Choosing OMSCS

It was a bright, Spring day early in May. The tree-lined college campus was bustling with family and friends of the students. The excitement on that day was palpable. The families of hundreds of students had traveled there to celebrate the graduation of their loved one. The students' excitement was met almost equally with a sense of nervousness both for the future and for the last few grades that were yet to trickle in. So much lay ahead of each pupil, but the cost of their accomplishment was still fresh in their minds.

As I sat with my peers on the stage during our college's graduation ceremony, the news came: I'd passed. There was one final grade that was yet to be recorded that would determine if I actually was done with my bachelor's degree or not. To my great relief, I'd passed Advanced Algorithms. The class was tough, but the final exam was a complete surprise. The instructor had allowed the use of one, single-page note sheet during the test. Unfortunately only one or two things that were on the study-guide (and subsequently on our note sheets that we'd each made) was actually on the exam. Everything else was related to things we'd talked about but quickly got into things not covered in the course. To say we were surprised would only capture a small portion of the emotions many of us felt. To learn that my peers and I had passed that class relieved our souls and allowed us to fully enjoy the rest of that day.

Despite the accomplishment and excitement I felt on that day, I had no desire to continue my formal education. I was done. A bachelor's degree is a lot of work! Add onto that full-time work and a small family and that can turn a 4-year degree into 5 or 6 or even more. With that much time of my life spent in academia, I was ready to turn my back to it and pass through the door to a life without obligations to school.



That summer following graduation was one of the most enjoyable summers of my life. My small family and I spent lots of time outside walking, hiking, and doing all sorts of things with the large amounts of free time we now had. In addition to the extra time with my family, I was growing in my career with a job that I loved. Post-undergraduate life was going pretty well.

That is, until I started to have a feeling.

I was raised in a family where both parents were college graduates. My dad even earned an MBA. Growing up, I always thought it was cool that my dad had a Master's degree. I always thought to myself that I'd get one one day. However, after receiving a bachelor's degree, any desire I had had for a Master's had flown far, far away from the thoughts of my mind.

But as I was enjoying myself that summer, I started to have a feeling that my formal education wasn't done yet. Those thoughts I had of getting a Master's degree came back and I knew that, if I were to do it, now is the time.

So, what'd I do? I pushed the thought away. Isn't that what you'd do? Degrees are a lot of work! They're another demand on your time and another commitment you need to keep. You can't put them on hold, take time off, or negotiate the commitments they require of you. I was quite happy not having that demand on me, thank you very much.

But the thought kept coming. Every time I'd push it off it'd just come back a few days later.

"Fine." I thought. "I'll look." So, I started looking into programs for Master's of Science in Computer Science locally and across the nation. There were many very prestigious and appealing programs. Unfortunately their price tags were a bit out of reach. Add onto that the need to uproot my family and leave my job, the costs and sacrifices we'd need to make just didn't make sense for us.

"There." I thought. "I looked. $40k is too much and I'm most likely not getting scholarships. I can't make a Master's work." As I was having that thought, I searched one or two final times before giving up my search. As I made those last searches, I started to hear whispering of a program that might actually work. A completely remote program from a top university that was extremely cheap. If that were real, that would be perfect. But I couldn't find much more about it and, with that, I gave up my search.



Having searched, I had satisfied that thought for the time being. But that didn't last long. Fast forward to the Fall of that year and the feeling returned. "If you're gonna do it, now's the time," the thought said. So, I unenthusiastically resumed my search for a program that would work for my family and me. This time I knew where to start: that possible program that was remote and cheap.

So, I started my search and there was more information that became available in the few months that I had tabled this. I learned that the program was from The Georgia Institute of Technology, the cost was around $7k (depending on how fast you go through the program), and it was 100% online. You never need to go to the campus for anything. No moving to Georgia. No quitting my job. No uprooting family. No relocation expenses. No ridiculous tuition fees. In fact, it was cheap enough that my employer could pay for 100% of it if I wanted them to (spoiler alert: I did want them to).

"Wait... The Georgia Tech? Like, the top-10 one? And it's only $7k? There's no way that's true!" But it was. The more I looked into it, the more apparent it was that this was the real deal. Somehow, some way, Georgia Tech had bucked all the usual trends in education and made a program that's accessible to nearly everyone (to learn more about how, see this video, where Sebastian Thrun talks about the origins of the program). They called the program OMSCS and the application period for next Fall was open.

Over the coming weeks, I worked with the career services from my Alma Mater to help me during the application process. The following Summer, I received word that I was accepted into the program. In August of 2015, I started my first course in the program.

I often get asked why I wanted a Master's degree. Aside from the feelings I had about it (which, as a religious person, I believe was God telling me to do it) and my dad having set that example, I also wanted to get one to deepen the education I had received in my undergraduate work. For example, I didn't work on anything with artificial intelligence during my undergraduate degree. With how the industry had shifted and what seemed to be emerging at the time, I had great desires to learn about AI so I could understand it more and potentially use it in my job.

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This is the first of a series of posts about my experience with OMSCS. Pursuing a Master's degree is a serious commitment. I hope these posts can help you decide if OMSCS is right for you. Stay tuned for more information on OMSCS and my experience with it.

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