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For a low-risk way to make this decision, check out programs like Georgia Tech's Online MS in Computer Science. [0] It confers the same degree as the on-campus

For a low-risk way to make this decision, check out programs like Georgia Tech's Online MS in Computer Science. [0] It confers the same degree as the on-campus program at a small fraction of the cost. Take a class while working and if you like it, continue to pursue the MS (either with GT, or you could transfer the credits somewhere else). If not, drop out and you're only out ~$800. [0] http://www.omscs.gatech.edu/ http://www.omscs.gatech.edu/

xfitm3 8y ago
What would you suggest to someone who doesn’t have a BS? Or a HS diploma?
- throwawaymath 8y ago
  How are you going to be admitted to a graduate program without an undergraduate degree? The cases I'm aware of where that's happened are so rare and unique they may as well have never happened. Even in those instances, I don't think any of them happened in the last decade or two. If anything it's probably more difficult than ever to e.g. impress the right faculty member and thus bypass graduate admissions these days (Lockhart did this after meeting Erdos at Columbia in the late 80s). The amount of bureaucracy has only increased over time. More importantly much of it has been systematically automated, so you longer even have a clear system for a human to bypass a requirement in exceptional cases. I think it's also hard to make a really good case for it. I know someone who was admitted to Harvard at 16 years old. Upon admission he already had two full years of undergraduate credit completed through a gifted youth program at Stanford. He finished his bachelors degree before he turned 18 and received his PhD at 21. He didn't "need" undergraduate education in the usual sense of the word, but he still got it (albeit in a non-traditional way) before going to grad school. It might sound harsh but when people like that exist and still get a bachelors degree, universities don't really have to make exceptions. There's just no pressure to do so, and in their eyes anyone without the qualification is an unknown quantity with an unfamiliar bureaucratic exception process tied to it.
  - wmil 8y ago
    An MS program won't take someone like that, but MBA programs quite commonly take in people without undergrad degrees who have an impressive enough resume.
sidcool 8y ago
That's a good idea. What is the market value of the online degree? Is it comparable to full time degree?
- xfitm3 8y ago
  Quote: “It confers the same degree as the on-campus program at a small fraction of the cost.”
- ajhurliman 8y ago
  There's no indication on the degree that it's online, so the same as the on-campus degree. The only differentiation that an outsider could possibly audit is that the online degree only allows for a coursework degree, whereas the on-campus degree allows for a thesis-based coursework (or you could do a coursework degree on-campus too).
js4 8y ago
" Preferred qualifications for admitted OMS CS students are an undergraduate degree in computer science or related field (typically mathematics, computer engineering or electrical engineering) from an accredited institution with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher. Applicants who do not meet these criteria will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis; however, work experience will not take the place of an undergraduate degree. The following are required for admission" Never mind what you have done in the last decade or so, hopefully you got a CS degree and had a 3.0 GPA.
- throwawaymath 8y ago
  It does say applicants who do not meet those criteria will be evaluated on a case by case basis, though.
- tropo 8y ago
  Yes, it's really quite a vile racket they have going on there, making people do a BS that is 60% to 80% useless filler gunk. I could understand stating that instructors will not slow down for unprepared students, and that people with a low or missing GPA don't get to sign up for classes until after other students have done so. That makes sense. Denying admission is improper.
hacym 8y ago
If anyone is interested in this, I wrote up my thoughts on my first year in the program: https://medium.com/@mycahp/thoughts-on-the-omscs-program-at-georgia-tech-after-my-first-year-ed8ad9a0aeab https://medium.com/@mycahp/thoughts-on-the-omscs-program-at-...
minhaz23 8y ago
Is 800 what you pay up front? When do you pay the rest, after completion? What's the cost of the entire program?

xfitm3 8y ago

What would you suggest to someone who doesn’t have a BS? Or a HS diploma?

throwawaymath 8y ago
How are you going to be admitted to a graduate program without an undergraduate degree? The cases I'm aware of where that's happened are so rare and unique they may as well have never happened. Even in those instances, I don't think any of them happened in the last decade or two. If anything it's probably more difficult than ever to e.g. impress the right faculty member and thus bypass graduate admissions these days (Lockhart did this after meeting Erdos at Columbia in the late 80s). The amount of bureaucracy has only increased over time. More importantly much of it has been systematically automated, so you longer even have a clear system for a human to bypass a requirement in exceptional cases. I think it's also hard to make a really good case for it. I know someone who was admitted to Harvard at 16 years old. Upon admission he already had two full years of undergraduate credit completed through a gifted youth program at Stanford. He finished his bachelors degree before he turned 18 and received his PhD at 21. He didn't "need" undergraduate education in the usual sense of the word, but he still got it (albeit in a non-traditional way) before going to grad school. It might sound harsh but when people like that exist and still get a bachelors degree, universities don't really have to make exceptions. There's just no pressure to do so, and in their eyes anyone without the qualification is an unknown quantity with an unfamiliar bureaucratic exception process tied to it.
- wmil 8y ago
  An MS program won't take someone like that, but MBA programs quite commonly take in people without undergrad degrees who have an impressive enough resume.

sidcool 8y ago

That's a good idea. What is the market value of the online degree? Is it comparable to full time degree?

xfitm3 8y ago
Quote: “It confers the same degree as the on-campus program at a small fraction of the cost.”
ajhurliman 8y ago
There's no indication on the degree that it's online, so the same as the on-campus degree. The only differentiation that an outsider could possibly audit is that the online degree only allows for a coursework degree, whereas the on-campus degree allows for a thesis-based coursework (or you could do a coursework degree on-campus too).

js4 8y ago

" Preferred qualifications for admitted OMS CS students are an undergraduate degree in computer science or related field (typically mathematics, computer engineering or electrical engineering) from an accredited institution with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher. Applicants who do not meet these criteria will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis; however, work experience will not take the place of an undergraduate degree. The following are required for admission" Never mind what you have done in the last decade or so, hopefully you got a CS degree and had a 3.0 GPA.

throwawaymath 8y ago
It does say applicants who do not meet those criteria will be evaluated on a case by case basis, though.
tropo 8y ago
Yes, it's really quite a vile racket they have going on there, making people do a BS that is 60% to 80% useless filler gunk. I could understand stating that instructors will not slow down for unprepared students, and that people with a low or missing GPA don't get to sign up for classes until after other students have done so. That makes sense. Denying admission is improper.

hacym 8y ago

If anyone is interested in this, I wrote up my thoughts on my first year in the program: https://medium.com/@mycahp/thoughts-on-the-omscs-program-at-georgia-tech-after-my-first-year-ed8ad9a0aeab https://medium.com/@mycahp/thoughts-on-the-omscs-program-at-...

minhaz23 8y ago

Is 800 what you pay up front? When do you pay the rest, after completion? What's the cost of the entire program?