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Applied Graduate Student Chat, January 29 2020
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AvatarWill Fenton, Enrollment Specialist
10:00
Good day, all. My name is Will Fenton and I'm an Enrollment Specialist for Graduate Admissions at Penn Engineering. I'm here to answer questions you may have about our Graduate Programs, life as a graduate student at Penn and living in Philadelphia.
Where do you live?
United States (45% | 18 votes)
 
China (22.5% | 9 votes)
 
India (15% | 6 votes)
 
Europe (2.5% | 1 vote)
 
Middle East (0% | 0 votes)
 
Another Region (15% | 6 votes)
 
Total Votes: 40
10:01
Here are some links that you may find useful:

A recent Penn Engineering Graduate Student experience:
https://medium.com/penn-engineering/justin-cooke-aspiring-to-improve-u... 
Application Link:
https://www.applyweb.com/upenng/index.ftl
How To Apply:
https://gradadm.seas.upenn.edu/how-to-apply/ 
Grad School FAQ Link:
https://gradadm.seas.upenn.edu/faq/ 
Student Financial Services:
http://www.sfs.upenn.edu/
Costs
https://gradadm.seas.upenn.edu/paying-for-your-education/
Potential Fellowship and Financial Aid Information
http://www.cis.upenn.edu/prospective-students/graduate/aid.php
https://www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/gradstudfunding.php
JP Eckert Fellowship for CIS-Related programs
http://www.cis.upenn.edu/prospective-students/graduate/aid-eckert.php 
International Students & Scholars Services:
https://global.upenn.edu/isss/new
April 15 National Grad School Decision Agreement:
https://cgsnet.org/april-15-resolution
Guest
10:02
Is this a forum where we can ask some specifics about application specifications  such as portfolio requirements?
AvatarWill Fenton, Enrollment Specialist
10:02
Hi Guest, this would be that forum.
Guest1
10:02
Hi Will. Received the mail yesterday stating that admit decisions will be sent out every friday, starting January 31st. Any particular reasons for that? And does that apply to ALL on-campus Masters programs ?
AvatarWill Fenton, Enrollment Specialist
10:03
Hi Guest1 - The faculty requested this change, and it does apply to all of the on-campus masters programs.
Jiayi Li
10:03
Hi! I am wondering are we encouraged to contact potential faculty advisors while waiting for PhD decisions?
AvatarWill Fenton, Enrollment Specialist
10:04
Jiayi, at this point we don't encourage or discourage it. However, we do ask that you note that Faculty are getting into the swing of the semester and may have many things on their plate, so they may not respond right away.
Thiago
10:04
Hi, Will. In the last chat, you mentioned that the CBE program would probably admit fewer Ph.D. students this year. Do you have a confirmation about it? Do you know how many admissions do they plan to do this year?
Also, I was wondering if you could inform us about the weekend visits at Penn in case of admission. Thank you very much for your attention. Have a nice day!
AvatarWill Fenton, Enrollment Specialist
10:06
Hi Thiago, this is ultimately based entirely on funding, so this isn't something that I can confirm/deny. It was based on the average amount that have been accepted the last few years. Last year was above the average and I believe I was responding to a question along those lines. As for the weekend visit schedule, I do not know it at this point, as those visits are handled directly by the departments.
cool 1
Guest
10:04
Hello. Will the Mechanical Engineering Masters program also start releasing results from this Friday?
Guest
10:04
Hello, I just applied for your Robotics Master's Program. What should I do if I wish to update the contact of my referee? Thanks
AvatarWill Fenton, Enrollment Specialist
10:08
Hi Guest. Yes, if the MEAM masters program has decisions they would like to go out, then they will be sent out. If you have already submitted the application for your Robotics program, and now need to change a recommender, you need to log-in to your application account, click on that specific application, then select to change the  recommender email. However, if the recommender has already begun their recommendation letter for you, you will be unable to change that information. You would then need to contact the help desk at help@applyweb.com.
Alex
10:04
