I'm in it and it's awesome. They're doing some really cool things pushing forward the tech for online delivery and course management. And I'm happy to say that it is every bit as rigorous as you would expect from a Top 10 program.

I'm also currently enrolled in the program and agree 100% regarding the quality and rigor of the classes. To paraphrase the way another student put it, "it's one thing to make it into the program -- it's another thing altogether to make it out."

I'm looking into applying to this in the next year or so. How much time do you feel you have to set aside each week to keep up? How many courses at a time are you taking?

I took CS6300 - Software Development Processes and CS7641 - Machine Learning. I would not recommend two classes at once in your first semester, and never two classes with ML. (I've heard that Networking is comparable to SDP, and advanced operating systems is comparable to ML.)

SDP required 9-12 hours a week on average (many more some weeks) spent on group projects. It would have been less if I'd been working alone. The hardest part is working in a distributed team with no leader - especially because lots of people take this as an "easy" intro course; of the 6 people I worked with, 4 of them were not comfortable being asked to do any programming. O_o

ML required ~25 hours a week on average; I spent close to 100 hours on it during weeks with projects due - fortunately there are only 3 projects. The lectures are longer than SDP, the projects are hard, and there are exams that you'll have no idea how to prepare for. You will love it anyway.

Thanks for the input. If I do this (trying to talk some colleagues and friends into it, study buddies and drinking buddies if it gets too bad) I'll probably have to stick to one course a semester then. I figured that'd be the case.

Does anyone offer a Bachelor's equivalent of this? Last time I looked, most online offerings were more like Information Science and the like. I don't recall a full BS CS online.

There are several. The two that come to mind: University of Maryland, University College (UMUC) [1] and Oregon State's Post-bachelors program [2]. If you search /r/cscareerquestions, you'll find some posts about each.

I am currently finishing up semester two of seven at UMUC's program. It's okay. Why am I in it? It's free for me.

I'm not sure what GT's masters program delivers, but UMUC's online program hasn't changed since it's inception (the 90s, I think). There are no online lectures and little guidance from professors. I read a text book, do exercises, submit assignments, take tests. I do like the structure and pace (two classes a semester), and I'll have a bachelors in computer science.

1. http://www.umuc.edu/academic-programs/bachelors-degrees/comp...

2. http://eecs.oregonstate.edu/online-cs-students

It looks like the OSU program requires a bachelors degree in another subject and the UMUC program is $60,000 in tuition (for out of state students; $32,000 in state) - which is about 3x what I paid for my undergrad tuition 5 years ago. Not that it isn't worth the cost, but that price is a prohibitive barrier to lots of prospective students.

Thanks for the links and /r/cscareerquestions looks like a good resource.

The Open University offers a Computing & IT BSc degree: http://www.open.ac.uk/courses/qualifications/q62 - this is very close to a CS degree.

I was aware of that, but it doesn't seem available to US students.

They opened registration also for international students living in the US.

Maybe they need to update their site. At the moment, if you select US as your country of residence and go down to the fees section, it says it is not available in the US.