Get to Know Harris! A Webinar Conversation with Ranjan Daniels

Good morning everyone or good night depending on where you are. My name is Johnny Erickson. I am the director of enrollment here at the University of Chicago. Her School of public policy, I've been sending you notes along with my colleague here sparkle just to make sure our chat features are working, but if you can send a note just confirming that the audio sounds good on your end and then we're going to dive in and get started. We always love to share where everyone is calling in from tuning in from so I'm just going to quickly go through some of these.

We have Pennsylvania Poly from New York City. Uh, we have annual from India, Roberto from Mexico Kumar from India, Monique from Vancouver, Thomas from Argentina, Dallas, TX. Some students let's see xiaoqing from China, Lizzie from the UK accent from Japan. So we've got a great group of people who have tuned in today to talk with.

Senior associate Dean runs in Daniels and we're also getting confirmation that the sound is working great. So if you're having any issues, we record these and will send them out later. Will be answering questions as the web and R goes, but I want you turn it over to my colleague Runjun to introduce himself and sparkle. Will also be answering questions on chat. Brendon your morning thanks Jenny, for that great introduction and I'm so excited to be communicating with our admin it from around the world, and it seems like.

This is very similar to a new Chicago classroom, or we have students from all over US along with incredible talented.

Social impact change agents around the world thinking and looking at things from a global land. So it's just great to be here. I hope you fire away your questions via chat so we can get a good sense of what's on your mind. It's very easy.

To look at our website or the blog or the Facebook Post that we have and get one sense of our school. But I know for each of you this is a very personal decision about your karere about your policy and professional aspiration. So I want to make sure that myself and my team is available to be a great resource to you and you're getting the information you need to make a decision. I know you have a lot of different options an I want you to be informed and make the best choice that you can and that's what I hope today we can do but also don't feel this is a set it and forget it.

You can, uh, email text post questions to us. We have different social media platforms that our team is on. So whatever you find helpful, please take advantage of us. OK, wonderful things for that introduction. Sparkle, did you want to do a quick introduction of yourself so students will know who is answering all their questions in the chat? Sure, hi everyone, my name is Rockwood Alpinus on the associate director sooner recruitment very excited to be a part of this web and are with you guys today so feel free to type your questions. Happy to answer them.

Are you great? So range in our first question. Let me also introduce myself. I kinda just did a welcome so I'm running Daniels. I'm the senior associate Dean of admissions, financial aid, marketing, an executive education at terrace. I'm also an alumni of the program. I graduated from you Chicago a number of years ago. Group in high park have a lot of ties to the community here and it's been great to be part of our public policy program.

And you get to meet many interesting applicants and to get involved with our current students. So I'm delighted to be here today. Wonderful thank you range and so we have both getting some specific hollows on the chat feature. Wanted to let you know that student London, we have students here who are interested in a variety of careers. Can you speak to the versatility of Apolosi degree? So I'll speak with it. I'll speak about that in a couple of ways.

One, I think it's helpful. You know I'll just share a little bit about my background. So I graduated from Harris at a political science undergraduate degree. Very little exposure to quantitative methods, but I wanted to have a good sense of what the right policy or solution is. I just didn't want to know how to spin it or how to market it. I want to know what should we do about income inequality or what should we do about criminal justice reform? Or what should the right policy be?

To ensure that everyone has access to a quality education.

So I think there are answers and I know that our professors here at the University of Chicago are working on those, and I wanted to learn that. So that was that was part of my decision calculus. The second piece is, you know what I've experienced once I earned my degree here, I thought I got a great sort of technical, quantitative, analytical framework, but I also made incredible connections with students with classmates from diverse backgrounds. And we also learn about.

Qualitative methods too, so I feel that that combination of critical thinking skills was very helpful to Maine. I then once a graduated Harris, I worked in the mayor's office in Chicago for six years on crime and public safety issues. I never studied that Harris and it shows you the versatility of our training that we can sort of analyze challenges in a wide variety of issues and that that were trained in a specific policy or domain so that flexibility is very helpful. After six years in the mayor's office, I've got 2.

