Does anyone have information about the program not on the official CMU master’s page? I found this article (http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/blog/innovation/2011/10/cmu-launches-new-computer-science.html) on CC and have found some information about the program scattered throughout these forums, but don’t really know much else.
A bit of info on me: I graduated in the top quartile (~3.8) from a T-10 US school with a BA. I did well on the gre and have some relevant work experience, but do not fulfill all the requirements for the MSCS (I have taken OOP, know basic data structures, and have rudimentary knowledge of systems, but don’t have any background in functional programming/algorithms/probability theory). I want to study systems and think that I could learn the necessary background before matriculating, but don’t know if they will take me seriously with essentially one or two cs classes on my transcript. Plus, two of my three recs will come from professors who do not have knowledge of my technical skills (I do have a reference from work, but I also think it will be the weakest of the three letters).
Anyone have any advice? Should I just stick to terminal masters programs that do not have CS requirements? Is that article just old or is there some information I am missing? Is there anyone currently at the program reading who understands how the “foundation semester” mentioned in the MSCS handbook works (e.g. do I have to stress that I plan to learn OCaml in the next nine-months, or would I come to Pittsburgh in June to learn over the summer — or does this mean that I would stay take the foundations in my first term and stay on the following summer)?
Alternatively, are there any other terminal masters programs (read: not Penn MCIT, Brandeis, Chicago, etc.) that might accept a student with some cs/math under his belt, who does not have a dazzling github (or any research experience)?
Pretty much in the dark here, so any advice at all would be appreciated. Thanks guys!