• long running

Online Master of Science in Computer Science from US$5,828 (~A$8,442, Was US$6,604) @ Georgia Tech

1560

Georgia Tech is ranked #38 in the World University Ranking

Get a 100% online master's degree in computer science from a prestigious American university for only US$5,828 (Was US$6,604), can also attend a graduation ceremony after completion:

Q: Is there be a graduation ceremony? If so, are students required to attend?
A: OMS students are welcome to participate in the Graduate Commencement Ceremony that is held on campus for Fall and Spring graduates. Participation is not required but is welcomed. There is no summer commencement ceremony.

Q: How will this degree appear on my diploma and/or transcript?
A:The name "Online Master of Science" is an informal designation to help both Georgia Tech and prospective students distinguish the delivery method of the OMS program from our on-campus degree. The degree name in both cases is Master of Science in Computer Science.

And yes, you will get a @gatech.edu email account.

For this degree, students must finish a total of 10 courses, 1-3 courses per semester, each of which costs US$540. An extra US$107 technology change per semester applies. There was a US$194 institutional charge per semester but just been eliminated, therefore the discount is about 10-20% off. The overall cost is determined by how quickly you can complete the programme:

Total Semesters Courses per Semester Total Cost
4 2-3 US$5,828
5 2 US$5,935
6 1-2 US$6,042
7 1-2 US$6,149
8 1-2 US$6,256
9 1-2 US$6,363
10 1 US$6,470

Check this spreadsheet for course details: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vRyHrRhH2V52…

Not interested in Computer Science? There are also 13 alternative Master's degrees available online, including:

  • Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering
  • Master of Science in Analytics
  • Master of Science in Computer Science
  • Master of Science in Cybersecurity
  • Master of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering
  • Master of Science in Industrial Engineering
  • Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering
  • Master of Science in Medical Physics
  • Master of Science in Operations Research

(Some are more expensive than CS)

Related Stores

Georgia Institute of Technology
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Comments

  • Why not just do it in Australia or is it more expensive here

    • +35

      (at least for a 2-year face-to-face degree) about 5x the cost at an Australian university and, arguably, Georgia Tech offers a far stronger and more universally recognised Computer Science qualification.

    • +22

      IIRC postgraduate studies in Australia are generally not Commonwealth supported and require full fees, which means the total course fee can range from A$30,000 to A$80,000.

      Besides, unlike universities in Australia, this online MS programme offered by Georgia Tech doesn't require you to have prior experience or studies in IT or CS, making it suitable for those from different undergraduate disciplines.

      • +1

        The Georgia Tech masters appears to require an undergraduate in Comp Sci? It says right there on the admissions requirements. Otherwise it's assessed on a case by case basis…

      • +1

        UNSW do Masters of IT/Maths with commonwealth supported places. The Masters of IT does not presume a lot of prior knowledge, though if you have it you can do some good graduate/4th year level courses.

    • +14

      Enrol in a US college and qualify for an F1 visa to live and study in the US for a few years - bargain.

      • +31

        My dream of living in Alaska shooting fish with my 44 is no longer a dream. Thank you…

      • You can't apply for F1 visa with this online Master's programme, unfortunately.

        • +18

          Oh my sweet Alaskan salmon… When will we meet… Want to be rolling coal in my F350…

    • +12

      Australian universities are now absurdly expensive. E.g. it is almost a third of the cost for me to do a Masters from University of London (ranked #12 in world and 187 years old) than from an Australian university.

      • +2

        Yep, operates on almost a for profit basis (senior leadership usually comes from corporate backgrounds with pay to match) yet somehow identifies as not-for-profit.

    • -3

      Are you a high school drop off?

      • +1

        What makes you say that?

      • +9

        Did you mean high school drop out? Your mistake is showing that you possibly could be one.

    • +1

      As an international student who spends 30k+/year to study Master's in Australia, this is a lot cheaper. :)

      • +1

        yeah international students makes perfect sense, just amazed it costs a lot for domestic students

  • +33

    Thanks OP, bought 2.

