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Colleges have been quietly expanding the last 10-15 years with programs like these. They do it discreetly, sometimes with different campuses across town or simp
by vgeek 5y ago
Colleges have been quietly expanding the last 10-15 years with programs like these. They do it discreetly, sometimes with different campuses across town or simply online. From what I've seen, they may be an entirely separate school so as to not be reported on the same way (a 7% acceptance rate and high job placement rates at blue chip firms makes a difference when the major currency of universities is prestige), since many of them are essentially open admissions.
E.g. On LinkedIn I frequently see Harvard listed on profiles, but upon digging in, it is Harvard Extension School which mostly seems to offer certificates. The recipients win (they get to put Harvard on their resume, albeit paying high fees for online only, ignoring costs/default rates) and the college wins (they get paid, the marginal cost per student is probably favorable, degree vs certificates probably doesn't matter if the same content and tests apply). The only people potentially negatively impacted will be the students of the traditional organization in that they paid full tuition for a college brand that is actively diluting itself by selling certificates that may have lower standards that traditionally associated with the organization.
- m0lecules 5y agoOTOH, you have schools like (the actual) Georgia Tech offering an online MS in CS for an affordable price: https://omscs.gatech.edu/ https://omscs.gatech.edu/
- zeropoint46 5y agoI wish they had something like this for undergrad.
- vasusen 5y agoUniversity of London offers a Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Computer Science degree - https://www.coursera.org/degrees/bachelor-of-science-computer-science-london https://www.coursera.org/degrees/bachelor-of-science-compute.... Full disclosure: I work at Coursera.
- nvusuvu 5y agoDo you know how much the tuition/fees cost for this?
- vasusen 5y agoThis page mentions the Tuition: https://www.coursera.org/degrees/bachelor-of-science-computer-science-london/tuition-financing https://www.coursera.org/degrees/bachelor-of-science-compute.... The total cost of the programme for 2021/22 is between £11,229 - £16,790 *, depending upon geographic location.
- fifthofhisname 5y agoOregon State University offers an online B.S. in Computer Science and Engineering. [0] They also offer an accelerated course if you already have an undergrad degree (e.g. for those looking for a career change). [1] [1] https://ecampus.oregonstate.edu/online-degrees/undergraduate/computer-science-postbacc/ https://ecampus.oregonstate.edu/online-degrees/undergraduate... [0] https://ecampus.oregonstate.edu/online-degrees/undergraduate/computer-science/ https://ecampus.oregonstate.edu/online-degrees/undergraduate...
- zeropoint46 5y agothank you for this. I looked at this a while ago and forgot about it, I think I'll have a look again.
- datavirtue 5y agoFinally. When my wife went there they only had biology and ag tracks online.
- echelon 5y agoThis is the university that started it all. They've had the program for about a decade now, and they do a ridiculously good job. [1] It's a rigorous degree, they only admit a limited number of students (so your application has to be reasonable), and it's completely affordable. It's also indistinguishable from their on-campus MS in CS. It doesn't say you took it "online" after you graduate. Georgia Tech is a pretty outstanding school, so this looks good for places that care. If you want an MS in CS and want to do it from home, this is the one you want. [1] Anecdotal, but I know five colleagues that have taken it and have nothing but praise for the program. The two I am closest to used for the following cases: 1. A CS grad working in the field used it to explore machine learning a decade after college. They had no previous experience with the field and then shifted into a deep learning role shortly before graduation. 2. Another close friend was a graduate working in radio research and wanted to learn CS fundamentals (OS, distributed, etc.). They're still doing radio work, but they used it to get an expanded role and a pretty substantial raise. Both were very happy with the program. Both completed the program while working full time, though they admitted it was a ton of work.
- mrandolph 5y agoabout halfway through it myself. I spend about 20-30 hours a week on it. It's definitely a challenging program but the value is ridiculously good. I've learned an incredible amount of incredible things. While it's difficult to manage both the program and other life obligations, I'll be a bit sad once it's over.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- ativzzz 5y ago> It's also indistinguishable from their on-campus MS in CS This isn't exactly true. Only a fraction of all classes are available for the online program. The computational perception & robotics specialization for instance has a very limited selection of classes available. Plus, you don't get the benefit of in-person networking with your peers and professors, but that's just the price of being remote.
- Whinner 5y agoThey also started an online MS in Cybersecurity in 2019. Three different tracks. The policy track only needs 1 CS'ish class. The Information Security track students would probably be better off just going for the MS in CS instead. A lot of students start in the Information Security track but switch over to Policy once they take the intro to info security class. All the classes in the Info Sec track are the same as the CS degree except they cost more. The energy/power track students don't seem to really exist. I'm done with 7/10 classes.
- mikemac 5y agoI assume you're in the CS track? How do you like it so far, and was your undergrad in CS?
- Whinner 5y agoI'm in the Cybersecurity, Information Security Track. My undergrad was Business Administration. It's been a struggle trying to learn things as I go but so far no issues. I personally feel the MS in CS would be more valuable, but I never thought I would have been accepted into the program. I was accepted into the first semester of the MS in Cyber MS. If I had known that I would be successful, I would have applied to the CS degree years ago.
- lordnacho 5y agoIndeed, I've seen Oxford pushing some Blockchain quickie courses. It seems like a double cross: smart people are not going to think it's the same as an Oxford degree (I'm biased on this but...) but you can still milk a few people for some money, in exchange for the brand. I'm not sure in the long run the institution wins. As you do more and more of these courses your marketing gets more and more obvious. Social media feeds, that sort of thing. You don't want to be that school that sells diplomas.
