Welcome Urban Spatial Analytics Students

MUSA will hold a two-week summer session from August 11th – 21st consisting of two remote classes, one of which focuses on spatial analysis in R and the other on statistics. Both classes are mandatory for students who do not have experience coding in R or with introductory statistics and are strongly encouraged for all members of the cohort. Students wishing to obtain a waiver should contact the course instructors (GIS and R: Michael Fichman, mfichman@design.upenn.edu; Statistics: Eugene Brusilovskiy, eugeneby@design.upenn.edu). The cost is $150 for each session.

MUSA will host a mandatory orientation on August 25th. This is an excellent opportunity for students to get to know the cohort, faculty, and Weitzman facilities. Please take this date into account when securing housing.

Q: I didn’t get the scholarship I was hoping for. How do I inquire about additional financial aid? 

A: Scholarships at Weitzman School are limited, but some small additional awards may be available close to the response deadline of April 15. Please email Elizabeth Delmelle (delmelle@design.upenn.edu) for more details. 

Weitzman Admissions maintains a list of external scholarship opportunities (link here). We recommend browsing this page for additional opportunities.

Q: Can I defer admission for a year or two?

A. Deferrals are approved on a case-by-case basis and only offered for extraordinary personal or professional reasons. Scholarships are not guaranteed for any approved deferrals.

Students considering a deferral are encouraged to withdraw and reapply the following year. If you are considering deferring your admission, please reach out to Patrick Bransfield (pbrans@upenn.edu).

Q. I want to start preparing for fall courses. What books should I do to prepare?

This is totally up to you! But, based on feedback from past students, for those without any coding or GIS background, the learning curve and pace of the degree can be steep. Therefore, we've put together a few, free resources for you to explore on your own over the summer to start priming the parts of your brain that are about to get a workout. 

For complete coding novices, Mjumbe Poe, who teaches JavaScript and Cloud Computing, recommends playing around with these very simple exercises (we are not insulting your intelligence, but getting into an algorithmic thinking habit is very beneficial): https://studio.code.org/s/artist/lessons/1/levels/1

A good, free, very basic intro to Python that would make a warm-up for those with no experience is here: https://app.datacamp.com/learn/courses/intro-to-python-for-data-science

You'll all be working with R in both MUSA 5080 and MUSA 5000. For some very intro warm-ups, the free course from datacamp is a good start: https://app.datacamp.com/learn/courses/introduction-to-the-tidyverse

Q. Can I start putting together my course program?

A. Information about registering for classes will be sent to your Penn email in mid-June. A Q&A session will follow.

All MUSA students will need to select 2 ‘urban content’ courses (typically one per semester). These should be related in some way, non-technical, and can be any graduate-level course in any department at Penn. We use ‘urban’ loosely, we also welcome environmental content areas of study. Start thinking about what area of application you’d like to explore and browse potential courses in advance of registration.

Q. Is it easy to find housing in Philadelphia? Within walking distance of Penn?

A. While it is not difficult to find housing in Philadelphia, you will need to give yourself a few days to look, familiarize yourself with nearby neighborhoods, and consider finding a roommate. Feel free to peruse Penn’s Off-Campus Housing Services page for assistance with your housing search.

There are also a limited number of opportunities for graduate students to serve as residence hall advisors. Applications for these positions close on April 4th. Please view the College Houses & Academic Services site to apply.

Q. Will I need a laptop if I don’t already have one?

A. Yes you will need a laptop. The Weitzman School IT department will be sending you information on minimum specifications and purchase opportunities in June. Note, that most of our courses use open-source software (R, Python) that support a range of operating systems.

Q. Can I find out who my academic advisor will be? And can I contact him or her?

A. Advisor assignments are announced on August 1st, but feel free to e-mail Elizabeth Delmelle (delmelle@design.upenn.edu), Mjumbe Poe (mjumbe@design.upenn.edu) with questions about your coursework.

Q. Can I contact current Weitzman students by e-mail to get their perspective on the program?

A. This is the time of the semester (March and April) when students are incredibly busy with their studies. Please reach out to Patrick Bransfield (pbrans@upenn.edu) and he’ll put you in touch with a student ambassador.

Q. I’m still undecided between Penn and another program. What else can you tell me that help me make up my mind?

A. The MUSA program at Penn is The Original Urban Analytics degree. Our program and curriculum are at the forefront of skills currently in demand in the job market. Our core faculty is comprised of researchers doing cutting-edge academic work at the intersection of spatial data science and urban and environmental planning and practitioners who are attuned to the skills demanded in the workforce. Your core technical courses are taught by faculty housing in the MUSA program – you will not be outsourced to take programming or data science classes in an engineering or computer science department. Therefore, our classes focus on how to appropriately apply these methods to urban and environmental policy and planning decision-making questions. We are confident that our program is unmatched by any other.

We hope we've answered all your questions. If you have others, feel free to e-mail Patrick Bransfield (pbrans@upenn.edu). We hope to see you in August!