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Ask HN: Is Georgia Tech's Online Master in CS Worth It?

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Re: Ask HN: Is Georgia Tech's Online Master in CS Worth It?

#101

Post by pc86 »

rosstex wrote: post #92
vikascoder wrote: post #34

Current working professional and an OMSCS student here. It highly depends on the context. Biggest pros are: 1. This is perhaps the cheapest Computer Science masters in the United States from a premier school. The degree is exactly the same as offered to the residential program and the credits acquired are all legit and transferable to other universities. I had friends who transferred from OMSCS to a regular school an…

>"This is perhaps the cheapest Computer Science masters in the United States from a premier school." Actually, there are funded ones! Princeton and Cornell both have 2 year thesis-based M.S.E CS programs which are fully funded + stipend. I'm starting Princeton's in the fall. These are small programs though, I believe there's 12 of us incoming.

First of all, congrats. That sounds like an amazing opportunity and I am legitimately jealous.

I imagine the competitiveness is quite different between an online program from Georgia Tech for ~4,500 students[0] and an onsite program at Princeton for a few dozen. :)

[0] https://www.omscs.gatech.edu/prospective-students/numbers

Re: Ask HN: Is Georgia Tech's Online Master in CS Worth It?

#102

Post by uiwldiowd »

pc86 wrote: post #88
learc83 wrote: post #38

If you haven't been working as a software developer long and you don't have a background in CS, it's going to be difficult. I'm about halfway through and many of the classes assume that you have the equivalent of an undergrad CS degree. It's not intended to replace an undergrad degree. That doesn't mean you can't do it, but your going to spend a lot of time catching up. From what I've seen, the students without a CS…

Honestly this is what gives me the most pause. I have a BA in Political Science from a liberal arts school nobody's ever heard of. Even if I could get in (which is doubtful given my academic transcript and how competitive it is), I don't think my decade of programming experience has given me nearly the theoretical foundation I'd need to do well. And I'm not going to invest the time and effort required just to graduat…

I'm kind of in a similar position. I have a PhD in a field kind of far away from CS (although that's debatable) and am thinking of transitioning more into CS.

The problem is that a second bachelors, while something I'm willing to do, seems kind of problematic for various reasons. Some of the curriculum in a typical CS bachelors seems like something I could benefit from tremendously, but some of it is very remedial. It's very uneven.

What I'd like is something like the Georgia Tech online master's, but with some kind of program for persons such as myself. I know some schools have these kind of postbaccalaureate degree programs, but they're not online.

Re: Ask HN: Is Georgia Tech's Online Master in CS Worth It?

#103

Post by sonabinu »

rripken wrote: post #99
Buttons840 wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're getting a Master's degree without having "CS undergrads"? What does that mean?

I was in an informal study group for Knowledge Based AI and one of the brightest students was a journalist. She had no undergrad CS background. She obviously had a hard time on the programming assignments but she started early, asked TA's for help, developed a clear plan. Her agents performed very well. Another student I know is a medical doctor at Kaiser.

I did not have an undergraduate degree in CS when I did my masters (not this program), I used her approach as well. I did numerous online classes, did community college courses etc. and shoulder watched classmates programming and asked lots of questions. It was not easy, but glad I did it !!!!.

Re: Ask HN: Is Georgia Tech's Online Master in CS Worth It?

#105

Post by rripken »

nheskia wrote: post #63

just wondering, is the admission process similar to other graduate programs? do you need GRE scores? letters of recommendation? what has been people's experiences around these requirements?

I didn't need GRE scores but letters of recommendation are required.

Re: Ask HN: Is Georgia Tech's Online Master in CS Worth It?

#106

Post by throwaway98767 »

throwawayaug15 wrote: post #47

Logging in as a throwaway. The program only costs $5k but it was one of the most expensive things I've done in my life. Got a job at Google directly because of this program (a few classes like CCA helped a lot with interviews). I'm aware of at least a couple dozen of us from OMS here. The program cost me dearly. It cost me my relationship with the SO and it cost me my health (staying up late nights, lots of coffee).…

Can you elaborate a bit on what was said for the SCPD program "not being worth the time and effort"?

(Googler here) I took ~4 classes, and they all seemed to be of high quality (applied for the full MSCS, but didn't get in, unfortunately). What are some of the opinions you've heard here?

Re: Ask HN: Is Georgia Tech's Online Master in CS Worth It?

#107

Post by jhenkens »

rosstex wrote: post #92
vikascoder wrote: post #34

Current working professional and an OMSCS student here. It highly depends on the context. Biggest pros are: 1. This is perhaps the cheapest Computer Science masters in the United States from a premier school. The degree is exactly the same as offered to the residential program and the credits acquired are all legit and transferable to other universities. I had friends who transferred from OMSCS to a regular school an…

>"This is perhaps the cheapest Computer Science masters in the United States from a premier school." Actually, there are funded ones! Princeton and Cornell both have 2 year thesis-based M.S.E CS programs which are fully funded + stipend. I'm starting Princeton's in the fall. These are small programs though, I believe there's 12 of us incoming.

I did reasearch during my MS as well. Tuition + Healthcare + Stipend. Still lost out on 1.5 years of $100k+ a year to slowly lose money (whatever the stipend didn't cover in my living expenses) and get a MS, but I'm happy in the end.

Re: Ask HN: Is Georgia Tech's Online Master in CS Worth It?

#108

Post by stagger87 »

nheskia wrote: post #63

just wondering, is the admission process similar to other graduate programs? do you need GRE scores? letters of recommendation? what has been people's experiences around these requirements?

https://www.omscs.gatech.edu/explore/faq/admissions

Re: Ask HN: Is Georgia Tech's Online Master in CS Worth It?

#109

Post by maverick2 »

I am a BA(Business Analyst) with mostly traditional Project Management duties. My bachelors was in CS, and I still love to delve into technical details of a solution. I do some data analytics for my product. But have been interested in more analytics driven roles and eventually find a Product Owner/Manager role.

Does anyone have insight if doing Georgia Tech's - Master of Science in Analytics will help me land such role?

Re: Ask HN: Is Georgia Tech's Online Master in CS Worth It?

#110

Post by b4ux1t3 »

rripken wrote: post #85
throwawayaug15 wrote: post #47

Logging in as a throwaway. The program only costs $5k but it was one of the most expensive things I've done in my life. Got a job at Google directly because of this program (a few classes like CCA helped a lot with interviews). I'm aware of at least a couple dozen of us from OMS here. The program cost me dearly. It cost me my relationship with the SO and it cost me my health (staying up late nights, lots of coffee).…

I'm in OMSCS and have to disagree with this statement: "hidden gem is Piazza". Piazza is my least favorite part of the program.

I think he might just mean "the ability to work with other students in a specific place" rather than the app itself. I agree, Piazza is kinda. . .over-engineered.
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