My review of everything

My Answers to Frequently Asked OMSCS/OMSA Questions


How many courses can I take per semester ?

It's time allocation. One medium course is typically a 10~15 hours of weekly time commitment. A common rookie mistake is to underestimate the workload and take two courses with a full time job, and end up withdrawing from one course in the middle of the semester (and waste a few hundred dollars).

One important lesson I learned the hard way (after taking two courses with a full time job) was that it's not just the sum of the hours available in my free time, but it has to be "mentally productive" hours. Also, when taking two courses, the assignments/exams may be due the same week, then it gets crazy busy. The "context switching" was exhausting too.

It also depends on the background and goal. Someone with a strong background needs less time to consume the lecture and complete the assignment. Someone with a weaker background may need to spend significantly more time to play catchup on math/coding.

If your goal is to get the piece of paper, then you can do bare minimum to get by. I know some students don't care about learning, and just speed run with bare minimum work to get Bs. To each their own.

I'm doing this purely for learning. So I only take one course per semester, making sure I have time to really digest and learn the content.

Which courses should I take ?

Courses you select are all of your degree experience. It's so important and worth obsessing over constantly throughout the program. There are ~80 courses to choose from. Read the syllabus, read the past reviews, pick the 10 courses that interest you the most. (while satisfying the graduation requirement of course)

Which course should I take in my first semester ?

If you are not sure, then read OMS Central and take an easy course to settle into the program. For OMSCS, I took Computer Networks as my first course, and it was the right choice. Also, I personally think any Joyner courses (e.g. KBAI, HCI) are good first course choice because they are so well organized. For OMSA, isye6501 (iAM) is the best first course as it gives you an overview of the program.

How is the quality of the courses ?

It's rigorous with some variance among classes. Overall, it's normal distribution.

Should I do OMSCS (OMSA) as a full time student ?

There is no absolute right answer. Everyone's circumstance is different. I personally think doing a remote online masters degree full time may feel like a solitary confinement. Also, professional experience is more important than course work in general for career development. So, in my opinion, it's better to work full time, and do this degree part time.

If I'm looking at two candidates for a data scientist job: where one candidate has two years of real data science experience out of college (while gaining industry domain knowledge) versus the other candidate who has no experience but did two years of OMSCS (or OMSA) full time out of college, the first candidate always gets picked. Experience beats education.

Should I do OMSCS (OMSA) immediately after my undergrad ?

In my opinion, in general, an ideal scenario is to get a job and start building experience. First 2~3 years of your first job are formative years as a professional, so it's better to dedicate 100% attention. Then start OMSCS as an evening/weekend side project to further education once you settle down with your day job. But obviously I'm biased by my own experience.

Can I get a quant job at hedge fund or Wall Street bank with OMSCS/OMSA ?

I did. But in retrospect, if you are not already in the industry, and want to break into a quant role, I think the best way is to do MFE (masters in financial engineering) at a top school (think Columbia, NYU, CMU, Baruch, Princeton, MIT). Their curriculum is more relevant to quant finance.

There are quite a few students in the program working as quants at hedge funds & investment banks. But they were already quants when they joined the program, and just doing OMSCS/OMSA for fun.

But in general, university course work often focuses too much on techniques of "how to solve XYZ problem" and less on "how to model things" which is more important in practice. The reason is because model thinking can be taught with examples with domain expertise.

How can I become a TA ?

To be eligible, you must be a US citizen or a permanent resident (i.e. unconditionally authorized to work in the US), and earn an A in the course you wanna TA for. This is the necessary condition, and not the sufficient condition. Every semester, there will be an email with a link for TA application, so you can apply for specific courses. But there are far far more applicants than the open positions. So the chances are slim.

[OMSCS] Which specialization should I pick ?

It's up to your interest and goal. I originally started OMSCS, determined to pursue Computing Systems specialization. But after I didn't enjoy GIOS and surprisingly liked ML, I switched to ML specialization. With so many courses overlapping between specializations, you can always switch. The specialization does not appear on diploma. It's more of an internal designation to help guide students select courses. So it doesn't really matter.

[OMSA] Which track should I pick ?

People overthink about the track selection in OMSA. It's only a difference of two courses. The track does not appear on the diploma. Just pick whichever courses interest you most, and it will automatically decide the track for you as a logistical matter.

Are office hours necessary to attend ?

