JotCast | Prospective Graduate Student Chat, Oct 24, 2019

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Ryan

10:41

Thanks! I appreciate your time and insight. :)

Will Fenton, Asst Dir

10:44

You're welcome, Ryan!

Gaurav

10:43

What are the admission committee expectations for granting the admission to a candidate? What qualities are they looking for? Any advice you would want to give me while writing my SOP? Anything to include or not include? Thanks in advance for being patient for answering so many questions :)

Will Fenton, Asst Dir

10:47

Gaurav, we have advice for the Personal statement on our website, here: https://gradadm.seas.upenn.edu/how-to-apply/. As for qualities - we look for those that have excelled academically, those that appear to have a very good idea of why they want to attend Penn Engineering, what they want to accomplish while here and what they plan to do when they graduate. For our PhD programs, we want folks that show an aptitude for strong academics, that may have already done high level research or have a great idea for research and/or have a novel idea to explore. Finally, we are looking for elite students, as this is an elite school and we're not looking to lower our expectations for how you'll perform when you get here.

Jin Hyeok Noh

10:43

I'm graduating from Ole miss, but I started my academia in South Korean university when I submit applications do I have to submit my old Korean university transcript(even though I don't get diploma from there )?

Will Fenton, Asst Dir

10:48

Jin Hyeok, if you received any academic credit for your time in school in South Korea, then yes, you must include that information and unofficial transcripts with your application.

Shaun

10:44

So for my letters of recommendation, do they need to be from faculty of academic institutions?

Will Fenton, Asst Dir

10:48

Shaun, you need at least one to fulfill the requirement.

Wei Tang

10:44

Thank you for your answers, sir!

Will Fenton, Asst Dir

10:48

You're welcome!

Wen

10:46

Thank you for your time Will

Will Fenton, Asst Dir

10:48

You're welcome, Wen.

Haolin

10:46

Hi there. I have a question for online application. There is a input box under "Fellowship and awards". Should I put the scholarships I have been offered or any other awards to be offered? Thank you

Will Fenton, Asst Dir

10:49

Yes, that's what it is for.

Gaurav

10:46

Does the university allow graduate students to work part-time?

Will Fenton, Asst Dir

10:49

Gaurav, you are allowed to do so, if your visa permits it.

Fan

10:46

May I ask the past acceptance rate for CGGT program and cis PhD program?

Will Fenton, Asst Dir

10:49

Fan, last year we admitted about 39% of CGGT students and 10% of CIS PHD applicants.

Jiayun(Seren) Liu

10:48

Hello Will, I am a student in Accounting and Information Science, hoping to land a career in integrating technology and tax. I really want to know how this program would be a good fit for an untraditional career path and what are things needed to be addressed in personal statement? Thank you!

Will Fenton, Asst Dir

10:50

Seren, which program are you looking at?

Emily

10:48

Thank you Will! And sorry, I meant to say what to put for my own GPA if I'm currently taking the class and there is no GPA yet (since it's the only class so far)? And would it just be safer if I manually put in SUNY Albany's name myself instead in case of any potential future confusions?

Will Fenton, Asst Dir

10:51

Emily, you don't need to put in SUNY's name manually, but feel free to do so if you'll feel better about it :). And since you don't have a GPA yet, you can just put 0.0. We'll know why that's your reported GPA when we look at the academic information you also include.

Ryan

10:49

Last question, what was the approximate acceptance rate for the ESE Ph.D. program this fall?

Will Fenton, Asst Dir

10:51

Ryan, it was 15% last year.

Shaun

10:49

OK. I have been out of school for 14 years so

Will Fenton, Asst Dir

10:52

Shaun, in that case it doesn't have to be faculty. We require it for folks that have been out of school for less than 5 years.

Shaun

10:51

Ok. I graduated 14 years ago so that might be somewhat of a challenge.

Jiayun(Seren) Liu

10:51

Hello Will, the MCIT on-campus program.

Will Fenton, Asst Dir

10:54

Seren, the program is designed for those that want to improve their technical knowledge in the area of CS but don't have a specific CS background. You can find questions to answer for the personal statement here: https://gradadm.seas.upenn.edu/how-to-apply/. In addition, take a look at the potential courses/electives you'd take to see how they'd fit with what you want to do: https://www.cis.upenn.edu/graduate/program-offerings/master-of-compute....

Gaurav

10:51

Thanks for the great advice Will!. May I have your email id for future communication?

Will Fenton, Asst Dir

10:54

Gaurav, you can send any emails to gradstudies@seas.upenn.edu. And you're welcome!

Junhan Xu

10:51

Hi, I'm applying for the MSE in data science program and I tried to send my gre score to the engineering department. I find the school code which is 2888 but I can't find the department code which showed on the engineering school website is 99. The only code I can find on the gre website is 1699. So I'm wondering which department code should we use.

Will Fenton, Asst Dir

10:54

Junhan, we don't require a dept code, so 2888 is fine.

Ivy

10:52

Hi Will, I'd like to know the acceptance rate for the PhD program in Bioengineering.

Will Fenton, Asst Dir

10:55

Ivy, it was 13.5% last year.

Emily

10:53

Thank you so much Will!

Will Fenton, Asst Dir

10:55

You're welcome, Emily.

Gaurav

10:53

Is the program MS in CIS, more of research based or it is focused more on coursework? Please answer the same question for Masters in Data science too?

Will Fenton, Asst Dir

10:55

Gaurav, both are more coursework focused. If you are interested more in research, you should look at the CIS PhD program.

Guest

10:54

Hi Will, I'd also like to know the acceptance rate for the PhD program in mechanical engineering and applied mechanics please :)

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