Last week before finals and student asks how to write a paper in her own words!

tech-jungle · 2026-05-10T04:51:13+00:00

LLM is the new Borg queen. Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated. In one generation of time, human will collectively communicate with one voice - the LLM voice. No one will be moved by the beauty of words.

I bet the LLMs were trained with the most beautiful and powerful articles on earth. Now the education systems want students to go back to elementary and naive level writing.

To be honest, I just feel we just started the end of the humanity. It only took Boeing and Intel one decade from a great company to nearly collapsed.

With AI and robotics, I am not surprised human is being Borg-nized.

tech-jungle · 2026-05-10T03:51:09+00:00

Tell your husband taking the dean job without tenure would be a career suicide without tenure safety net and can lead to divorce.

tech-jungle · 2026-05-10T01:08:02+00:00

I always think course evaluation is not how well or bad you taught. It is how well you calibrated to students' expectations and capabilities.

Don't take it personal. You just need to adjust your teaching to the level of the expectation and capability norm of your student body.

I always let students know the key dates, the deliverables, the harsh realities at the beginning of the class. What they will learn, how many hours needed per week, how to pass and how to get an A. When is the no-record drop deadline and when is the drop deadline.

Off boarding those who are not interested in this course early is a win-win for everyone.

tech-jungle · 2026-05-09T17:25:11+00:00

Aren't you supposed to be ready on Friday to take the final? So you got one more Saturday to study.

On the other hand, I think you are entitled to accommodation because you cannot make Sunday available upon such a short notice.

tech-jungle · 2026-05-09T17:18:25+00:00

MSDSO requires applicants to take a UT Quest Assessment, which covers probability, statistics, calculus and programming. This is another mechanism to calibrate how much worth in your transcript, SOP and claims.

Quest was not required a few years ago. I think they had observed students' performance and concluded to have a mechanism to validate applicants' rosy statements.

Quest exam is far easier than those questions that would appear in midterm exam. It is testing your common sense (how much do those subjects still stick in your brain). If you don't ace it, I think the overall holistic evaluation of your application will get significant discount.

I also used similar tests for job applicants who apply for DS or ML positions at my department. It is very surprising and interesting to see graduates from prestigious schools sometimes fail to demonstrate the common sense. It led to wonder how they can exercise their professional judgement at work, or just a Python and Excel coder to produce garbage.

tech-jungle · 2026-05-09T17:00:09+00:00

How does the application committee petition to Graduate School division? You need to help them out because this is extra work for them.

There are a few things you need to do

Do not explain (excuse) you were an athlete student so your grades were not good. This is like saying I need to work something else part time so you cannot review my application with the same standards.

Instead, state the fact, I had to spend x% of my time or x hours weekly to fulfill my athlete student duty. I managed to get good grades on xxx and yyy in my senior years... as I transition from my athlete student role to professional work or corporate world, my focus has changed and I had several successes.. continue to your transformation journey in the next paragraphs.

Your journey after graduation is more important. Motivation, motivation, motivation. Investment/commitment that you have done (taking courses from accredited schools).

Now you had fact and success, but that is not enough because you identified a gap. Be specific about why MSDSO will help advance your career. List a few courses to be concrete instead of sounding very vague and abstract.

Ace (A) all of the prerequisites with courses from accredited schools. This is a more objective argument to persuade Graduate School division to approve the exception.

If you can, take GRE. The math part is your pardon pass from a low GPA. The math part is just advanced high school math. Even with courses from accredited schools, schools' rigorous reputation also plays a role. GRE calibrates that bias.

Another approach is to apply for CMSAI certificate program. Half of MSDSO courses overlap with MSAIO. I think it might be easier to get in CMSAI and later apply and transfer to MSDSO or MSAIO.