    • Rookie numbers, bought 6

    • +1

      one for the wife/hubby?

  • +64

    Can I do a pricematch at my uni

  • +2

    There is open courseware from higher ranking universities as well

    • +3

      Not really comparable. From their website:

      Can I get credit or certification for learning with MIT OpenCourseWare?

      OCW does not offer any degree, credit, or certification.

  • +34

    Paging @Optus @Medibank

    Master of Science in Cybersecurity

    • +3

      They probably employed people with Australian cyber security degrees. It would explain so much.

      • +1

        I know Aus cyber security degrees are not the best, but are they really that bad?

        • +10

          Recent graduate, not great. The main purpose of going to university (besides accreditation) is supposed to be education, but I feel I have received more education from some pretty low cost training courses that have followed since graduation. Current employer did not care if I held a degree or not.

          There's two kinds of cybersecurity degrees you can do. Arts, which teaches you little to nothing about the technical side and just exposes you to concepts, tools, regulations, standards and theoretical knowledge - they're like tourists just here to check out what's happening and tell other people about it. Those arts cysec units were very minimally useful. Then there's the technical side, which was very limited in content but taught you cryptography, privacy engineering, pentesting, etc. Most of the technical degree had little to do with cybersecurity and was geared more toward general computer science. We only brushed lightly on things like vulnerabilities and exploits in code. I spoke with peers doing their technical cysec degrees that didn't do any math unit, and one only did the one core fundamental programming unit. These courses while somewhat new, really need a big overhaul, but the university system seems to be increasingly more fixated on the money as the years go by.

          Employers are looking more and more toward certification and training instead, you have so many options. Pentesting certs are a lot quicker to complete and will add far more value to your resume. Worth checking out: https://pauljerimy.com/security-certification-roadmap/

          • @Ordered: Thanks.

            I feel CS and more niche areas like cyber sec, what’s being taught at uni (or even at cert courses) are behind current latest developments. Some people even say for these areas, there’s no point going to uni or cert courses. I feel the more niche an area is, the more passion one would need to be in this area. These days you could just google anything and being a white hat, participating in white hat events and being prominent in this community helps more.

    • +11
      • 🤣🤣🤣

        And optus still fail in cyber security

        • Maybe that is why…

    • +1

      Optus CEO earned a scholarship at the prestigious Stanford University in the United States where she attained a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering and a Master of Science in Management Science, with an Academic Excellence Award for being the top Masters graduate

      Might pay to avoid that academic track for a while

  • Are there any good options for diplomas or bachelors? I’m not sure I want to commit to a masters degree

    • ? Masters degrees are usually shorter / easier than a Bachelors.

      • What twisted world is that? I had to complete 3 years of Bachelors to be able to do 2 year Master degree in Europe.

        • Me too

        • -1

          No offence but probably in 3rd countries where you can buy the Master degrees easily??

      • +1

        A Masters is suppose to be more narrowly focused. You spend a shorter time but focused more intently on a topic, rather than covering broad basics.

        That makes sense to me. What I find truly absurd is PhD and Postdoc studies. That lifestyle is for people who enjoy torture.

        • What I find truly absurd is PhD and Postdoc studies. That lifestyle is for people who enjoy torture.

          Can you please explain a little more.

          • @rokufan: Search the following on YouTube and Google
            Postdoc burnout
            Phd worth it
            Postdoc depression

      • +2

        Shorter yes, easier no.

      • I believe with Masters you don't have non-related elective subjects which makes up a third of a Bachelors degree (8 out of 24 units). That brings it down to 2 years.

      • +2

        You are thinking of graduate certificates or graduate diplomas…. Bachelors need to be completed in Australia to undertake a Masters (usually). A Masters degree is then required before you undertake a PHD (unless you receive a bachelor with honours). Usually, a Masters degree involves undertaking bachelor level units at a 500 level rather than at 300 level, and they are critiqued more heavily at 500 level. In no sense, is a masters easier than a bachelors.