- seanmcdirmid 5y agoAll non-thesis CS master degrees are a bit suspect. They are basically a few more courses, usually at night for professional students, but increasingly online. I'm not really sure what kind of value they add beyond looking good on a resume. Thesis masters are increasingly rare these days as American schools allow you to jump straight to a PhD program (Europe is a bit more rigid here). The other kind of Masters degree that is increasingly popular is the 5th year undergrad extension, which makes a lot of a sense (MIT started the trend here, other schools have followed).
- wbraun 5y agoThe MIT 5th year masters program for EECS requires a thesis and for you to find a faculty thesis advisor that is separate from your academic advisor.
- seanmcdirmid 5y agoYa, I forgot that point. But it is usually one semester of classes + one semester of writing a thesis (not sure what MIT does these days, I think this is what UCLA does), which isn't the usual one year of courses + one year of thesis writing.
- jdavis703 5y agoDuring the aftermath of the 2008 financial crash there were even tech support jobs asking for a masters degree. This has basically gone away with the tight STEM labor market. But it was one of the reasons I wound up getting a BS in IT instead of going straight from grade school to tech support.
- snakeboy 5y agoI've spent a lot of time interviewing data scientists for an entry-level position lately, and it's pretty shocking to hear them describe their master's "capstone project", which often consists of a group project with some pre-cleaned data. A few calls to sklearn later, bam, an M.S.
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- chucksmash 5y agoFWIW, I don't think Harvard Extension School is a good example of this trend. It was founded in 1910 with a fairly egalitarian ideal to serve the people of Boston. Not quite a latter day cash-in. I retook Calc I through the extension school six or seven years ago out of curiosity when I was considering doing an online Master's. Rigor was on par with my undergrad Calc I or perhaps a little higher and the quality of instruction was definitely higher. The lecturer (Eric Towne!) had a command of the people and history surrounding the concepts he was teaching and shared lots of fascinating context.
- Zababa 5y agoWe have this in France too. Prestigious schools often have a "main" program, for which you need to do a classe préparatoire and a competition. But there are also other diplomas that you can get that still have the name of the school.
- ilamont 5y agoHarvard Extension grad here. Even though most people taking Extension School classes are casual class-takers, the liberal arts degree programs for undergraduates and graduate students are well established (https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2021/10/7/extension-school-scrut/ https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2021/10/7/extension-schoo...). While the Extension School does offer certificate programs, it's the Harvard Business School that has really benefited IMHO. They are really pushing hard to grow them (https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/hbs-online-certificate-of-specialization https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/hbs-online-certificate-of-s...). You are correct about the growth of online degrees. HES degree programs received a massive boost when online classes were offered and "professional" concentrations (business, technology) were made available at the graduate level starting about 15 years ago. The number of new degrees awarded every year has tripled as a result. Note that the University does not allow the Extension School to award MS or MBA degrees, and there is a lot of controversy over the convoluted and demeaning designation that's used on our degrees (https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2021/3/9/extension-school-degree-name/ https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2021/3/9/extension-school...). The other area in which the Harvard Extension School is well-known is its post-bacc. It's highly regarded, and people who complete the program have been admitted to top-tier medical schools across the U.S. (https://extension.harvard.edu/academics/programs/premedical-program/#admissions-requirements https://extension.harvard.edu/academics/programs/premedical-...).
- varispeed 5y agoWhat job can you get after liberal arts degree? I am guessing politics?
- mistrial9 5y agovery few people are paid for "poly-tricks"
- ilamont 5y agoDepends on the degree and the person. I completed a history degree. For my thesis I carried out a computer content analysis of Xinhua (新華社), China’s official news agency, to gauge Beijing’s foreign policy priorities in Southeast Asia during the Deng Xiaoping era. My faculty advisor said that I could get a job as an analyst if I were willing to move to Washington (I was not interested in doing this).
- OldHand2018 5y ago> On LinkedIn I frequently see Harvard listed on profiles, but upon digging in, it is Harvard Extension School which mostly seems to offer certificates. Harvard Extension started in the 1830s and became a formal division of the university over 100 years ago. They offer real degrees to "non-traditional" students. People that get admitted get the same student ID card that everyone else gets, has the same facility access, etc. The biggest transgression is that Harvard gives those graduates a liberal arts degree in "extension studies" without naming the concentration. People also seem to have issues with the fact that anyone that applies and meets the requirements is admitted as a student. But if you count the number of people that start with one of the "courses for entry" and compare to the number of people who actually get admitted, their admission rate would be even lower than, say, the Harvard Kennedy School (which by the way is willing to grant a master's degree to someone that doesn't even have an undergraduate degree). Why it gets such flack for being "Harvard, but not really" doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Harvard College - the undergraduate school - is the super exclusive part. Harvard University - the collection of graduate schools plus the college - is huge with a wide variety of exclusivity and completely uncorrelated ability.
- 908B64B197 5y ago> On LinkedIn I frequently see Harvard listed on profiles, but upon digging in, it is Harvard Extension School which mostly seems to offer certificates. This becomes awkward when interviewing if there's a real Harvard grad in the room. Invariably the first question they'll ask is which house the candidate was in.
- smeyer 5y ago>Invariably the first question they'll ask is which house the candidate was in Are people actually asking this at the beginning of interviews? I'm a Harvard College grad, and that's a question I sometimes ask or am asked in social settings, but not in interview settings. When I've worked with interns or recent grads from the college it usually comes up eventually, but usually only after the internship/job has started and folks are starting to get each other.
- 908B64B197 5y agoThere might be a selection bias here: the interviews were it came up were for juniors and the interviewer was fairly green as well. I think in one case they even had one year of overlap.