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.
Follow-up question: How hard is it to get into? Are there restrictions on how many students can take each class?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzMVEbs8Zz0
Also link to reddit discussion:
https://www.reddit.com/r/OMSCS/comments/ihf7w6/acceptance_ra...
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_...