Hello~ I am one of MEAM PhD applicants. Can I check whether my application pass the initial screening here?
AvatarWill Fenton, Enrollment Specialist
10:09
Alex, you can log into your application account and check your status - if it says ready for review, it is with the department to be reviewed. At this point, we would have contacted you if we are missing anything.
Andy
10:06
Hi Will, I am an applicant for ESE PHD program. Is there information as to how many of the offers have been sent out and how many are yet to be sent?
AvatarWill Fenton, Enrollment Specialist
10:10
Hi Andy, I'm sorry, but that is not information I can share at this point.
John Zhang
10:06
Hey Will, can I ask when PhD students can decide who their advisor will be? Will it be during the first year, and will we have the ability to move around?
AvatarWill Fenton, Enrollment Specialist
10:10
John, you are usually initially assigned an advisor by the program, but you can work with the program regarding this decision.
Zach
10:06
Hi, for the masters programs I am wondering if UPenn superscores the GRE(Take the highest section score from multiple test dates)?
AvatarWill Fenton, Enrollment Specialist
10:11
Hi Zach, we do use super-scoring for the GRE, TOEFL and IELTS. However, we will need to have received all of the official scores for this to happen, the scores must be valid and taken prior to the application deadline.
Bryan
10:06
Hello Will!
Hi Will! I was wondering if there's a set date for PhD decisions to be sent out?
AvatarWill Fenton, Enrollment Specialist
10:12
Hi Bryan, not really. We do our best to send out all decisions prior to the April 15 National deadline, but otherwise they're sent out on a rolling basis.
Guest
10:06
There is a portfolio requirement for the M:IPD program that states "A PDF document of no more than twenty 8.5 x11″ pages and screen resolution (72 dpi) ONLY should be submitted. No fewer than four projects (two of which should be individual projects)." This makes little sense to me as text becomes challenging to read at this resolution and dpi is typically used for printing. If I can keep my submissions within the upload size limits, can I use a normal ppi resolution?
AvatarWill Fenton, Enrollment Specialist
10:13
Guest, yes, that should be fine. The main issue there is that larger files can't be uploaded.
Liu
10:07
Hello, Will. I'm applying for the master degree of biotechnology. I found on the overview page that a student should get 11 credit units to get the degree. The curriculum page tells me every course deserves one credit unit. Also it is known that every course unit represents 3 course hours and the tuition page tells me to pay about $7300  for every course unit. So how should I calculate the tuition cost if I am admitted?
AvatarWill Fenton, Enrollment Specialist
10:13
Liu, you can do an estimation based on this page: https://gradadm.seas.upenn.edu/paying-for-your-education/
Rahul
10:07
Approximately till when do you expect all the MS decisions will be given out?
AvatarWill Fenton, Enrollment Specialist
10:14
Rahul, they'll start going out this Friday and every Friday, with the goal of all being out prior to May 8.
Guest
10:08
Hi Will. I wanted to know if any decisions have been sent out for CBE PhD program? If not, when are they expected to start. Can you also tell me the average number of admits the dept. usually hands out.
AvatarWill Fenton, Enrollment Specialist
10:15
Guest, I can tell you that some have been sent out. Last year 66 were admitted, and the year before 74 were admitted. That's right around 25%. I'd expect around the same this year, but it all depends on funding.
Fang Bohang
10:09
Hello
AvatarWill Fenton, Enrollment Specialist
10:16
Hi Fang Bohang
Guest
10:09
Hello Will! How much is the average stipend for a PhD student in BioE?
AvatarWill Fenton, Enrollment Specialist
10:17
Hi Guest, I'm sorry, but I don't know that for BE specifically, but I believe the average is around $40,000 US. This does vary per program and per year.
Guest1
10:09
Will the applications which were submitted earllier be reviewed first for the Masters program?
AvatarWill Fenton, Enrollment Specialist
10:19
Guest1, I don't believe so, but I'm not entirely sure. I do know that all applications that are complete at this time have been sent to the departments for review, so it's quite possible.
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