
Ask HN: Master of Science in Computer Science at Georgia Tech - ceochronos
I&#x27;ve been wondering for a while whether it&#x27;s worth enrolling in [the OMS CS program](https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.omscs.gatech.edu&#x2F;program-info&#x2F;specializations) and after thinking for some weeks I came to the conclusion that it&#x27;s a good opportunity to take. I decided that I&#x27;ll try to enrol in the next possible semester.<p>From the four specializations they offer I&#x27;m only interested in Computing Systems or Machine Learning. I believe Computing Systems is the way to go but Machine Learning seems pretty nice with a good future in innovation meanwhile Computing Systems looks like too theoretical - not in a bad way.<p>To put it in other words, Computing Systems sounds like academic oriented and Machine Learning looks more oriented to technology development. So I&#x27;m asking for your opinions or experiences if you have already taken these courses. Were they good? Do you recommend them?<p>Also, more in specific I&#x27;m having problems understanding how I&#x27;m supposed to chose the courses I want to take. I&#x27;m not familiar with the US college system.<p>I understand I have to take 30 hours (10 courses), which are divided in core and elective. However, for the [Specialization in Computing Systems](https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.omscs.gatech.edu&#x2F;specialization-computing-systems) it says it&#x27;s 18 hours, 3 core courses and 3 elective and for [Machine Learning](https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.omscs.gatech.edu&#x2F;specialization-machine-learning) are 15 hours, 2 core courses and 3 elective. Where are the other remaining hours?<p>Some background, I&#x27;m Mexican with a bachelor degree in Computer Systems Engineering.
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rrampage
I completed my OMSCS last Spring, specializing in Machine Learning. My advice
to you would be to not worry about any specialization as you can change it
later on. Focus on taking courses that interest you. You need to complete 10
courses for completing the program. With 2-3 mandatory courses + 3 electives,
you have room for at least 4 other courses not in your specialization.

There are some interesting courses on the Computing System track. FWIW, my
undergrad was in a different engineering field. So I really enjoyed the
Network Security and Intro to Operating Systems. The Algorithms course
reshaped my perspective on formal methods and correctness. The HCI course is
also very good.

As mentioned by @bewestphal , check out
[https://omscentral.com/](https://omscentral.com/) for reviews to get an idea
about the popularity, difficulty and time investment for the courses.

~~~
nullsmack
Any chance you could post a list of the textbooks you used?

~~~
rrampage
Sure.

1\. Introduction to the Theory of Computation - Sipser and Introduction to
Algorithms - CLRS (for the Algorithms course)

2\. Machine Learning - Tom Mitchell

3\. Artificial Intelligence - A Modern Approach - Russell and Norvig

4\. Design of Everyday Things - Norman (for HCI)

5\. Operating Systems in Three Easy Pieces [0]

Most of the courses had their own notes, slides and suggested research papers
as primary reading and the textbooks were mostly used as a secondary
reference.

[0] -
[http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~remzi/OSTEP/](http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~remzi/OSTEP/)

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saeranv
I'm in it right now, starting my third term in May. It's been very valuable
for me. However, I think I'm like most of the students: coming from a math,
engineering, or science background, transitioning into a more software
development-oriented career. The value of the OMSCS degree is very clear for
us: the degree as a qualification, and exposure to knowledge/skills we don't
already have.I'm not sure if it would be as valuable for someone who already
has some sort of computer science/systems background. I'm not really sure what
a computer systems engineering degree entails so I may be way off here.

Some other thoughts:

The time investment and effort to do the courses is serious. Not only are the
courses very time-consuming (10 - 30 hours per week), but you're also expected
to do research and study up on material on your own in certain classes. You
can't just be a passive consumer of the material. It can be very rewarding
and/or very painful depending on what you're getting out of the course.

Your choices are constrained by class capacity. It is very difficult to get
into the more popular courses (i.e the ML ones in particular) and so be
prepared to take non-ML courses until you have enough seniority to get better
registration preference. Don't even bother trying to plan out your courses in
advance, a lot of it will just be determined by when you are permitted to
register for classes! To be fair, based on recent emails from GT, it seems
like they're aware of this problem and looking to open up other classes
(possibly taking advantage of more courses going online during the pandemic).
They also seem to be opening up courses that were formerly restricted to the
OMSA degree (the more math-heavy analytics equivalent) which I'm really
excited about.

~~~
ceochronos
How many courses are you taking per term? Do you spend 10-30 hour/week with
only one course?

~~~
saeranv
Yes, that's with one course. Huge variance in time per class, so you can do
two courses for the same amount of time if you are strategic about your
choices.

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cameronfraser
UT Austin's program is also worth considering. It's newer but there is
supposedly more consistent quality and rigor to the courses. Of course nobody
has taken both so it is speculation from students at both schools, but that is
the general consensus I could pick up from the respective subreddits for both
programs. You also have to take the GRE for UT Austin.

As for your question about remaining hours, they are classes you choose.
Anything not explicitly required or part of your specialization gets filled by
electives of your choosing. You can also see rankings by students of all the
courses here: [https://omscentral.com/](https://omscentral.com/)

~~~
ceochronos
Thank you for the information, I just quickly checked the page and I think it
has less elective courses to choose from compared to the Georgia Tech program.

Another thing to take into consideration is that UT Austin's program is more
expensive.

[MASTER OF COMPUTER SCIENCE ONLINE]([https://www.cs.utexas.edu/graduate-
program/masters-program/o...](https://www.cs.utexas.edu/graduate-
program/masters-program/online-option))

~~~
cameronfraser
It has less electives because it is newer, but most people are choosing it due
to increased rigor. The OMSCS program has more watered down classes
supposedly. One of the things that irritates me about the georgia tech program
is that they hardly have most of the classes in a program available. I'm most
interested in computer vision courses and they have one class on computational
photography and nothing else. On campus students get things like multi view
geometry and all kinds of courses I think are essential to computer vision
researchers, but not online students.

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bewestphal
The remaining units are free electives if your choice. More than enough to
touch all topics you’re interested in.

Definitely check out the reviews here
[https://omscentral.com/](https://omscentral.com/)

Personally I recommend Computer Vision, Reinforcement Learning and AI
Techniques for Robotics. Skip classes that emphasize writing essays over
coding.

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jangjorim
Anyone complete or accepted to OMSCS without a background in Computer Science?

Any recommended ways to fulfill their requirements for the basic CS without
paying $$$ to take courses?

Was denied for not having the CS background before joining a FAANG.

~~~
cweagans
University of the People has a free-ish CS program. You might look into that.
It's zero tuition, but you have to pay $100/exam (or at least that's what it
was when I was looking at it).

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kyawzazaw
Have you checked the subreddit dedicated to this program?

~~~
ceochronos
Yes, I posted the same questions there

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hckr_news
> I'm Mexican

Sure but why is this relevant to your question

~~~
Delk
Where a person and their previous degree are from might provide a different
background for needing/wanting a further degree, or for understanding what
kind of existing education and credentials they have. There might e.g. be
differences in substance or reputation between degrees from different
countries.

It might be a small detail, but I can see how it could be relevant. At least I
might find myself asking what kind of prior education and from where a person
asking about a program has if that information weren't included.

Also, it's a small human detail. Maybe not important, but not a huge waste of
mental bandwidth either.

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Evidlo
May want to try GradCafe for nuanced responses. Not sure if you're talking
about MS or MEng, but if it's MS then finding a good match with your advisor
and research group is more important than anything else.

~~~
wil421
What do research groups have to do with GaTech’s online Master of Computer
Science offering?

