Online CS / Engineering masters degree programs

[DT4K]

What do you think about the value of an online graduate degree if it is from a quality school like Arizona State University or University of Illinios - Urbana-Champaign ?

They both have online degree programs that degrees like:
Master of Computer Science
Master of Science in Electrical Engineering
Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering
Master of Engineering - Area of study in Software Engineering

I've thought about going to grad school, but can't give up full-time work since I have a family to support.

What's the difference between a a Master of Science in Computer Science and a Master of Computer Science?
Would the latter be viewed as less of a degree, even if it was from a reputable university?

 

[Perknose]

Originally posted by: DT4K
What's the difference between a a Master of Science in Computer Science and a Master of Computer Science?

Duuuuuuuuude, there IS no "Master of Science in Computer Science", excepting the one offered by the College of Redundancy College. And it's expensive there. You have to pay. And pay.

There is ONLY a Master of Computer Science.

 

[blues008]

bump because i too am interested...

 

[DT4K]

Originally posted by: Perknose

Originally posted by: DT4K
What's the difference between a a Master of Science in Computer Science and a Master of Computer Science?

Duuuuuuuuude, there IS no "Master of Science in Computer Science", excepting the one offered by the College of Redundancy College. And it's expensive there. You have to pay. And pay.

There is ONLY a Master of Computer Science.

Huh??

No, I didn't list an online "MS in Computer Science", but many schools offer one.

 

[gsaldivar]

Originally posted by: Perknose

Duuuuuuuuude, there IS no "Master of Science in Computer Science
There is ONLY a Master of Computer Science.

M.S. = Master of Science
M.A. = Master of Arts
M.B.A. = Master of Business Administration

A "Masters" degree is simply an abbreviation for one of the above degrees. If you think there isn't such a thing as a degree of M.S. Computer Science, then you really have no idea what you are talking about...

 

[DT4K]

I was just checking out USC's online graduate degrees and it looks really good.
They are the 6th ranked graduate engineering school in the country(according to US News and World Report) and offer a wide array of 100% distance learning masters degrees.

Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering
Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering (Astronautics)
Master of Science in Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering (Computational Fluid and Solid Mechanics)
Master of Science in Biomedical Engineering (Medical Imaging & Imaging Informatics) - (NEW for Fall 2004)!
Master of Engineering in Computer Aided Engineering - (NEW for Fall 2004)!
Master of Science in Computer Engineering
Master of Science in Computer Science
Master of Science in Computer Science (Computer Security)
Master of Science in Electrical Engineering
Engineer in Electrical Engineering
Master of Science in Engineering Management
Master of Science in Integrated Media Systems (IMS)
Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering - Dynamics and Control -
Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering (General)
Master of Science in Medical Device & Diagnostic Engineering - NEW!
Master of Science in Petroleum Engineering - NEW!
Master of Science in Petroleum Engineering (Smart Oilfield Technologies) - NEW!
Master of Science in Product Development Engineering
Master of Science in Systems Architecture and Engineering
Master of Science in System Safety & Security (NEW for Fall 2004)!

And under the MSCS heading, they have several specialization options

MSCS-CN Master of Science in Computer Science with Specialization in Computer Networks
MSCS-CS Master of Science in Computer Science with Specialization in Computer Security (NEW!)
MSCS-MC Master of Science in Computer Science with Specialization in Multimedia and Creative Technologies
MSCS-SE Master of Science in Computer Science with Specialization in Software Engineering

Anyone have an opinion on these programs?

According to their FAQ,
"Will my degree be from DEN or from USC?
DEN(Distance Education Network) students are no different from on campus USC students. The same requirements and curriculum apply, so your degree will be from the University of Southern California."

 

[CanOWorms]

We have distance education in one of the departments in my school. We see them on a TV and there's a director guy that controls the cameras for them.

I wonder how you do your thesis/project in these types of programs though.

 

[DougK62]

I'm interested in these too.

 

[DT4K]

Originally posted by: CanOWorms
We have distance education in one of the departments in my school. We see them on a TV and there's a director guy that controls the cameras for them.

I wonder how you do your thesis/project in these types of programs though.

Some of them still may require a thesis, but most of them are less research oriented and more professional skills oriented. So for many of them, you either just take coursework, or you also do a substantial project, but not a thesis.

From what I've found so far, the following universities offer Computer Science related masters degrees that can be done 100% online. Midterm and final exams are typically proctored through local colleges, libraries, or testing centers.

DePaul
Virginia Tech
Colorado State
Arizona State
University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
Kansas State
University of Southern California

There are some others that I haven't had a chance to check out yet like Stanford and Columbia.

The total cost of tuition for a complete Masters program ranges from 16k at KSU to around 30k at USC. Distance education students are eligible for federal financial aid at some of these schools and not at others.

 

[AgentEL]

Don't forget Carnegie Mellon U. They have a west coast campus as well.

http://west.cmu.edu

 

[DT4K]

Originally posted by: AgentEL
Don't forget Carnegie Mellon U. They have a west coast campus as well.

http://west.cmu.edu

If I'm reading that right, it looks like you need 10 semester courses to get a masters in IT with software engineering specialization. Tuition is about $4700 per class, so grand total of $47000 !!!!
And it says the program isn't eligible for financial aid.
Other than that, yeah, it looks pretty good.

