Good luck. Because most people are already riding the CS gravy train with good jobs. A post containing a FAQ for Georgia Tech’s OMSCS program for prospective students not yet admitted into the program. Early in the program's history, we did a withdrawal survey every semester asking every student who withdrew why. This program appeals to a particular group of people who don't see comparable alternatives available elsewhere due to the combination of GT name recognition & low cost. I'm already deep in to the program, so this is just a matter of curiosity. In general, the classes weed out people who can’t make it and allow those that can to graduate. I wouldn't be surprised if it's true currently, but how meaningful is the current "graduation rate" anyway? I’m so close to being done but some days I just want to say fuck it. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast, A place for discussion for people participating in GT's OMS CS, Press J to jump to the feed. Little of column A, little of column B? I debated many times to drop out, as I couldn't have any life other than work and studies. Keep in mind that OMSCS has a two-step admission process. I almost pulled the W trigger but it would have been the second W on my record so I stuck it out. I'm already deep in to the program, so this is just a matter of curiosity. Does anyone know if these numbers are true? The program should be measured on the quality of the education it provides and the graduates it produces. Analyze.AcademicHelp will review your 2 … Most people in the program already have jobs. I dropped out because I liked my other hobbies more than studying and my career is doing fine without another degree. A friend of mine was a TA briefly while getting an MS in CS (not at GT) and he couldn't believe how many students were doing CS because they thought CS was nothing but programming and it would automatically lead them into high-paying jobs. I'm at the stage in life where life happens so I have to mitigate that risk. It requires no GRE, which means a lot of good students from other backgrounds can join the program to try and change careers. A few hundred dollars to find out the program isn't for you isn't as big a deal as several thousands. Life getting in the way is definitely a factor. Georgia Tech’s iconic Online Master of Science in Computer Science (OMSCS) will result in 1,500 graduates per year in two-to-three years, as predicted on Friday at a conference in Princeton University by Zvi Galil, Dean of the Georgia Institute of Technology College of Computing. It's so true. I think these sorts of numbers will be much more informative in a few years, after several cohorts have been in the program long enough to graduate at a part-time pace. Have a look at the old "official stats" post. :) It is also not required the field to have a degree. I joined the program in 2015 and finished in Spring 2018. Now when I look back, it was hard, but worth every hour. OMSCS SnapTravel Fellowships - Visit the SnapTravel website for more information about two $1000 fellowships available to OMSCS students and how to apply. Can you name those? Ask fellow OMSCS students on Reddit to review your essays . Cookies help us deliver our Services. Two years ago I published this rather long post describing my experience in the OMSCS program at Georgia Tech. All that said, I don't know if it's necessarily true that we have a much higher dropout rate than other programs. I had to work late hours and the weekend which absolutely crushed my study time. Therefore, I'm not the best person to ask with questions about the program. From my end, I can see a big reason folks like me would drop out. It is worth the finish. So, of the 3,000+ enrolled in Spring, some 600 or so probably withdrew from all their classes -- but it's not clear how many of those are permanently withdrawn for the same reason stated above. As I wrote it on my personal blog, which has few regular readers, I did not anticipate that one day this post would show up on the first page of Google searches for OMSCS. 1640 have graduated. I don't even have one feet in the water, so I would really benefit from anecdotal numbers on how bad the attrition is. The program is estimated to take 3 years. They actually just graduated their first cohort of students. Following are the two short essays I wrote as part of the application. I don't think that 20-25% attrition is unreasonably high for a program as inexpensive as this one, and that has a 60% acceptance rate. For individual classes, you can get a good overview of the grade distribution and withdraw rate starting out here. Or perhaps the high application quantity due to the low cost leads to more unqualified applicants? Exceptions are given to the applicants from countries where English is the SOLE OFFICIAL language of instruction (Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Canada-except Québec province, England, Ghana, Ireland, Jamaica, Kenya, New Zealand, Nigeria, Scotland, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Singapore, Trinidad, Tobago, Uganda and Wales). 60.5% of those who started in the years 2014–2017 have graduated or were still enrolled in the Spring 2019 term. By using our Services or clicking I agree, you agree to our use of cookies. This growth (see the graphic below) reflects the success of this program. Most are professionals already working in the field and no one in the program needs to stay to keep a visa. Admission to the program is highly selective with a limited number of openings and many strong applicants each year. HBCUs With the Highest Graduation Rates Two of these historically Black schools had a four-year graduation rate above 50%, per U.S. News data. Georgia Tech's Pioneer Master's Reached 8,672 Students This Term IBL News. Anyone talking about the "graduation rate" is making shit up. I’m about a month away from graduating, and I’ve worked full time the entire time doing the program. