I got admitted to Georgia Tech’s OMSCS program 😃 Yay. I will be starting this Jan 2021 from Spring 2021.
Why an MS now?
When I started my career, I had a lot of half baked knowledge when it came to CS and programming. Gradually I was able to improve over time, but I felt (still feel) that I lack the proper grounding when it came to foundational knowledge. I lacked knowledge on databases, algorithms and data structures, networking, understanding programs/computers at a low level and also the theory behind CS. This made me to decide pursuing a higher education in CS.
Why GaTech?
My options included writing GATE (National level entrance exam for masters education in India), go for a full time MS, search for part time programs. Given that I wanted to continue working to support my family, full time programs were out of the option. I didn’t want to go for GATE because it meant that I had to prepare for 10 subjects on my own and go through the stress of the exam and the ranking, it would be JEE all over again. I just didn’t want that. Additionally, if I did succeed on the first attempt, then that would mean I would be losing 2 years of full time income, on top of prepping for interviews at the end of 2 years. MS was just too expensive for me to try out and USA’s scenario wasn’t exactly encouraging for me. Thus I started looking for part-time programs. Geogia Tech’s OMSCS stood out very much. And this was a top ten MS program in USA, which was just $7000. I knew that I could manage the costs if it is spread over 2-3 years. I gave my TOEFL exam and asked for recommendation letters from a manager and previous professors. Thankfully, I was accepted into the program without much hassle. It was really encouraging to know that I was admitted and that I had a chance to learn CS properly in a structured environment.
Courses I am interested in
I looked at OMS Central and found the following courses to be interesting. I chose them in the rough order of Rating, Difficulty, Workload. I am interested in taking the Computing Systems Specialization rather than the others since my interests lie more towards CS/machines than with ML.
| Course Link | Course | Difficulty (1-5) | Workload (hrs/week) | Rating (1-5) | Choice |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CS 6200 | Graduate Intro to Operating Systems | 3.65 | 17.68 | 4.43 | Yes |
| CS 6210 | Advanced Operating Systems | 4.15 | 16.41 | 4.17 | Yes |
| CS 6290 | High Performance Computer Architecture | 3.71 | 14.39 | 3.86 | Yes |
| CS 6220 | Intro to High Performance Computing | 4.47 | 19.23 | 4.48 | Yes |
| CS 6515 | Graduate Algorithms | 4.28 | 19.9 | 3.9 | Yes |
| CS 8803 O08 | Compilers - Theory and Practice | 4.88 | 29.38 | 4 | Yes |
| CS 7210 | Distributed Computing | Mostly yes | |||
| CS 6340 | Software analysis and testing | 3.3 | 12.96 | 3.3 | Mostly yes |
| CS 6601 | Artificial Intelligence | 4.2 | 22.53 | 4.24 | Maybe yes |
| CS 6291 | Embedded Systems Optimization | 3.59 | 15.81 | 3.53 | Maybe yes |
| CSE 6250 | Big data for health | 4.47 | 29.98 | 3.89 | Maybe yes |
| CS 6260 | Applied Cryptography | 3.61 | 13.7 | 3.7 | Maybe yes |
| CS 6460 | Educational Technology | 2.88 | 14.35 | 3.98 | Maybe |
| CS 6265 | Information Security Lab | 4 | 17.5 | 3.25 | Maybe |
| CS 6262 | Network Security | 3.07 | 12.85 | 3.06 | Maybe no |
| CS 6242 | Data & Visual Analytics | 3.15 | 14.67 | 3.11 | Maybe no |
| CS 6250 | Computer Networks | 2.44 | 8.21 | 3.54 | No |
Source1
Out of the above, I still have to choose 4 more courses depending on availability and interest. Other than that I hope to have a broad exposure to CS either through OMSCS or through self study.
This google sheets link gives the availability of each course per semester. I think I will be taking GIOS/HPCA in the first term. This link gives the grade distribution for each class in OMSCS.
Here is a useful reddit thread on how to register properly for courses.
Looking forward to a happier year in 2021 compared to the lousy 2020.