<p>so i was looking into possible masters programs and ran across the online masters program for computer science at de paul university. is there any downside to getting an degree that way? is the degree different than normal MS in CS? would it hinder in the job market because it is online? is there any other universities that offer online programs?</p>
<p>also since i have my bachelors degree in civil engineering and only took the intro c++ course, i would need to take some core undergrad cs classes, do i take those after getting into the masters program? if not do i take them through local universities' extension program? would they let non-student people take those courses?</p>
<p>thanks for the help in advance guys!</p>
<p>The following schools offer online M.S. in Computer Science. I would consider these schools having a bigger “brand” name than Depaul.</p>
<p>Univ Illinois-Urbana-Champaign
Stanford
Colorado State Univ
University of Colorado at Boulder
North Carlina State
Univ of Minnesota
Columbia University
USC (Univ of Southern Cal)
John Hopkins
Georgia Tech</p>
<p>The following schools also offer an online M.S. in Computer Science and are branch campuses of “brand” name schools:</p>
<p>Univ Illinois-Springfield
Univ of Michigan-Flint
Penn State-Great Valley</p>
<p>Having said that, unless you plan on doing research, I don’t know about doing a M.S. in Computer Science since one usually goes to grad school to specialize and there is no computer science emphasis area that will take up 10 courses…5 is the most. Personally, I would take a CS specialization (4-5 courses) and wrap that up within a M.S. in Systems Engineering or M.S. in Engineering Management so will also learn the management skills for higher positions. There are PLENTY of big-name schools with those majors.</p>
<p>Oh, one more school. UCLA has a very-highly ranked CS department but offers only a flexible online “M.S. in Engineering” but allows several CS specializations.</p>
<p>is there a downside to online masters? such that it would be a significant difference for getting a job, would human resources look down on online degrees vs normal degrees?</p>
<p>Only if research is part of the job requirements because online M.S. degrees are non-thesis.</p>
<p>ok thanks, I am not really looking into research anyway. do you know if the application process for online is as competitive as normal masters?</p>
<p>At every school I’ve seen, the application process is identical for online and campus-based.</p>