PhD weekend

So this past weekend was the PhD weekend where we invited the final candidates over to visit campus and have a chat with the faculty. It was a great opportunity to see behind the scenes work with the admissions office and see the entire process of a PhD applicant.

It all started Friday night when the applicants arrived at the hotel and had a nice dinner at Davio's. The Admissions GAs (including myself) helped with the registration and the welcoming of the students.

Saturday was the BIG day. We started at 8am setting up the conference room for the poster session so that the applicants can walk around listening to PhD students and faculty talk about their current research and interests. After the poster session we all walked to GSE and had lunch. Shortly after lunch the applicants started the conversations with faculty one by one until essentially dinner time. During that process the Admissions GAs would be stationed at each floor and help the applicants get to each room within a timely manner and provide snacks and drinks when needed. After the conversations were over, the applicants were all led to the Penn Museum where we had a nice dinner next to the Egyptian Gallery. The whole venue was really nice and we worked hard to make sure everyone, especially the applicants, were happy.

The admissions staff at the Egyptian gallery!

first course - Caesar salad

second course- salmon with bok choy and rice cake

third course - chocolate gelato and apple pie

I did not attend Sunday morning events but it was a nice breakfast at Davio's followed by a trolley tour around the city f Philadelphia. Overall the events went really well and the applicants really enjoyed their time at Penn GSE.

And now we will listen to all of the feedback and prep for the EdD weekend in two weeks!