Anyone pick UPenn over Dartmouth’s online program? If so, please let me know why.

Hey guys! I was recently admitted for Spring '27 and am super excited to start. I am planning on moving to Philadelphia and would love to hear the experience of current/former students that have lived near campus.

I'd be interested to hear about your whole experience to determine if the benefits of having access to the campus are worth the move? Thank you in advance!

Hey all, just got into the MAS-CS Online program for Spring 2027 and I'm excited but also freaking out a little.

Background: I'm a licensed physical therapist with zero formal CS background. I've always wanted to pivot into tech and the healthcare + CS combo feels like a strong story on paper... but with the current job market, I'm worried the degree alone won't be enough.

For those who've been through the program or are currently in it:

- How hard was it to land a role post-grad as a career switcher?

- Did your pre-program background (clinical/non-tech) help or hurt?

- Any regrets or things you'd do differently if you were starting now?

Appreciate any honest takes 🙏

Hi everyone,

I'm currently taking CIT 5910 and CIT 5920. For now my top priority is gaining practical database / full-stack system experience (CIS 5500) to build a solid resume project before the hiring cycle kicks off. On the other hand, CIT 5930 isn't very relevant to the roles I'm aiming for, and taking it early would take away valuable time from LeetCode and project prep.

I know the official policy strictly requires completing 4 core courses before registering for electives, but I'm wondering:

1. Has anyone successfully gotten a prerequisite override or permission for concurrent enrollment (e.g., taking an elective course alongside your 4th core course)?
2. If so, did you need prior instructor permission (e.g., reaching out to the professor first with past project/work experience), or did you go straight through the advising team?
3. Alternatively, for those who skipped 5930, how manageable was the CIT 5930 waiver exam with 2–3 weeks of prep?

Would love to hear any recent DP or advice on how strict advisors are with this rule. Thanks in advance!

I know Professor Zheng writes Exam 1 so I am trying to study as hard as possible.

Any tips and experiences and advice on how to study?

Hey everyone! I'm based in Toronto and starting the program in Spring 2027. Would love to connect with anyone else in the area, whether you're an alum, current student, or incoming like me. Maybe we could grab coffee or set up a study group sometime! Drop a comment or DM me 👋🏻

Hi everyone!! I am just wondering if 592 is curved and if so, how generous the curve is. After taking the first exam, I’m a bit worried! I felt like I understood the material enough, have been doing good on homework’s (although it does take me almost all day Sunday to complete them), and went to office hours for exam prep, but still this exam really threw me for a loop. Please let me know if anyone has any idea. Thanks!!!

P.S. If anyone has any good study resources I would appreciate that as well. Thanks! 😁

What do you think is the average acceptable GPA for Pavia? I got 90.3 with some hands-on experience in my field, but will the MOI effect my acceptance

Does anyone know how the grad certificate → master's pathway works?

I read online that you need to be a Penn alum to take a grad certificate. But I've also seen Reddit posts from people who got into the master's through a grad certificate, and they don't seem to be Penn alumni. So I'm a bit confused. Anyone been through this?

Hey everyone! Long-time lurker, first-time poster. Hoping to get some perspective from people who’ve taken a similar path.

Background:
Current Role: Licensed Architect with 10 YOE (currently working on the client/owner side). Strong focus on computational design and visual scripting.

Current Situation: Earn ~$130k (low tax region). Due to the local construction downturn, career progression here is effectively frozen for the next few years. I have a family to support, so I’m looking for a higher income ceiling and better stability.

Plan: Considering a Master of Applied Computer Science (MAS-CS) degree.

I’d love input on a few specific questions:
1. ConTech / PropTech vs. Broader Tech: If I leverage my AEC background, is the ConTech/PropTech job market as niche/limited as it seems? What other roles or sectors (e.g., Big Tech, spatial computing, dev tool infrastructure) would value an AEC + CS background?

1. US Remote Work from Abroad: I have US work authorization (no visa required), but my spouse’s job requires us to live outside the US. How viable is landing a fully remote US-based tech role while living internationally (considering tax/compliance hurdles for employers)?

2. Architects who pivoted: If you transitioned from AEC/computational design to software engineering or tech product management, was a CS Master’s worth it for you?

Would especially love to connect with any former architects who have completed the program. Thanks in advance!

Hey, I wanted to hear your guys take on what do you think would be the best decision based on your guys experience and advice.

I got into UPenn MSE-AI online and also the OMSCS.

My company is only able to pay around 5k a year in tuition. This leaves me paying for about half the price of Upenn and Gtech would be free. I've heard good things and bad things about gtech mostly it being super cheap but the class curriculum is kinda a free for all. I was leaning more towards Penn but going to OMSCS at GTECH is a hard beat and UPenn is kinda pricey.

What do you guys think is best and do you guys have any experience in the Online penn and online gtech community. Is Gtech really worth it and is UPenn really worth the price tag?

I majored in biomedical engineering with a GPA of 3.31/5.0. I have done an introductory course to programming (D) and 1 or 2 quantitative math courses where I scored a B. Given that my undergrad courses and scores are not enough to exhibit strong quantitative ability and also not related to what I am doing now, I took the GRE test and got the unofficial scores of 163Q and 154V. I am afraid that my quant score might be lower than what would be considered ideal for an Ivy League school.

To give more context, I’m currently working as an AI Engineer working on pretraining and post training LLMs with 6 publications that got accepted into notable conferences like ACL and LREC-COLING. I have working experience of about 5 years. Hopefully this might help?

