It is generally not easy for a master's student to transfer to the doctoral program and no candidate should commence a CIS master's program with the primary expectation of transferring to the doctoral program.

Here are possible methods for a CIS MSE student to assay transferring to the doctoral program:

Take the MSE/PhD core course finals as the WPE I and -

(a) A master's student determines an area of research he/she is interested in and takes a course in that area, conducts independent studies and/or pursues a master's thesis with the relevant faculty. This gives faculty the opportunity to assess the student's research ability which may result in the faculty member being willing to take on the master's student as an advisee for the doctoral program.

or

(b) A master's student submits an online application for the doctoral program (www.seas.upenn.edu/grad/ga.html) providing a new personal statement relevant to the doctoral program, two letters of recommendation from Penn faculty, and any other documents he/she wishes to submit; test scores, transcripts, etc. from the student's master's application dossier will be incorporated into the doctoral application file. If you go this route, advise Mike when you have submitted the application; the dossier will then be put forth for faculty to review with the other applicants to the doctoral program.

Mike Felker