I worked for a technology startup I was working on crime and public safety issues in the mayor's office, and at that time there was a heavy introduction of technology of analytical tools, big data to better handle the way we respond to criminal justice issues, and also, how do we become proactive in that process so that training got me into an Internet startup, and then I eventually pivoted to business. I work at the Tribune Company, a publishing company.

I was in operation by also got an MBA from Kellogg. I then worked.

I didn't bought a little bit about sort of mission and purpose and for me that came into the field of like higher education. I'm really inspired and motivated to develop human capital like to help people develop and grow, and one of the things I find in higher education is, you know, if you can attract somebody who may be the first member of their family to go to college or Graduate School, you can change the trajectory that family for the next 100 or 200 years and.

I love being at that intersection, so I pivoted into higher education. I work for Kaplan.

For profit company working on line learning and international partnerships and then five years ago I came to the University of Chicago and took on my role here at Harris. So I worked in government, nonprofit and industry. I've worked in publishing, manufacturing, higher education and government. So I've been in different sections sectors. I've worked in different roles. I've been a marketer. I've been a general manager. I'm in operations an.

All throughout those jobs that I had, I was the first person to do those jobs and what really helped me was the critical thinking skills and the analytical tool that I learned at the University of Chicago. That framework allowed me to be able to tackle and innovate in new industries or sectors, and I rely on that. And the other piece of this is I've also used my life lines, which are my classmates, my alumni mentors that I got it here. It's an staff throughout my career.

So I go back to them when I enter a new opportunity. And uhm, what I don't know I often use. I often find from my network from the Chicago, so that's the versatility. On a personal level. Now flash forward to today as we look at a very changing political, economic and technological landscape. What are the skills that are going to have the best shelf life, right?

There are things that seem top of mind today and then you know five years from now there's going to be some new industries or new technology, or new something that's going to be propelling you. So what are the skills that you're going to have that are going to give you the best?

Runway to be successful.

I think, uh, our program offers, um, three key areas for you. One is we are essentially in applied economics program. We public policy is a broad domain, but at the University of Chicago, based on our social science and economic expertise.

Our program is really built on that and our faculty like you know, Ardene Kate Baker or other faculty members like damn black or Damon Jones. They are economists who want to apply economic microeconomic theory.

Into the real world to help people transform their lives.

So I replied economic framework is a key pillar in that and what that helps you do is how do you think about ways to change decisions at the margin? How do individuals make decisions? How they pick? What school their child goes to how do they pick? What Car or what mode of transportation to do? How do they pick? What communities to live in? These are all decisions that individuals make and policymakers and.

Industry can influence them with incentives and we want to unpack that and find the right the right frameworks to get the best outcomes for society. So that applied economics model. and I can't think of a better program and a better school to offer that then the University of Chicago and the key thing is that our faculty want their ideas to have impact. So I think that's a key differentiator. Secondly, we have a very strong statistics framework that is going to help you.

Leverage big data to use probability in a good way to figure out.

We are at the margins. You can have the biggest impact we live in a world where we have to make choices we don't. There's no government that has unlimited resources, so as a policymaker or leader, you have to decide if you want to improve educational outcomes. Do you want to invest in classrooms? Do you want to invest in teacher salaries? Do you want to invest in programming for families to make sure that their kids are fed and can get to school? You want to do all those things, but you have to figure out where at the margins you could.

Have impact, so I think that statistical framework combined with the applied economics is very powerful. Also, you look around, you see from big technology companies to government. There's a heavy need for people that can do impact evaluation, program evaluation and the framework that you learn from economics. But the tools you get from stats is so critical.

Those are two pieces. The third piece is another area string, and that's our political economy. That's where we combine politics and economic theory to figure out how things actually happen in a political environment.

Weather in Washington or Albany or Sacramento or Springfield? You have policy that has to go through a legislative process an my experiences that legislators are subject to incentives, interest groups, political pressure, and I think if we think that just by producing a regression or some analysis, that that's going to end mass incarceration or.