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast, A place for discussion for people participating in GT's OMS CS, Press J to jump to the feed. Is this mainly due to high difficulty? completing a degree that doesn't have a high sunk cost while working a full time job throughout the span of 3 years could also be a factor, All i'm thinking now is how much more free time i'd have if i weren't working on my projects not :(. I do believe there are other factors too: it's a lot easier to withdraw after paying a few hundred dollars than several thousand dollars, for example. Feel free to reach me through my request for tutoring form and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible! Sometimes students just discover that while being a software engineer sounds great on paper, it's just not something they are cut out for. They do not pull their classes, and it can be daunting for Software Engineers that did well in their University to step up to GA Tech. OMSCS classes are usually section O01. In 2017, the University Professional and Continuing Education Association gave OMSCS its National Program Excellence Award.In 2017, Georgia Tech appeared on Fast Company’s list of most innovative … But as far as the data that we have, it points primarily to factors unique to an older more employed student body. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. Students who have met all requirements for graduation before the last day of registration for the graduation term and who were registered the preceding semester may be eligible for a waiver of enrollment. The breadth and depth of subject matter offered in specializations such as computing systems enable our students to fine-tune their degree. Just 2 more and you can do 1 per semester if you can't handle the load. Note added 2 August 2019. 60% is cited as the retention rate, not the drop-out rate. I’m starting Spring semester 2019 so I’m just curious (and a bit nervous). My experience with Georgia Tech's OMSCS Published on December 20, 2016 December 20, 2016 • 438 Likes • 57 Comments I would like to know the attrition rate as a possible future applicant. It's not even close to being the truth. About 20% of students enrolled in each semester withdraw from all their classes in that semester. So adding this together it is easy to just drop it off the table if other things start to pile up. I checked the recognition and accreditation before joining the program. 8650 are enrolled this term. The stats at irp.gatech.edu are "official", course critique is not. This December is the first time they've had more than 100 students apply to graduate. Thanks. Nationwide, the average graduation rate for first-time undergraduates attending classes full-time is: 35.8% after four years, 46.4% after six years, and 47.8% after eight years. Some people simply fail out. And that's a bad thing, because....? How to Withdraw from the Institute. We found that around 75% or so of withdrawals were due to something outside of class: work getting busy, getting a promotion, changing jobs, getting sick, family getting sick, divorces, etc. Numbers have been thrown around anywhere from 20% to as high as 40% (can’t find the link where the dean said it!). Explore Prospective Students I joined the program in 2015 and finished in Spring 2018. The current model works so efficiently, because...? Graduating college seniors who applied for full-time jobs this year received an average of 1.10 job offers—the highest rate in 12 years. I applied for Georgia Tech’s OMSCS program in 2018 and started my first semester in January 2019. The main takeaway was that most withdrawals were for the kinds of reasons that only exist for this student demographic. I applied and was accepted to the Georgia Institute of Technology Online Master of Science in Computer Science(OMS CS) late 2014. A: Well, we will have to be much more selective about who we admit. Ilana Kowarski Feb. 9, 2021 They'd rather have false positives than false negatives. Thus, if OMSCS has as its core mission to make high-quality graduate level computer science education available to everyone it will by default have an exceedingly high drop rate and/or failure rate. I got out! (I withdrew from my course last semester but will be starting up again for spring) - basically, there's no urgency behind getting my master's. But will other colleges follow? A fair comparison might be to looks at OMSCS drop out rates versus other online programs. Sometimes you are treated with the most amazing student you never would have otherwise admitted and sometimes you lose people because they struggle or life gets in the way. I’m in the same boat. They don't directly address graduation rates, but there are a couple of stats that can provide some insight (with caveats). The percentage of job-seeking Georgia Tech BS recipients who reported having a job at graduation was 78.3%, making this the third Spring in a row with a placement rate over 75%. So I’ve seen several times on here that OMSCS has a much higher dropout rate than most other comparable programs. I've put together a computing systems and machine learning plan. I've just finished my first semester at Georgia Tech, in the amazing OMSCS program. GT has always had a reputation