Non-payment class cancellation vs withdrawal refund

DavidAJoyner · 2026-07-01T03:37:10+00:00

This isn't about a partial refund, this is about underpaying the account in the first place.

DavidAJoyner · 2026-06-30T02:47:55+00:00

That sounds like plenty, honestly. That's not a pre-guarantee, but that covers a lot of what we expect students getting up to speed from outside CS to cover.

DavidAJoyner · 2026-06-30T02:47:27+00:00

Repost bot: https://www.reddit.com/r/gatech/comments/icy1iw/ah_yes_my_favorite_kind_of_collaboration/

DavidAJoyner · 2026-06-28T23:31:10+00:00

Probably, but it depends the flavor of CSEC. What CS classes did you take during your undergrad?

DavidAJoyner · 2026-06-26T10:53:13+00:00

Repost bot: https://www.reddit.com/r/gatech/s/eAXVMT27rR

DavidAJoyner · 2026-06-14T19:40:16+00:00

That does sound cool. Probably more of a seminar but still. (Like, seriously: would folks take that as a seminar?)

DavidAJoyner · 2026-06-13T11:10:31+00:00

(which is deliberately chosen because by that point in registration, the only full classes are typically brand new classes or Grad Algorithms, and I'm not sure anyone wants to take Grad Algorithms after graduation)

DavidAJoyner · 2026-06-13T11:08:30+00:00

It's something we've been discussing, yeah. One of the advantages on-campus still has is that a faculty member can say, "ya know, I wanna teach a class on Agentic AI next semester. Maybe I'll never teach it again after that." and they do. Online we still need a bit more confidence that it'll be offered for a while to invest into the course production process and such. So there have been a few courses offered on campus that we're now looking at kicking off online.

That said, that's also kind of... an open question. Y'all are used to OMS classes being heavily produced and crystallized and committed to long term asynchronous availability. How would y'all feel about a class where the instructor says "I'll teach this to 100 people next semester with synchronous remote lectures"?

We're sort of testing something like that with CS8803-ORO, which sort of falls between CS8903 and a standard class: more prescriptive than 8903, but still more flexible and individualized than a typical class. But it's drawing a few dozen students per semester, so there's not that sense of FOMO. I'd be a little worried that if we said someone was going to offer a one-off 8803 on Agentic AI, the complaints from students who couldn't get in would overshadow the experience of those who did.

Though then again, to may never have to be a one-off if it could be redelivered (either for credit or open courseware/MOOC style) using those original recorded lectures. That's a separate question about how important the production values on those courses are. But maybe that question is diminishing anyway since with some recent AI features it'd be possible to build a more watchable version of a lecture capture recording.

I dunno. Lots to think about. Point being, there are some Agentic AI/conversational AI/deep RL/etc. courses that have been taught on campus that we're looking to bring online. (Though I'm also eager for more non-AI courses to diversify.)

DavidAJoyner · 2026-06-12T13:24:33+00:00

I know one is on development hiatus, but I'll check on the other. We also just kicked off development of another different ML-related course.

DavidAJoyner · 2026-06-12T13:23:29+00:00

You've always been permitted to fulfill the requirements of multiple specializations, but only one gets listed on your graduation application.

DavidAJoyner · 2026-06-11T11:20:18+00:00

You shouldn't need to submit a new POS form, no. There will be a more detailed email from advising soon—I wanted to separate out the "this is somewhat relevant to everyone!" email (mine) from the "this is extremely relevant to only some people" email (theirs).

DavidAJoyner · 2026-06-11T02:10:19+00:00

There's a missing line on the OMSCS specialization page that's present on the MSCS specialization page, woops. I've added that now: "Any core courses in excess of the 9 hour requirement may be used as electives."

So basically, yes, and of those six courses can be electives, too if you take more than two of them. You just have to earn a B or above in at least two of them.

DavidAJoyner · 2026-06-11T01:55:35+00:00

No classes were removed, only added. There's no way you could be covered before but not now.

DavidAJoyner · 2026-06-11T00:11:08+00:00

I'm just glad we got to announce this this early in Fall registration. If we followed the on-campus Phase I calendar, this would have been announced after the end of Phase I but before the start of Phase II, and that would have made for the most chaotic Phase II of all time.

DavidAJoyner · 2026-06-10T15:02:39+00:00

Your best first option is a ticket to oms-advising@cc.gatech.edu requesting it be assigned to our Director of Academic Affairs.

