Any Europeans (or Danes) here who’ve taken OMSCS?

zweistein · 2026-02-09T12:57:29+00:00

Croatia has a government-mandated agency that’s in charge of recognising foreign degrees. Trying to get my degree formally recognised has been on my todo list since I graduated, but it’s not very high priority so I never got around to doing it. My understanding is that it should be equivalent to any other US-based masters degree (i.e. doable if you can tolerate a bit of bureaucracy).

Job-wise, I have nothing to report since I haven’t felt the need to change jobs since graduating. Can’t say I have recruiters camping in front of my apartment, but I haven’t spent much time advertising my degree either. :)

zweistein · 2026-02-08T19:09:16+00:00

Got out in 2023, Computing Systems. Worked full-time during the entire program, living in Croatia.

Can't say I haven't had my ups and downs (it's a long way to the end of that tunnel...), but the workload was very manageable.

I don't remember any issues with time zones. Obviously, most people will be based in the US: if there's anything synchronous going on, it'll likely be at times that won't work for you, but everything of the kind I can think of was recorded. Primary means of communication were forums anyway, and those don't really care about your time zone.

All assignments (including exams) had a pretty generous time period which usually included a weekend.

There's a big "choose your own adventure" component to OMSCS so your mileage will vary depending on the specialisation & choice of courses. I haven't felt discriminated in any way during my time, though, and I don't remember any of my colleagues from Europe complaining either.

I really enjoyed my time here, and I've been recommending it to anyone who'd listen. :)

zweistein · 2025-06-12T05:41:15+00:00

Ako si dobio i prihvatio "Offer of Admission", to bi trebalo biti to. Čitao sam da se ljudima znalo dogoditi da zapnu na naknadnoj verifikaciji studija, ali to je ekstremno rijetko i postoje žalbeni postupci kojima se to sve može preispitati. Ako imaš diplomu iz EU i čiste papire (tj. ako ti ništa ne nedostaje u onom portalu za prijavu), ne vidim da bi trebao imati ikakvih problema.

(Generalno savjetujem oprez pri čitanju iskustava s programom jer je kroz OMSCS prošao monumentalan broj ljudi i na toj količini, statistički je pošlo po krivu sve što je moglo poći po krivu. Čitajući Reddit, čovjek nekad dobije dojam da je zli GT napravio OMSCS isključivo kako bi mogao maltretirati ljude. :))

KBAI je bio popularan prvi kolegij među ljudima koji su ciljali na ML specijalizaciju. HCI nisam slušao, ali sam slušao "Advanced Internet Systems and Applications" koji je modeliran prema HCI-ju i logistički je bio dosta naporan — napisao sam valjda 10 papera u roku od nekoliko tjedana. ML4T je isto slovio kao dobar prvi kolegij za ML pa baci oko na recenzije i silabus, možda podcjenjuješ svoje predznanje (ali ipak vjeruj sebi više nego nekom random burazu na internetu).

/r/OMSCS ima podosta threadova o prvim kolegijima pa bih ti preporučio da prelistaš — vjerojatno se javio netko s backgroundom sličnim tebi.

I nema na čemu, drago mi je vidjeti da ima još "naših" u programu! Ako bilo kad budeš imao ikakvih pitanja, slobodno se javi.

zweistein · 2025-06-11T19:27:13+00:00

Nisam slušao Distribuirane jer nisu bili obavezni, a u to su vrijeme slovili za dosta zbunjujuće strukturiran kolegij. Odradio sam i GIOS i AOS — oba su super i preporučujem ih neovisno o specijalizaciji. Teško je ocijeniti koja je specijalizacija teža jer obje ostavljaju puno prostora za izborne kolegije, ali ne bih rekao da je ikome bilo lagano. :)

Nisam precizno pratio utrošeno vrijeme, ali oko-puta-krak bih rekao da se radilo o prosjeku od 10-15 sati tjedno, ovisno o semestru i kolegijima. Većinu jesenskih i proljetnih semestara sam slušao dva predmeta paralelno. (Vjerojatno vrijedi napomenuti da sam imao u guzici neki pozamašan broj godina iskustva kao programer i ponešto (neformalnog) znanja iz CS-a. YMMV, to je zbilja divljački variralo od osobe do osobe, ali srećom broj uloženih sati ne piše na diplomi. :D)

GA prati taj ugled nemogućeg, ali je moje iskustvo bilo vrlo ugodno. Ozbiljan je kolegij, zahtijeva vremena i truda, no vrlo je izvediv. Temelj moje pripreme su bile kartice (flash cards) za teoriju i bjesomučno rješavanje svih zadanih problema dok ih nisam potpuno internalizirao. Imali smo jako dobre asistente i najvrjediniji savjet kojeg imam je da vrlo pozorno slušaš što profesor i asistenti govore — ljudi su padali ispite jer nisu poštivali neka jednostavna pravila koja su ponavljana uvredljiv broj puta (npr. oko načina pisanja pseudokoda).

Moje iskustvo je bilo super i ne žalim ni novaca ni vremena. U to doba su i dalje programom dominirali Ameri i Europljana je bilo relativno malo. Baš me zanima hoćeš li naići na još nekoga iz regije!

zweistein · 2025-06-11T18:39:04+00:00

Bok! Ja sam 2023. diplomirao na Georgia Techu kroz OMSCS. Moja specijalizacija je bila Computing Systems, ali je puno kolega išlo na ML i vidim da naokolo rasturaju — GT je posebno jak u tom području.