of allowing students with borderline applications the opportunity to prove themselves. First, as of last Spring, about 3,000+ students were enrolled in a class out of 4,000+ total unique enrollments in any previous term -- so attrition could be at most 25%. As other people have pointed out, the overall dropout rate vs. graduation rate is meaningless right now because of the youth of the program. Sometimes students just discover that while being a software engineer sounds great on paper, it's just not something they are cut out for. I actually really like this about the school. Now when I look back, it was hard, but worth every hour. But no matter what the relative rate is, we always want to know why so that we can improve it if possible. Another could be that some people, mostly from non-STEM backgrounds, underestimate the amount of work it takes to get caught up on the programming and math skills needed to succeed in the program. If attrition is high, I might go with a less risky route like a WGU MBA that I can finish fast with far less effort. You can either be selective on admissions or allow people to attempt. Cost. Computer Science – Online Degree (OMSCS) Course Description and Catalog Watch a Video Imagine if you could have the best computer science education in the world, from anywhere in the world, for a fraction of the cost of an on-campus program. Aware that student retention is critical for the success of OMSCS, we carefully monitor its metrics. tl;dr : Not everyone can be a doctor, lawyer, PhD. I have no idea - but that seems like something that might change as the program ages. For these reasons, I think the drop out rate will always be high. Your friend is either making shit up, or repeating shit that someone else made up. The statistics directly on that page are a little out of date, but clicking on each individual course takes you to the Georgia Tech critique site. I haven't watched it in awhile, but if I remember correctly it is somewhere in the first half. Lower commitment, lower cost -- duh. Approximately 15%–20% may drop out during any semester, yet all but 5%–6% return in the next semester. I'm probably less interested in applying if I find out that the probable graduation rate is something low like 30%. To unpack the numbers and success of OMS CS, here are some highlights. On-campus admission to Georgia Tech through OMSCS is also possible through an option of on-campus transfer which I have explained in detail later in this post. It is worth the finish. The low cost of the program means a lot of students can walk away without feeling the pressure of sunk costs. So it's not like their livelihood depends on it. The implications of OMSCS have not gone unnoticed, and both the program and its founders have been widely recognized both inside and outside of higher education. Overall, the withdraw and failure rates seem to be a bit higher than the in-person rates, but it's not a huge difference. That was in one of Zvi's or Charles' talks. The OMS curriculum boasts 28 courses, with several more in production. Provost of Arizona State, quoted by President Peterson. After six years, the graduation rate was 85.2% and by 2019,87.8% of this class had completed their degree. The second useful stat is the class "melt". Instead of uprooting and moving and spending $50,000, a student may take a couple courses and decide that life is too busy. Helps students compare and contrast OMSCS to other programs they are considering. Yes, it’s recognised. As of this term, 14,741 students have matriculated. There are only a couple other programs like OMSCS, and these copycats are too new to have dropout rates. Having a masters degree does not open many jobs like my old major, for example, having a masters in Civil Engineering was almost a requisite for working as a junior structural engineer. Obviously a stupid metric at this point in the program (it's like observing a preschool has a higher rate of drooling than driving, therefore preschool causes drooling). The dean of the college talks about this in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ETTblOvH6w. I do not need this degree and I could get my life back. Does anyone know if these numbers are true? Coursework at the 1000 or 2000 level may not be used for a master's degree. Students in the OMS CS program further customize their education by selecting one of our four specializations. Online, Cheap -- and Elite Inside Higher Ed. I mean, so far nobody who takes one class a semester would be able to graduate. Analysis of Georgia Tech’s MOOC-inspired online master's in computer science suggests that institutions can successfully deliver high-quality, low-cost degrees to students at scale. Not in this case, anyway. Q: But doesn't that go against the entire mission of our program? Last semester I was gearing up for a project submission as well as a midterm but suddenly something blew up at work. Here or PM if you want. You might pay for a professional proofreading service. could be because most people who apply for OMSCS don't really need the degree, so there's less of an incentive to trudge through to the end. OMSCS admits approximately 63% of applicants. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what courses to take, and thought I'd share my course plans for those in the same boat. There is no good way to measure dropout or graduation rate. It isn't clear how many of the students not enrolled in a class had permanently withdrawn from the program. We had a similar discussion when I was faculty at the University of Washington and it goes like this... Q: What are we going to do about our attrition rates and or outgoing test scores? This post is a first effort at gathering the info necessary to assemble a self-study plan, so that I do everything I can to maximize my likelihood of successfully completing a top 10 CS masters degree. I think this metric is ultimately useless for the OMSCS program. There are very few graduates, and very few dropouts. OMSCS Dropout Rate? Note: I ended up dropping out of this program before beginning it in order to join a startup instead. Any student, with the exception of active duty U.S. military personnel, who wishes to withdraw from the Institute must do so by selecting the "course drop by student" option for all registered courses. I have 2 classes left and I debate just stopping every week or so. OMS students seem to agree: a Harvard study of early cohorts found that only 10% of students denied entry at the margin of acceptance were enrolled in any Masters degree program within 18 months. There are many discussions of the program’s high attrition rate on the OMSCS subreddit, and they have me a bit on edge. It has a low cost and high time investment. The Master of Science in Computer Science (MSCS) program is designed for students who have completed a bachelor's degree in computer science and want to further their studies. The high acceptance rate fools a lot of people into thinking it's a cake walk. First you get accepted into the program, then you must succeed in two foundational courses. I'd wager 90%-95% of all students whoever started one OMSCS class are still students and are TBD. I know the MBA is a completely different degree, but it has a risk profile that to me is a lot lower. I debated many times to drop out, as I couldn't have any life other than work and studies. Summary: You can decrease attrition and improve standardized test scores only by changing your admissions standards at process. If the dropout rate is high, one reason could be that there are very few people in the program who NEED the degree. You are allowed 6 years to get this degree, this program is 3 1/2 years old. After this Spring 2020 semester, I will be halfway there to graduate in terms on credits. The situation is complicated because GT allows students to skip a semester at any time, but you must complete at least one class every other semester. The today early 20s full-time on campus student is far less likely to have an off-campus job that interferes, to have a child get sick, etc. It's a really hard program. I would be surprised if the graduation rate is HIGHER than the dropout rate. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. On factor is that GA Tech is significantly harder than other universities. There was when I joined the program - my career had stalled and I didn't feel like I could keep advancing. I was chatting with a friend today who is a professor at a mid-tier university and they "informed" me that the OMSCS dropout rate is exceeding the graduation rate. The school accepts more students than it should(?). Let's increase our minimum GRE scores and require higher undergrad GPAs. OMSCS: The Revolution Will Be Digitized Communications of the ACM. There is anecdotal evidence that the dropout rate for the program exceeds the graduation rate, which is both a testament to the program’s difficulty and a side-effect of giving lots of people a chance of earning the degree. OMSCS now boasts a student community of 10,799 students (Fall 2020 enrollment) representing 100+ countries. At present, at least the way I measure it, the retention rate is closer to 70%. So why didn't you drop out earlier after the first 2-3 classes? Don't drop out. Almost all students like that stopped doing CS once they realized the truth. Learning CS is great, and if there were more hours in the day I wouldn't have dropped. Only applicants who possess a bachelor's degree in computer science or equivalent … But even over time, I would expect the dropout rate of OMSCS to be higher than for an on-campus program. Fall 2020 Enrollment Data . An on-site degree doesn't carry any more prestige than one that's earned online. Probably. It's not a school that concerns itself too much about the drop out rate. Don't drop out. Since I have been into the program for over a year, I felt sometimes that I should share my admission essays. Unfortunately, it’s pretty high. Placement among job-seeking Master’s degree recipients continues a five-year rising trend, with placement at 81.6% in 2018. Updated 2017-08-19: Revised ML/AI courses Updated… I was chatting with a friend today who is a professor at a mid-tier university and they "informed" me that the OMSCS dropout rate is exceeding the graduation rate. So there is technically a graduation rate, albeit from a small sample size. What Georgia Tech's Online Degree in Computer Science Means for Low-Cost Programs Chronicle of Higher Education. I just got a new job with 25% pay rise, not sure master's was the sole reason, but it did open too many opportunities. In the interim, though, I switched jobs, got a big pay bump, and feel very secure in my career, and so it can be tough to find the value in sacrificing so much of my free time that I could be using on personal projects or simple enjoyment. How they would know what the dropout rate is would be the part where they are making up shit. Hardest B I've ever earned. Yet another could be that it isn't too costly if you drop out; a student on-campus who drops after the first year might be out $35K, while an OMSCS student might be out less that $2K. Update (2019/06/11): I’m offering tutoring for OMSCS courses.