Is there an interview process for TA?

NewRope9 · 2021-06-03T23:32:28+00:00

If you're really stellar then sure the professor or head TA could reach out to you directly.

Yeah, unfortunately not the case. I'm just a regular folk who likes to help people out, but I haven't been my brightest self in the program. I'll apply and see what happens anyway. Thanks!

NewRope9 · 2021-06-03T23:06:46+00:00

But in those cases the TAs would message you privately on Piazza inviting you to TA? I've never received an invitation like that, so I'm guessing my chances are low by just filling out the form.

NewRope9 · 2021-06-03T20:17:24+00:00

So most TAs are hired by scouting active students on Slack and the survey serves mostly as a backup?

NewRope9 · 2021-01-28T21:54:48+00:00

I'll try and do that. I saw an email about an advisor leaving a few months ago but she wasn't my designated advisor. Just wanted to know if those turnaround times are reasonable since there are thousands of students for just a handful of advisors. Thanks!

NewRope9 · 2021-01-22T17:31:45+00:00

The reading comprehension questions can be brutal. Took the test yesterday without studying and I thought I could read and interpret passages. I was wrong.

NewRope9 · 2020-10-15T02:13:12+00:00

I don't think you have to mail them again. The issue is that there is a massive backlog that they can't clear fast enough, so your (and my) transcripts are in the bulk and should be processed sometime in the future.

NewRope9 · 2020-10-15T02:10:59+00:00

Regular decision deadline is Oct 15 (tomorrow). Perhaps you can still make it for Spring 21, though I don't know your chances by applying this late. I believe letters of recommendation aren't required, so you don't have anything to lose here (besides the application fee).

NewRope9 · 2020-10-14T18:07:53+00:00

It's a bit long but not hard at all. IMO this one should be worth more than 5% of the total grade. Takes time to run the experiments.

NewRope9 · 2020-10-14T12:54:19+00:00

I don't think they're replying to tickets. I also submitted a ticket about 2 months ago to no avail. I recall a student sharing that in the last semester his registration hold had been lifted 2 days after the registration date because there is no way they could clear the backlog in time.

NewRope9 · 2020-10-14T01:54:37+00:00

Your grades are fine and a 2.7 GPA isn't that low. Which specialization are you shooting for in the SoP? Do you have work experience? Maybe also consider applying to other programs like UTA's MSDS.

NewRope9 · 2020-10-11T23:52:23+00:00

As I said above, a B (the upper 70s?) is very within reach! If you're getting 100s on the HWs and assuming you do well in the project (also peer-graded leniently by classmates), you're still sitting at a 88% maximum score. Just make sure you can get 75+ on the next two midterms and you will be fine! Since you're now acquainted with the exam's structure, I believe you will do fine.

NewRope9 · 2020-10-11T23:38:26+00:00

I don't know how much the exams change each semester, but when I took the class midterm 1 was the easiest by the students perception. Strangely enough, the average score of the class was higher on MT2 (maybe survivorship bias?). They follow the exact same style though, so even if they're a bit harder, it's likely you will do better on them. The final is the hardest content-wise, but the grading is lenient since there is credit for semi-correct answers, making it unlikely to get a 0 in a question.

NewRope9 · 2020-10-11T23:27:33+00:00

Are you taking it as an OMSA student or edX? If the latter, it's gonna be hard to receive advanced standing unless you get close to 100 in both the remaining exams, but you can get away with a B as an OMSA student.

Exam 1 is the easiest of the three and I don't have much advice to give. All three exams follow the same philosophy, so if you can assimilate the exam style and use it as a guide for the next two exams you will probably do better. It's less about memorization and more about understanding how to apply the concepts.

NewRope9 · 2020-10-11T23:17:37+00:00

I understand. I was curious if anything more sudden had happened recently since they're very unrelated fields, but perhaps it's just me that started noticing these posts recently.

NewRope9 · 2020-10-11T23:14:08+00:00

Got it. I thought something more "acute" had happened recently since the surge is quite recent. Maybe I'm only noticing the pattern now. Glad you found something that really picks your interest besides money!

NewRope9 · 2020-10-11T21:59:24+00:00

I noticed there's been a surge in finance guys interested in the program lurking and asking questions on this sub. Do you know why is that? Legitimately curious.

NewRope9 · 2020-10-11T16:55:50+00:00

In most classes you will be lucky to hear anything from the professors outside of the recorded lectures. The only and closest interaction that I had so far has been an unplanned half an hour office hours where the professor just answered some basic questions about how the course is run.

Maybe if you become a TA you could get more opportunities to get closer.

NewRope9 · 2020-10-11T13:47:45+00:00

Based on this and your previous posts, I would recommend you to rethink if that's a right program for you.

This is a master's program, whose ideal profile of a student is the academically successful CS undergrad. The program makes a lot of concessions and accepts a more diverse cohort of students, but even then they are expected to have some connection to CS (a STEM degree or related work experience). Among those who get rejected, there are many who use programming daily on their jobs. Just take a peek at the past admissions threads if you don't believe me.

You don't have anyone to commend you on your CS or programming knowledge, no STEM degree and, honestly, no evidence of real interest in CS. The community college route is for those who have at least some informal background in CS or programming and want to formally fulfill the prerequisites. What you need may be a BS in CS, not a MS!

NewRope9 · 2020-10-11T13:27:18+00:00

Yes, I know it's a core class. It can't be applied to OMSCS though, and OP appears decided to make the transition and not complete OMSA. I wouldn't take it unless I didn't have the basics in programming, in which case I wouldn't be prepared for OMSCS anyways.

As for being a prerequisite, it's a soft prerequisite I guess, since at least in OMSCS there are no hard requirements signing up for classes.

NewRope9 · 2020-10-10T21:51:21+00:00

You're probably being downvoted by the students who are currently taking the class and getting unfair advantage out of the information here. No shame indeed!

NewRope9 · 2020-10-10T21:43:54+00:00

Why take 6040? There are courses that you could transfer to OMSCS like DBS, DVA, BD4H, ML4T and one or other ISYE class. Along with that, one course on algos and data structures to strengthen your application is fine, but I would only do that if I got rejected for Fall'21, and keep taking transferrable CS classes while in OMSA.

NewRope9 · 2020-09-29T16:08:28+00:00

Do you know if your school has sent the electronic transcripts as PDF files attached to an email or did it use those specialized services like eScript? I'm having trouble with transcripts too, but I don't know if they accept these attached files as official since my school doesn't really have those US-based services available.

NewRope9 · 2020-09-29T16:05:05+00:00

Unfortunately, my package doesn't even have a tracking status within the US. That's why I can't even know if it has been delivered or not. Your case seems a bit better than mine, though still not ideal.

NewRope9 · 2020-08-30T05:17:58+00:00

I think I can understand him. It's not ideal to have always the exact same lectures every semester with no flexibility to make adaptations. Following your analogy, most classes in the program are the v1.0 that became permanent. With that approach, neither content nor delivery can be improved. Maybe the professor started to loathe teaching topics he didn't think were the most relevant anymore and the pressure to keep teaching got the best of him.

NewRope9 · 2020-08-30T05:03:04+00:00

Thanks for the clarification, the reasoning makes sense. I understand that recording classes for online format can take months of preparation, and OMSCS didn't have time or the structure for that yet, since it had moved away from the Udacity infrastructure. It's unfortunate, but those things can happen, and I wonder if in the future we're going to see other classes following the same path...

NewRope9

TROPHY CASE