7 ms·

Can attest to that (graduating from it next Friday!). Few points - the main pitch for this is the cost, even if it was not a top 10 ranked MSCS program, it was

Can attest to that (graduating from it next Friday!). Few points - the main pitch for this is the cost, even if it was not a top 10 ranked MSCS program, it was still one of the most cost effective degrees in the US. The total cost for me was around $8,000 including everything (you can lower it if you take it less slowly than I did). The diploma is the same as the on-campus one by the way. I'm actually attending the commencement ceremony there like all the on-campus students (I'm from GA but some OMSCS students fly in just for the graduation ceremony) One small correction, I wouldn't say that most of the on-campus classes are available online, I'd say a great deal of them are, but there are many that are offered only on-campus.

jsnk 9y ago
Thanks for sharing your experience with OMSCS. Did you work on OMSCS full time or part time? How did you end up scheduling in studying masters level courses into your daily life? And how long did it take at the end?
- petrbela 9y ago
  (I'm also graduating this week, started Spring 2015.) OMSCS is a part-time program by design, meaning you can only take up to 9 credits (3 courses) per term. Most students do it while working full time, although in that case, you'd either take one difficult course or two "easier" ones. Most courses took between 6-10 hours per week (actual time spent on the videos/projects as measured by Toggl). That means you have to dedicate one full weekend day, or several evenings during the week. Note that if you're not a fluent software engineer (there is a significant % of students who don't have strictly CS background), some courses may take up to 30 hours per week as reported by others. So in summary, it's doable with full-time work but it requires planning and can be quite exhausting. Btw if you're interested, pretty much everything about the program has been discussed at https://www.reddit.com/r/OMSCS/ https://www.reddit.com/r/OMSCS/
  - swyx 9y ago
    congrats on graduating!! would you recommend it vs the other online masters' on here? i dont even know how to think about comparing one or the other if i'm supposed to ignore ranking.
    - eranation 9y ago
      I think the comparable others are Berkley's data science and Stanford Master of Science in CS (I think it can be achieved fully online, but as opposed to GA Tech, they charge full on-campus tuition). If you get accepted and can afford it, go to Stanford. But I'd say GA Tech is definitely the next choice. Stanford is ranked #1 GA Tech is ranked #9, does it really matter? I don't know, but #1 will cost you around $70,000 and #9 will cost you around $7,000. So if you ignore ranking, I'd say in terms of rigor, I don't have evidence that GA Tech is any less rigorous than Stanford. You do get a GRE waiver at GA Tech OMSCS, I don't think you do at Stanford...
xapata 9y ago
Don't be distracted by the rankings. Georgia Tech has an excellent computer science department. Rankings often include mostly-irrelevant details like the ratio of faculty to students. As far as I know, the rankings include essentially no information about the quality of instruction.
- eranation 9y ago
  Agree that ranking is not that important, p.s. Pardon my english, it's not my first language, I might have wrote it badly. I meant event if it were not a top 10 program (which it is) it would still have been worth it, just for the cost. GA Tech MS in CS is current ranked #9 in USNews and World Report which makes it even a better bargain.
FlyingLawnmower 9y ago
https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-science-schools/computer-science-rankings https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-science-sch... I'm a bit biased here -- I was a Georgia Tech undergrad -- but GT is currently ranked 9th for the graduate computer science department :).
swyx 9y ago
hey so how do you evaluate opportunities post graduation from Georgia Tech? really curious. congrats btw!!

jsnk 9y ago

Thanks for sharing your experience with OMSCS. Did you work on OMSCS full time or part time? How did you end up scheduling in studying masters level courses into your daily life? And how long did it take at the end?

petrbela 9y ago
(I'm also graduating this week, started Spring 2015.) OMSCS is a part-time program by design, meaning you can only take up to 9 credits (3 courses) per term. Most students do it while working full time, although in that case, you'd either take one difficult course or two "easier" ones. Most courses took between 6-10 hours per week (actual time spent on the videos/projects as measured by Toggl). That means you have to dedicate one full weekend day, or several evenings during the week. Note that if you're not a fluent software engineer (there is a significant % of students who don't have strictly CS background), some courses may take up to 30 hours per week as reported by others. So in summary, it's doable with full-time work but it requires planning and can be quite exhausting. Btw if you're interested, pretty much everything about the program has been discussed at https://www.reddit.com/r/OMSCS/ https://www.reddit.com/r/OMSCS/
- swyx 9y ago
  congrats on graduating!! would you recommend it vs the other online masters' on here? i dont even know how to think about comparing one or the other if i'm supposed to ignore ranking.
  - eranation 9y ago
    I think the comparable others are Berkley's data science and Stanford Master of Science in CS (I think it can be achieved fully online, but as opposed to GA Tech, they charge full on-campus tuition). If you get accepted and can afford it, go to Stanford. But I'd say GA Tech is definitely the next choice. Stanford is ranked #1 GA Tech is ranked #9, does it really matter? I don't know, but #1 will cost you around $70,000 and #9 will cost you around $7,000. So if you ignore ranking, I'd say in terms of rigor, I don't have evidence that GA Tech is any less rigorous than Stanford. You do get a GRE waiver at GA Tech OMSCS, I don't think you do at Stanford...

xapata 9y ago

Don't be distracted by the rankings. Georgia Tech has an excellent computer science department. Rankings often include mostly-irrelevant details like the ratio of faculty to students. As far as I know, the rankings include essentially no information about the quality of instruction.

eranation 9y ago
Agree that ranking is not that important, p.s. Pardon my english, it's not my first language, I might have wrote it badly. I meant event if it were not a top 10 program (which it is) it would still have been worth it, just for the cost. GA Tech MS in CS is current ranked #9 in USNews and World Report which makes it even a better bargain.

FlyingLawnmower 9y ago

https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-science-schools/computer-science-rankings https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-science-sch... I'm a bit biased here -- I was a Georgia Tech undergrad -- but GT is currently ranked 9th for the graduate computer science department :).

swyx 9y ago

hey so how do you evaluate opportunities post graduation from Georgia Tech? really curious. congrats btw!!