It is. It's a legitimate degree and they won't let you slack off.

Some of the classes have a metric ton of homework and projects, and the deadlines can be pretty rough. I know my coworker was sweating after work a few times (this was pre-pandemic) and told me they'd be spending a few evenings implementing project work.

I remember a coworker telling me he had to learn assembly in a week for a major assignment his very first semester. And that caused a good chunk of his cohort to drop the program.

I'd give 20 to 1 that was CS6035. Project 1 is a ret2libc buffer overflow, and it's a bit of a wake-up call for many students. Certainly was for me, though I got through it.

I can't say enough good things about OMSCS. I'm finishing my 7th class and got an SWE role during my 5th. It's the real deal.

My guess was CS6265 which similarly jumps pretty quickly into reverse engineering and binary exploitation. One of my favorite classes!

Just a few evenings? I spent entire weekends, sometimes all-nighters and even taking days off from work to finish big assignments. But I was working full-time with a significant commute and family responsibilities. Btw, I enjoyed every minute of it.