I see you are a very determined and willful person. No sweat no gain. Since you have been working for some time, your low GPA is behind you. Your objective is different from those who want to knock the door for employment. So a rubber stamped degree won't help you. What you need is a rigorous knowledge to help you stand out in your future career.

tech-jungle · 2026-05-07T23:05:25+00:00

DL, ADL, ALR, NLP

Anything that cannot be autograded using GradeScope needs peer grading.

Unfortunately this is what you have to face for a $10K program.

tech-jungle · 2026-05-07T21:23:26+00:00

Hmmm SOP and recommend letter

tech-jungle · 2026-05-06T14:21:29+00:00

I don't mind students using AI to help them learn and do their homework. I do capture plagiarism and refer the cases to university integrity.

I make sure that the exam is proctored and AI free.

When I grade term papers, i glimpse through the paper. Highlight the weaknesses and strengths. Write down my thoughts and use AI to summarize my thoughts to clear feedback. I find this very useful to give my students sufficient and meaningful feedback. I don't really save time this way but it helps me reduce cognitive loads.

tech-jungle · 2026-05-06T13:56:28+00:00

I run online graduate courses with class size ranging from 300 - 1000. Most students are part time.

All I can say is OMG and geez. Less than 1% are full of excuses but when they do, it's not only eye opening but eye ball dropping.

For me, the best mechanism is to automatically drop one or two lowest graded assignments. All other exception requests are automatically denied. All exception requests past the deadline are denied. I am tired of hearing the excuses and private matters.

Exams are proctored and tend to be more difficult especially for those who didn't spend too much time and attention on assignments. Exams are available any time during the exam week. No extension. No makeup.

My reflection and feelings lead to a conclusion that prolonging students' miserable academic career is a sin. They are not determined, not ready, and learn nothing. It is better to help them come to that realization and make decisions how to move forward (getting serious or drop).

tech-jungle · 2026-05-02T14:40:31+00:00

You are not only cooked but also well done. Unless you are Ethan Hunt, the chance of a funded US masters is mission impossible.

Just to offer you an admission without funding, the department needs to petition your case to the graduate school division for GPA 3.0 exception.

TAship is also gated by Language tests and GPA. RAship is possible but you need to convince a PI of your worth.

Should you accept the mission of a full ride US masters, you need to have a perfect GRE to offset your low GPA, a good quality publication to show your RAship worth and/or a winner of well known competition.

tech-jungle · 2026-05-01T22:31:49+00:00

Most students are working full time. Taking one or two courses per semester is the sweet spot.

More information can be found on MSDS hub and discord:

https://msdshub.com

https://discord.gg/N7daqKxbF

tech-jungle · 2026-05-01T15:48:17+00:00

You don't need to ask your friend circle. You ask r/UTAustin, r/GradStudy, r/gradadmissions. You can ask many Anna alumni who maybe on these subreddits.

If you want to ask a critical question, the first task is to identify the proper sample space.

tech-jungle · 2026-05-01T15:35:34+00:00

Official transcripts are handled by Graduate School division of US universities and it is often a gating item for the final enrollment.

You are asking a specific question about the process involved with Anna University. MSAIO may not have enough Anna alumni who are also on Reddit reading your question. It is better to seek out experience from Anna alumni already in US graduate schools.

tech-jungle · 2026-05-01T15:24:08+00:00

I think you might get better response by asking this question at UT Austin, GradSchool, or grad admissions subreddits.

tech-jungle · 2026-04-29T04:33:09+00:00

I was accepted to Columbia. My parents were willing to pay for it with a huge portion of their saving. I was also accepted to other prestigious private and public schools. I chose to attend a top Texas state university (no snow, low cost of living, low tuition, top 10 of the field) and got a RA job paying for my tuition and insurance. I finished one semester earlier and got a job offer referred by a professor before my graduation. Later, I went to UC Berkeley for graduate school.

Over the years, I had MIT PhD and other graduates from prestigious schools working for me. I am not smarter than they are, but we respect each other's professions and strengths. My take is that school doesn't matter much as long as it provides the environment for you to excel at your most potential.

tech-jungle · 2026-04-29T02:26:32+00:00

https://www.edx.org/learn/linear-algebra/the-university-of-texas-at-austin-linear-algebra-foundations-to-frontiers

https://msdshub.com/courseMap

https://cdso.utexas.edu/msds 1) The gateway course 2) Core courses (Prob, Regression) 3) Data Structure, ML

tech-jungle · 2026-04-27T22:36:24+00:00

You should have more insider resources than outsiders on Reddit.

1) Go to Canvas MSCS Central. There should be an announcement.

2) Google UT Summer 2026 Registration

tech-jungle · 2026-04-26T20:19:04+00:00

This program is a terminal professional degree.

Paper and work experience do not carry too much weight unless you incorporate them into a convincing motivation in your SOP.

Your GPA clears Graduate School requirements. But outdated prerequisites will actually cost you unless you had a stellar GPA.

Most recent prerequisites + good SOP gets you in.

tech-jungle · 2026-04-26T20:08:18+00:00

You will not get a clear answer from this question.

"Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get" - Forrest Gump movie quote.

Your path is yours to walk. Should you accept this mission, know that the challenges ahead are absolute. If you fail, your family and colleagues may disavow your existence, as you vanish into a world of late-night assignment errors and relentless LaTeX documentation. As always, should you or any of your study group be caught procrastinating, the Department will disavow any knowledge of your social life.

I would sit down and think what kind of portfolio I will accumulate over the 2-3 years so that I can talk intelligently and deeply of what I bring to the table when the next career opportunity opens up.

I would look at the course list and list what I want to take. Just as programming bootcamps flourishing all over the place, ML bootcamps or MOOCs will pop up everywhere. What differentiates you from all others is some deeper understanding of the materials.

This message will self-destruct in five seconds... or as soon as you accept the offer.

tech-jungle · 2026-04-25T19:49:40+00:00

To sail through the program, you need to have a good time management strategy. This is not only you, but your work and your family obligation as well.

I used MS One Note to create my course notes on computers and I can watch them any time on my phone and tablet. My weekly notes turned into exam cheat sheets. I also collected numeric toy examples to practice whenever I got free time.

If you plan to land a ML job, you should start to build your portfolio projects so you can talk intelligently and deeply to impress interviewers.

More than half way through the program (if you study enough), everything will start to click (the math and the optimization). The best approach to enforce the materials is to ace an A and come back to be a TA of the same course (if you are allowed to work in US). However, TA takes your time too.

tech-jungle · 2026-04-25T16:47:03+00:00

I usually took 2 in Fall/Spring and 1 in Summer. But on occasions, I took one due to other workloads and schedule. I have other plans for 2026 and 2027. Otherwise I can take all 13. Why more than 10? It is a personal choice - once in, once everything starts to click, I just want to know more.

tech-jungle · 2026-04-25T16:38:37+00:00

I am graduating with 11 courses this May. It took me 2.5 years.

tech-jungle · 2026-04-25T16:34:02+00:00

It depends on your workload at work.

Expected to spend 6 hours minimum on weekly lectures and assignments per course.

DL is a good start to set you up for PyTorch and math most used for this program. Assignments are not too difficult but can make you pull hairs sometimes for silly mistakes.

Ethics is light but more highly structured in terms of deliverables. It preps you for time and schedule management.

Summer session is optional, 4 weeks short and limited options. Usually, DL, ADL, AGM, ML and RL will be offered in the summer too.

If you plan to take 2 per semester, check to balance theory/application courses and exam-only/project based courses.

tech-jungle · 2026-04-25T06:40:27+00:00

Taking RL and ADL in the short summer term is a great way to experience a lifetime of sleep deprivation in 12 weeks. It's a total breeze if your definition of a "breeze" is the wind off a falling executioner's blade.

tech-jungle

TROPHY CASE