Address Inequities in the healthcare system. I think you're mistaken and what it when you have to take into account is how political actors will will respond to a particular set of choices, right? So our political economists in our core help you understand how markets and policy intersect. And whereas a innovator in a leader, you can make headway. So the final piece. Those are the kind of subjects in the academic teaching has.

Then there are two other pieces that give you the versatility. So one is we have a very flexible elective pool that you can take across the University of Chicago, so you can take classes in the Business School. You can take classes in the law school. You can take electives at parents that can round out your core training and then the second piece is the incredible network that you get with our students were going to have 1100 students that you can network and connect with from around the world.

And you know that that sort of those relationships that diverse set of backgrounds and experiences as you leave Graduate School and go out to start your own enterprise or to join an organization, you're going to need colleagues and mentors and peers to growth and to be successful. So that network coupled with the flexibility of our electric pool and then the solid foundation you get in our core.

That's what really offers you a lot of versatility.

Underfell think runs in that was really helpful information. I think for a lot of our students on this web, and are you touched on the next question on why you chose to attend you Chicago Harrison. You talked a little bit about how the network has been supportive to you. Can you give us some more examples of that?

So I'll start with the first part of your question, Jenny, like why I chose University of Chicago, and I think you know for 130 years, and I think there's a lot of history Todd or or University in terms of excellence in terms of scholarship and faculty across a wide array of discipline. So I think first and foremost I was drawn to what the University of Chicago means, not just in public policy or social times, but we have a world class business going. But world class medical school in hospital we have a world class.

Humanities division we teach 76 languages, my uncle.

Came to this country in the early 1960s and he was a leading sand script professor, so the show that the University cares deeply about a language like sand script and built a South Asian language Department around his scholarship and work speaks volumes to the type of Academic Community University Chicago has the second part of that community that really resonated with me is our location were in the South side of Chicago in Hyde Park and incredibly diverse community.

A community of community activists were very engaged and social impact.

For those of you better read Michelle Obama's biography, you learn a little bit about High Park. It also South Shore where she grew up, which is adjacent to Hyde Park, and I think that community has molded and shaped University of Chicago for the back, for better.

So that diversity in terms of our neighbors, but also in the classroom, we have always prided ourselves in being a place that attracts first generation students and students from around the world. So when I stepped on campus.

As a child of immigrants, I felt very at home here, but that's that's me. I think I would encourage you to visit us on April 3rd if you can, or to talk to our alumni or current students to see to get a sense of whether that community is right for you. But that sort of embrace of diversity and welcoming of students from all sorts of backgrounds has always resonated with Maine. And I've always felt very comfortable here. So then.

In terms of in terms of other decision calculations I I touched on it in in my answer, I like the flexibility of the degree. I like that I could take classes in the business goal or took classes at the social Sciences division. So I think that flexibility and.

Is really helpful. The other thing is I know we're all thinking about like some.

You know, I, I'm trying to get some outcome or I want to be a I want to work in the Development Bank or I want to work in city government or I want to be a consultant. But there's also like a part of Graduate School in which you get a chance to grow and learn. And there are so many incredible faculty here in so many different disciplines that even if it's not part of your location, you want to like take James Robinson's class if you can, and learn about. Sort of.

International Development in politics. Or there's some incredible classes that essay on gender and race and inequality. and I think that flexibility is also is also really helpful. Great range and you talk briefly about differentiators and you mentioned the applied economics aspect of the degree program using stats as a framework to investigate public policy solutions and the political economy. That's part of the core.

What are other differentiators for students to consider when they were comparing the Harrison PP to other MPP programs? So I think one thing Jenny is you know.

Keep in mind that you're gonna get graduate with a degree from the University of Chicago that are undergraduate college is one of the best in the world and I think that's one of the big changes that I've seen in my lifetime as a student many years ago and as an administrator now is the excellence and growth of our undergraduate college has opened up so many doors for alumni and our current students. So I think the our University identity of excellence.

And we are living in this might be inside baseball. But in a Moneyball data. Analytics world, so that fits really nicely with what you Chicago is all about because across all of our disciplines. One thing that Unites Law School faculty in Business School faculty and parents faculty and medical faculty is can, we use evidence and data to show what we're doing is working. We are moving into a world like that. Now I know right now in DC and.

