Upenn MCIT Program Details and Real Student Experiences - Dr. Arvind Bhusnurmath

Hi everyone, I'm so excited to share this video with anyone that is interested in MCIT at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) or even currently enrolled! This video is a deep dive into MCIT and goes beyond all the stats you can find already online. Arvind and I talk about real experiences of real students and he gives amazing insights into what MCIT is about and if you are someone that should really dedicate yourself to this program. Arvind is not only the director of MCIT, professor, and my past boss (I was a TA for one of his classes), but also an incredible mentor and human being. He's honest, extremely intelligent, caring, and humble (sorry Arvind I know I'm probably embarrassing you haha). I was worried that this interview-style video is too long, but I decided to do very minimal editing and just post it because I think it's just so valuable. I added timestamps though so please feel free to skip around! I really hope you enjoy it and find it useful :)

00:00 Intro - Arvind
01:14 MCIT program overview
04:20 What makes a good MCIT candidate
09:30 Culture
11:47 Online vs on-campus + how to choose
21:19 Internships and jobs
37:28 COVID-19 impact
38:30 Future of employment
43:32 What not to write on your personal statement
44:30 Application tips
47:10 Lightning round
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[TinaHuang]

Timestamps:
00:00 Intro - Arvind
01:14 MCIT program overview
04:20 What makes a good MCIT candidate
09:30 Culture
11:47 Online vs on-campus + how to choose
21:19 Internships and jobs
37:28 COVID-19 impact
38:30 Future of employment
43:32 What not to write on your personal statement
44:30 Application tips
47:10 Lightning round


Really hope you guys enjoy this video :) I always have so
much fun chatting with Arvind!

[TinaHuang]

Arvind's post about MCIT Online vs. On Campus:

These are not in any order of importance. I talked about the personal connection aspect first simply because that to me is the most significant one.

Number of electives - Whatever happens, I'll be extremely shocked if the number of electives in the online space becomes equal to the number of electives on campus. We, the faculty, get hired, to produce the on campus courses.

Variety of electives - As most of you know, you are allowed to take 1 approved non-CIS elective. This is a pretty popular option. No chance of doing this if you do the online version.

Research - Completely unclear to me how an online student gets to do research with faculty. Past cohorts (including the one that just graduated) have had at least one if not more students who have managed to work with our faculty on research projects. Some of them have gone on to do PhDs. No research --> very low chance of a PhD.

Going on to a dual degree with CIS, CGGT, Robo - Fairly sure that these are opportunities that only on-campus students have.

Mental health resources - CAPS is not something that online students have access to. I'm also not sure the students have access to the Weingarten learning center either.

Immigration - Online students cannot get an F-1 visa.

Recitations - Recitations in the online world do not have even 1/10th of the discussion and asking TAs questions that the on-campus world does. For certain topics, we feel that students explaining their thoughts to other students or talking to TAs makes a world of difference.

Who's teaching you - I'm putting this one last because I kinda feel awkward saying "my team is the best" (unless I'm at the Linc!). If you take a look at the last 7-8 years of MCIT on-campus teaching and the last 2 years or so of MCIT online teaching you will find that the MCIT core classes have always been taught by teaching track faculty. This is not the case with MCIT online. Teaching track faculty are instructors whose primary job description is teaching, and not research. Our tenure track/tenured faculty has many amazing teachers. But I'd like to think that being taught by teaching track faculty as opposed to tenure track/tenured faculty in that important and formative first year can make a difference.

[rachelle]

Congrats on the channel Tina!! — MCIT Online is also excellent if you need an asynchorous schedule and cant commit to class live times (even if they were online). I am an MCIT student, work full time, and have a child. I squeeze in MCIT in off hours (often before 7am and past 10pm) and feel so lucky the program exists to cater to my need.

[kimbab]

Thank you very much this video. I used the info video to polish my application essay and I was accepted to the MCIT program! Your channel is one of the most useful on youtube!

[akanksharawat]

This is such an amazing interview Tina! I was hooked and this feels so great that students and teacher dynamics is pretty cool at the program. Thank you Tina and Arvind for this! 😀

[Shrek_Versus_Obama]

This video made me really excited to apply and was very helpful, thanks Tina!

[cedricvicera]

Definitely a helpful resource! This would've been a great video when I was applying.

[yoyoyoyo]

seeing your interaction with the director makes me fall for the program, thank u for showing this

[Cahriicchuu]

Wow Tina!!! Your videos are great but this one is def one of your best❤❤❤

[gabn]

thank you so so much Tina your video really saves my life <3

[mirandalyu]

Thank you, Tina! This video is very helpful!

[rishikeshpatil]

Hello Tina. Great video. It helped me with lots of doubts about the MCIT program. I am considering applying for the MCIT program. I did my bachelor's in electronics, and I think MCIT is great way to get into computer science field. Do you know about other programs similar to MCIT? Just searched for similar computer science masters programs, but couldn't find one for people with non-IT background.

[sultanakalsekar]

Hey I saw your Interview with Ken. Your Ideas and Approach was really Amazing. Thanks for creating Such Awesome Contents on this UTube Channel. I am really inspired by You and I am too thinking to create my Channel.

I wanted to Ask That How to get project Ideas for programming in Python or any other Lang Data Science and Python in Specific.
Please Try Creating a Video on it if U think This Is Something Worth to Share with Others Too

[changyuhu]

Thank you so much for the video! It really helps a lot.

[observer]

Hey!.... this is clickbait! I came here for the black cat you were holding in your thumbnail :D:)

[louiseyi]

thanks for this great video Tina haha ❤️

[RebekahMcComas]

My background includes an English degree with one time hopes of a masters in tech writing. My math background is so minimal (Algebra I and Geometry) and so long ago it is scary. I was looking at another of your videos sponsored by Brilliant. I started working through the most basic courses to review and see if I will find any extreme difficulties as I move to the more advanced courses. If I successfully complete the math courses on Brilliant, should I feel adequate to the math skills to move into the MCIT program or are there additional math courses I should explore before attempting this program? Thank you so much for your very insightful content.

[alpha]

How to get project via professor, after graduating from college, say around 2 years?

[lydiamai]

Hi Tina. Love your videos, especially this one as I am interested in this MCIT. Hope to ask for your experience in applying to get admission in this program successfully.

[hargobindsingh]

Hey Tina,
What do you think is the cut off value for the GRE and GPA?
And can you share with us your application stats and process
Thank you