    • University College London does an online only computer science bachelors.

      • I think Georgia Tech ranks higher in comp science than UCL.

        • +1

          yeah, it does but the question was for bachelors or diploma not masters. Also, cheaper than going locally and paying HECS but YMMV.

  • +2

    What do they mean when they say 12hours on the description for each unit? 12 hours to complete, 12 hours exam, 12 hours lecture??

    • +6

      12 hours a week I would think

    • +4

      In Australia it means 12 hours per subject per week. And it's absolutely misleading too. You might be able to get away with a pass mark with 12 hours/week, but if you look to get decent knowledge and marks, it's more like 20-30 hours a week. The 10-12 hours per week study is just a marketing ploy to lure in the newbies.

      • +1

        Thanks, I'm showing my age since it's been almost 2 decades since I finished studies

      • +2

        Without going into the why, from what I can see, they're talking about "credit hours" for the total unit or some similar design.
        "What Are Credit Hours in College? One credit hour is equal to 15 to 16 hours of instruction. Your credit hours are calculated over the full semester, which is generally 16 weeks."
        That would mean you could be looking at around 150 hours minimum, which would be in line with Australian universities.

  • Spring 2023 - The deadline for the program and term you have selected has passed. Please make another selection.

  • +3

    Be nice to do but working full time plus kids means difficulty making the time. Plus but being in person would make it harder to dedicate the time to it (similar to home yoga or gym workouts vs classes or gym).

    • +42

      Not being a clown here, Skunk, but I was of the same mindset. I'm a "that'll do" - cruise through life" kinda guy, BUT picked up 2 units per semester and pushed through to the end. I have a full-on full-time job, I have kids and if you REALLY wanted to do it, you would (if you could afford it). I was being lazy too and just decided not to be. It sucked. It was hard. I was tired, but I did it (with a little support from the Mrs obviously).
      TL;DR - you can do it. Be proud when you finish.
      Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

      • +3

        Plenty of jobs have post grad work as a norm too, I'm an accountant, doing my chartered accountancy sucked at the time but had massive benefits. It built a level of work ethic and quality of work (he says, as he's on ozbargain at 10:45am on a Thursday) that I would have never had otherwise that became the basis of my career.

        To this day I still study stuff, it's part of my life. I'd be way behind in my career if I didn't. IT will wind up going that way too eventually, particularly as the easy bits get easier (I use chatgtp to write code for me on a daily basis now lol) and the harder bits get way, way harder.

        • What programming language are slipping into the accountancy field these days?

          • +3

            @ilovefullprice: Macros

            I guess I'm a business analyst who identifies as an accountant. So I use a lot of python for data analytics and connecting to APIs, SQL for just querying datasets and writing stuff in PowerBI/Tableau for presentations.

            I studied comp sci in uni as a dual degree, but besides the one class in databases I took I use exactly none of it (and remember none of it too, finished over 15 years ago).

            • @freefall101: Wow still macros really? I guess it takes time for non-IT fields to catch up with more modern newer languages.

              • @ilovefullprice: It was a joke, although my job description at a multinational not too long ago included managing macros.

                I wound up replacing it with get and transform because apparently it had to be in excel. Damn accountants.

      • Exactly, it’s about the passion and that you really wanted to do it.

    • No excuses. You can do this if you are organised and prioritise your time

    • +5

      I'm a grad of this program (2017).

      I did this while working full time and while I had two young kids. Some courses are a lot of work (over 30 hours of study per week) but it is doable if you are determined. I can honestly recommend it.

      • +4

        What were your job prospects like post? Did you find it useful?

    • +10

      All of these commenters saying "You Can Do It! You're just Lazy!" don't have any insight into your psyche and current mental capacity for more work. Don't feel bad about yourself if your capacity is different to someone else's.

      • -2

        By capacity you mean IQ or???

        • +2

          By capacity I mean the workload you can take on without shifting too much on the 'ol Maslach Burnout Inventory scale.

        • bandwidth

      • +1

        Thanks Tunblor. What you say is 100% correct, but I also appreciate their encouragement.

        Anawth’s story is good to hear, I could do it but I would have to think about dropping that kind of money on further education that may or may not mean much. I’m an electronics engineer and currently the market is tight, so a masters is probably quite unlikely to make much difference to me getting another job; it seems if you have warm blood and are willing, you’re good to go.

  • +10

    I thought a masters degree was just an expensive way of rubbing shoulders with industry experts and making connections. Hard to do those online

    • +6

      A masters degree is an expensive way of doing what most students in Australia used to do as undergraduate degrees, before universities caught a whiff of opportunities to score more full fee income by offering only generic undergraduate degrees and moving most professional pathways to the postgraduate level, which has more or less always been the American model.

    • I'm a 2017 grad.

      There's still a slack and discord but both are pretty big (>10k people in them). I've met a lot of people in industry through it.

      • "Preferred qualifications for admitted OMSCS students are an undergraduate degree in computer science or related field (typically mathematics, computer engineering or electrical engineering) with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher. Applicants who do not meet these criteria will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis."

        So if I dont have any undergraduate degree in computer science can I apply for this course? Also, do I need to take the IELTS test?

        Thanks in advance.

  • +4

    Has anyone done this before? There is a section that talks about 'Before taking the class', assuming they won't be teaching these since it's a master? (i.e. best to do a Bachelor course first?)

    Before Taking This Class…
    Suggested Background Knowledge
    This class is appropriate for students with previous background in networking. Some familiarity with both network programming, scripting languages (e.g., Python), and using virtual machines will be helpful.

    If you can confidently answer “yes” to these questions, you should be fine:

    Can you explain the main distinction between TCP and UDP?
    Can you comfortably complete the Python tutorial and write basic programs in Python?
    Do you understand the three way handshake of TCP?
    Can you get files off of a virtual machine without a mapped directory?

    • Can you get files off of a virtual machine without a mapped directory?

      What is the answer they are looking for here? Mount the VMDK file on the host and manually extract the files? Or something simpler like put the files in your dropbox inside the VM, and sync them to your destination?

      • Probably just checking that one understands the concepts of a Virtual Machine. Simplest and easiest way, to my mind, is just to email the files to yourself or use a cloud storage solution like Dropbox or Google Drive.

        • +1

          In vmware I just enable drag and drop in guest isolation. Or if I'm in an rdp session to my vm, copy and paste.

    • +2

      About one and a half years ago, there were free I.T. and Cybersecurity courses from Melbourne's MIT:
      https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/623837

      I did the Graduate Certificate in Cyber Security and thanks to subsidies from the previous Federal Government, it was free! TCP & UDP, TCP handshakes, Python and Virtual Machines etc are topics that we covered in that course. In my class, we had a mixture of people from different backgrounds, and students with non-I.T. backgrounds really struggled. Even I, with a Bachelor of I.T. (from 20 years ago) and industry experience, had to put in quite a bit of effort into the course.

      I'd imagine that a Masters course (from a reputable Uni) to be even harder than the Graduate Certificate course that I took. So, I'd recommend that one must have some recent I.T. background (education or practical experience) before taking this Masters course.

    • +2

      "Can you get files off of a virtual machine without a mapped directory?"

      Maybe they're asking for creative solutions. Mine: Set up an FTP server in the VM.

      • +1

        open existing file in hex editor. create new blank file on host and open in another hex editor on host. Start typing.

    • I can do the python stuff.. I have no idea what these rest is 😐

  • +1

    "Preferred qualifications for admitted OMSCS students are an undergraduate degree in computer science or related field (typically mathematics, computer engineering or electrical engineering) with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher. Applicants who do not meet these criteria will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis."

    Is 3.0 good? Didn't have GPA back in my day. Ah, Distinction.

    • Their GPA is based on 4, so GPA of 3.0 means you have to achieve B grade or at least 80% in average.

  • +2

    "I'm a Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech, and a hell of an engineer—
    A helluva, helluva, helluva, helluva, hell of an engineer.
    Like all the jolly good fellows, I drink my whiskey clear.
    I'm a Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech and a hell of an engineer.

    Oh! If I had a daughter, sir, I'd dress her in White and Gold,
    And put her on the campus to cheer the brave and bold.
    But if I had a son, sir, I'll tell you what he'd do—
    He would yell, 'To hell with Georgia!' like his daddy used to do.

    Oh, I wish I had a barrel of rum and sugar three thousand pounds,
    A college bell to put it in and a clapper to stir it round.
    I'd drink to all the good fellows who come from far and near.
    I'm a ramblin', gamblin', hell of an engineer!"

  • Sorry if these questions are answered elsewhere but I'm trying to figure a few things out.

    How do you figure out the cost for the other programmes? Example: the electrical and computer engineering says its 3 credit hours and each credit hour costs $1,100. Does it means 3 per semester, so 12 total =13,200 total? The landing page is also slightly different to the cs one for what its worth.

    How does recognition for the engineering masters programmes work in Australia? Additional competency tests required here? It seems weird to me you could do a masters in electrical and computer engineering with just any bachelors degree.

    • +1

      For Master of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering, you will have to complete 10 courses, each course 3 credit hours, and each credit hour US$1,100. So the final tuition will be: 10 * 3 * US$1,100 = US$33,000. You also need to take account of the US$107 register fee with are charged per semester. Compare to an Australia university, it's probably not worth it.

      How does recognition for the engineering masters programmes work in Australia?

      Depends if you are accredited by organization having Mutual recognition agreements with Engineers Australia, or passing competency assessment.

      • Wow, thats a lot more expensive than I thought. Thanks for the clarification.

  • +15

    For anyone from a non-IT/programming/analytics background thinking about enrolling into this, please do yourself a favour and make sure you have a chat with local University course advisors first before wasting $8.4K down the drain.

    Evidently this course has no required pre-requisites (just desired/preferred background in comp sci), thus making it very dangerous for people to take the leap of faith into this without fully understanding what they’re getting themselves into.

    “AI”, “Data”, “Analytics” have all entered mainstream media as buzzwords over the past few years and in my experience people suddenly think they can get into it with ease. You may very well end up doing well with a lot of hard work, but I know of so many people who have tried a career change just cause they saw the buzz words and end up dropping out after a semester after seeing how difficult it is.

    If you’re feeling the itch in making a career change into programming related field or computer science, may I suggest that you instead look at taking up a FEE-free TAFE diploma in this field instead?

    • +1

      I have done a few free Tafe in software engineering from VU which is mainly coding languages and i did ok but really well in databases. I am from a health allied background undergrad with a gpa of 2.6. Who I be alright to do this? I chat with course advisors ey. What could best guide me to? I want to do this to further pursue my curiousity into tech.

  • +6

    Why are people in the US going into hundreds of thousands into debt for tertiary education if a master's degree is 6k usd?

    • +1

      The cost of doing a bachelor degree in the US can range (in $USD) from $5k to $50k per year depending on where it is, and most are 4 years. The most expensive ones can cost over $70k per annum, and on top of that you need to also have to allow for books, food, board, clothing, transport etc. This is a masters so - if doing full time - could potentially be done in one year or so, so it slots down into the cheapest range no doubt due to being online only. The median salary for a person working in the US is $34k so that's why US parents talk about college funds, why people go into debt, and why scholarships are so important. It is why there were so many articles recently about TJ High who did not let students know they had been awarded National Merit awards (only 1 in 50,000 students get them so it can be a big help to support scholarship applications) because they wanted to "recognize students for who they are as individuals, not focus on their achievements”

      • So people could choose to go to a state school and pay much less but many choose to go to a more expensive school instead? A bunch of CSP undergraduate courses are more expensive than that. If their degree programs start at 5k per year for 4 years that's honestly not that bad

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