Need planning advice for a master's degree in data science/AI

[blablablox]

Hello everyone,


I would like some advice on the best way to do this... let me explain, I'm currently trying to get an US graduate degree. I am already doing the foundation courses of the MSIT degree at University of the people . I choose this degree because that was the closest to data science that I've found at the time.
 meanwhile I stumbled upon a lot of other opportunities that I didn't know about, so I found :

- the data science master's degree at U of texas at austin
problem I found with this one is that there is no payment flexibility ,you have to pay everything in one go, 5000$ in one go, and then you pay 5000$ again

- the one at georgia tech
this one I didn't find how you pay, if it's pay as you go or in 2 instalment 

- the data analytics one at WGU 
 I'm not sure I like the curriculum as there is no emphasis on AI, the low cost is a plus, but I'm not sure I can finish it in 6 month 

- the one at colorado boulder
this one is very interesting, the curriculum looks very good, but it's 15 000$ , and I like the fact that you test the water before deciding to enroll

there are probably others that I don't know about but I'm still searching. (if there are others feel free to let me know about them)
I'm trying to list the cheapest ones, so all of the ones I cited above are below 10000$ except colorado boulder
also, I'm telling myself that if i'm going to pay close to 10000$ anyway in one year in WGU, why not go for big fishes directly
but maybe I'm just dreaming and the other ones woudn't even look at my application anyway

I'm very interested in the texas at austin one, I was thinking that maybe i could lower the cost by continuing in Uo people and then transfer credits, but looks like they don't accept the credit transfers from what I read in their faqs.

anyway guys, if you could help me in how I could do this and what are the best options available, I would be very grateful, really

edit: TLDR: I can either continue at uopeople and pay close to 4000$ (they don't offer scholarships in MSIT) or chose a better option even if it means paying a bit more. and would like your advice on what's the best course of action in your opinion.

thank you very much

[davewill]

At Georgia Tech, you pay as you go, so if it takes you eight terms to finish, for example, it'll be eight separate payments.

[bjcheung77]

U of People are in the candidacy stages of their RA accreditation, it'll take some time for that to be completed.  Having said that, I would recommend staying your current path with them and work on three things: 1) Certs, 2) Degree, 3) Experience.  When you apply to the schools you mentioned above, you'll most likely get 'kickback' as U of People are still NA, it really depends on when you finish and when they get their RA if they are successful.  

The more details you provide us, the better we can assist you. It's like asking us to help you order coffee but not telling us what you need in the coffee.  You should fill in the template/last post addendum, you mentioned WGU as an option but it's not, since your previous post mentioned you're in Africa and a non-us citizen.  https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...g-expenses

[blablablox]

U of People are in the candidacy stages of their RA accreditation, it'll take some time for that to be completed.  Having said that, I would recommend staying your current path with them and work on three things: 1) Certs, 2) Degree, 3) Experience.  When you apply to the schools you mentioned above, you'll most likely get 'kickback' as U of People are still NA, it really depends on when you finish and when they get their RA if they are successful.  

The more details you provide us, the better we can assist you. It's like asking us to help you order coffee but not telling us what you need in the coffee.  You should fill in the template/last post addendum, you mentioned WGU as an option but it's not, since your previous post mentioned you're in Africa and a non-us citizen.  https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...g-expenses

Thank you for your answer. 

well, I didn't know wgu only accepted US citizen. and I've read a lot about them before making this post, I don't know how I missed this information. thank you for letting me know.

and indeed I'm located in a north african country, you have a keen eye, here is the template:

Your Location: north african country
Your Age: 31
What kind of degree do you want?: master's degree in data science / AI / machine learning
I already have a master's degree in my home country in operations research, but I would like to transition to data science, I'm currently at Uopeople and it's great that they exist, but it woudn't hurt getting a more respected / quality degree in this field if there is the possibility. especially if I'm not getting a scholarship from them anyway and if I'm going to pay just a little more in comparison.

Current Regional Accredited Credits: none for now, the only thing that I'm currently doing is the applied data science lab at WorldQuant university.

Budget: around $10k max I'd like to go the cheapest route possible, could possibly go a little above like for example the colorado boulder one. If there is any possibility to go cheaper like transfering credits for example, that would be a plus.
Commitments: I currently work part time in the afternoon and can work on my studies part time in the morning/weekends.
Dedicated time to study: 4 hours each morning on weekdays and 6 hours on weekends.
Timeline: I'm not in a hurry to finish my degree, I'll try to go as fast as possible obviously but time isn't a problem for me
Tuition assistance/reimbursement: I will pay from what I earn in my part time job, if there are scholarships available it would be of tremendous help, although I didn't get lucky with uopeople since they rejected my application 2 times, the reason they stated was that they don't deliver scholarships for master's degrees.

Additional information (goals/objectives):
my goal is to get a degree in the field of data science to have more opportunities and have more chance getting accepted at remote jobs for us companies.
I also do some freelancing work, so I'm guessing it would give me more credit in my freelance personal pages.

[davewill]

well, I didn't know wgu only accepted US citizen. and I've read a lot about them before making this post, I don't know how I missed this information. thank you for letting me know.

It's actually more subtle than that. They do accept international students, but they don't enroll people living outside the country unless they "are U.S. active-duty military personnel and their families at overseas installations and individuals living in Guam, Puerto Rico, or the U.S. Virgin Islands." Since WGU doesn't sponsor student visas, this really limits access for international students.

[allvia]

Eastern University just under $10k, pay as you go (per course) and courses are 7 weeks - https://www.eastern.edu/academics/gradua...ta-science

[bjcheung77]

Just wondering - Does it have to be from a US institution? There are options in the US and there are others in the UK as well. An option is to get the UK Level 7 diploma and ladder up to the MSc. Here's an example from the UK: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...cations-UK

[blablablox]

Just wondering - Does it have to be from a US institution? There are options in the US and there are others in the UK as well.  An option is to get the UK Level 7 diploma and ladder up to the MSc. Here's an example from the UK: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...cations-UK

ty bjcheung, well, I didn't know about level 7 diploma , could you give me more details about that? 
I'm not agains't UK institutions, I'm just trying to aim for something that would make me look good to employeers or to clients. I already know that it's not about the degree, but about your competencies , skills and what you can bring to the table. But unfortunately in the kind of world we are living in, appearences matter, so I'm guessing that having a highly regarded degree is better to have better opportunities. But I could be mistaken in my thinking, and maybe the degree is not that relevant, that's why I'm making this post actually.

my reasoning is if I'm going to put money on the table anyway, why not do it at a better university, but at the same time it consumes times (longer degree 2 to 3 years, more documents to provide, transcripts, language proficiency to prove since other universities don't accept duolingo tests etc...) and more money at the end of the day. so what do you think? is it a good idea to drop from uopeople to pursue an other online degree in a well regarded university? or should I just stay in my track and focus on developing skills and certs and not so much about a degree upgrade?

[ifomonay]

If you have interest in AI, why not go for the MSCS at Georgia Tech? It's a total of $6k if you do two courses during regular semesters and one in the summer. They have a lot of AI-related courses:
1. AI
2. AI Ethics: they teach how to identify bias in datasets and how to de-bias your data. A unit on how to design an AI agent for self-driving vehicles.
3. Knowledge-Based AI: they teach Means-End analysis and Planning (see Apple job ads; they specifically ask for this knowledge for AI jobs.)
4. Reinforcement Learning
5. Computer Vision
6. NLP (expected to be added in Fall 2023)
7. Deep Learning
8. DSA: After this course, you'll pass any FAANG technical interview with ease