And in Delhi and in other parts of the world, it may seem that evidence and data are secondary to rhetoric. But I think across the places that I go and industry in non profit organization in leading organizations, you're seeing more of an emphasis on impact and evidence. And that's where we always been. So I think the University of Chicago opens up a lot of doors. And As for me personally, well I got these an incredible analytic tools, right?

I have never I. I've been in many jobs where I haven't been called on to use them, but because I'm a University of Chicago graduate people think that I have a lot of credibility in these areas and I have a lot of expertise, so I think.

The train that you get here really care. Easy care is your courage yourself well or set you up for success in many different disciplines.

In terms of what I think is a differentiator today, Jenny is incredible support that we offer our students so on the career development side, which wasn't the case when I was here. But it's the case today. We have 10 people that are assigned to support our students in their professional development and growth.

Uh, if you look at our competitors, they might have one or two people in career development.

And so I think that's that's a shortcoming, and I think that's something that adds value to us. So six people in our development team are student facing, so they're working with you on your resume on your cover letters. If you still tend those on your LinkedIn profiles on how to do a great video for video interviews, you don't want to find that out the night before, but you can sort of pressure test this with our team. And then there are four people who are.

Company or organization facing who are going out knocking on doors, sending emails, taking meetings to get people on campus or to open doors for you.

That's a huge advantage. I think that you have and I think it's important because in policy program does not like everybody looking for consulting, investment, banking and General Management. They're like a Business School. People are looking at federal government, state government, NGOs, international organizations, research jobs, apply job. So I think that diversity we need a diverse team who can go out and advocate for our students. Secondly, we have an incredibly strong and adept.

Academic and student affairs team. So you've got career advisers, but you also have academic advisors who are there to be resources to you during your academic journey.

I think that's a That's a huge huge opportunity and a benefit. I think our staff ratio is about 1:00 till like nine or nine and a half students. It's probably one of the strongest in our competitive set or in any graduate program, so that's an investment we're making in our student success, and I think it's a pretty. It's a pretty big resource that you have. And then finally the differentiator. and I touched down a little bit. It's not that we live in a great city.

In a community that's incredibly diverse, but that diversity is embedded in your academic experience in terms of you have the opportunity to take what you're learning in our classroom and apply it across Chicago. We have policy labs, which are elective courses that you take after our core in which you can work on a project with classmates. 7, eight, 10 people that simulates what work is like. You know, once you graduate here, you're not going to be an army of one. You're going to be working in a matrix environment with people with different backgrounds.

So you get that experience here and you work on a project for a government or a nonprofit organization.

And you get to present that to the leader of that organization. So you get that experience and you get a portfolio. But you also have the opportunity to work on research centers across the University, and it harrist that have applied work in communities like the South side of Chicago or in the mayor's office, or with the Chicago Public schools or the Police Department. So you get on the ground, hands on experience while you're here. That's very difficult to do.

In small campus towns. But you can do that here in Chicago. We also have great industry opportunities for our students in financial services and consulting in data analytics in transportation, so our students can also work in industry. So those experiences that you get by being in a large urban center that has a large tradition and community organizing and nonprofit leadership in government and industry. That is a huge opportunity for our students.

And I it's something that our students are taking advantage of which I think is great. Great range and you mentioned the uchicago network and being part of the University of Chicago as a differentiator and I wanted to take that as an opportunity to ask you more about your global travel so you've gone to India. China are their observations. You had about this global you Chicago network that are helpful for our students to know more about.

It's it's a. It's a really.

It's a good question because I think as you're looking at policy.

In my experience, that is a global question, right? So I think what you learn about health care or economic development that's happening in India or China or Mexico does resonate in the USA and vice versa. So I think understanding the global landscape is very helpful.

It also opportunity for us at the University. I have global impact, so our faculty are wanting to address climate change or income inequality and we don't want to just do that in Chicago or Miami or Boston. We want to do that in Delhi, an Beijing and Mexico City. So our faculty or around the world with research and that gives students an opportunity to get that global experience. We also have made investments in.

