Anyone done the online MIT program at Va Tech?

[Gunslinger08]

http://www.vto.vt.edu/progdesc.php?id=mit

I'm thinking about doing this to help my career. My employer offers some education reimbursement, so a majority (80% up to $2500 a year) of the cost would be taken care of if I do well. I'd like to get opinions of the program and see if people think it would be a worthwhile addition to a BS in Comp Sci.

 

[Gunslinger08]

Guess not.

 

[beatle]

It looks promising. I didn't know that VT offered online Masters.

 

[soccerballtux]

Not having a class to go to makes disciplining yourself to do the work very difficult. I tried this with a Latin course; didn't get anywhere lol. I wouldn't recommend it unless you know for sure you can handle it and will do it. I know if I didn't have a class to go to I probably wouldn't do my work.

 

[Joemonkey]

Looks neat, what are the pre-reqs though? this is kinda confusing:

To participate in a degree or certificate program, you must be admitted to the Graduate School and the program of interest as a regular, degree-seeking student.

What if I have no degree at all, can I still take this and get a masters?

EDIT: Nevermind, went to the main page:

Admission to the Master of Information Technology degree program in Virginia Tech's Graduate School requires that applicants meet the following minimum standards:

* Bachelor of Science or Bachelor of Arts degree from an accredited college or university.
* Minimum grade point average of 3.0 of 4.0 in the last 60 hours of course work shown on the applicant's transcripts.
* The potential to successfully pursue and complete the VTMIT degree program as evidenced by the application, optional letters of recommendation, and/or other material submitted with the application such as professional vitae or resumé
* Work experience in Information Technology.
* Proficiency in using the Java computer programming language, as evidenced by prior course work.
* Engineering modules (Networking, Communication Systems and Computer Engineering) require further math and electrical engineering prerequisites.

 

[Drakkon]

I actually work in the field as an instructional technologist creating classes like these. As said above its worthwhile if you can dedicate yourself to it. Its not like a traditional face to face course where you have others you can connect with as easy unless the rest of the other students in your course are in the same situation. The load will be (depending on the instructor) much more as you will have to read and re-read much of the material.

As for the degree it will do nothing more then accentuate your CS major. It will cover a lot of material you already have heard just in more depth. Unless your going into that field it will be nothing more than a potential bargaining chip for a raise and a notch on your resume.

 

[TechEd2]

If there is anyone out there still seeing this thread, I would also love some advice on the idea of the Virginia Tech MIT degree. I have just entered into the program. My bachelor's nor my career is in IT or CS. VT Has ensured me that this masters offers enough CS information to be a successful career switcher. Any advice? Warnings? I am concerned that a degree with no experience will not provide a job.

 

[emorymiles]

If there is anyone out there still seeing this thread, I would also love some advice on the idea of the Virginia Tech MIT degree. I have just entered into the program. My bachelor's nor my career is in IT or CS. VT Has ensured me that this masters offers enough CS information to be a successful career switcher. Any advice? Warnings? I am concerned that a degree with no experience will not provide a job.

I'm in the middle of my 8th VTMIT course. The 'online' vs. classroom experience takes some getting used to. You have to be pretty motivated and self-reliant. Interaction with classmates is generally extremely limited, but occasionally through chatrooms, email.

My opinion of the VTMIT program overall is pretty poor. It is quite dis-organized. The instructors are only concerned with their particular course and don't seem to care about the content of the program. There is 'supposedly' a Java programming prerequisite to taking the program, but one of the core, foundation classes is Java Programming 101. I took a basic Java Programming 1 class at NOVA prior to, and in order to, start the program and it was much better and covered more material than the VT core class that I paid big bucks for. If you already know the difference between the waterfall and agile methods of software engineering, you will not learn anything from the 'software engineering' module. The required core foundation management course is ridiculous - do not take this course while taking other classes or if you have a job or if you expect to any free time whatsoever. The required reading, homework, quizzes for this class is extreme. And the funniest thing is that you will never, ever use anything you learn in this course unless you become the CEO, CFO, or CIO of a major corporation. TOTAL WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY.

As far as getting an IT job with a VTMIT degree and no experience, I would say your chances are pretty slim. In my experience, IT jobs are based on your experience with whatever technology - you could have 50 years experience in database administration with Sybase, DB2, and SQLServer, but if you want to switch to an Oracle job, you're gonna take a huge paycut. If you really want to advance your career, I would first consider an MBA. If you are more technically inclined, go for an advanced CS degree. If you want to waste a lot of time and money and not really learn much more than you would in a basic IT position, then bay all means continue the VTMIT degree.

 

[droidsteve]

I'm in the middle of my 8th VTMIT course. The 'online' vs. classroom experience takes some getting used to. You have to be pretty motivated and self-reliant. Interaction with classmates is generally extremely limited, but occasionally through chatrooms, email.

My opinion of the VTMIT program overall is pretty poor. It is quite dis-organized. The instructors are only concerned with their particular course and don't seem to care about the content of the program.

I have experience in online classes, and am already in the IT field, just looking for the sheepskin I guess... One question about course work. Is there a lot of "writing" involved?

 

[BeardRed]

I am in the middle of my 5th class and have found the process to be pretty positive. Like emorymiles mentioned, if you are pretty familiar with IT Networking, then you will probably be wasting your time taking the Networking classes. But, if you take the Java classes and software engineering classes without much experience, then you will get some pretty good experience and knowledge. Most jobs I have worked now are interdisciplinary, and I had to wing it at the time, which was okay, but this program helps get you focused on the areas you pick, and you get "credit" for getting a masters. Compared to other programs you actually practice and learn fundamental skills rather than writing a bunch of papers for a Masters Degree. There is some writing in some classes, but there is also network analysis, security analysis, and more. The program was very good for my career for a number of reasons. 1) My manager is impressed I am putting the time in and the program is respectable. 2) I have been exposed to areas I never would have been to during my normal job, and 3) I had to learn to learn (better) and then apply the learning in tight time cycles to get things done (all while working my normal day job). I have worked for the same company for 15 years, and people are impressed that I am taking the time to get a Masters. All in all, it has been a really nice experience and I am already ahead since my company paid for much of the work,and my raises and bonuses have also increased.