<p>There was a very similar thread to this one posted over a year ago, but I thought I would bring it back up because my situation is slightly different.</p>
<p>I was recently accepted into John's Hopkins part-time master's engineering program in Information Systems Engineering. At first I was very excited given that JHU is pretty prestigious school. However, I found out that admission into these 'part-time' programs is nearly automatic if you have at least a 3.0 ugrad GPA, and have completed a few prerequisite courses. This is exactly what the JHU admissions staff told me. They don't even require GRE or recommendations.</p>
<p>First off, does anyone have any insight into these programs? Are they legit? </p>
<p>Secondly, do employers even care about the admission process or how hard it is to get into a certain grad school? Or will they see the fact that I earned a M.S. from JHU as being impressive?</p>
<p>Thanks, I'm probably just looking into this too much but I dont want to waste my time and money just to find out that I completed a bs program.</p>
<p>Just some FYI: I highly doubt I'll ever want to pursue a PhD and am primarily concerned with how employers will view this. I earned my B.S. in CS from a not so prestigious, but decent school and had a 3.4 GPA. I was also accepted to U of Michigan, but was leaning toward JHU just bc of it's name recognition and the program was more flexible. </p>
<p>I am graduating from Hopkins part-time EE program this spring. I would not recommend coming to the area just for the program.</p>
<p>The program is meant for local professionals who want to get their masters while working. If you are in the area, Hopkins is the best place to go for EE and many other fields, but that is not necessarily saying a whole lot.</p>
<p>The classes are not taught by the regular faculty. Rather, the instructors are drawn from local industry and from resources like JHU’s Applied Physics Lab. They are all well-experienced and knowledgable, and several are genuine authorities in their fields, but they are not always the best teachers. The courses are all once/week evening classes - the worst possible format in my opinion.</p>
<p>There is little coherence to the program. No thesis, no paper, just finish 10 courses and collect your diploma. You do not even need to have a consistent focus to your courses. So basically, don’t expect to actually learn a whole lot in comparison to the time and money you will spend.</p>
<p>As far as rep goes, it is still a Hopkins degree, and coupled with work experience you are increasing your knowledge. Most employers will not care about the admissions difficulty, and will credit it like a full-time masters, provided they are not interested in your thesis - in my experience employers and application committees automatically discount non-thesis masters degrees. Those in the greater Baltimore/DC area will discount it a little further as they will doubtless be familiar with the program.</p>
<p>By the way, I know of nobody who pays their own way through these programs. Local employers fund these programs. If you are dead set on doing this, get a job with a local employer and let them pay for it. Don’t blow $30,000 of your own money on this.</p>
<p>Thanks for the excellent reply. I was hoping to hear from someone with first-hand experience. So I take it that the majority of your dislike is from the lack of thesis and course formats? The EP program I’m considering does offer a capstone project, which could be useful.</p>
<p>I’m curious about your case since Hopkins offers EE in both part-time and full-time formats, how would employers know the difference? </p>
<p>I have a couple other specific questions for you:</p>
<p>How would you rate the facilities? Do EP students have limitations on what they can use in comparison with full-time students? </p>
<p>Why do you say ‘greater Baltimore/DC’ employers will discount the degree? How do they view it?</p>
<p>Are the courses at all engaging or offer an opportunity for research or are they filled with busy-work? I’m wondering why you say ‘dont expect to learn a whole lot…’?</p>
<p>I was originally attracted to the program for its location, its abundance of course offerings, and the JHU name recognition. I’m not originally from the area but am looking to move as the job market in MI is about the worst in the country. </p>
<p>I have some military education benefits I can use that would cover about 50% of the costs, and I do plan on looking for a job in the area if I do decide to enroll.</p>
<p>JHU awards different degrees - the full-timers get a Masters of Science in Engineering, the part-timers get the Masters of Science. Small difference that most will not catch.</p>
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<p>With rare exceptions, the part-time students use a completely different set of facilities scattered through the area. Lab facilities are substantially less, it is mostly classroom courses. I believe you can request and enroll for regular classes at the main campus, in which case you would use their facilities, but I am not sure what limitations apply - almost none of the part-timers do it because the location and hours are inconvenient.</p>