Academic centers, so we have a center in Delhi in Beijing in Hong Kong that serve as research beachheads for current students or opportunities from current students abroad. To leverage our alumni network or our support in these markets. So great example is the energy policy instituted uchicago epic. They're doing research and randomized control trials across India in a dozen or so states.

With the federal government, are students in Chicago an we have graduates in Delhi that are working on those projects? We also have a faculty that are doing research across Africa like Chris Blattman and James Robinson. We also have faculty like Austin, right? Who are doing work in Afghanistan in conflict regions and we also have faculty that are doing work in Latin America on economic and social development so that global perspective. I think it is helpful and on a personal note.

You know, I look back in my classmates and we had students from from Mexico and Japan and China and it was some of my early exposure to those countries, and it's been transformative in terms of my development in my life. and I think I love hearing from our current students or recent grads about how they've gone to weddings in Colombia or Japan, or.

Spring break or take family trips in different countries and they don't have to stay at a hotel. They could stay with their classmates. I think those are. Those are some of the those don't show up on US news ranking, but they have a huge impact on your life and your perspective. and I think those are some really key value points of our program. Wonderful, so engine in all of these travels and all these other times we've had events here you've met with so many different alumni and you're also connected to this.

Larger alumni network, as in the one yourself.

Can you share the alumni story? If you can pick only one that has most impressed you?

Jenny, that's a It's a challenging question because.

One thing that strikes me about, you know our alumni is at a place like University of Chicago and Jenny spark. But we've seen it through these interactions with our with our prospects. Everyone on this chat.

Really strong grades has really good scores, incredible letters of references, and The thing is Jenny. They could do so many things, but yet one of the things that they that that motivates them is in those mission statements, like they don't want to, just you know, work at the EPA or work at a consulting form. They want to like.

Solve climate change. They want to.

You know, break the yolk of mass incarcerations or they want to promote gender and gender equity. They want economic development, so we have like you. Credibly talented but but really passionate and motivated students and alumni. So one thing is like when you meet, you know you Chicago harissa lum alone. You know they're incredibly smart, but they're doing like great things in their community. And that's just really inspiring. Some of it is, is there nine to five or nine to nine job? But a lot of it is also the boards of their on.

The volunteer working you, i'ma Kellogg Grad, and you don't. You don't really see that in the Business School. You see people that are very successful, but you don't see this kind of well rounded invested in your community type people. So whether I go to India or China or San Francisco or New York, I just see these incredibly well rounded people who are making such an impact. So that's sort of the general thing in.

You know, don't take my word for it.

Connect with our alumni in our current students, you'll see the same thing. If I were to jump out at at at a story that I think is kind of interesting, it's, uh, it's Marine Lynch. She, uh, has had a very interesting career. She was a couple years younger than may she.

This was the first generation college student who started in city government who then, after graduating from Harris, work with Deloitte, was very successful in consulting but then kind of felt a little bit sense of mission or or lack of mission in consulting. So she was a senior leader at the YMCA for a number of years, and then in part because of what she saw at the why she saw, and she's very active in Chicago, she saw pockets.

Large swaths of Chicago left behind from economic and games and employment. So she created a an NGO skills for Chicago that focuses on job training for chronic unemployed communities. She uses her you Chicago in corporate networks to find Fortune 500 companies. I want to hire people and then she provides the training and support.

That model was picked up by the Obama administration as a as a best practice for dog training. She's opened up offices in other States and there have been thousands of people that have gone from not having opportunity to having employment and very positive career outcomes. Through her work, I think the organization has 50 or 75 people, so she's employed folks.

So I think that's in, you know, I I've I've been, I've been involved with her so I know that. But it's also she's not alone. There are a lot of terrorist students who have create who saw a gap and not just sort of advocated to wrote a paper about it. But it created it an institution or organization to address that and had a huge impact. So that's one person that I would say stands up, but I think she's emblematic or similar to a lot of her Estates.

