Skip to main content

Upenn DS

Program Overview​

The program's biggest feature is its extremely high degree of course selection freedom. Many students end up turning DS into CS once enrolled, applying to both DS and SDE positions, or even making a career change to CS.

You can take all CIS courses or Wharton courses, choose hard systems courses or easier ones -- the flexibility is very high. The foundation and major courses listed on the official website can almost all be waived.

The program requires 10 courses, with 2 Foundation courses by default (programming & linear algebra). Most people can waive these, leaving 3 Core courses and 5 Electives. Core courses include Stats (ESE 542) + Big Data (CIS 545) + ML (CIS 519/520). Elective courses can be freely chosen; popular ones include CIS 550 (Database), ESE 546 (Deep Learning), CIS 530 (NLP), CIS 580 (CV), and Wharton's OIDD-related courses. Taking CS-track courses is very easy, and you can essentially build a "stealth CS master's."

Admission Preferences & Representative Data Points​

Admission rate is 8%-10%. Chinese students make up half, with US undergrads and Indian students making up the other half. US undergrad applicants have a higher admission rate, especially from UC schools like UCLA, UCSD, and UCI, which see large numbers of admissions every year. Students from mainland China are mainly from C9 and strong 985 universities, such as Tsinghua, Zhejiang University, Sun Yat-sen University, Renmin University, and Xiamen University. The program prefers applicants with high GPA (3.85+) and STEM backgrounds. Math and CS-related majors are the most favored; business + math double majors also work. There are virtually no admitted students with humanities backgrounds. GRE isn't very important -- in 21Fall, quite a few applicants applied without GRE scores.

  1. NYU CS undergrad, GPA 3.87
  2. Rutgers University CS+DS undergrad, GPA 4.0
  3. Indian student, GPA 9.44
  4. Rutgers University CS+DS+Statistics, GPA 3.9
  5. UT Austin ECE undergrad, GPA 3.58
  6. Haverford College Economics undergrad, GPA 3.9
  7. Duke DS undergrad, GPA 3.9
  8. Wake Forest University Math+Statistics undergrad, GPA 3.88
  9. UCL Math undergrad, GPA 3.91

Job Outcomes & Data Points​

Job hunting leans toward East Coast finance and consulting firms. Commonly observed destinations from previous cohorts include C1, GS, Barclays, Bloomberg, MBB, PayPal, Amazon, TikTok, and Google. Roles tend to be more DS/MLE, with fewer SDE positions.

Overall, there are placements in Data Scientist / MLE / Data Engineer / Quant / SDE roles. Career changers to CS mainly rely on Amazon to cast a wide net. For actual job searching, it mainly depends on your own LeetCode grinding, projects, and networking. There's no dedicated Career Fair, so don't expect much from the school -- what UPenn gives you is just a line on your resume.

  1. NYU CS undergrad, landed Amazon intern
  2. Upenn CS undergrad, landed JP Morgan DS intern
  3. Indian student, two years full-time experience, landed Barclays Bank new grad
  4. Upenn CS undergrad, landed Meta intern and successfully got return offer
  5. Indian student, two DS internships, landed AWS and successfully converted to full-time
  6. The Wharton School Economics undergrad, landed Meta DS intern and converted to full-time
  7. Haverford College, had small company internship experience, landed Microsoft DS intern and converted to full-time
  8. Indian student, landed small company DS intern and got return offer
  9. Indian student, had one internship at a small Indian company, landed small company MLE, later moved to Meta
  10. UCL Math undergrad, had Apple intern, landed Google MLE

RA & PhD Transfer Opportunities​

Looking at past PhD admission outcomes, a small number of students have been admitted to CMU / Stanford / Berkeley / MIT.

Living Experience​

Philadelphia's living environment is honestly mediocre, and you could even say it's quite poor -- run-down and unsafe is the first impression. The university area is relatively safe, but you still don't feel comfortable walking around at night. Sirens and shootings are not uncommon. There are some decent apartments nearby, but rent is expensive. To save money, you'd have to go to Presidential City or other areas farther out, which offers better value but makes commuting a hassle.

Food-wise, Chinese restaurant options near campus are limited. There's hot pot, poke bowls, and Cantonese food, but the quality is mediocre. Many people end up going to New York to eat, since it's only a 2-hour drive. For grocery shopping, there's no 99 Ranch Market -- just H Mart and small Chinese grocery stores. If you want a full selection of Chinese groceries, you have to go to Chinatown or order online. Prices are even higher than Southern California; a basic meal starts at $20, and eating well costs even more.