Not at all. I almost never ever attend any office hours. Any questions you have can be asked & answered on the class forum (e.g. Piazza, Ed, Slack)

What has been your most (un)favorite course ?

Most favorite: DL, DO, ML4T, RL
Least favorite: KBAI, HCI, CP

I have not landed a single interview after 2000+ applications. Why ?

I've seen sooo many students post their resumes asking for review on OMSCS/OMSA slack channel. Whenever someone says "I haven't been able to get an interview for 6 months after applying to 2000+ companies", it's always the resume. Some are hilariously badly written, as if they are trying very hard to be rejected.

I've conducted many resume reviews & interviews as part of recruiting in my job, both for internship & full-time roles. Just to put this into perspective, for example, for any given one position we want to fill, we may receive 1000 applications. HR filters them down to 100, and send their resumes to my team. I spend less than 1 minute per resume to select 10 candidates to do phone screening interview. Then I may select 3 candidates for on site interview. By the time we have narrowed down to 10 candidates, they are all qualified.

My point is a badly written resume has zero chance surviving the initial screen by HR/ATS. Even if it somehow reaches me, it immediately gets rejected as I'm actively looking for reasons to filter 100 resumes down to 10.

Your resume must be aesthetically impeccable. A not impeccably written resume is like serving a plate of food with a hair in it. It doesn't matter how good the food otherwise is. It doesn't matter how many times you try.

How much math do I need for course XYZ ?

The only courses that I've taken that had any meaningful amount & depth of math are ML, RL, DL, iAM, SIM, DO. Among them, only DL, SIM, DO directly tested math in the exams.

I have no meaningful interaction with instructor, TA and peers. Is this normal ?

Yes, it's isolated by design. It's partially because it's an online program, and partially because it's a massive program where each class has 500~1000 students. You watch pre-recorded lecture videos and do mostly-auto-graded homework/exams on your own. Zero human interaction for the most part. It doesn't mean the program is bad. Don't confuse the quality of the degree with the social structure around its delivery.

Should I worry about GPA in the program ?

To graduate, you need 3.0 for OMSCS, and 2.7 for OMSA. Unless you are applying to PhD afterwards, GPA almost never ever matters. If you have zero work experience, then the interviewer might possibly ask your GPA.

Can I switch (transfer) between OMSCS and OMSA (and OMSCy) ?

No, there is no internal transfer process. You have to apply as a brand new applicant. But once you start taking courses in one program (and do well), then the admission to the other program is effectively guaranteed.

Can I switch to an on-campus program ?

I've seen multiple OMSCS students do this. Some did it for visa purpose, while others did it to take courses only available on-campus and/or to get more opportunities to build network with other on-campus students and professors. There is no publicly advertised process, but all of the students who transferred from online to on-campus told me they just contacted the academic advisor who then guided the transfer process. So it's possible. But apparently, you must be 'fully admitted' i.e. you must satisfy two foundational courses (earn B or above) requirement, to be eligible for this process.

[OMSA] What's the minimum required score on Edx courses to be eligible for credit transfer ?

80% (which equates to the minimum score for letter grade B). This is confirmed explicitly with OMSA admission office. But if you are using Edx grade as part of application to boost your chance, then it's better to score 90%. It will look better.

One note about edX MicroMasters program is, while the content is identical to the OMSA version, transferred credits will not have letter grade designation within OMSA, meaning they will just appear as "transfer credit" on the transcript and not count toward the overall GPA. Those intro courses are considered easier than more advanced courses in the program. So, technically, by taking the edX version, you lose an opportunity to "pad" your GPA. It doesn't matter to most students, but it matters to students who might struggle to maintain cumulative GPA above 2.7 (which is the minimum requirement for graduation).

Which "section" should I register ?


Is CRN permanent for a given course ?

No, CRN changes every semester for every course. (It's a horrible design but we just have to live with it)

I'm number 100+ in the waitlist. What is my chance of getting in ?

The waitlist starts moving very quickly toward the beginning of semester, partially because people make tactical decisions to drop from the waitlist and move to other courses, but also because many courses hire more TAs and create additional seats.

What is FFAF ?

It means Free for All Friday. It's the last day of the registration in every semester, which is the Friday of the first week of the semester, where the waitlist is unlocked, so anyone can just grab any open spots in any course. Many people get into their desired class this way. I've managed to get into GA in my second semester (as my third class) on FFAF. There is an element of luck involved but FFAF can work a miracle sometimes.


© etlq - All Rights Reserved