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Applied Graduate Student Chat - Feb 28, 2019
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Radhika
10:20
Hi Will...the link which you have sent has the financial aid information to which we have to apply before 26th March...I have applied for MS Mechanical....If I am not wrong we have to apply for financial aid only after the acceptance from the University? Will the results be out before 26th March?
AvatarWill Fenton, Asst Dir
10:21
Radhika, hi. We don't offer financial aid for master's applicants. Also, we do have two decision release dates before that day, March 8 and 22, so it is possible you'll have a decision before then.
10:22
Have you received decisions from other schools?
Yes (44.4% | 8 votes)
 
No (27.8% | 5 votes)
 
I've received some decisions, but not all (27.8% | 5 votes)
 
I've been waitlisted (0% | 0 votes)
 
Total Votes: 18
Vipul Rathore
10:22
I just have one last quick question. Since I am not really familiar with the application process for universities in general and I am not acquainted with many terminologies, could you please briefly explain what the rolling basis really mean ?
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AvatarWill Fenton, Asst Dir
10:23
Vipul, it means that we don't have a set date when decisions will be released, nor a set deadline as to when they'll all be released. Decisions are sent out as they are made by the department, so they could literally have decisions sent out every day,  between now and June 1.
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Anviksha Busa
10:23
That makes sense. Is there someone who can give me this information, or is it something I would have to evaluate once I get started?

Also, I have 3 recommenders for my recommendation letters out of which only two were able to submit a letter. I know admissions only needs two letters, but I do have a professor interested in and currently working on a letter. Can I still submit this third letter? Should I? I'd like to get your advice on this please.
AvatarWill Fenton, Asst Dir
10:25
Anviksha, you can contact The Robotics program, and their Program Coordinator is Charity Payne, email is charity@seas.upenn.edu. I'd also recommend you explore the courses offered at the grad level at Penn and then contact the depts they're in to see if they let non-major grad students take them. A google search for "upenn graduate economics" should get you the results you need. And regarding the letter, the deadline for those was Feb 1, so we wouldn't consider any sent at this point.
Cai
10:25
Hi Will, I got a similar question as one previously asked, which is, whether the interviews to applicants of Materials Science and Engineering Ph.D. program have all been sent out? Thanks!
AvatarWill Fenton, Asst Dir
10:26
Cai, I believe they're still in the process of sending out invites at this time, as it's handled by the program.
Sean
10:26
I meant PhD
AvatarWill Fenton, Asst Dir
10:27
Sean, for the ESE PhD program, we had 307 and admitted 49 people, for a 16% admit rate.
Ryan Shovlin
10:27
Hi Will, submitted an application for the MCIT Online program and have a question about the course structure, specifically projects within each course. I assume, as part of this program group learning/projects will be pretty common. What sort of online forums and applications are utilized by the department.
AvatarWill Fenton, Asst Dir
10:27
Ryan, I'm sorry, but I don't really know, as I haven't experienced the courses, as they just launched in January. This is a question better directed to our online program, at onlinelearning@seas.upenn.edu.
Radhika
10:27
I have a question on the financial aid...the site shows the last date to apply is 26th March ..what if we get an acceptance on 5th April? We would not be able to apply for the aid
AvatarWill Fenton, Asst Dir
10:28
Radhika, we don't offer financial aid for master's applicants.
Xiao Gu
10:28
Hi Will. Is it true that all MCIT decisions come out on May 15th? This is important because two of my offers require me to make my decision before May 1st.
AvatarWill Fenton, Asst Dir
10:28
Xiao, we have updated the release dates for the MCIT Decisions - we will now be releasing them in batches, on April 5, April 19, May 1 and May 15. So hopefully you'll receive your decision by May 1.
Adi
10:28
Hello, Will what were the admission statistics for Master of Biotechnology program last year?
AvatarWill Fenton, Asst Dir
10:29
Hi Adi, last year we had 177 applicants and admitted 98 for a 55% admit rate.
Yurui
10:29
Hi Will, will you consider to balance the number of applicants in each concentration when you are making decisions?
AvatarWill Fenton, Asst Dir
10:30
Yurui, no, we don't consider the total number of applications, but the quality of the applicants.
Vipul Rathore
10:30
Ok. Thanks a ton Will for your valuable help !!! Have a great day.
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AvatarWill Fenton, Asst Dir
10:30
Vipul, you're welcome. I hope you do the same.
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Lisset
10:30
In one of your previous answers about the 2 recommendations, you mentioned that so long as 1 of them is from academia, it's ok.  I only submitted 2 industry recommendations and do not have any academia recommendations as it's been.... ahem.... a while! Is that problematic for the OMCIT or do they take the timeline of your last degree into consideration? Both of my recommendations are VP level and up from high tech companies. Thoughts?
AvatarWill Fenton, Asst Dir
10:31
Lisset, if it's for the MCIT Online program, that's fine. That requirement is only for the on-campus program, and then only if you have been out of school for less than 5 years.
Caro
10:31
Hello Will, Could I know the applicants number and admission statistic of two years ago admission (for 2017 fall entry) in MSE Electrical Engineering ? Thank you very much.
AvatarWill Fenton, Asst Dir
10:32
Caro, sure, we had 601 applicants and admitted approx 43%
Peyman
10:32
Hello sir. Do you know how many ESE PhD applicants receive their admit/reject decisions so far?
AvatarWill Fenton, Asst Dir
10:32
Peyman, I can't release these numbers at this time, as we don't release numbers for the current application process.
Jia
10:32
Hi Will, when is the decision date for the CIS master program?
AvatarWill Fenton, Asst Dir
10:33
Jia, we have four release dates for decisions: April 5, April 19, May 1 and May 15.
Vipul Rathore
10:33
What is the acceptance rate for CS PhD ?
AvatarWill Fenton, Asst Dir
10:33
Vipul, last year's rate was 16%
Jon
10:33
For the online MCIT, do you email the acceptance letters or mail them?  Or maybe post them on the application site?
AvatarWill Fenton, Asst Dir
10:34
Jon, you receive an email stating that your decision is available, and then you'll need to log into your application account to see the specific decision.
Lisset
10:34
Ryan - I watched the on demand version of one of the webinars they hosted and they indicated that it's a blend of Coursera and also Slack. I recommend watching the video. It was very helpful. Here's the YouTube link:
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AvatarWill Fenton, Asst Dir
10:34
Lisset, thanks for sharing this video! I haven't actually watched that, but clearly should. :)
Ryan Shovlin
10:34
Awesome. Thanks, Will
AvatarWill Fenton, Asst Dir
10:35
Ryan, you're welcome. And check out the video that Lisset sent.
Simon Song
10:35
Hi Fenton, I want to know whether I could still upload my materials to make my application more competitive. I find out that there are some tiny imbiguities that may influence the reading of my resume, and I want to submit a new one with even more well formatted content.
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