On-line MS: The place did you get one and what was it like?
Hey –
As I do know others listed here are as nicely, I am making an attempt to determine which on-line knowledge science masters packages to use to.
There are many threads about particular packages (OMSA, UT, UC Berkeley and some others), however most of the packages that recurrently seem close to the highest of assorted on-line rankings do not get a number of dialogue right here. For instance, Bay Path, College of West Florida, CUNY SPS, and so on.
I do know the net rankings are fairly doubtful, so I am curious whether or not that is as a result of actually there are only some packages which can be really good or whether or not there’s really a much wider vary of packages that individuals right here have had an excellent expertise in.
So, relatively than asking about any specific program: For these of you who received or are getting an internet masters in knowledge science…
1) Which faculty are you at?
2) Have you ever had an excellent expertise total? Would you suggest it to others?
3) What has the net training expertise been like? (e.g. are the lessons giant or small? is the instruction good? do you work together with professors, TAs, different college students? and so on.)
I hope this seems to be a useful query for others as nicely.
Edit: I ought to have requested about knowledge science RELATED masters, together with analytics and stats levels. That was my intent however I wasn’t very clear about that. I’m glad people are posting about these packages as nicely.
Comments ( 15 )
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I’d like to think there’s a reason you hear about some programs and not the others – and honestly for credentialing I’d rather be from a program that people have heard of (positively) vs unheard of
University of Wisconsin
[deleted]
Mines a MS in Data Analytics, but at Oregon State University it isn’t bad!
I’m currently enrolled in the MSDS program at Northwestern (I’m not paying out of pocket) and it’s been a great experience so far. I’m still early into the program but the class sizes are small, a decent amount of sync sessions that optional but all offer recordings. Plenty of different tracks and it’s been great so far.
I know someone doing a stats masters at TAMU online and it’s pretty rigorous from what I’ve seen, I think it’s a good program. Also I’ll take this opportunity to say you’re much better off doing an MS in stats than in data science.
Went to University of West Florida. It was cheap as hell. I was able to cash roll the Masters while working. Outside of one or two classes from Dr Seals, I would not recommend the educational experience. It was a bit behind the times when I went there (graduated ‘20 with MS in Mathematics). All in all, I was just after the letters and it did the job. If I were to do it all over again, I’d try to get into Georgia Tech’s program.
Colorado State’s Masters of Applied Statistics.
I loved it, absolutely loved it. It was affordable, rigorous, and they’ve been doing remote masters of stats before the worldwide web was a thing, so it’s a pretty well oiled machine.
The classes were 8 weeks long, so two “sub terms” per semester. I found that offered a great deal of flexibility (when I had a child at the end of the Summer, I didn’t have to take a whole semester off, I was fine taking one sub term off instead).
Class sizes were always small, maybe 15 people max unless you went outside the department. The program is identical for folks in Fort Collins and folks remote, and it’s the same session so if you do a group project, it could be with in person and remote folks.
My undergraduate was a large university so I was struck by how professors just kinda cared about me and my development.
I now manage a data science team, and from what I’ve seen I would highly encourage a masters of stats or computer science instead of data science. There are certainly good MSDS programs out there, but 90% of hiring managers aren’t interested in discerning which is which and will write them all off on a resume unfortunately.
CU Boulder MSDS program. It has been solid professors so far for me and they recently lowered the price per credit. The statistics core credits was developed by the Applied Math department professors and the programming core credits is taught/developed by the CS department.
I am just over 1/3 of the way through and wrapping up the applied statistics portion of the program and found this portion to be decently rigorous but I have a background in mechanical engineering so I have taken (at one point in time) the calculus necessary to understand their proofs. If you don’t have this you should definitely consider some commitment to learning the calculus necessary otherwise you will be lost in this part of program.
The first 3 credits for the programming portion of the curriculum was fairly theoretical in my opinion and not so much applied. Final exams and homework’s were coded in python but they build from the ground up I felt. They do assume you know python so if you are brand new to coding in general you should consider spending some time learning here as well.
I am hoping to wrap up the core credits here soon and move into some of the electives which I have heard can be good and bad. I do see that some courses are up for update and the university itself is active with supporting the program.
Obligatory: I am not a shill for the school, I just also had this question when looking and thought I could help. Good luck!
Look no further than OMSA.
1) graduated OMSA may 2022. Non-STEM undergrad, got DS offer 2 weeks before graduation.
2) I had a great experience and recommend it to everyone that will listen.
3) Classes were large, lots of self learning, and all the support you could possibly need. GT has been a pioneer in the online Ed space and the quality of the courses is top notch. Assignments are thoughtful, well designed, and most are very challenging. It prepared me exceptionally well for the real world.
Seriously can’t recommend enough. The bang for your buck, ROI, whatever is unbelievable.
1. Southern Methodist University
2. Some classes are very rigorous but only with certain professors (classes like applied stats, ML, time series), while others are just fillers cuz they just felt lackluster, their assignments and exams are too easy to complete, and their contents arent just up to par with the industry (visualizations class doesnt teach poweBI or qlik or tableau, database class doesnt teach azure, aws, etc)
3. Classes earlier in the program are large, since they are filled with people still trying out the program, later classes are smaller (10-12). Professors are always available to talk to about course content and professional topics and connections. 15 weeks per semester courses. Pre-livesession assignments are assigned. Multiple breakouts every livesession. It’s really what you make out of it.