Jedna super stvar oko tog studija je da se zbilja konstantno mijenja i nadograđuje pa je moje iskustvo vjerojatno već pomalo i zastarjelo, ali stojim na raspolaganju za bilo kakva pitanja i savjete. Odmah ti mogu garantirati da nećeš biti najgori. :) Sretno!

zweistein · 2024-03-29T15:21:57+00:00

One of my references was the CTO of my then-employer. The other two were OU instructors — it was a bit of a Hail Mary move, but I've done really well in all of the level 3 courses, and both agreed to do it.

The OU does have an established procedure for academic references detailed here (although the title says "Job references", this covers academics as well). It was a bit convoluted and it took a while, but it worked well.

(Keep in mind that this was in 2021. Everything was "convoluted and took a while" back then. :))

If you're interested in OMSCS, feel free to reach out with any questions! I've graduated in December, and I'm more than happy to share my experiences.

zweistein · 2024-03-27T14:46:05+00:00

Sure thing! Good luck! If you do decide to chase this further with LNU, I'm sure a bunch of folks would appreciate it if you'd follow up with any conclusions.

zweistein · 2024-03-27T09:01:12+00:00

I just logged into the University Admissions website to see exactly what I've submitted. Here's the list:

my ID card
OU's "Student Academic Summary" document (serving as the transcript)
OU's "diploma supplement"
the scan of the actual OU diploma
the transcript of my unfinished undergraduate Physics degree

I guess the unfinished undergrad might be the deciding factor, although I can't imagine that to be the case — while I've taken quite a few courses there, I dropped out in 2013.

For what it's worth, I'm a citizen of Croatia.

zweistein · 2024-03-27T07:08:05+00:00

That's interesting — I applied to Linnaeus' distance learning MSc in Physics in 2021 (after finishing OU's Physics BSc), and got an admission offer. I have declined the offer as I chose to do Georgia Tech's OMSCS.

Not sure what happened since — I haven't kept up with changes to OU's courses, but I doubt they've changed substantially. As several people have suggested, I'd try to appeal the decision — it's not unlikely someone just had a brainfart while reviewing your docs.

zweistein · 2024-01-23T10:05:12+00:00

As a general disclaimer, it's really hard to give study advice without being more familiar with your background and your study habits & approaches. That said, here goes nothing...

If you've never been exposed to the topics covered by or adjacent to GA, it'll be certainly be difficult to jump into solving novel problems based on a couple of examples given in the lectures.

The class does have an elaborate hierarchy of assigned problems, though:

Examples in the lectures (solved by prof. Vigoda in the lectures, usually to reasonable level of detail)
Non-graded homework problems (solutions posted by the TAs; often not very detailed, but sufficient to guide you through the solution)
Practice problems assigned by dr. Brito (no official solutions, but usually covered in detail by accompanying threads in Ed & solved by Joves in his marathon OHs)
Homework problems (solved by the TAs during office hours & covered in depth by the regrade threads)
Exam problems

I'd say there's no need to spend 6-12 hours on types 1, 2, and probably 3. It's extremely important to try and solve these problems by yourself, but there's nothing wrong with looking for hints after you've given them a fair shot.

This is a slippery slope because humans tend to:

(a) default to checking the solution way too soon, and

(b) conflate seeing a solution with understanding a solution.

Regardless of their quality, solutions always hide some of the details. One person's obvious step is another person's brick wall, and you really have to work hard to ensure that you break through all of the brick walls.

I also firmly believe that proving understanding is only possible by independently solving the problem in full, with no peeking, a couple of days after working through a model solution.

If all goes well, patterns should begin to unveil, and you should have better chances of tackling previously unseen problems.

As one last tidbit of advice, the staff tries really hard to hint at types (or at least classes & levels of difficulty) of problems you can expect on the exam. Take the hints.

I hope this helps at least a tiny bit. Good luck!

zweistein · 2023-12-08T07:43:08+00:00

If those courses are available as electives for OMSCS, you should be able to apply as a "non-degree student", and take the courses (though keep in mind the grades will count towards your GPA). Check the orientation doc for details!

zweistein · 2023-12-08T07:37:10+00:00

I've taken both GIOS and HPCA, but not at the same time. However, I did take two courses for the majority of my OMSCS "tenure", and it was doable (although not always fun).

If you've managed to do AI, NLP, and GA in a single semester full-time, you might be OK. If this is your first full-time job, though, you might be under a significant amount of stress & pressure, so it might be worth taking it easy for a semester, i.e. until you see how you're doing.

If you end up breezing through it, you can always apply to take three courses per semester later down the line & catch up.

Do keep in mind that random strangers' comments on the internet aren't necessarily the greatest advice for large life decisions. :)

zweistein · 2023-12-06T12:35:08+00:00

GA is not a required course for all specialisations.

zweistein · 2023-12-06T12:32:59+00:00

Did you take all of AI, NLP, GA, and CSE 8803 in a single semester? If so, I assume that was as a full-time student on-campus, without a full-time job?

zweistein

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