Hey Ken! I actually just completed an online masters in Data Science this past August. As in your situation I have a full time job and my daughter was born 3 semesters into the program!
My suggestions:
Wake up earlier than your family (or stay up later if that works better for you). It’s a hard habit to start, but this became critical time for me to do school work without taking time from my wife and daughter. It doesn’t all fit in this time, especially around exams or major projects, but it helps a ton.
Don’t take on more courses at once than you can handle to rush graduation. I usually stuck to 1, or 2 tops in a semester.
Be strategic about which classes you take together when you take multiple in a semester. The online masters for GT has a pretty active subreddit last time I checked - you can get insight into work load and difficulty ahead of time there.
Best of luck to you! I’m really glad I did it, but am also really glad I’m done too haha
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Thanks for the response! Yeah, I definitely plan to stick to 2 per semester max, and I plan to stick to 1 when I have courses known to be more time consuming, or in areas I don't know. I am actually already used to waking up around 5am to workout or get things done around the house, and I typically leave for work around 8am... Maybe I'll have to reduce my exercise routine, or go harder on fewer days or something. Play-by-ear I guess
If you don't mind me asking, how long did it take you to complete the degree? Was it a 30 credit/10 course program, like many I've seen (and indeed the GA Tech OMSCS program)?
Sounds like you are off to a good start then! I'm usually up around 5-5:30am as well which gave me a couple hours before the family wakes up to do school work. Then I'd dip into evenings/weekends just during crunch time (usually mid and late semester).
My program was 32 credits/8 courses, so 4 credit hours per course. I did it in 2 years (Aug 2016 to Aug 2018) taking classes every semester including Summer so 6 semesters total. I did 2 semesters with 2 classes and the rest with just 1.
Have you decided on your specialization yet? I looked at GT OMSCS when I was choosing programs in 2016 and almost went the ML route there, but decided to go for the Data Science route at UIUC.
Full-time web dev; JS lover since 2002; CSS fanatic. #CSSIsAwesome
I try to stay up with new web platform features. Web feature you don't understand? Tell me! I'll write an article!
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I'm shooting for the Interactive Intelligence route, and may pick up ML as well. Seems to be plenty of room for multiple specializations in the schedule, which is nice.
2 years is impressive for part time! I do plan to do the summer semesters as well, but I expect I'll take a bit longer, if for no other reason than that I need 10 courses... If all goes well, I'm hoping to be done within 3 yrs, but we'll see what life offers
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Hey Ken! I actually just completed an online masters in Data Science this past August. As in your situation I have a full time job and my daughter was born 3 semesters into the program!
My suggestions:
Best of luck to you! I’m really glad I did it, but am also really glad I’m done too haha
Thanks for the response! Yeah, I definitely plan to stick to 2 per semester max, and I plan to stick to 1 when I have courses known to be more time consuming, or in areas I don't know. I am actually already used to waking up around 5am to workout or get things done around the house, and I typically leave for work around 8am... Maybe I'll have to reduce my exercise routine, or go harder on fewer days or something. Play-by-ear I guess
If you don't mind me asking, how long did it take you to complete the degree? Was it a 30 credit/10 course program, like many I've seen (and indeed the GA Tech OMSCS program)?
Sounds like you are off to a good start then! I'm usually up around 5-5:30am as well which gave me a couple hours before the family wakes up to do school work. Then I'd dip into evenings/weekends just during crunch time (usually mid and late semester).
My program was 32 credits/8 courses, so 4 credit hours per course. I did it in 2 years (Aug 2016 to Aug 2018) taking classes every semester including Summer so 6 semesters total. I did 2 semesters with 2 classes and the rest with just 1.
Have you decided on your specialization yet? I looked at GT OMSCS when I was choosing programs in 2016 and almost went the ML route there, but decided to go for the Data Science route at UIUC.
I'm shooting for the Interactive Intelligence route, and may pick up ML as well. Seems to be plenty of room for multiple specializations in the schedule, which is nice.
2 years is impressive for part time! I do plan to do the summer semesters as well, but I expect I'll take a bit longer, if for no other reason than that I need 10 courses... If all goes well, I'm hoping to be done within 3 yrs, but we'll see what life offers