I know this has been discussed before but I was hoping to get more discussion on it. The UPenn MCIT. At roughly $27,000 for tuition and fees, it is a very appealing computer science type degree. How is this degree perceived when compared to a traditional MS in Computer Science? It states that graduates have received jobs from Amazon, Google, Facebook, etc. From my research, it seems the degree is offered on Coursera’s platform and is 100% asynchronous, which means there is zero live sessions. All courses have 8-10 minute recordings with assessments, assignments and/or exams. Exams are proctored via ProctorU. How does one go about networking? Without synchronous sessions with classmates and the professor, it would seem any possibility of networking is pretty well limited. Anywho, feel free to discuss, or not, whatever you choose. https://onlinelearning.seas.upenn.edu/mcit/
I've looked into it. Most of people in this program are already employed by Fortune 500 companies. They hold Bachelor's from top universities. Try to search 'University of Pennsylvania Master in Computer and Information Technology Linkedin' or 'Penn Engineering Master Computer and Information Technology Linkedin' on google. Check their Linkedin profiles and see what they are doing. https://www.google.com/search?q=Penn+Engineering+Master+Computer+and+Information+Technology+linkedin&oq=Penn+Engineering+Master+Computer+and+Information+Technology+linkedin&aqs=chrome..69i57.600j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
I saw a recent admit was a teacher in high school wanting to pivot. I’m not sure how I feel about MOOCs but I’ve never done them so...
That one is on my radar and hope to get into it eventually. I need to get some more courses in computer science or basic programming. They recommend Programming for Everyone on coursera but right now, I don’t have the money for it. The cost is not prohibitive but I don’t want to take out loans or have the Army pay for it while on active duty so I don’t incur any more service time. UT Austin has one for $10k on EdX but it also requires some programming knowledge.
Also, not all of them have undergrad degrees from top universities and work for Fortune 500s. There certainly are a lot though.
The UPenn MCIT is for those who have no computer science background. You do not have to have experience with programming, etc.
I know. I attended one of their admission webinars and they recommended that for bolstering the admission packet. It’s geared for those without a B.S in CS apparently.
Nice! It seems like an interesting program. From what I have garnered, the 6 core courses are similar to undergraduate level computer science courses and then you can dive in deeper in an area with the 4 electives.
https://blog.coursera.org/from-level-0-to-working-at-google-how-penn-grad-theresa-breiner-started-a-software-development-career/
She is really awesome. I connected with her on LinkedIn several months ago. I have seen people who have got degrees from less well-known universities. Heck, look at me. I got my BS and MBA from unknown universities and I’ll be pursuing my MS at Duke University. A friend of mine did her BS at the same undergrad as me and she is a 4th year med student at Dartmouth. The school one attends for undergrad is only one part of the puzzle.
I doubt there'd be much of a difference between this and any other online university course. MOOC providers have largely pivoted to being as much of an OPM as what they were before.