So we want to make sure we pivot in allow plenty of time for audience questions. I know sparkle has been typing away furiously to answer some of the specific questions that are coming in here, but one question that came through from the audience was questions about. We've talked a lot about the MPP and can they see the same versatility with some of the other degree programs? Or are engine? Could you talk a little bit about the outcomes for some of these other degree programs that we offer? So sure, that's a great question I think.

We've always had students who have come to our Masters programs with the interest in an academic outcome, PhD or an academic research job at say, Brookings or NRC, or a think tank. So the Masters in certified research methods or the MPP is used as a launching pad for academic scholarship, and when I was a student about a third of our class went on for an advanced degree or PhD. Now, as we've grown and become.

That that percentage is decreased, but we've had a lot of students that have solved that.

So for people that are looking for those kinds of academic outcomes, you want to be able to demonstrate that you can do math at a PhD level in a top tier social science program. So we have the opportunity to take our regular Masters in a regular Masters ecan or statistics. You can take advanced micro or advanced stats. You can take PhD level stats so some people do the MA CRM Program. Some people take the MPP and then do those. Do those kind of have that exposure and then they do.

Research opportunities with our faculty. So the combination of doing that academic coursework.

At the PhD level, or in a highly quantitative content, coupled with research opportunities, provides a great launching pad for students that want to do academic research. So the MA CRM Program or the MPP has those options. Another very popular program is our.

Ms cap program which combines computer science and public policy. You take a little bit larger core where you take core classes in the computer science division. You also take our MPP core.

That combination is a highly attractive degree for employers because they love the social Sciences that you Chicago is known for. Coupled with the data science and machine learning that the computer science Department has, it creates a very very attractive.

Graduate that is highly sought after an industry government. Every government that I go to in from Delhi to New York City to elei. They're looking for people to have this combination of Social Science and machine learning. They will take people with business analytics or computer science, but they would rather have people that can blend social science and a big data because as a social scientist, we know that data is.

Flawed that data has data is collected and biased ways that humans have biases and they offer at the intersection of the way. Questions are for more data is collected, so you want to be able to look at political and sociological.

Shoes or history as you look at data. So I think that degree is very strong. Now if you want to do that, but maybe you're not ready for for computer science or that type of a program, you can get access to that type of training in our MPP. So that's also the flexibility of the MPP. So while the MACRM and Ms cap are very elegantly designed to do that, you can still get those outcomes as an MPP student and then for those students that are really thinking about International Development.

Who wanna look at global?

Global issues or think about development across continents or regions are International Development program is a one year program that has faculty such as Chris Blattman. He's the faculty lead. We've got changed. Robinson Austin, right? We've got very strong faculty of International Development and political economy, and that gives you more of a global web. So those are for people that are thinking about working overseas or working in the US in.

Overseas or international policy roles, but also folks that want to think about sustainable economic development folder. So those are the different parts of art degree portfolio and I think they offer a very rich experience in the MPP is sort of the umbrella that allows you to do elements of that, but also have a very rich to your experience.

Runjun question that we have, can you please so this is from Cornell? Can you please explain about life on campus at the University of Chicago and what you enjoyed when you were attending I I'm going to also send everyone some blogposts about our current students and what they've said, but orange and I think this is a great question for you because you've also lived in a lot of other places, so talk a little bit about what you love about Chicago.

What I love about campus in Chicago is the incredible diversity. So you can go to. There's like we've got great coffee shops on campus. You can lock in, grab a coffee and you might be sitting with a student from booth or the Social Service Administration from different parts of the country or different parts of the world. And you can have a conversation about.

Health care and it could be from the lens of apolosi conversation. It could be how a business person is thinking about it. How a doctor is thinking about it. That all happened at a coffee table in high park at the University of Chicago, and that's that's a great experience. And then our city is an incredible melting pot of people from around the world. And there's a wonderful architecture. There's great great lakefront about 20 miles of lakefront. That's all part that people can run and bike on.

