UPenn MCIT

Program Overview

This is the ceiling program for zero-background career changers to CS. There's a strict requirement that applicants must not have taken more than 2 CS major courses. If you've taken a substantial number of CS courses, please check out UPenn's CIS program instead. You need to complete 10 courses to graduate. If you don't want to take a required course, you can apply to waive it by passing an exam. You can apply to extend graduation to 2.5 years; a GPA above 3.3 is sufficient. Great for taking it slow while job hunting. You can dual with CIS -- very flexible. Applicants are strongly recommended to apply in the first round: first-round acceptance rate is 17%, second-round acceptance rate is 8%.

Admission Threshold & Data Points

Prefers US undergrads. GPA > 3.8, GRE > 330 -- the higher the better. Average GRE is 330. Fall 2022 had 1,225 applicants, admitted 118, and 73 enrolled.

1. OSU Math, GPA 4.0
2. UC Berkeley Physics, GPA 3.86, one year as TA, three strong recommendation letters
3. University of Colorado Boulder CS PhD dropout
4. UCR Chemistry undergrad, GPA 3.82
5. National Chiang Mai University Finance+Business undergrad, GPA 3.97
6. Sun Yat-sen University English undergrad, top 1, National Scholarship, Columbia International Education master's
7. Franklin & Marshall College Economics+Sociology undergrad, GPA 3.96
8. Wuhan University of Science and Technology EE undergrad (GPA 3.7), UPenn EE master's (GPA 3.84)

Job Outcomes & Data Points

Very good -- even compared to non-career-change programs, outcomes are considerably better. MCIT 2024 new grad job outcomes: Amazon 11, Google 7, TikTok 5, Microsoft 5, Meta 4.

1. ASU Economics undergrad, no internship, landed small company intern
2. Illinois Wesleyan University Business undergrad, landed small company intern and converted to full-time
3. Boston University Film major, landed small company AIE intern
4. University of Colorado Boulder CS PhD dropout, had Goldman Sachs intern, landed Goldman Sachs new grad
5. National Chiang Mai University Finance+Business undergrad, two years of business internship experience, new grad landed Google
6. Sun Yat-sen University English undergrad, no SDE internship, landed AWS intern and Google intern, ultimately went to AWS first then Google, converted to full-time at Google
7. Franklin & Marshall College Economics+Sociology undergrad, multiple PM internships at small companies in China, landed small company intern
8. Wuhan University of Science and Technology EE undergrad (GPA 3.7), UPenn EE master's (GPA 3.84), landed ByteDance internship, new grad landed Meta
9. CUHK-Shenzhen Economics undergrad, landed Tesla intern and Meta intern
10. McGill University Finance undergrad, six-month small company intern in Canada, landed Meta intern and converted to full-time
11. Wharton Finance undergrad, Google STEP intern and Google summer intern, new grad ultimately landed Meta