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<p>Because most of the major employers in the area are familiar with the part-time program and will know what the degree means.</p>
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<p>They can be engaging, and as I said the instructors are knowledgable, but the format (1 3-hour class per week) and the lack of real labwork works against you. Plus the knowledgable instructors are not always that good at translating their knowledge into a teaching method. I would not call anything “busy-work” - if anything, they take it too easy on people because they know everyone has a full-time job.</p>
<p>If you are going to enroll at this program, I would try and find a full-time employer with tuition assistance. It will slow you down, but it will save you a ton of money in the long run and is fine if you are not going for the PhD. Bear in mind that there are lots of job opportunities in engineering around here, but cost of living is really high!</p>
<p>Thank you, I appreciate your input. I think I’m most likely going to move down that way anyways because of the good job prospects, and like you said JHU is probably the best for Engineering in the area. I understand your point about the fact that it’s a terminal degree, but I’m not looking to go onto research or teaching. </p>
<p>I guess it really comes down to: full-time at Michigan while not getting work experience or part-time at JHU while working and potentially getting tuition assistance. It seems to me that potential employers would see the latter as more of an achievement. By the way, the costs of the programs are about the same, even though I would get in-state tuition at Michigan!</p>
<p>Is there really any question about attending Hopkins? There have been numerous nobel prize winners that have attended JHU and the faculty are top pioneers in their fields. Why do think the NSF gives so much money to Hopkins? It’s not just about being brilliant, though. You have to want to make a difference- this is where the essay and letters of recommendation come in. Hopkins wants students that are smart and proactive. If you are looking for an easy A or a name on a diploma then don’t bother. If you want to be surrounded with like-minded people that are working together to make a change in the world this is the place to be. Part-time, full time, undergrad or grad…it does not make a difference. The AAP part-time program is a graduate program nonetheless and the admissions process is still very rigorous.</p>
<p>haha. regarding the “if u want an easy A, don’t bother” comment: that’s exactly what JHU part time programs are – easy A’s. JHU is just a name. i’m just glad my employer paid for my joke of a diploma.</p>
<p>can anyone comment on the MS Systems Engineering Program through EP?</p>
<p>I would like to get thoughts about this program from the people who have had past experiences. Hopkins MS Systems Engineering is through the EP program. I have heard different views from various people. Did talk to the program head of the department, according to him though the admissions criteria is little relaxed the classes itself are challenging. The program does have the thesis option for interested student. Head of the department did mention that you get a MS Systems Engineering diploma through Whiting school of engineering.</p>
<p>I work full-time and would like to get the degree in MS Systems Eng. as it would help me at my current job. My company is willing to pay about 50% for this program. The total cost is approximately 35k (considering ever increasing tuition of colleges every year).</p>
<p>Can anyone comment on the program or engineering through EP at hopkins? Is it worth the time and money? Will it help me in future?</p>
<p>I’m just finishing up the MS in Systems Engineering through the EP program. If you’re a systems engineer for a profession or are trying to grow into in the program gives you a solid education to directly use in your job. I’ve actually found the networking through the program, either in person or online, is great. I’ve now got more contacts than I could’ve imagined and all the professors have good personal experiences to share and teach from. The majority of the classes are simulation based…i.e. you’re given a real world problem/program to create, manage, and evolve into a finalized product, architecture, test program, or design. Throughout any one of the simulation there are curveballs they occasionally through and there’s a lot of case study reading from the GAO and industry texts.</p>
<p>You’ve got to keep in mind, except for modeling and simulation, the SE field is more of an abstract field than your design engineering disciplines like ME, EE, CE, etc… </p>
