JotCast | Prospective Graduate Student Chat, Oct 31, 2019

Prev Page View Full Chat

Will Fenton, Asst Dir

10:52

You're welcome, Gaurav.

Will Fenton, Asst Dir

10:53

Ok folks, we're nearly finished for today. Please submit your final questions now.

Bryant Kuehner

10:54

Broadly, who is involved in the applicant selection process?

Will Fenton, Asst Dir

10:55

Bryant, it depends on the program, but usually one or more staff members/academic advisors will assist in sorting/rating candidates and then faculty take over from there, with staff assisting in a variety of ways.

Gaurav

10:55

Does the university help for connecting with the current students like student ambassadors to get the better insight about the environment at university?

Will Fenton, Asst Dir

10:55

Gaurav, some of our programs to have students that can answer questions, but you'd need to contact the specific program at this time.

Pragya Jaiswal

10:55

Will, I wanted to know if there are any data science student communities which are a part of the SEAS.

Will Fenton, Asst Dir

10:55

Pragya, do you mean student clubs or orgs focused around the Data Science program?

Evelyn

10:55

Thanks Will! But if I don't know they will accept any Phd student in the next fall, should I still emphasize on this research interest in my SOP? or should I contact some professors first to make sure they will accept Phd students? One more question! can I know what is the admission rate for BE department last year?

Will Fenton, Asst Dir

10:57

Evelyn, you can definitely reach out to faculty, but they may not readily respond - unfortunately they only have so much time in the day. You can usually check if we list the topic as an area of concentration on the application. If so, then you can usually be assured we'll have faculty working on that next year. As for the admission rate, we admitted approx 13.5% last year.

Nishant

10:55

Will, I had a small query: Who evaluates our applications (who are the people present in the selection committee) and how does the school check if we are a good fit ?

Will Fenton, Asst Dir

10:57

Nishant, it's primarily faculty that will evaluate applicants, and "fit," would be based off of your personal statement and academic/work/internship experiences

Gaurav

10:57

Will, I don't have research experience. Is that going to affect negatively to apply for CIS MS program?

Will Fenton, Asst Dir

10:58

Gaurav, not necessarily, as our master's programs are not research based, so this is not a make-or-break requirement.

Rohan

10:57

Sir, is it apt to mention the names of the professors, with whom my research interests meet, although i do not know them or have communicated with them?

Will Fenton, Asst Dir

10:58

Rohan, this is fine and is a relatively common practice.

Mike

10:58

Thanks again Will!

Will Fenton, Asst Dir

10:58

You're welcome, Mike

Nishant

10:58

Thanks a lot Will :)

Will Fenton, Asst Dir

10:59

You're welcome, Nishant

Gaurav

10:58

Thanks Will

Will Fenton, Asst Dir

10:59

You're welcome, again, Gaurav.

11:00

Thanks for chatting everyone. We'll be back here again next week. And remember, complete applications are due on Nov 15 for the early review period for: Biotech, CIS, MCIT (on campus), Data Science, Nanotech and SCMP programs.

Connecting…