So it's a wonderful vibrant community in that regard, but I think the richness of being in community, I think, is the is the best, is the biggest selling point. And one other thing you'll see is we have an incredible programming across campus. Becker Friedman Institute that that is sort of our leading spot for our economic scholarship and faculty. We also have the urban lab in the crime labs, so that are focusing on applied policy in.

Settings we have a wonderful faculty that are working on children in early childhood education. So uh, In addition, the coursework. There's all these different types of programs. We just we're just finishing up an incredible series. Tide to Black History Month, the programming there with people like Nikki Giovanni and other academics, but also practitioners like Mayor Lightfoot coming and spoke to our admitted students in February. So this combination of practitioners of leaders.

Scholars abraders that you get, um, it's really quite incredible, so that's that's what I what I like about it. But uh again, talk to our current students and alumni and I think you'll hear the same thing. And for those of you, I just sent a bunch of different links to our blog. We have current students who post their information about their experiences working for Chicago policy review, how they got their internship. We also just posted some reading recommendation tomorrow faculty members. So if you subscribe to the blog anytime we have a post like that, you'll get an.

Email that will let you know, but make sure to check these out 'cause as region has mentioned numerous times connecting the students is really important and reading these blog posts is one way for you to connect and then you can also send us an email and will be happy to to connect you that way runs and we also have a students asking about your favorite course Ann. I think this could be really helpful to tell them about Ethan speaking at arm and student in April 3rd and also virtual admitted student day which will feature Austin right doing one of our session so.

If you're not able to come to our immense student in April 3rd, make sure to keep your eye out for virtual admitted student week, which will start on March 30th. An definitely if you want to know about classes, register for the session that will be with professor Austin, Right? 'cause he teaches in the stats class, and then if you are able to come on April 3rd, even wanted a mosquito will open are admitted student day in the morning, and he'll give you a great idea of what analytical politics is like in the core. Runs great. I don't know if I can add much to what you just said, Jenny, But.

I think there are two things that I would I will add about Ethan an Austin and the ether is written a lot. He's a great follow on Twitter. You should follow him if you want to like. Stay current with the current Upson Downs of the of the political season. In the US. Ethan is a great follower. You also have a wonderful book recommendations too, and so is Austin. Austin writes another great person to follow along with Chris Blattman.

What I think is really interesting about Ethan is, uhm. He really teaches you more about how to think.

And had a question then I think sort of anything you'll take away from like sort of the Tasks of the homework that you get up, you know. So I think we live in a world in which people tried to.

Boiled down very complex topics in slogans. Buzzwords pull data an I think he teaches you how to ask really tough and critical questions and I find it very helpful. I was, you know, somebody was talking or there was an article about you know how we all have to adopt this one? Sort of. I won't name the company but like our work culture should should should emulate one of the like 30 billion dollar market cap.

You know social media companies, right? And as that person was talking, I thought about Ethan's lecture, in which he says, you know, in order for that to be really helpful, you have to look at everybody who is adopted. Those models, right? Not just the few success people, not just say the Navy seals or the first round draft picks. But look at everybody that did that and then see how successful it is. And after thinking about that, I was like I'm not going to bother Reading this article because it's not going to be that helpful. So I think that critical thinking skills is really helpful, but I love about Austin is.

First of all, when you when you think about conflict and and what's happening in Afghanistan in conflict regions, his researches is incredible. He also is a great teacher in terms of how to look at data and analytics and stats and those things. But the other thing that I really find moving about Austin is his story right? He's the first member of his family to ever get a college degree, let alone a PhD. Or to become a faculty member in place at the University of Chicago. He had a lot of doubts about himself about his.

Ability to succeed and the way he's overcome that in an authentic way, I think speaks a lot when I think about the struggles that our students have Jenny. It's not because of their academic or their intelligence. There are plenty smart is that? It's a sense of a little bit of doubt, alittle bit about, you know.

Are there other people like me? Uhm, I think those are the kinds of questions sometimes hold people back and I think you know, listening to Austin and hearing how he navigated it, how he successful, how he's there for his students are students. I think that goes along way.

