Earn a Master of Information and Data Science Online • Hacker News Board

Re: Earn a Master of Information and Data Science Online

#11

Post by Someone1234 » Thu, Aug 21, 2014, 8:21 PM UTC

pwelch wrote: post #4

The page has an icon that says "Hacker safe" but doesn't even use SSL when transmitting your information.

Good catch. It also has "Your privacy is important to us" and a SSL-like padlock. The web-server at requestinfo.datascience.berkeley.edu doesn't even have a valid certificate (it is return Cloudflare's certificate). So if you were thinking of typing in HTTPS manually then think again...

They do send the form to: https://salesforce.com/servlet/servlet.WebToLead?encoding=UT...

But as we all know if the form itself is in HTTP then it can be intercepted and modified to send the info to an attacker's own web-server making the fact that they're sending to a HTTPS-enabled server really rather meaningless.

HTTP form to HTTPS essentially breaks HTTPS's MITM protections, it only keeps the encryption somewhat in-place (although with a successful MITM the encryption is effectively disabled).

Re: Earn a Master of Information and Data Science Online

#12

Post by guelo » Thu, Aug 21, 2014, 8:23 PM UTC

codegeek wrote: post #7

I have/had my eye on this one. I spoke to the admission counselor for this program. Apparently, they assign each student one counselor if you join this program. Here are some details: - 100% online [0] (you do have to visit the campus for a week during the course) - Total price tag: $60,000 (Yes, pretty steep) - You can finish in 1-2 years depending on how much you can do - You must take the GRE or GMAT. No exception…

Trying to make money off the brand, pathetic. But they have to pay for all those administrators somehow.

Re: Earn a Master of Information and Data Science Online

#13

Post by ajones » Thu, Aug 21, 2014, 8:23 PM UTC

marrone12 wrote: post #6

I wish they posted their curriculum somewhere.

Here you go! http://datascience.berkeley.edu/academics/curriculum/

Re: Earn a Master of Information and Data Science Online

#14

Post by gbrock16 » Thu, Aug 21, 2014, 8:23 PM UTC

Here is another option from a different UC university if you are in the San Diego area: http://maseng.ucsd.edu/dse/

Re: Earn a Master of Information and Data Science Online

#15

Post by ojbyrne » Thu, Aug 21, 2014, 8:24 PM UTC

p0ppe wrote: post #8

You don't seem to be getting a Berkeley degree; "datascience@berkeley’s technology service provider works with a different university to offer an online data science program that is unaffiliated with the University of California." (3rd page of the form). I wonder what that university would be.

That seems like an additional program as suggested by the checkbox below it to "learn more about this other online graduate data science opportunity."

Re: Earn a Master of Information and Data Science Online

#16

Post by guelo » Thu, Aug 21, 2014, 8:25 PM UTC

p0ppe wrote: post #8

You don't seem to be getting a Berkeley degree; "datascience@berkeley’s technology service provider works with a different university to offer an online data science program that is unaffiliated with the University of California." (3rd page of the form). I wonder what that university would be.

Also wonder who the "technology service provider" is. Is it just a repackaging of something like Coursera for $60k?

Re: Earn a Master of Information and Data Science Online

#17

Post by ojbyrne » Thu, Aug 21, 2014, 8:25 PM UTC

Someone1234 wrote: post #2

> Now you can earn a degree in data science from anywhere in the world. Yet they ask for a US college GPA to even get to the form? Little confused. Is that information used to determine your eligibility and why is there no "no clue" option? A GPA is a very US-centric thing.

Minor quibble: also Canada.

Re: Earn a Master of Information and Data Science Online

#18

Post by sourc3 » Thu, Aug 21, 2014, 8:30 PM UTC

washedup wrote: post #9

codegeek wrote: post #7

I have/had my eye on this one. I spoke to the admission counselor for this program. Apparently, they assign each student one counselor if you join this program. Here are some details: - 100% online [0] (you do have to visit the campus for a week during the course) - Total price tag: $60,000 (Yes, pretty steep) - You can finish in 1-2 years depending on how much you can do - You must take the GRE or GMAT. No exception…

Yea, I came to the same conclusions. $60K seems like a lot for any online degree. Obviously there are still people working behind the scenes, but to me a majority of the cost is covering the Berkeley brand. While that is very attractive, I wouldn't pay more than $20,000 for this program. The knowledge itself is very valuable, but attaining it should not be so costly when there are amazing free resources all over the…

I was contemplating this master's degree as well. In the past couple of months we had a bunch of emails go back and forth. However, the $60K tag on an online program makes no sense.

I would rather pay that kind of money for a brand name if I will actually make connections with people in real life.

Just having a piece of paper from a reputable institution with no real human connection is just not worth the price in my opinion.

This is based on my assumption that I do make better connections with people in real life compared to virtual setups.

Re: Earn a Master of Information and Data Science Online

#19

Post by vishalzone2002 » Thu, Aug 21, 2014, 8:34 PM UTC

codegeek wrote: post #7

I have/had my eye on this one. I spoke to the admission counselor for this program. Apparently, they assign each student one counselor if you join this program. Here are some details: - 100% online [0] (you do have to visit the campus for a week during the course) - Total price tag: $60,000 (Yes, pretty steep) - You can finish in 1-2 years depending on how much you can do - You must take the GRE or GMAT. No exception…

60k for online is disappointing. I would pay 500 to coursera instead

Re: Earn a Master of Information and Data Science Online

#20

Post by justizin » Thu, Aug 21, 2014, 8:37 PM UTC

washedup wrote: post #9

codegeek wrote: post #7

I have/had my eye on this one. I spoke to the admission counselor for this program. Apparently, they assign each student one counselor if you join this program. Here are some details: - 100% online [0] (you do have to visit the campus for a week during the course) - Total price tag: $60,000 (Yes, pretty steep) - You can finish in 1-2 years depending on how much you can do - You must take the GRE or GMAT. No exception…

Yea, I came to the same conclusions. $60K seems like a lot for any online degree. Obviously there are still people working behind the scenes, but to me a majority of the cost is covering the Berkeley brand. While that is very attractive, I wouldn't pay more than $20,000 for this program. The knowledge itself is very valuable, but attaining it should not be so costly when there are amazing free resources all over the…

> when there are amazing free resources all over the place.

in fact, most of the worthwhile resources are free, since this isn't a discipline that has really been taught at any level until recently, but draws from several.