Part-time (working professional) MSCS programs

<p>I was looking at the Stanford Center for Professional Development (<a href="http://scpd.stanford.edu/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://scpd.stanford.edu/&lt;/a&gt;) and Columbia Video Network (<a href="http://cvn.columbia.edu/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://cvn.columbia.edu/&lt;/a&gt;) as a good way to start taking classes at the master level in Computer Science without enrolling in a degree program.</p>

<p>Both SCPD and CVN indicate that classes taken as a student attending as a non-degree-seeking student, up to a certain credit-hour threshhold, could count towards a degree-granting program should the student gain acceptance into the particular masters program. Well, that sounds like a great way to test the waters.</p>

<p>I'm wondering how much influence excellent grades in classes taken as a non-degree-seeking student have in the admission process?</p>

<p>By the way, if anyone knows of some similar degree-granting distance learning programs at other high-ranked schools, let me know.</p>