Accepted into Georgia Tech's Online MSCS program

[frankc]

Here’s my update and thoughts on the OMSCS program after completing two semesters and starting my third next week:

Overall, I think it's a great program, especially given the current cost, around $650 per course/$6.5k for the entire MSCS degree from GaTech. It's hard to beat that value.

I think the courses are pretty rigorous, about 10-15 hours of work per week for the average course. Some courses, like Distributed Computing, can have up to 40 hours per week, which is really intense. They recommend taking one course per semester for the first two semesters to ease into the workload, which I think it's a pretty good advice.

One thing I've noticed is that this program has a strong emphasis on catching cheaters. You'll find a lot of warnings about plagiarism in the syllabus, on the discussion board, and in the assignment docs. While it's understandable that they want to maintain their standards, and I think it's a good thing, it can be stressful. I find myself constantly worried about accidentally plagiarizing, to the point where I'm almost citing everything just to be safe lol.

As for networking, it's not as bad as some people might think, especially if you choose the right courses with the right people. Most people think that in-person programs offer better networking opportunities, and I think that's true. However, I've found that most of my classmates in this program are already working in tech, so it can actually be a good opportunity to network with people who are already in the field, unlike in-person programs where most students are just full-time students. For example, in my last course, I worked with a Senior Google SWE and a senior Tesla Data Scientist in a group of 4, and we made a great team.

As of now, I plan to continue taking one course per semester, with a couple of semesters where I'll take two courses, pairing an easier one with a more challenging one. My current goal is to finish by the summer of 2026.