index – OMSCS

Georgia Tech OMSCS FAQ

Welcome!

This is the (in progress) Georgia Tech OMSCS FAQ. Over time, more will be added here as new common answers appear.

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Section 1: Course Information

1. How difficult is course X? How many hours should I expect to put in?

There is a fantastic unofficial course review resource used exclusively for the online courses in the OMSCS program found here:

Unofficial Course Reviews

2. What should I take as a first course? What should I know for these courses?

There are a lot of good threads on this. In addition to the course reviews, take a look at these threads. Remember that students who have not completed their foundational requirements may only take foundational courses.

Good First Classes to Take For First Semester

Classes Not to Take Together and That Are Tough To Get Into

Course Pre-Req Advice

3. Foundational courses? What are those? Is course X a foundational course?

Take a look at the course list on the OMSCS website. Courses with an asterisk are considered “foundational”.

Current Courses

4. What is this “foundational course requirement”?

All new students must pass TWO foundational courses (see #4) with a B grade or better in the first year of the program. Additionally, you can only take foundational courses until this requirement is met. This means one Fall, one Spring, and one Summer session. Example: Starting in Spring 2017 would mean you have Spring 2017, Summer 2017, and Fall 2017 to complete this requirement.

5. I have my course plan all figured out! I have a big spreadsheet ready to go!

Good job preparing! However, not all courses are offered every summer, and sometimes registration can be sketchy. Make sure you’re flexible in when you take certain courses.

6. How many courses may I take?

You may only take 2 courses/semester until you meet your foundational requirement. Then, you can take up to 3 courses/semester. The summer session only allows for one course. Any exception to these must be approved, and doing so is not a trivial process.

7. Not all are offered in the summer? Which ones are offered? Can I take course X in the summer?

There’s no guarantee about a summer schedule before it comes out, but the courses listed in the summer session on the Current Courses page is usually pretty accurate.

8. Where can I see the syllabus/reading/pre-reqs for Course X before I sign up?

There are a couple places for this.

First, check the course’s specific page on the Current Courses section of the website. Many list syllabi, pre-reqs, etc.

Second, go to Udacity and see if the course is offered for free there. If so, you can register using a Google or Facebook account to view a lot of the lecture material for free before the course begins to see if it is for you or even to get a slight jump.

Third, here’s a fantastic Pre-Req Spreadsheet linked to on the Google Plus community.

Finally, there are some unofficial wikis for several courses on Udacity. Here are the links for them:

6210 – Advanced OS

6220 – High Performance Computing

6250 – Computer Networks

6290 – High Performance Computer Architecture

6300 – Software Development Process

6310 – Software Architecture and Design

6440 – Intro to Health Informatics

6505 – Computability, Complexity, and Algorithms

7367 – Knowledge Based AI

7641 – Machine Learning

8803 – Intro to OS

8803 – Robotics

9. When are courses offered? How long are they?

Courses are offered in the Fall, Spring, and Summer terms. In the Fall and Spring, the term lasts 15 weeks. In the Summer, they can be anywhere from 10-13 weeks.

10. How many courses are required to graduate?

30 hours must be completed to graduate. 15-18 hours will come from your specialization field, and the rest should be filled in using elective courses (anything offered by the program).

Section 2: Specializations

1. Can I select multiple specializations?

In a sense, no. You can only have one specialization for graduation purposes. However, you’re more than welcome to take all the courses and “complete” another specialization. It just won’t count as a second specialization. In the end, no specializations are listed on your diploma.

2. Help! Machine Learning doesn’t have enough electives for the specialization!”

There are lots of courses being added over time that will likely go into that category. It has been confirmed that CSE-8803 Big Data for Health Informatics and CS-8803-O03 Special Topics: Reinforcement Learning will be added to the list as possibilities. If you’re still nervous, check with the advisors to see if there are any others that will substitute for the third elective course.

3. My specialization courses don’t add up to 30 hours, but isn’t that the program requirement?

Yes, it is. The Interactive Intelligence, Robotics, and Machine Learning specializations all require 15 hours, and Computing Systems requires 18. The remaining hours to meet the 30 hours requirement can be from any other courses in the program. Remember, 6 hours must foundational, whether in the specialization or not.

4. Can you tell me what courses are in specialization X?

You can view all four specializations and their requirements on the OMSCS website below.

Specialization Areas

Section 3: Registration

1. How does registration work for new students?

You will be issued a time ticket usually about ten days before classes start that tells you when to log in and register. There will be an email usually a few days before time tickets are assigned that explains the process in excruciating detail. To see when time tickets will be issued, check out the Academic Calendar.

2. Will I be able to get into Course X?

The default answer is maybe. Most of the popular courses will have a long waitlist by the time new students are able to register. Have a few backups (2-4) ready just in case the course(s) you want have huge waitlists. You can add yourself to the waitlist for a course if you’re determined to take it, however.

3. I’m on a waitlist, but I’m number ### on it! I’m not going to get into any courses!

First, relax. You will get into at least one course, so don’t worry about that. Second, the waitlists are used to gauge how many TAs are necessary for a particular section before they allocate the seats. So, if all 200-300 seats in a popular course are taken, do not worry about being on the waitlist. Many times, they will open up a lot more seats for the most popular courses to clear out a bunch of the waitlist. This may not happen until the first week of classes, but many professors take things slow the first week in anticipation of their course rosters fluctuating.

Also, your waitlist position will likely go down (closer to 1) as time goes by. Many students register for courses and then change their mind after the first couple days, or they simply overloaded on courses (chose more than the allowed number) and will drop some as the first day of classes approaches.

Section 4: Admissions

1. Will I get admitted?

We certainly can give you some feedback on this topic. However, we are not the admissions committee. We do not know exactly how decisions are made, so no one is liable here for your admissions status in the end.

2. Why was I rejected?

We can not answer that for you here. We can, however, give you advice for the future.

3. When are admissions decisions made?

This can vary based on a lot of factors. Some people get approved or rejected in a couple weeks. Others don’t find out for a couple months.

4. When applying, do my transcripts have to be official?

No, they can be unofficial. However, if you are admitted, you will be required to send an official transcript.

5. Can someone read my Personal Statement/Resume/Etc.?

Sure, just remember that no one here has the magic answer to getting admitted. We can do our best to give some feedback, though.

6. Can I delay my admission to the following term if I’ve already been accepted?

Once admitted for a semester, you can postpone your enrollment by a semester by simply taking zero courses. If you have not taken any courses after two semesters (Fall and Spring), then you will be removed from the program and required to apply for admissions again.

Section 5: Other Logistics (Repeating, Taking a Break, etc.)

1. Can I repeat a course? Will it still count?

You can repeat a course as many times as you would like. However, all attempts will count towards your GPA and only the last attempt will count towards the degree.

2. What if I want to take a semester off for some reason?

You simply don’t register for any courses in that semester. However, any TWO consecutive semesters without courses will remove you from the program. Example: You took a course in the Fall and want a break in the Spring. If you don’t sign up for a course in the Summer, you will be dropped.

Section 6: Course Resources and Extra Help

1. CS 6505: Computability, Complexity, and Algorithms

Advanced Algorithms and Complexity – Coursera (UCSD) – a similar course to CCA with helpful videos on similar topics