In terms of the classes that I think are the most helpful, I mentioned one of them. I think the policy lab is really great or these classes we have experiential components where you have to work on teams. I think that's as I've worked professionally that some really important skill, and I'm also very biased. I like I like organizational behavior classes because I think I've always wanted to be parts of large teams or large organizations. An understanding how you can build an effective system. Not just having one good person or one good idea.

That system is really important, so I think classes like that are very OK. So where I think coming up on our time for our web and our speed round.

You may not believe that, but I can. He can. He can a hot take a classic hot take. So I think the last question that we have that I think is helpful than anything else you wanna reiterate. Renton is what are the skills that a student has needs to have to be successful at Harris?

I think there are a few things. One is, a policy is done best and I think studies are done best in community.

And I think the notion that you have the answer or you can do it yourself.

I think he's gonna hold a lot of people back, so I think the more you can sort of think about How do I learn from the people around me? Maybe they were. I have great ideas about education, but I never lived in that community or I never worked in a classroom. But there's somebody. That's a teacher. What can I learn from her? What can I learn from him? I think those are really important skills to learn in a community and then to engage in that community to volunteer or to do an experiential learning class or to do a research project that gets you out into the community.

However that however you define that, I think is really is really critical and the students that do that, I think are the most successful in terms of what employers are looking for.

I think that's a combination as well. They're looking for technical skills, are looking for people that know Python And R, and an an analytics in economics, but they also have to be able to relate to people they have to be client facing. They have to be able to be able to argue. OK, not being the smartest person in the room when you're at the University of Chicago, you're not going to be the smartest person in the room, right? But then you're also going to have to be able to be very smart and then meet people where they are.

And treat them with respect and share your knowledge in a way that list them up and not sort of makes them feel bad. and I think those are skills that you get by being involved in student government by being involved in a committee by being involved in a student organization or doing one of these policy labs, because that's what employers want. They know you're going to be very smart coming from the University of Chicago. What you have to demonstrate is are you going to be someone that can bring people together that can lead that can problem solve and that can be client can.

Work with clients, maybe in underprivileged communities, maybe overseas, maybe an industry. And can you form connections? I think those are the skills that you're looking that employers are looking for that we are very good at teaching, but you have to put students have to be looking for that, right? and I think that's a key. That's a key thing, but it's a two way process and we also have mentors that are available for students to help develop those skills. So every student gets put into our mentor program in the first year and then the second year. And those are really great resources. In addition to all the staff that I mentioned.

That help you sort of get those sort of leadership skills that you need.

So I think that covers all of our questions. We will definitely continue to have other webinars. We will probably still runs in for another one in April if we can. Again, if you're able to come to our April admitted student day, we'd love to have you on April 3rd and then also keep your eye out probably this week or early. Next week will have the registration for virtual admitted student day, final words of advice or wisdom. Ringin sparkle still looking at all your questions that are coming in so I'd be happy to work with Jenny and sparkle to answer some of those.

We have the blog posts or some other way that we can do that, so please keep your questions coming in, and I think Jenny's hit on two really good things for you to consider. One is, uh, if you're able to travel to Chicago for April 3rd or April 2nd and 3rd permitted student day. It's a great experience to meet our current students are staff are champions that will be there to support you and you get to hear from our faculty, so that's it's an all-in-one experience and you get to visit our campus. If you can't, we haven't.

Shall admitted student day and it's a robust programming. If student panels you have staff panels you hear from different faculty, those are great. Join the Facebook group. Some of you may not be into Facebook, but it's also a great way. We have current students that are on Facebook that can answer questions about where to live. What classes did take? How did someone with my background do I can answer those, but I think it's best when you hear from somebody that's in the midst of our program who can speak.

Clearly about this, so I think those are the great things. And also I have a large.

Interesting here, and we're here for one on one appointments for chats. For conversations to help as you're trying to navigate this decision and we can connect you with current students, staff, alumni to make to help you make an informed decision. Alright, OK, everyone. Well, we think all of you for spending your morning or evening with us. Depending on where you are, a big thank you to sparkle for non stop typing and answering a million questions and special thank you to run gin for taking time out of this day to be with all of us so.