innate beauty, but two is a 10 minute walk from Lake MI and we see time and time again our students. They love walking to the beach. They'll have a picnic. They'll play some games or they'll rent bikes. It's a really popular activity to rent a bike in, ride the bike up and down the Lake to the downtown area or other parts of the city. And as a U Chicago students, your student.

Heidi will give you a lot of discounts to different group activities and museums. The Museum of Science and industry is in our neighborhood here. Quick five minute walk and you're in for free. A lot of great exhibits available to you exclusively as a uchicago student.

So those are some of the components of the student life, so you can still see that you're going to have a lot of fun during your four weeks with us this summer.

Social and would you wanna help us really summarize and conceptualize what this program schedule looks like? How does it really work? Sure, so does this a four week program and.

As we already mentioned, the first three weeks already essentially this.

We would say the two heavily quant core courses. One is the quant analysis in public policy, essentially statistic at anchor metrics. So you're going to do 3 hours every morning from 9 to 12 from Monday to Thursday. During the first two or three weeks for the course of can't analysis. And then in the afternoon you're going to do 3 hours of programming are so basically you learn the theory in the morning and then you're going to learn how to apply those theories.

Into our programming, right? How to write code to run the test you want to run, so that's again, that's three weeks from Monday to Thursday in the afternoon. Basically, anything from 1:30 to 4:30. And that's already like 6 hours of lecturing per day. From Monday, Thursday, an everyday you're also going to have at least one hour of TA sessions in the sense that you're going to have some assignments. You're going to have some questions.

So the TAS are great resources for you to make sure that you are on track of the progression, because as we have, you know this is a very intense curriculum, so we want to make sure that you don't fall behind. You know what you're learning everyday, so on Fridays is going to be career exploration sessions as I just shared some workshop, some networking events, some site visits, etc. So that's the first three weeks, so the idea is.

During the first three with your not basically learn thing that you would need in order for you to do the capstone project, which is the 4th week and in order to do a capstone project. You know you not only need the technical skill, but also you also need to know how to write right so that's why we also have a writing policy session for students how to do writing and in the end, the 4th week will be a very intense research faculty lot capstone research project.

You work with small groups to discuss and brainstorm an work with faculty members on one of their existing research projects. In the end, you're going to do one group presentation as well as individual policy memo assignment, so these are the four weeks of the program and how it runs. And as this light mentioned, so for students attending DPS, you're going to have one official uchicago transcript with.

Is it like electronic version that you can access online all the time that includes the core courses that were listed in the pass fail grade. These courses are non credit courses but some of the students in the past they were able to transfer those courses with.

The proof that we provide back to their home institution for quite is really your home institutions choice, and we're also going to provide you a certificate of completion of the program, again, with those detailed courses and letter grade, because you are going to have assignments, presentation, etc. There's no exam for the program, but all of the grading, our innovate based on your individual assignments. That's a really clear summary of.

The four weeks as a whole, and if you are looking for what is A day in the life actually look like, we also have that on our website. There is a page with all the schedule where you can download a sample schedule of your session and also see that hours broken up. Those that's been provided by some of our past program participants and also we've had two recent webinars with some alumni and they've answered that question of what is the day in the life look like? If you want to see that more broken down.

But now we want to talk about the current situation. We understand that the coronavirus kovid 19 is making some impacts around the world social. And can you tell us a little bit about how we are planning for potential impact? Yeah, so we already received, you know, a lot of students. They're very they care about, you know what's happening? What is uchicago doing? How will that impact program? So it is our best intentions.

In best interest to keep everybody you know updated as soon as possible. So at this moment, as of today, so there's no official plan to change to offerings of the summer program in Chicago.

Course we are working very closely with the entire University of the Central Office to make sure that we got the most update information. So as you know, any mentioned for example, and now there's no, there's no case on High Park at Uchicago. Among our community members, so we still plan to have the two sessions, and we are looking into, let's say, if in the future things are, you know.

Getting a little bit different in terms of situation, we are looking into alternatives of for example online online version of the program. If we're going to cancel any of the in person sessions and you as the student or the you know whether you are still thinking about the program or you already being admitted, or even you are you have already deposited to secure receipt, so we are going to make sure that you will be updated as soon as possible, and if they're involved.

