Virtual classes are better in some ways and inferior (to in person) in others.

I'm currently applying for a masters in computer science and debating between attending a program in person or online. One advantage of attending in person is immersing myself in a class room full of students, aligned with a similar goal in mind. An online course, on the other hand, offers me more flexibility (I'm working full time at AWS) and saves me time on commuting.

Although I'm constantly studying on my own and leveraging online courses, I'm leaning towards an in person program for a couple reasons. First, I recently moved to Seattle and the university of Washington (UW) offers a program tailored for working professionals; this is a great way to not only meet other people on a similar path, but, most importantly, receive in-person feedback from the professors (as well as other students). Feedback, as well as networking, is really difficult to replicate with an online format.

On an separate note, I have yet to find an online masters in CS that offers a thesis—all the programs I researched only offer course based work.