Cheapest way to complete CS prerequisites (RA Credits)?

[davewill]

Actually, the coding courses are not the "crucial" ones, not from an academic point of view. I would think that OMSCS would be much more interested in the theory based courses.

I will say that if you're a CS newbie, I think you will find OMSCS very difficult. The courses are very rigorous, and only online courses may not be enough to prepare you for it. Even coming directly from a 4 year in person program would be a challenge. You may want to get some work experience, first.

[rachel83az]

Agreed. Coding is easy. Anyone can do it. Theory (like computer architecture) is much harder.

Honestly, I'd suggest doing the Metropolia courses or SDC courses as prerequisites to show you can do the stuff, then do https://github.com/ossu/computer-science to more thoroughly grasp the concepts.

As for letters of recommendation, you're going to struggle to find online teachers who will write one. Your best bet would be to take a single local class and ask for one from your teacher or professor there.

[therightstuff]

Got it, thank you guys. Apologize for the late response.

I have registered on Viope (Metropolia's platform) and I also contacted them to ask what were the next steps. They sent me instructions through a secured mail/messaging platform and I completed ID verification.

What is next? When do I pay? Should I complete the courses on Viope and then ask them for an invoice?

Thank you!

[Tomas]

I doubt you could get LOR from Metropolia professors, though of course one can always try. It is completely contact-less form of study. Also, I believe there is no grading, though someone should confirm that, just fail or pass. So that might be disadvantage in case admission committees somewhere are looking at grades of the courses passed.
Another DS and Algorithms course I think was from University of Helsinki. Might be more rigorous.
(Regarding LORs, I found it interesting that one professor teaching Gatech courses on EDX apparently gives out LORs even to EDX students, though from what he wrote, it sounded to me like "confirmation that you have absolved a course matching Gatech curriculum" or similar, so pretty uselless IMHO but still one out of three crossed with that one.)

Re Metropolia, if you did not pay instantly, they will send an invoice after some time. You can just complete Viope courses in the meantime (except those that are not on Viope, you probably will receive a list with access credentials - I am still waiting for mine and I have paid about a week ago) and send to their email for evaluation.

[therightstuff]

I doubt you could get LOR from Metropolia professors, though of course one can always try. It is completely contact-less form of study. Also, I believe there is no grading, though someone should confirm that, just fail or pass. So that might be disadvantage in case admission committees somewhere are looking at grades of the courses passed.
Another DS and Algorithms course I think was from University of Helsinki. Might be more rigorous.
(Regarding LORs, I found it interesting that one professor teaching Gatech courses on EDX apparently gives out LORs even to EDX students, though from what he wrote, it sounded to me like "confirmation that you have absolved a course matching Gatech curriculum" or similar, so pretty uselless IMHO but still one out of three crossed with that one.)

Re Metropolia, if you did not pay instantly, they will send an invoice after some time. You can just complete Viope courses in the meantime (except those that are not on Viope, you probably will receive a list with access credentials - I am still waiting for mine and I have paid about a week ago) and send to their email for evaluation.

Thank you very much for sharing your insight and for providing me with such valuable information.

[therightstuff]

I missed the payment deadline and I have completed around 40% of my first course in Viope. Can I pay now or should I contact them to issue another invoice?

Thanks

[Tomas]

You can still pay - they will send you payment reminder if invoice is not paid in a due time.

[therightstuff]

Got it, thanks!

I was wondering, wouldn't the fact that the courses are not 3 american credits each be a problem with admissions? They are 3-5 ECTS at Metropolia.

[therightstuff]

So I have been going through Metropolia's courses and all is good, but I am having troubles finding LORs. So far I have only one, and that is from a work colleauge. Any ideas on what would be the best way to get the other two from an academic source?

Thanks!!