Any of the you know money transaction due to reasons that is out of your control out of our control, we will definitely make that very clear. And in that case were going to refund to order for you for future program years. So I think In summary at this moment don't worry too much. We are being closely attention, paying attention to everything happening on campus in Chicago in the US, so we'll keep you posted.

And there's a website information on the slide here. So this is the. This is coronavirus updates at uchicagochicago.edu, so if you go to that website that has all the information that you should call go provides regarding coronal virus onto his community member. So also there's a good source for you to check in.

You

Now, let's transition and talk about the admissions process. What is required, who were looking for, and all those main questions. So the first question we want to address is who will be looking for Shell and you want to talk about what is the ideal candidate and who is a great fit for this program. Sure, so you know. As for example, this beautiful picture layout and this is our past years one of our past year group of participants. So as we already.

Made a pretty good clear point that this program is pretty fast pacing. Uh, it's a pretty intensive in terms of economic, but also we want to create a really well bonded community together. That's why we're looking for those key characteristics, right? One is you would like to see this person being really self driven and wanting to explore new things about how to make a social impact work.

A lot of our past part is when they are either thinking about pursuing graduate studies in the future. Or they actually they already going to be a graduate student in another Institute so they know that all having this you Chicago experience is going to prepare me further for my career. Orgonomic pursuit and of course, you're going to do a lot of group work together an you need your appears to help you throughout the process and we're going to have a lot of like cohort activities the work and relationship building.

Are also essential, so these are the three things that we want to see from our lovely students.

The next question is which session to choose? Because it's this program is offered twice and I'd like to reiterate that when offered on campus, there are two identical sessions. It is the same classes that is the same experience in and out. Certainly there may be a change in one of the speakers in the policy and action series, or there may be a different alumni on the graduate missions panel, but overall you can expect to receive the exact same program whether you choose session one or session 2.

Uh, those dates are listed there for you on the screen has also on our website. You really just choose the session that is a best fit for your schedule. We understand academic calendars around the world very and due to a high demand for this program. That's why we've really excited to offer two sessions. So when you start your application, one of the first questions you'll be asked is to pick which session you would like to attend. You need to choose just one session in order to submit your application, but if for some reason you are really.

Open to either session, then please make a note in your application. There's lots of comment sections where you can let us know if you're really open to either session.

Let's talk about that admissions process from start to finish. So first, if you haven't done so already, start your application online. If you're anywhere on our website, you'll see the apply now button or get started button. Please feel free to click that and big in starting your application for the DPSS program there is a lot of different fields.

It's a very dynamic application. The more you put into it, the more that you'll see becomes available to you.

So then you'll put all your details. You upload your information and then you'll submit that application before the deadline and will talk about the deadline in just a moment. But just for a quick sneak peek, the next deadline is Friday, March 27th, so just around the corner, so will submit your application deadline by the deadline. You will receive an emissions notification two weeks after that deadline were really quick here at U Chicago, and then you will confirm your offer if you're admitted.

Guys saying yes, I confirm my offer and you submit an enrollment deposit to secure your seat. And if you are in an international student who needs a Visa and motored, attend this program then we will help you through that process and will dive a little more in depth about that process. But this is a quick overview of what the admissions process looks like.

Now let's answer the question what is needed to submit an application first? It's that online application. Then there are three writing components of motivation statement are acquired short essay, an optional shore essay, all of which have a 300 word limit. So these writing components are really great opportunity for you to showcase your experience, your goals, your interest in this program, my number one tip for you, if I can give you anything for your application's.

Really focus on those writings, particularly the motivation statement. Really tell us why you're interested in DPS and how it can help you achieve the goals that you are striving for.

The application also requires a one page resume, an academic transcripts.

And we know academic transcripts are mark sheets can really vary depending on your institution or where you are in the world, and so there are a couple other elements I want to expand upon in terms of transcripts. Transcripts include the course name, the course grade, the date or academic term such as Spring 2016 are fall 2019.

And ideally the transcription also had a grading scale where we know that and a means an 9200%. Anna B means an 8290%, for example.

So please make sure that you the documents that you submit include these details. If your transcript is not automatically come in English from your University, then we do ask that you receive an official English translation of your transcript. We do not require any transcript evaluation, so you don't need a third party to evaluate the GPA conversion, we just take it as is as long as it is in English or there is an official English language translation. And Lastly, for our international students.

There is an English proficiency requirement. We will need to submit a toefl or riled score, and we do know that because of the coronavirus, some testing centers have been closed, so we at the University of Chicago also offer 1/3 testing alternative known as the academic English proficiency assessment. You can read more details about that option on our website, or send me an email. I'd be happy to chat with you further about what that program that process looks like.

What I want to stress, the things that are not required for the application, you do not need a jury or Gina or L SAT scores. No graduate admission exams. You do not need a letter of recommendation or references and there is no application fee, so these things are not required. So there should be very little cost or no cost to submit your application to this program. And we have also provided an application checklist than our blog.

So that when you're preparing to submit your application, you can do it quick glance just to make sure you have all the required materials for your application.

Next window apply as I just mentioned, the next and final application deadline is Friday, March 27th. It's just around the corner, but still plenty of time for you to get your materials together. Submit that application because there's no jury or letters of recommendation. You do not have to wait on anyone else to submit your application.

We do recommend that you begin early and take your time and have a pure or mentor read through your essays. Just double check is always helpful. It's a great tip but have all your materials ready to go by March 27th.

And if you are an international student who is going to be taking that academic English proficiency assessment through the University of Chicago, I want to let you know that you do have to allow at least two weeks of time for that score. An exam to be scheduled in processed. So therefore you should ideally submit your application early so you can allow much time for that, a EPA assessment.

So if you submit your application by March 27th, you'll receive a notification by April 3rd, so again, that shows a two week turn around time, so you'll know relatively quickly about your status in this program.

And then it is a one week later that you were asked to confirm your attendance and submit the enrollment deposit.

The Roman deposit is 1000 US dollars and not enrollment deposit secures your seat in the program and is applied to your total tuition fee, which we'll talk about in just a moment.

I want to have these dates fresh in your mind so you understand that your next deadline. The final deadline is March 27th.

Let's talk about the cost and if scholarships are available.

So the program fee for this program is 9500 US dollars and we're really proud to say that we've been able to expand what we offer in this program that not increase the cost. This is the same program costs as last year, and this total program fee includes the tuition course materials on campus, accommodations in the residence halls.

A partial meal plan. the University required health insurance, student life, and extracurricular fees, and so this is really all encompassing for the program. So once you get to campus, there's no additional expenses for the program that we have provided. I'd like to point out that this feed does not include travel costs, so whoever you're coming from the world to get to Chicago that is out of your own pocket, and if you do choose to partake in restaurants and the local.

Area or Grout to do some of the wonderful sightseeing that is not included in the program. Although we do have some attractions that we have planned for you that is covered in the program cost. But keep in mind as you're planning your budget to include the things you will do in your own free time.

And for the question, are scholarships available? Yes, scholarships are available. You Chicago awards partial merit based scholarship.

And the way to apply for this is simply submitting your application. There is a field in the application where you click that you would like to indicate to be considered for scholarship. There's no additional documentation needed, no letters, no supplemental essays.

But I'd like to be very transparent with you. With that, full scholarships are not granted and not all admitted students are awarded a scholarship and so that is why we really encourage you to me looking now for other funding opportunities. In the past we know students were able to see to receive additional funding such as sponsorship from their home, University or their employer.

From a home University that those funds can come from the Career Center or even your academic Department.

Or from your employer. It would typically be a professional development type fund and I'll speak for shell in here in a vet to say that we are also willing to provide an additional letter for you. So if you have been admitted into the program In addition to your admission letter when you're applying to these additional sponsorships or scholarships, we can write an additional letter on your behalf to indicate were so excited to have you. And we hope that this third party would help support your time here in Chicago.

We we know students in the past also found scholarships based on their academic discipline, their citizenship identity group, their field of study, and a whole bunch of other various factors. So we really encourage you to expand your search. Pretty wind. We know of a few different scholarship search engines that we are happy to share with you to expand your search, so hopefully some of these tips can help you think more broadly about how your budgeting your time this summer. And Lastly, there is an option for educational loans. We've known students in the past have explored that.

Option as well.

The last question that we have is supporting of the visa. Yes, we will support visa for international students who do not yet have a visa.

We sponsor AJ1 visa for admitted students and we will initiate the process. So at this time as you're preparing your application, there's nothing that you need to be doing all worrying about the visa when the time comes, we will help initiate and making sure that you understand the process. We have a whole team here at the University Chicago of Advisors who will help make sure that you understand each step of the process and will be there for each step of the process.

And we have set our timeline to be very conscious of visa processing times wait times as.

Our advisors are very aware an up-to-date of current health status is an how visas are being affected by the current coronavirus.

And if you are an international student who already have a visa as currently here in the US on AJ1 or F1 visa, then let us know. We would be happy to work through work with you on what those next steps in that process would be.

And not really concludes the content that we have to share in this presentation. So now we want to open it up to Q&A With you so please use that chat box feature to submit your questions or happy to talk further about academics, the student life that corrects paration the missions process. All of the above. But we also know that that was a lot of information we just sent your way, so you're also welcome to take time to process reflect.

Review our website. For some of those additional details that we mentioned and if you do have any further questions, please feel free to send us an email. Our email address is harrisdashsummerscholar@uchicago.edu, so please continue to submit your questions now.

One of the first questions that were getting here is if you could expand a little bit more on what is the partial meal plan. As a great question, I can see that you are being proactive in planning for your budget for the partial meal plan. It's approximately about 50% of your meals and it depends on how you approach your lifestyle in terms of meal, you will be given what we called Maroon dollars that you can use to purchase meals in our dining Hall.

Our campus coffee shops. So if you're someone who doesn't choose breakfast, then you're more. Dollars will last longer if you're somebody who enjoys eating.

Meals in local restaurants are trying different cuisines in the different neighborhoods than that is also make your moon dollars go further. But if you are planning to have each meal on campus and that's something you'll need to think through once you get to campus and plan accordingly, there are certainly a number of meals that will provide during the program that will be group lunches such as that policy and action series or cohort lunches and things like that.

So we have another question here about how many students do usually accept each year. So each year we've seen growth and the program, and as I previously mentioned, each session is approximately about 50 students or so. Sometimes it's a little bit more, sometimes it's a little bit less depending on the year and different students academic schedule.

Another question that we're getting is about the opportunities about their graduate admissions panel. Can you expand a little bit more in that? Yes, I'd be happy to talk a little bit more so since we know this program is often coming from people who are thinking about graduate studies, and particularly at an institution like the University of Chicago, we try to really help you have a clear understanding of what it would be like for you to study as a graduate student. So in that graduate admissions panel, what we've done in the past.

As we have one panel where its current graduate students or recent alumni and they will talk about their experience about how they decided on the program, that's the right fit for them. How to determine the school? So once you've decided you're going to polisy, how do you choose program? It's a lot more quantitative like you, Chicago or not, how do you determine?

And how do you just share a little bit more about their experience? What wins like on campus in the different resources? Then we'll have a second panel that is of the admissions officers 'cause we know some students may be interested in other uchicago divisions, so we have opportunities for you to connect with other admissions offices as well.

We have one last question that we have and the question is to learn a little bit more about the diversity within the cohorts, and we've been really impressed with the diversity in our cohort. Last year we had representation from 15 different countries and 12 different US states, and so we've really been able to see students from across the world from across different academic disciplines from different.

Backgrounds, cultural backgrounds, and come together to make a very collaborative experience and very relational. Inner last web and are with alumni you hear from Javier, who's from Mexico, and Kevin, who is from the US, and they met for the first time during DP SS and became friends and just a few weeks ago Kevin went to Mexico to visit Javier and so it's a really great way to build relationships from and build friendships from across the world.

And so I encourage you to take a look more at our alumni page and a student life page where you can see a little bit more about the coalport makeup. See people from very different backgrounds. And maybe there's someone in there that has a background that resonates with you.