Graduating from MSC Computer Science online University of York

I can't find a reference to when the course was launched, but I don't think it's been running quite long enough to have graduates (I haven't seen posts from anyone on here who's done more than half of it). There's a small sub-reddit on the course here: https://www.reddit.com/r/YorkOnlineMScCS/ and opinions on this larger thread here: https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=5801788. The reviews range from "bad" to "average" and I can't recall reading a review that was overall positive. The people who rated it "average" mostly seemed to be interested in adding a line to their CV, for which it serves a purpose (if you make it to the end - I've heard drop out rates are high).

After researching all the options, I chose the Bath course (https://online.bath.ac.uk/online-courses/msc-computer-science) as the reviews I've seen for it (admittedly not many) were all positive and I decided it was worth the extra £5000. I haven't started yet so can only offer first impressions, but the admissions team at Bath have been great throughout the process, whereas York didn't seem to have any interest in recruiting me as a student (no response to my initial request for information and a phone call about a month after my second attempt, by which time I'd already accepted a place at Bath). Bath took less than a week to come back to me with an unconditional offer after I submitted my application (which is really impressive given that the Bath course requires a personal statement). There's plenty of information about the course via online webinars here (sign-in required): https://www.gotostage.com/channel/university-of-bath-online-webinars. Two other good indicators that Bath care about their course and online students are that they changed the cryptography module to a cybersecurity one last month based on student feedback, and they're also going to release another webinar on 6 Mar to cover the first two modules in more detail. Also, the Bath course will involve an optional graduation ceremony on campus.

Hi all,

anyone graduated from online MSc in Comp Sci? what was your experience?
Is there an option to graduate on campus?

Please share...

Thanks

awesome thanks Steph!

Could someone explain how graduations would work given there are multiple cohorts for one academic year

Yeah I also would like to hear comments / opinions about this course.
As I am almost about to sign up on the Bath one due to lack of info on this York one.

....do the very affordable bootcamps....

If you haven't learned a language before then don't do the University if York's Masters in Computer Science! You end up spending loads of time looking up why different syntax is used in different lines of codes. I was spending 8 hours a day just trying to keep up even though the university told me that with zero experience I could do it in around 3 hours a day. I am now doing a bootcamp in Python and am more than halfway through the course and learning it just fine even though they tried to make it out that it was my learning ability that kept me from keeping up.

These bootcamps will give you a way better set of skills that will actually get you employed, unlike York's Masters in Computer Science which is essentially theory based. Their 8 day try out period is also a joke as anybody can do the first 10 days with little to no problems. So more money for York University!

I will say that the tutor himself was great and very responsive Monday to Friday but there is no tutor available to help you on weekends. So, if you get stuck Friday night and need to know one particular thing before you can move on, you very well could end up getting stuck until Monday.

If you want to actually get a job in an industry that fortunately values skills over certificates, then do the very affordable bootcamps. This statement is backed up by loads of people on the internet. STAY AWAY FROM YORK! Get real skills over the same time period and you could literally be much more employable than somebody who will have just finished the masters in the same amount of time.

I finished the program (not officially graduated yet).
All the negative feedback I read is about it being too heavy on theory. But that is what MSc is supported to be.
I think the problem is that it is marketed as a conversion course and people have wrong expectations.
In my opinion one should have solid background/ experience in some field of CS to enjoy or benefit from this course. It was very intense for me , and I have around 6 years of related practical experience.
I enjoyed it personally and learned a lot. I got promoted to engineering lead role because I became a much more well rounded and complete software engineer. I understand how all branches (infrastructure, networking, backend, frontend, security) work together, can design systems and coordinate work between departments.
What I did not like is that it was more data science focused, did not have compilers theory, crypto (personal preference), 8 months focused on research related stuff (but if you have an interesting topic, that might be good for you). Outdated technology from time to time (python tkinter for ui development). My favorite modules were Algorithms and Data structures and AI (mostly the algorithms part haha). Overall its quite standard CS Masters program I would say.

shill

I finished the program (not officially graduated yet).
All the negative feedback I read is about it being too heavy on theory. But that is what MSc is supported to be.
I think the problem is that it is marketed as a conversion course and people have wrong expectations.
In my opinion one should have solid background/ experience in some field of CS to enjoy or benefit from this course. It was very intense for me , and I have around 6 years of related practical experience.
I enjoyed it personally and learned a lot. I got promoted to engineering lead role because I became a much more well rounded and complete software engineer. I understand how all branches (infrastructure, networking, backend, frontend, security) work together, can design systems and coordinate work between departments.
What I did not like is that it was more data science focused, did not have compilers theory, crypto (personal preference), 8 months focused on research related stuff (but if you have an interesting topic, that might be good for you). Outdated technology from time to time (python tkinter for ui development). My favorite modules were Algorithms and Data structures and AI (mostly the algorithms part haha). Overall its quite standard CS Masters program I would say.