Ask HN: Is taking an extra 'light' semester in grad school worth it?

[andher]

I'm a grad student in a 'top-10' university for computer science. This is my 4th semester here, and the normal timeline seems to be to take your masters in 3-4 semesters and get into the industry.

I've been doing research since my first semester. Since I was funded almost throughout I don't have much of a debt. I feel that my foundations in the areas of my interest (ml and systems) is shaky at best. I took grad level classes in both but realized that I didn't have a firm grasp on a lot of things.

I could graduate this semester if I wanted to. As an international student, I don't have the option of graduating and not taking a job. However,I don't feel confident enough to pass an intense interviews in the places I want. My other option is to graduate next semester. In my next semester my course load will be almost negligible giving me a lot of time to focus. Even if I don't get funded the number of credits would be low enough that I can pay without debt.

I'm in the pool of interns for Google this summer (convert from a full time interview to the pool) and although it's late in the process I might get matched to a project. If not, I might end up doing research or look elsewhere.

I'm facing quite some opposition. People said that it makes no sense to spend 5 more months in grad school if not for a PhD, instead to graduate now and look at shifting jobs further in your career. I've been told that delaying at my age (I'm 26 turning 27) would just harm my career further down the line.

The people on HN are experts so I thought I could get some insight. My main motivation for doing this was to get 5-6 months of intense deep diving into areas that I feel I lack - something I would not be able to do easily once I go full time ( I worked at Microsoft before this and I remember that initially I had barely any time to spend studying).

What would your advise be in this situation? Do you think it would be worth the time, and would this adversely affect my career options?

[dalke]

I am no expert. Taking 2.5 years for a Master's thesis seems long to me, so I would wonder what took you so long. Eg, the MS for CS at Illinois, currently ranked #5, at https://cs.illinois.edu/prospective-students/graduate-studen... , is a three semester program, so four semesters is already on the long side, much less five. Cornell, ranked #6, is a two or three semester program, suggests http://www.cs.cornell.edu/masters/academics/faq .

If you answer that it's because you didn't think you understood machine learning well enough, with that being your field of interest, I would wonder why you didn't start with a focus on that topic. Did you only realize that was your interest as the end of your studies? Otherwise, why didn't you start with that topic coming in, including research in the topic? On the other hand, if you've been doing ML for two years, and think you don't know enough about it, perhaps you really should be in the PhD program, since one extra semester isn't all that much time to really understand the topic.

So as a potential employer, I would be wondering if you really were interested in the topic, and what took you so long to graduate with a Master's degree, and if you understood the point of a MS degree.

(I can understand if you use it as a delaying tactic for visa purposes to get a job, but you haven't said that you've even started looking for a job.)

[andher → dalke]

Hey dalke, thanks for the reply!

I've started looking for jobs and am in the middle of interviews with a bunch of companies.

I also didn't come in on a thesis track and a thesis is not the end goal of the program. I started research out of interest in learning applications of my studies and mostly to get funded by a lab and avoid out of state tuition.

The norm in my program is to take 4 semesters, since its a general masters it places requirements on the breadth of your studies as well. Hence, I did study machine learning, and even did research in it in my first semester. However, I got funded completely by a different research lab working in a different area of AI, and since education is expensive I went with that.

Between research and completing the course requirements for other areas (h/w, systems, theory), I've had limited time to actually use or learn anything more in that field.

Also, it does serve as a delaying tactic since, as I pointed, I can't stay on this visa without a job and while I'm on the lookout for jobs, I might end up taking one that I'm not totally into.

In your eyes, do you think a wiser strategy is to try and get a job right now and graduate this semester?

[dalke → andher]

UT Austin is also a top 10 CS school. It also has 30 credit hours to graduate, which appears to be a three semester program. https://www.cs.utexas.edu/graduate-program/masters-program/c... .

Georgia Tech, another top 10, has a 36 credit hour Master's program, at http://www.cc.gatech.edu/future/masters/mscs and says that a full-time student is 12 hours per semester, at http://www.registrar.gatech.edu/registration/gradfaq.php , so it's a three semester course, or at most four if someone does part-time for summer.

You didn't apply to Princeton, since all MS students are initially enrolled in a thesis-required track, says https://www.cs.princeton.edu/grad/degrees , though there's the option of switching later. That's a two year full-time program.

CMU, which is a #1 school, is a three semester Master's program, says http://www.csd.cs.cmu.edu/education/master/index.html .

Stanford, another #1 school, says that most graduate with a Master's in two years, says http://mscs.stanford.edu/classes/planning/ , making it the only top 10 school I've found so far which fits your description.

I'm not saying you're wrong - you know your program better than I - only that it looks like two years is the expected maximum for a MS degree in a top 10 school, so you'll have to explain why it took you 25% longer than expected.

Get a job. If you don't like it, line up another job then quit the job you don't like. Make sure you know your visa situation so you can do that.

You got the MS degee with a focus on breadth of studies. That of course means you won't have a deep understanding of any one topic. Some MS programs have more of a focus, but otherwise that's a PhD track program, which isn't what you did.

Your other option is to apply for a PhD, if you really want to go for deep studies. I advise against it.

Again, I am no expert.

[andher → dalke]

Thanks for your reply!

You are right in stating that GTech/UTA/CMU encourage a 3 semester graduation, and Stanford, Princeton go for a 2 year max. In fact, the minimum credit structure per semester is such that you will necessarily have completed in 2 years and graduate.

The reason I was allowed to have a lower credit per semester was because I was employed as a research assistant (which is usually for PhD's and is not granted to masters students who are expected to do courses), which makes it so that if I just maintained my status and did not overload courses, I would graduate in 5 semesters.

My question was on the fact that I could graduate in 4 if I wanted by taking an extra course this semester( I could have in 3 but that would have led to either compromising on the quality of my studies or of the research). However, as outlined above, I worry about whether this is the wisest thing to do or not.

Again, thank you for replying to this, it really helps. I have the skill set to get through programming interviews, and a couple of publications to show that my time in research has not been wasted. I was worried though, whether it would still be seen as a sign of not being proactive / being slow or uninspired.

I hope I don't come across as arguing, I was just giving a view of my situation. Thank you for replying!