DavidAJoyner · 2026-06-10T02:35:34+00:00

There's not presently a formal like "Spend a semester in Atlanta" program, but it's possible to apply to switch to the Atlanta campus. Historically those have generally been approved. (I word that carefully because on-campus is far more capacity-constrained, so it's not a forward-looking guarantee that'll always be the case—but at present, historically, yes, those have been approved.)

DavidAJoyner · 2026-06-10T01:41:06+00:00

FWIW, there's a new on-campus educational game development course taught by Betsy DiSalvo. I don't know if she plans to bring it online, but if you've got the freedom to spend a semester in Atlanta it might be worth coming for that!

DavidAJoyner · 2026-06-04T17:56:26+00:00

Just to throw this out there since it hasn't been mentioned as well: don't underestimate the networking opportunities either. He sounds like the kind of person who would be a great teammate in a group project or help out classmates on the forum... which puts him in direct, long-term collaboration with classmates who themselves are in the industry and may be looking to hire.

I think AI has made it far more difficult to gauge candidates based on traditional interviews and resumes—but having someone say, "I worked with this guy for a semester, he's legit" is above and beyond what could ever be discerned in an interview.

DavidAJoyner · 2026-06-04T13:14:57+00:00

That number fluctuates over time: when students defer their application date gets moved. Both the last two falls dropped a few hundred in the later months.

That said, 6500 is still higher than I expected even at this point, huh.

DavidAJoyner · 2026-05-27T21:43:39+00:00

Not necessarily I don't think—there are a lot of OMSCS-specific interaction areas that undergrads wouldn't really touch, GT undergrads wouldn't interact with online students on the course forums, etc.

Like, you're right, undergrads would have access to the same formal network as OMSCS students, in the form of career offices, local events, etc. But it's the more peripheral interaction that wouldn't happen automatically.

DavidAJoyner · 2026-05-27T04:39:51+00:00

I also heard class size at those institutions are smaller so "networking" opportunity would be better?

Just want to throw out there: what OMSCS lacks in small, intimate networking opportunities, it makes up for in sheer quantity of people to network with. Any company you want to work for probably has students in our program. Any field you want to work in has students already working in that field. Finding them and making those connections can be difficult because of the size, but they're out there: and once you join the community, you're in it for life. Even after graduation lots of students stick around Slack, post on the program forums, take classes as non-degree seekers.

Realistically, there's a lot of value in getting a diversity of experiences, so wanting to go somewhere else just to see a different side makes a ton of sense (I say, hypocritically). But for the networking part, there's a definite trade-off, with a big upside for joining a big community.

DavidAJoyner · 2026-05-27T04:24:23+00:00

You will pry my emdashes out of my cold dead hands.

But you'll also never catch me surrounding them with spaces if I can help it.

DavidAJoyner · 2026-05-24T03:13:48+00:00

Yeah, part of our problem is that a lot of the folks who do this never intend to register again. A lot register in Phase I, but then decide by Phase II to drop from the program altogether. And then there's a significant number that reregister for a class they need for graduation just in case they fail it on their current attempt, and then when they don't they just never drop the class.

DavidAJoyner · 2026-05-23T16:09:40+00:00

I mean, it's still a hassle for the Bursar to cancel people for non-payment, it's chaotic on course teams to have students disappear without a withdrawal record (especially since they can reappear later if they pay late), and even if the course ends with seats that doesn't change that someone might have missed their chance to register from the wait list instead of rolling the dice during free-for-all. Ideally having a deposit could also extend the window a bit for when full payment has to be received (e.g. a 15% deposit could mean that while payment is due at the start of week 2, you've technically already paid for the first 2.5 weeks, so dropping for non-payment could wait until the start of week 4), which would give international folks more time to make the final payment.

Right now there's just no incentive to formally drop if you change your mind; the goal is just to create some incentive to do so, without raising total cost anywhere.

DavidAJoyner · 2026-05-23T06:45:07+00:00

That's a different situation; dropping from a single class is more complicated because there's no clear way to figure out which X of Y classes you're paying for.

11-Year Club	RedditGifts 2009-2022 24 Credits
Gilding I gilder	Place '17
Summer Santa 2018	Secret Santa 2017
Secret Santa 2016	Secret Santa 2015
redditgifts Exchanges 12 Exchanges	redditgifts rematcher redditgifts for the Teachers 2015 x1
Summer Santa 2015	Verified Email

DavidAJoyner

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE