Best Program - CSU In-Person vs GT Online vs Harvard Ext?

datasci
Sun, 17 Jul 2016 06:55:34 +0000

Nobody’s bit yet, but there have been plenty of views, so I’ll take a stab myself, after having read a lot of what’s available online regarding these programs. I’ll just go ahead and rate the schools myself on the factors of staff interaction, challenge of material, and degree perception, based on my own subjective interpretation of many comments and some experience of my own.

Staff Interaction

CSU: B
GT Online: B-
Harvard Extension: B+ (obviously an A if you go on campus)

From what I can tell, there are complaints within the GT Online program regarding individual attention. This is understandable, since its heritage is the MOOC model. They use the tools of Piazza and various other communications methods, which have the downsides of very high volume, low signal to noise, limited TA interaction (sometimes getting student “answers” that may or may not be correct), and even more limited professor interaction. The classes at Harvard appear to be relatively limited in enrollment. Despite that, because there are fewer people in the Harvard program, I’ve noted that not a single Fall class filled within the registration period for matriculated students with HES. If someone can get into the degree program, it looks like they should have some of the best engagement with staff that can be had for non-traditional education.

The CSU schools would give me direct access to professors, but unfortunately in my view the staff would not be of the same caliber as the Harvard Extension School staff (certainly more uneven), meaning the benefit might be capped a bit.

Challenge of Material

CSU: B
GT Online: A-
Harvard Extension: A+

The challenge that the school can offer is somewhat related to the overall quality and motivation of the student body. While these are some of the better CSU schools, they still don’t attract the same kind of highly-driven students in the same numbers (I’m sorry, I go here, multiple kids play video games in class). GT Online programs should be very challenging, given that the curriculum is modeled directly after Georgia Tech’s offline curriculum and given that assignments are graded blind, at least in some cases, between online and traditional students. However, the Harvard Extension School seems to pride itself on putting its students through the paces, making sure that the degree earned is going to students who will represent the Harvard University name well, since the ability to enroll is open (sometimes called “inverted admission” as picked up now by a Master’s program at MIT). Even if people might want to poke fun at you for going to the “backdoor” school at Harvard (and there are less of these people than the Internet would make it seem like), they’ll still know that you worked hard to achieve what you did.

Personally, I thrive on a good challenge. Technically I should be able to handle it. I once tutored a student who was going to Harvard (not sure if Extension or not but that was the e-mail address on the syllabus for the professor), and I was able to help them submit an A- paper in a Statistics class even without knowing the exact requirements of the professor since I wasn’t in the class. (Ironically, they were mad that they didn’t get an A after my three hours of help.)

Degree Perception

CSUF: B
Cal Poly Pomona: B+
GT Online: A-
Harvard Extension: A-

This may be the least important factor, especially in technology where people are more interested in what you know than where you learned it. Nevertheless, it helps in getting past HR. The only reason that Harvard Extension School doesn’t get an A is because of the multiple details put into the name of the degree that make it something that will frequently have to be explained to people. On the other hand, an explanation should usually lead to a positive discussion of the merits of the program. In a sense, this feels more honest than trying to blend into the traditional GT alumni, especially since it’s less credible that I would attend the physical program given my roots in California. I would probably want to be clear that it’s a degree earned with online courses either way, but I feel that only the most fuddy duddy employers that I wouldn’t want to associate with would look down on an online degree from either school. On the other hand, the GT Online degree does have the benefit of completely avoiding any HR or legal issues, given that it has the words “Master’s of Science in Computer Science” which might be meaningful to someone somewhere (as opposed to the confusing language on the Harvard University degree from HES), so that is a plus for GT. (Obviously none of these programs are the equivalent of going to Cal or Stanford or MIT or something.)

With these considerations, I think that Harvard Extension School has a slightly better program for me, since I think there’s more to an online course than just the paper obtained from it. I really crave to be challenged and to work alongside some highly-driven individuals. I’d also like to be able to attend classes with inspiring faculty. I think that GT Online is also an excellent program, but actually I might have a harder time getting into it because of my particular academic history.

Currently I am thinking of just going for HES with the intention of doing all the hard work that will make me a better software engineer. If that does pan out for whatever reason, my safety plan is to obtain a job in tech on the BA and apply after getting some work experience, applying with that to help provide a counterweight to the GPA issue.

Sorry if that was overlong – if it was interesting to you, great!

tl;dr Georgia Tech and Harvard Extension School both have great programs, and I’m leaning towards HES.