UPenn MBDS 2021-22

[Looney0504]

Oh yeah, I got my rejection letter. No idea how they select though. I thought I had all that they were looking for but clearly that's not enough for them

If incase you get rejected - don't take it as an indication of what you can do. They clearly have a criteria that is not as obvious and straight forward as I thought it would be, nor is it driven by what you state you want to do in the future (no matter how genuine the reason would be). There are more programs in the UK that are open and can be looked at. They're also cheaper!

Good luck and I hope you all get through if this is your dream school 

[awkjuniper]

On 4/6/2021 at 6:12 PM, Honglai said:

Hi, I just got notification said I've been put on waitlist yesterday. How about yuo guys

Hello me too, we should hear back by early May.

What's your profile like?

[Honglai]

I'm Accounting and Finance double degree at UIUC. GPA 3.80

I didn't take GRE but I took GMAT for other programs which is 720.

Do you mind to share how your friends who got admitted's profile is like?

[MarkN]

I got rejected on Monday. 3.7 GPA from Top 3 LAC. I had already committed to another program a few weeks ago so it doesn't really matter to me. But I thought I had a great personal statement and was a stats/psych double major so really not sure what they're looking for lmaoo. 

Edited April 7, 2021 by MarkN

[MarkN]

21 hours ago, Looney0504 said:

Oh yeah, I got my rejection letter. No idea how they select though. I thought I had all that they were looking for but clearly that's not enough for them

If incase you get rejected - don't take it as an indication of what you can do. They clearly have a criteria that is not as obvious and straight forward as I thought it would be, nor is it driven by what you state you want to do in the future (no matter how genuine the reason would be). There are more programs in the UK that are open and can be looked at. They're also cheaper!

Good luck and I hope you all get through if this is your dream school 

What kind of criteria do you think they might have that's not as obvious or straightforward? Just curious. Seems like they're looking for a mix of people straight out of undergrad and people with more work experience. 

[Looney0504]

Just now, MarkN said:

What kind of criteria do you think they might have that's not as obvious or straightforward? Just curious. Seems like they're looking for a mix of people straight out of undergrad and people with more work experience. 

haha if I knew their not so obvious criteria, I would have either not applied or would have figured out a way to fit their criteria. 

I thought I would typically fit the criteria since I have relevant experience, a genuine interest in learning BE and a clear objective that I want to achieve through the course. I've been in the development sector in a developing nation for over 7 years. I've been working with the government closely for the last three where I've realised the extent to which social norms restrict socio-economic development, and the extent to which development interventions can be effective since they mostly assume that individuals are rational. I've also been working on identifying ways to reduce the effect of gender based norms that restrict the participation of women and other genders in several roles. I've been working with institutions and the government to identify behavioral biases in different contexts and develop interventions that counter them. Moving forward I wanted to understand how to help mitigate behavioral biases exhibited across stakeholders especially against women and against accessing mental health, for a variety of reasons that i don't need to explain here. 

I would think that I would be one of the obvious categories of people they would want to educate. But nope.

So yeah, I don't think their criteria is obvious. I don't think my sop had an issue either- it was reviewed by multiple people who understand this space. 

If you do figure out their criteria then please do let me know. Would help me figure out what actually happened. Cheers!

[Looney0504]

15 minutes ago, MarkN said:

I got rejected on Monday. 3.7 GPA from Top 3 LAC. I had already committed to another program a few weeks ago since I didn't want to pay this tuition so it doesn't really matter to me. But I thought I had a great personal statement and was a stats/psych double major so really not sure what they're looking for lmaoo. 

I hear you, my friend. You even had a great GPA!So I'm really confused haha. Big hug to you, in case you're feeling low. Where are you joining now btw, if you don't mind sharing that. Is it BE specific as well? 

Also yes, I can't pay this tuition so not upset at all. Got through another great program at UPenn itself and will try to join it if I get some funding through external scholarships.

Edited April 7, 2021 by Looney0504

[MarkN]

19 minutes ago, Looney0504 said:

haha if I knew their not so obvious criteria, I would have either not applied or would have figured out a way to fit their criteria. 

I thought I would typically fit the criteria since I have relevant experience, a genuine interest in learning BE and a clear objective that I want to achieve through the course. I've been in the development sector in a developing nation for over 7 years. I've been working with the government closely for the last three where I've realised the extent to which social norms restrict socio-economic development, and the extent to which development interventions can be effective since they mostly assume that individuals are rational. I've also been working on identifying ways to reduce the effect of gender based norms that restrict the participation of women and other genders in several roles. I've been working with institutions and the government to identify behavioral biases in different contexts and develop interventions that counter them. Moving forward I wanted to understand how to help mitigate behavioral biases exhibited across stakeholders especially against women and against accessing mental health, for a variety of reasons that i don't need to explain here. 

I would think that I would be one of the obvious categories of people they would want to educate. But nope.

So yeah, I don't think their criteria is obvious. I don't think my sop had an issue either- it was reviewed by multiple people who understand this space. 

If you do figure out their criteria then please do let me know. Would help me figure out what actually happened. Cheers!

The experience you have had sounds awesome and very relevant to the program! I'm guessing they just had a lot of applications this year. From what I recall they only accepted something like 15-20% of applications last year. 

[MarkN]

37 minutes ago, Looney0504 said:

I hear you, my friend. You even had a great GPA!So I'm really confused haha. Big hug to you, in case you're feeling low. Where are you joining now btw, if you don't mind sharing that. Is it BE specific as well? 

Also yes, I can't pay this tuition so not upset at all. Got through another great program at UPenn itself and will try to join it if I get some funding through external scholarships.

Haha it's fine.  That's great you got accepted to another program at Penn.  I think things will work out for both of us.

I'll be joining the University of Michigan Program in Survey Methodology and Data Science. It's pretty different from MBDS I guess. Luckily they offered to cover tuition and a job at the institute for social research at Michigan. I'm more interested in social science research than behavioral econ so this just made more sense for me. I liked the idea of working at the center for social norms and behavioral dynamics at Penn but this should be a pretty similar thing in that regard. 

Edited April 7, 2021 by MarkN

[StInWonderland]

Hi! I know this is the thread for previous year admission but I would like to ask you all sth. Do you know whether the program gives out offer in early Mar?
Someone message me said they apply in Jan (after early round) and they got offer now.

Thank you in advance