I really need your advice. Should I drop out from UCSD to attend an online college?

College Search & Selection Online Degrees
1

Hi,

I am a Korean student who is considering to drop out from UCSD.

I am in a very strange situation. I will tell you my situation.

  1. As I am a Korean male, I should serve in the military for two years. However, as I have asthma, I can substitute my military duty by working at a Korean company for three years.
  2. I worked at startups as a Software Engineer for two years before I go to college. Thanks to that, I came back to Korea and got a job at a decent startup--very descent. I am an SE, but I also do ML stuff here.
  3. I finished only one semester at UCSD and came back to Korea to finish my duty in advance.

Therefore, I am thinking to finish my degree on online while I am working in Korea for three years. And I hope to go back to the US as a grad student–hopefully Stanford. I want to study and research about adaptive learning and recommendation system using Deep Learning.

As far as I know, Arizona State Univ’s Software Engineering seems to the best choice for me. So I am considering there.

It was my situations, and I have three questions.

  1. Is it stupid to drop out from UCSD and attend ASU?
  2. Would you drop out if you were in my shoes?
  3. Are there any other options that come up your mind?

Thank you for your answer in advance. Your answer will help me a lot.

2

A purely online degree (even from ASU) wouldn’t be the same as a degree taken ‘in person’, especially if you’re aiming for Stanford, CMU, and the like. If UCSD doesn’t serve your needs, you can perhaps save money at your current job and apply again, using your experience to improve your odds?

3

Two very important issues that you did not mention.

Can you afford UCSD? Are you going to end up with significant debt if you return and finish your degree there?

How did you do so far at UCSD?

If you can afford UCSD, and if you were doing well there, then I think that there are significant advantages in finishing your degree on campus.

4

don’t know how graduate school admission value online degree. you can call couple of univ that you may apply to their grad program and see what they say. Why is it either UCSD or ASU online? do you have other option?