 

[AgentEL]

Originally posted by: DT4K

Originally posted by: AgentEL
Don't forget Carnegie Mellon U. They have a west coast campus as well.

http://west.cmu.edu

If I'm reading that right, it looks like you need 10 semester courses to get a masters in IT with software engineering specialization. Tuition is about $4700 per class, so grand total of $47000 !!!!
And it says the program isn't eligible for financial aid.
Other than that, yeah, it looks pretty good.

It's been a great program so far.

As for financial aid, you are correct. There isn't any help in terms of grants, but there are loans you can take. It's geared towards professionals, so they assume that your company is compensating the tuition. I would say this is true for about 80% of the students. The rest are paying it out of their own paycheck.

PM me if you want any more info.

 

[maddogchen]

hmmm sounds interesting... I should go back to school. A BS in CS is too common it seems

 

[DT4K]

Anyone have an opinion?

 

[Imdmn04]

As long as it doesn't say online degree on the diploma, your employer cant tell a difference.

 

[DT4K]

Originally posted by: Imdmn04
As long as it doesn't say online degree on the diploma, your employer cant tell a difference.

Most of the programs specifically state that your degree will be exactly the same whether you take your classes on-campus or online only.

Only thing is that if your resume shows that you've been continuously working for the same company in one state and earned a degree from a university in another state at the same time, the employer will probably wonder how you managed that.

 

[cchen]

The online degree is just as reputable, as long as its from a reputable school. Like regular schools, some online programs are a lot better and more respected than others. Columbia's CVN program is one of the top ranked online schools for graduate studies. Then again, it costs more than $1000 a credit.

http://www.cvn.columbia.edu

 

[CarpeDeo]

How difficult is it to be accepted into an online master's degree program at one of these schools? Is it pretty much the same level of requirements as their on campus program? 'Cuz if so . . . with my grades- I'm not going anywhere . . . err- anywhere online . . . err- you know what I mean.

 

[DT4K]

Originally posted by: CarpeDeo
How difficult is it to be accepted into an online master's degree program at one of these schools? Is it pretty much the same level of requirements as their on campus program? 'Cuz if so . . . with my grades- I'm not going anywhere . . . err- anywhere online . . . err- you know what I mean.

From what I've seen so far, many of these programs have the same admissions requirements as their traditional on-campus counterpart. But many of them also allow you to enroll in classes without applying for formal admittance as a degree seeking student. Then when you apply for admission, they will also consider your grades from these classes.

Most of them list a 3.0 undergrad gpa as the minimum required for graduate admission. But some of them are obviously more competitive than others and a 3.0 certainly doesn't guarantee you admission. Some of them also do not require you to take the GRE.

Here are the schools I'm considering:
University of Illiniois - Urbana/Champaign
University of Southern California
DePaul
Virginia Tech
Georgia Tech
University of Colorado
North Carolina State
Colorado State
Kansas State

The degrees they offer vary and so do the costs. Masters programs at the above schools range in price from around $16,000 at Kansas State and Colorado State to over $30,000 at USC. Carnegie Mellon was also on my list of schools to look at, but if my calculations are correct, the masters programs there would end up costing over $50,000.

 

[SuperTool]

Stanford is pretty good.
scpd.stanford.edu

 

[memo]

while UIUC has a great engineering program, especially CS, when I was taking a couple classes, there were "online" parts of it. I was at the actual lecture, foreign students were taking it online at the same time. it seemed like they were always second to the in class students, i.e. grades and feedback were always slow. I'm not one to complain since I didn't take it online, but there was alot of complaining from the online students on news groups, just to let you know. These were undergrad courses though so I am not sure what the grad online courses would be like.

 

[DT4K]

Originally posted by: SuperTool
Stanford is pretty good.
scpd.stanford.edu

Stanford's online program is only available if your employer participates.
And the total tuition for their MS in CS is $54,000.

 

[DT4K]

bump for other opinions

 

[Kyteland]

Originally posted by: memo
while UIUC has a great engineering program, especially CS, when I was taking a couple classes, there were "online" parts of it. I was at the actual lecture, foreign students were taking it online at the same time. it seemed like they were always second to the in class students, i.e. grades and feedback were always slow. I'm not one to complain since I didn't take it online, but there was alot of complaining from the online students on news groups, just to let you know. These were undergrad courses though so I am not sure what the grad online courses would be like.

I also went to UIUC and has some classes that were taped for the online folks. The impression I got was that the class was 10x harder for those people. They couldn't ask questions in class (broadcast wasn't live) or go to office hours and talk to the prof. Also the course newsgroups were generally less than helpful when trying to clarify something and the general response from "regular" students was generally "Why don't you just go to class instead of asking here?" :roll:

Also keep in mind that a majority of the people taking the online version at the time were in India somewhere, so the time difference made it hard to communicate, but I remember the grades for them being significantly lower then the rest of the at-the-university crowd. Doing projects wouldn't be any harder for an online course because all of the programming assignments were submitted through the campus network anyway. You may have to bone up on yout LaTeX skils for written homework, but that shouldn't be a huge deal.