<p>I’ve been in the field for 10 years and this is my second MS degree. Professional it’s raised my game alot though. When I started the program I was a lower tier level 3 (Sr. SE) engineer by my company. By the time I graduate this fall I’ll be a mid level 5 engineer (Principle SE). I’d attribute about 1/3 of that quick jump to the JHU program and then applying the principles there correctly.</p>
<p>Thank you bmike3333, for your comment. So, overall would you recommend this program to anyone who is in the SE field? How are the classes structured? Are they challenging enough? Any comments about the instructor, are they pretty knowledgeable in their area?</p>
<p>On the JHU EP programs, how easy/difficult is it to make alterations to the curriculum? For instance, if I wanted to do a Systems Engineering masters but wanted to take CS courses as electives rather than SE courses, will academic advisers generally permit those changes? </p>
<p>How are the career prospects for SE? The problem I have with Systems Engineering, generally, is that it is a relatively new engineering field and there are not many companies, outside of defense contractors, explicitly looking for systems engineers. It would certainly make sense for companies to use systems engineers for project/program managers instead of anyone who was able to sit through the PMP exam, but PM is not a well formulated field at this point either. </p>
<p>I am considering MS in Computer Science through Whiting’s EP division. So do you get the same diploma as the daytime MSE student, issued by Johns Hopkins-Whiting? </p>
<p>yes, I udnerstand the degree designation is different (no problem from me since this is a different program/different course), but i am just wondering if the diploma is conferred by Johns Hopkins and you are considered as a JHU alumnus just like those who graduated from day-time MSE program? </p>
<p>I am considering UIUC MCS program and JHU MSCS program, both online. Both are designed for working professional like me, so I am debating which one to go for (I expect to be accepted by both because I have above 3.5 GPA from a highly-ranked undergraduate school)… UIUC’s MCS degree is exactly the same as the on-campus MCS degree with same courses, same exams, same professors, etc. but JHU’s course work is obviously different from the MSE program, although it definitely is not going to be a cakewalk based on what I gathered from EP website. </p>
Well, the diploma says both “Johns Hopkins” and “Whiting School”, and they certainly like asking me for money!</p>
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I am not familiar with “MCS” - Comp Sci still awards the MSE degree. Are you curious as how the degrees are received? That depends a lot on the audience. You get a Johns Hopkins degree, but some people will consider it lesser if they know it was a part-time program (either by recognizing the degree designation or from asking), and some people will consider it lesser if they know it lacked a thesis. Probably should be “most people” in both cases, so it really depends on who you are trying to impress.</p>
<p>UIUC’s MCS (Master of Computer Science) program is also a part-time program designed for working professional just like JHU EP’s program, but since you take the same classes, taught by regular full-time professors, with regular MS-CS (UIUI’s MSCS program is research-oriented and designed for those who want to continue onto PhD) and PhD students, and UIUC’s CS obviously ranked much higher, I would be leaning toward UIUC MCS program. </p>
<p>I’m also interested in the JHU MSCS program offered through their part time program. I don’t have a computer science background myself. I have a marketing degree, and I work in the DC area in a marketing/advertising role. Would the MSCS degree from JHU help me make a career transition to a software engineer/developer?</p>
<p>Cosmicfish, did you meet anyone who did an MS degree at JHU in order to switch careers? Were they successful?</p>
Sure it would help, but you would need to have some significant CS coursework before starting the program! Unlike conventional programs that can send grad students to remedial undergraduate courses, the EP program assumes that you are already credentialed in the field and ready to start graduate work. You might have a hard time getting accepted, and if you get in you may find yourself over your head without support.</p>
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Without a research component and with relatively infrequent meetings, I didn’t really meet anyone. But I have heard of people using this program to make relatively minor career changes, nothing as large as you are proposing.</p>
<p>Ok thank you for your input Cosmicfish. I actually emailed the program and they said that I can be admitted provisionally. They offer 4 courses as a ‘bridge’: Intro to Programming, Discrete Math, Data Structures, and Computer Organization. Do you think these 4 courses are enough to prepare me for the actual MSCS program?</p>