Chance of getting into a decent MS CS program?
I have a CS Bachelor's from a good university. I'm interested in pursuing a Master's after a few years of working, however my GPA is low (3.2). My senior year saw a sharp increase in grades though, and I'm planning on taking a few graduate courses as a non-degree student. Will these put me in the ballpark? Mostly looking at Professional Master's programs like UWisc PMP, Cornell MEng, Rice MS, etc. Not particularly in favor of online since it takes too long to complete.
Repeat after me - Masters is useful only and only for getting OPT and H1B. If you have either of those things already, it is a waste of time and money. You don't learn squat in a professional masters program.
Gotcha. So if I want to work in some cutting edge field (say CV, Robotics, etc) or be an engineer at some research division at FANG, would an MS not be that useful? How would one reach that kind of position?
You need an excellent PhD to get there.
You should seriously consider online programs (unless you intend to do a PhD later, but that’s another topic). You’re right that they take longer, but the opportunity cost is much lower than in-person; you don’t need to give up on two years of salary and career advancement. Plus, most big companies will cover at least part of the tuition. With your stats, something like Georgia Tech OMSCS is certainly achievable. Besides, until we see a vaccine, even in-person programs will be mostly online anyway.
Great advice ☝️☝️
My understanding is that most professional MS programs can be done in a year. OMSCS is very attractive by the price tag, but I am considering two things - 1) by the time I finish my degree (~3 years) my career would have already taken a path, it might be too late to work on something new or interesting 2) Chance to do research is 0 in OMSCS. Some good publications could help me work in more interesting, cutting edge fields (CV, robotics, etc) No plan to do PhD. And you are right that all this hinges on covid going away within a few years.