Texas A&M Masters of Statistics (Data Science focus area)
I highly recommend it to anyone who wants a stats degree. Great class selection and thorough program. I highly recommend that if you want to be a data scientist that you don’t rely on the program to develop your tech skills.
Classes are exactly the same as the in person students experience I’m just not sitting in the class in person. Professors and TA are really responsive. The content is very thorough. It is very difficult to do two classes at a time while working full time. I am 12/36 credits in as of the end of this semester. I am definitely becoming a statistical thinker which has helped me a lot in my career already.
Online programs are scams
I am doing the [MITx MicroMasters](https://micromasters.mit.edu/ds/) to [Harvard Extension School Masters in Data Science](https://extension.harvard.edu/academics/programs/data-science-graduate-program/mitx-micromasters-program-pathway-to-the-data-science-degree-program/) pathway and I’m really enjoying it so far! I only take one course at a time while working full-time so I spent Sept 2020 – May 2022 on the MM and then started HES in June 2022. I have currently finished 3 HES courses with 6 remaining and I plan on graduating sometime in either 2025 or 2026.
Pros
* Instead of your traditional admissions approach, they have an “earn your way in” approach where you take 2 admission courses and if you pass those, you are guaranteed entry (some other things apply like needing a bachelors, etc but pretty normal stuff). Going the MM pathway reduces the 2 admission courses + 10 courses requirement to 1 admission course + 8 courses.
* I think the price is very good! About $36k to do it normally, or $1k + $27k to do the MM pathway. I know it’s not as cheap as GT’s but I think Berkeley MIDS was like $75k.
* You can choose to take Harvard College courses. I actually plan to take 3-4 courses listed on the [SEAS Masters in Data Science](https://seas.harvard.edu/applied-computation/graduate-programs/masters-data-science/data-science-courses). (SEAS is your traditional admissions approach, full-time, on-campus graduate degree, [$90k total cost if I’m reading this right](https://gsas.harvard.edu/financial-support/cost-attendance/tuition).) (Did anyone watch Single’s Inferno Season 2 on Netflix? I found out Nadine was my classmate!!)
* If you’re in the area, you could totally attend the classes in real life if you’d like. I know we do online degrees for a reason but it’s nice to have that flexibility.
* I was personally blown away by the amount of support that I’ve gotten as an admitted student (number of office hours, availability of academic advisors, career services resources) but my undergrad was at a public university where one of my classes literally had over a thousand students so take that with a grain of salt.
Cons
* It’s technically not 100% remote because you have to do the pre-capstone requirement in person at Harvard, but it’s only for 3 weeks and I’m sure most employers would be fine with you working remotely for that duration of time.
* This gets talked about a lot in the extension school subreddit, but your degree will have the word “extension” in it whereas other schools that have a similar professional degree program do not have this distinction. [List of accepted ways to put the HES degree on your resume.](https://careerservices.fas.harvard.edu/resources/hes-resume-cover-letter-template/)
* I think your experience will be largely defined by which courses you choose. In general, I recommend Harvard College courses to get the most out of the program, but I’ve heard from some people who took CSCI-124 (Data Structures and Algorithms) that they felt like second class citizens (most sections/office hours were in person). From the professor’s POV, I believe they just get asked if they want their class to be extension school compatible and if they say yes, they get paid a few thousand dollars more and then someone comes in to record their class. This means the professor has to be really passionate about online learning if they want to go above and beyond and provide a good learning experience, but I have definitely felt this way about Professor Pavlos Protopapas’s classes! Anyways, once you are an admitted student, you can read course reviews to get a better sense of all of this.
* The program is still working out kinks. CSCI-101 was the admissions course that I took but I believe that was the 2nd or 3rd time it was offered. Apparently it replaced a different admissions course that was much more difficult and the pass rate was very low. Also we had a freakout over in r/harvardextension when the Fall 2022 HES course catalogue came out and a ton of Harvard College courses were removed. We later found out that it was an administrative error but it was a confusing and stressful experience.
* There are not that many current graduates to talk to and I haven’t found job outcomes papers for this program.
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**Have you had a good experience overall? Would you recommend it to others?**
I’ve been very happy with my experience overall and I definitely recommend it to others! I took CSCI-109A and B with Professor Protopapas and though I definitely struggled, I really enjoyed those courses and felt like I was getting my money’s worth. I plan on taking another course with him this upcoming fall. I believe these are the 3 HES compatible courses that he teaches so I’m not sure how I’ll feel after I start taking courses from other professors, but I’ve heard about good course options from other students.
**What has the online education experience been like? (e.g. are the classes large or small? is the instruction good? do you interact with professors, TAs, other students? etc.)**
The online education experience has been great so far! The lecture recordings are available like an hour or two after the class time (I don’t watch it until after work anyway). Professor Protopapas has online hours dedicated to extension students and we also have online TA office hours where they help online students first since we can’t attend the physical OH. In terms of interacting with other students, people are generally quite active on the class forum and we have a WhatsApp group but I mainly lurk. For CSCI-109A/B you’ll definitely want to have a homework partner and there’s a final project that you work on with 3-5 students. You could totally team up with a Harvard College student but I find that usually extension students team up with other extension students because it’s just easier logistically (remote, usually have a full-time job). Class sizes definitely range but I think in general Harvard College courses are large (200-300 students) whereas HES-specific courses are smaller (~50 students).