I'm wrapping up my second to last class for Georgia Tech's OMSCS. Here are some thoughts from my experience in no particular order:

- The program is suppose to be the same as on-campus, so the degree is the same (MS).

- It's dirt cheap as far as master's degrees go. My employer is paying 2/3, so that sweetens the deal even more.

- Since it's online and inexpensive, the program is growing a lot. I think in a few years it would be safe to assume that if someone has an MSCS from GT that it was obtained online.

- I've learned a lot of things that I wouldn't have otherwise been exposed to.

- The workload hasn't been bad, but it definitely can be if you're not somewhat familiar with C, C++, and Python since most of the classes are project based. The workload exceptions have been ML and RL which are pretty time consuming. For context, I work full-time and have two toddlers.

- I honestly don't think the online program is the same as on-campus. Maybe the topics are the same, but I very rarely had to study anything outside of the lecture videos, which are almost always very high-level, and the classes have been much less rigorous than my undergraduate classes (from a different university). Additionally, the online demographic is substantially different than on-campus (I imagine anyway). I think this translates to less stimulating discussion and larger grade curves.

- Expanding on the previous thought, the program has definitely been a "what you put in is what you get out" type of thing. You can coast and still get decent grades, so getting the most out of the program requires some discipline to study stuff that isn't required to get the A.

- There is almost no interaction with the professors, but there is an instructor and TAs for each class who may or may not be helpful in answering your questions.

I'm glad I did the OMSCS program overall. I wish that I had the opportunity to get a master's in-person at a top school, but I don't want to quit my job, move, or pay out the nose, so I'll take what I can get. I don't think that the degree will result in higher compensation, but I've thought about maybe one day teaching at a community college or something like that and I figured I'd get the credential just in case.

I honestly don't think very many, if any, employers will care about the ranking of the school you got a course-based master's degree from. I think it matters more if you're doing a thesis based master's and want to do research.