Ask HN: How do we build the new remote education system

Re:Ask HN: How do we build the new remote education system by AnimalMuppet on Wednesday January 13, 2021 @12:50PM (#25765521)

Two comments:

First, what's OMSCS? Could you supply a bit more detail rather than just "have you heard of it"? What is it? What's good about it?

Second, 5% acceptance rates are not typical of "the current university system". That's only a few "elite" schools. 40k/year may be more typical, but you can easily find less than half that.

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Re:Ask HN: How do we build the new remote education system by mbil on Wednesday January 13, 2021 @01:54PM (#25766396)

OMSCS is Georgia Tech's Online CS Master's program[0]. I'm starting my ninth class this term. Here's my take...

Pros:

- video lectures are generally pretty polished, and include animations and other visual aids to help build intuition

- the course material is mostly high quality. this is the same material that on-site graduate students are presented, and the graded projects are challenging.

- there is opportunity to interact with other students and TAs: online message board, video office hours, unofficial Slack, etc.

- flexible enough to schedule around a full-time job

- inexpensive compared to in-person programs (the entire program with 10 courses is $7-$8k)

Cons:

- quality of materials, TAs, and organization can vary from course to course and term to term

- harder to build relationships / network than in-person programs

- it's course-based by default. you can pursue a research-based degree but it's nonstandard.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_Tech_Online_Master_of_...

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Re:Ask HN: How do we build the new remote education system by nvarsj on Thursday January 14, 2021 @05:29AM (#25774703)

I mostly agree with this.

I'd say compared to my undergrad, the teaching quality is overall better. Which makes sense, since pedagogy is much more of a deliberate focus for OMSCS. I think this is a big advantage to online programs actually. There are definitely some rough patches, but the program is still young, and constantly improving.

Networking is much better too in my opinion, compared to my undergrad - you are in a class with full time professionals in a wide range of companies and industries - from software engineers to execs. There are many opportunities for networking. You do need to be involved in Slack/Piazza though, which takes time.

Becoming a TA is also the path to getting involved in research and even going into a PhD program after OMSCS. Very few people do this as it is a very large time commitment - but it is possible and professors generally are open to it.

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Re:Ask HN: How do we build the new remote education system by AnimalMuppet on Wednesday January 13, 2021 @03:32PM (#25767580)

I would love for that to be available in undergrad programs, and in more majors than just CS.

Follow-up question: How hard is it to get into? Are there restrictions on how many students can take each class?

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Re:Ask HN: How do we build the new remote education system by larrykubin on Wednesday January 13, 2021 @05:59PM (#25769166)

I was watching a podcast recently on this where they mention a 60% acceptance rate:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzMVEbs8Zz0

Also link to reddit discussion:

https://www.reddit.com/r/OMSCS/comments/ihf7w6/acceptance_ra...

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Re:Ask HN: How do we build the new remote education system by nvarsj on Thursday January 14, 2021 @05:21AM (#25774626)

5-10% for top schools typically is where I got my number from. MIT, Stanford, Caltech, UCLA, UCB all are around this range for CS. Slightly more accepting schools jump up to 10-20% range. But all these schools are rejecting huge swaths of qualified candidates, simply because they don't have the space in a traditional campus setting.

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