Before emailing me
I receive several emails per week from people asking me to evaluate their chances of an admit or chances of aid. While I understand a new student's anxiety having gone through it myself, I am too lazy to actually sit and reply to everyone, especially since they seem to be asking me the same questions over and over. So here is a list of Frequently Asked Questions and a set of Infrequently Given Answers. This is not the Holy Grail of admissions and I assume no responsibility if you take any of the information below and sell it to anyone causing them to lose their admit, or using it yourself and deciding to send me a parcel bomb. This is purely to save me some time later on, so please, take it with a pinch of salt, grease your palms, wet your lips and whet your appetite:
Q. What is the job scenario like in Upenn? What kind of companies come? How many students do they take?
A. I don't know. No really, I don't. I don't keep track of the companies that come and go, I don't maintain statistics on their intake, and I don't visit each and every company's stall. I do know the following: There are a lot of financial sector companies that come so regardless of your actual course, you have a decent chance of getting in there if you're any good. Fewer tech companies and more of these do-it-all-with-tech-and-so-need-billion-programmer companies.
Q. What about on-campus jobs? Internships?
A. Both are your responsibility. There are plenty of on-campus jobs to choose from, and the pay scale varies from "Is low-fat curd more expensive than hand towels?" to "Shall I buy the gold-rimmed pen or the diamond studded fabric softener refill?" Internship opportunities are quite plentiful too, and you have access to a couple of university networks that feed you job listings along with an awful lot of information.
Q. Will I get aid? What about scholarship? Will you feed me?
A. A resounding "NO!" to any of these questions. Penn has a no-aid policy and they will not waive your tuition unless you have serious financial concerns (read: can't tie your shoelaces because you don't have money to buy shoelaces.) Scholarships are not really my area of expertise; heck if I have time to put up a website, you can be sure I am not acing any exams here. But as far as I know, no one has got a scholarship. And I refuse to answer that last question.
Q. I also have an admit from <insert unknown/known university name here>! I don't know what to do? :(
A. This is your problem and I cannot help you. You need to visit websites like edulix and talk to people (and by people I mean anyone but me.) Some of them have extremely wide knowledge on a lot of universities, not just one or two and they can help you better than I can (or want to.) Use rankings, course websites, forums and seniors to make your decision, not random strangers.
Q. The website says MSE is ONE AND A HALF YEARS! I CAN'T WAIT, I'm getting married/am pregnant/my destiny is to get hit by a bus before that! Can I complete in one year?
A. I have not heard of any one completing their course in one year. It's a very, very difficult thing to do, and chances are, you'll end up screwing up your grades because of the workload. The workload is heavy enough if you do three courses a semester; anything more is just asking for trouble. But again, I am not aware if this is possible.
Q. What about PhD after MSE? What about research opportunities?
A. Again, this is out of my area. Doing a PhD after a Masters degree is fairly straightforward and I don't expect you will have much trouble, unless you're at the bottom of your class Q. How good is Penn? What about the classes? What is the class strength? A. Penn is a great school. The courses here are good and rigorous, and leave you better off for it. Class strengths vary from course to course, so this question really makes no sense. Don't worry too much about the ranking, or the Ivy League Tag, Penn is good if a little expensive.
Q. Will I get in? I have xxxx in GRE and xxx in TOEFL and my score in this is blah blah.. A. I can't say. It depends on too many things. For one, if I haven't heard of your Undergraduate Institution, then that puts a shadow over your UG grades. If you are a fresher/have been working/have done prior research/have a good-looking single female friend, all these things factor into your decision by the admissions committee and frankly I don't want to take the time to analyse every profile I get considering I'm not really interested in all this information except possibly the last one. Use this as a rough guideline, nothing more: GRE - above 1400, TOEFL - above 100, UG CGPA - above 7.5, Research - preferred, Work Exp - depends. One last word of advice: NO ONE CARES ABOUT YOUR 10th standard (pre-high school/high school) score. They don't want to know you won last place in the Maggi Sports Quiz or that you once defeated a pencil in an IQ contest at your local barbershop. People are more interested in your research, your work experience, your 12th standard (junior college) and undergraduate scores. National/International Level competitions are well received too.
Q. Will you write/read my SoP? Will you be my friend? A. No.
Q. Can I be a TA/RA ? A. Why, of course! Apply to the professors concerned via email and if they are impressed with your profile, they may agree to have you on as a TA/RA/Grader. But again, and I cannot stress this enough, no tuition waivers. Period.
Q. What is the cost of living in Philadelphia? A. It usually works out to less than $1,000 per month all inclusive. Keep this as your ballpark and make your calculations. Don't ask me for break ups and exact figures because they won't be accurate.