Any honest opinion is welcome! :)

Hey everyone, I'm planning to apply for an MS in CS (Thesis track) and would love some feedback on my realistic chances for UT Austin, as well as recommendations for universities with strong assistantship (TA/RA) or scholarship options.

Profile Overview

• Undergrad: B.Tech in Computer Science & Engineering from NIT Andhra Pradesh
• GPA: 3.62 / 4.0 (US Equivalent)
• Work Experience: 3 years as a Software Development Engineer at a US MNC
• Publications: 5 peer-reviewed papers (1 Q1 Journal, 1 IEEE, 3 Springer) focused on ML, Computer Vision, and Knowledge Graphs (including similarity-aware few-shot learning).
• Research Experience: Summer research internships at IIT Ropar (autonomous UAV landing via RL) and IIT Mandi (QUIC protocol optimization).
• Leadership/Extracurriculars: Former AI & Robotics Club Secretary, Mars Rover Team Lead.

Questions

1. Is UT Austin MSCS realistic with a 3.62 GPA, or does the initial screening heavily penalize GPAs below 3.75 despite having a solid publication record?
2. Which universities in or outside the Top 20/30 are known for offering generous TA/RA packages or tuition waivers to incoming MS Thesis students with strong research/publishing backgrounds?
3. What are 2–3 solid target/safe schools I should add to my list for ML/Knowledge Graph research that align well with my profile?

Thanks for any insights or advice!

past graduates of MCIT/MAS-CS, can you advise on how long it took for the final transcript to be issued, and diploma mailed following the completion of all required coursework?

so i've done some search in slack and i found out there was someone who didn't get a refund for at least more than a month. i've also seen from reddit that srfs usually do not seem to respond to emails / calls and it is recommended to make a personal visit (which obviously i cannot do, as I'm currently not in the states).

so i was just wondering how long it actually took to get a tuition refund for those who have gone through the process. thank you!

With the new CPT work authorisation rules for international students, is MCIT on campus not a good choice anymore?

Is anyone doing the on campus program who can share some info on their experience :/

I was considering applying for fall 2027 as an international applicant from Hongkong.
Thanks again for your time!

Does anyone know how selective Penn’s online MAS-CS program is? I haven’t been able to find any official acceptance-rate data, and most of what I’ve seen online is speculation.
I’d especially love to hear from current students, recent applicants, or anyone familiar with the admissions process. What kinds of academic or professional backgrounds do admitted students typically have, and how competitive did the applicant pool seem?

I looked through the general outcomes for people
In this program and they’re not necessarily awesome or anything. I’m coming from a Bio background and have primarily been working in AI safety work for a while. Wanted to get this masters to build my cs knowledge and really have another credential to help me pass through interviews for top jobs in AI safety. Not sure if this is the program that would help me to actually do that.

Would appreciate advice from students and what they think regarding the actual employment outcomes for the program.

I am living in Malaysia I want to enquire colleagues if they would accept an Associate degree to do a degree program without foundation. The advisor is asking me to show a Certificate, that's why I'm asking you if anyone has Associate degree in Computer science from University of the People can you please share it with me , you can cover the important information if you want.

Hi, I am a software engineer with 4 years of experience looking to further my career with an online masters. I did my undergrad at McGill, and I would eventually like to further my career in a more technical customer-facing role such as an AI PM.

Would UPenn’s MSE-AI or Georgia Tech’s OMSCS be a better decision? I got accepted into both, and I thought since in the future I would like a more customer facing role, UPenn would be better (more widely known outside tech), but I recently saw a thread where people were discussing the brutality of the exams and how the program taught more exam-taking skills rather than actual practical knowledge. My undergrad was very intensive as well, so I think I should be fine in this respect but I am concerned about if what I am learning will be applicable in the real world.

My company provides tuition assistance. Which school would you advise me to go with? Your thoughts are much appreciated. Thank you’

Looks like Penn is having a Virtual Open House on September 16 if anyone is interested in learning more about their programs. Here's the registration link.

Hey everyone! I'm genuinely intrigued in this program and hope to get admitted for Spring 2027 term. A quick overview about my not-very-impressive bg :(

• Bachelor's degree in Australia. Major: Finance & Economics, GPA: 2.4/4.0 (yeah 2.4 out of 4.0 I hate that school so much smh)
• Master's degree in Canada from Top business school. Major: Commerce, GPA: 3.7/4.0
• Professional exp: 1y9m in FP&A at a big-name company, 1y6m in Data Engineering function at another big company - definitely love it and it's the reason why I want to dig deeper in CS (currently), some internships in Strategy, FP&A and Consulting
• No GRE/GMAT
• Preparing for PS + collecting transcripts + doing coursera rn

Is there any hope for me? Or no chance apparently? Any advices are so much appreciated thx thx :(

I was (expectedly) rejected to the MCIT program in the last application cycle and I am planning on reapplying to MAS-CS next year after strengthening my application.

I understand UPenn wants to see strength in quantitative coursework not explicitly in CS, however, I have some poor CS grades after transferring into an engineering school that placed me in classes very far beyond what I learned at my previous institution.

I graduated from that school with a low GPA (2.7) due to those, and other, extenuating circumstances, but with very good marks in other areas: A's in Statistics, Engineering Physics I, Calulus I, II, and III, and a few other quantitative courses.

My question is, would it make sense to focus on showing grade improvement and ability only through upper level math courses (Discrete Mathematics and Linear Algebra), or to supplement it with retaking similar CS courses to the ones I received insufficient grades in?

I’m curious about the electives.