Arizona State University Reviews of Master's in Computer Science

I think as others have mentioned, if you're looking to really LEARN stuff, you're probably better off seeking out YouTube videos or Udemy classes. If what you seek is a diploma or certificate, then you can pay $1500 per course and get it if you're willing to work through the poorly written assignments, poorly edited lecture videos, and overly pedantic test questions. I was hoping for something approaching my experience as an in-person undergraduate at a different state school, however these classes... Read More are more like the unwanted step child of whatever professor was unlucky enough to have to "teach" the online course for the semester. Professors basically mail it in. They provide maybe 1 hour per week of live access, but many are so poor at spoken english communication that questions asked during the live session may as well just be random words strung together, prof will just answer whatever they think they heard and move on without actually answering anything. I was really hoping to use this master's degree as a stepping stone to potentially pursuing a PhD at some point in the future, but I can't imagine anything I have learned to date would qualify me for any sort of advanced education. If what you want is a certificate or a diploma, you can transactionally receive that at ASU online by providing cash. If what you're seeing is an EDUCATION, look elsewhere.

It took me just over a week to familiarize myself enough with the course and program to know that it is wasn't put together as well I needed it to be for the $1500.00 cash I had paid for this course. By then however, the reimbursement time was over by one day per ASU. I love alternative formats and was impressed with the outward structure of ASU's program (modular certificates leading to a Masters) - but the details were sloppy and all over the place. I couldn't shake the feeling that I would be... Read More better prepared in the course topic if I had taken a $15.00 Udemy course. Udemy, however, unlike ASU, takes responsibility for the quality of their content and offers a customer satisfaction focused, 30 day guarantee for their courses. ASU needs to have accountability for student (customer) satisfaction. They need to not hide behind delusions of "advanced curriculum" and focus instead on course improvement. They need to take student feedback and give student refunds.

I write this review as an international graduate student attending Arizona State University. This review is strictly based on my own experience in the computer science department. Let me start with positives of ASU. ASU has a diverse international student population, hence there was no feeling of alienation when I started here. Also, the locals are friendly and are always ready to help. ASU has tons of resources to help overcome homesickness, cultural and food variations. I got settled down within... Read More a month and it felt like home from there on. Regarding the course work, the computer science courses offered are really good. They cover all of the major disciplines in computer science. There are well-equipped labs and libraries. Professors are always welcoming and ready to help with your queries. But there is a catch, not all professors are great. I would say 60 percent of professors are good, 20 percent average and 20 percent bad. Overall computer science is a good department with some great faculty. Regarding the job opportunities, ASU conducts career fairs where few of the employers recruit students, but the career fairs are not that great as the number of employers attending is less and the students seeking employment are far more. This does not mean that we end up being jobless, it just means we have to search for jobs through other means like job portals, LinkedIn, employee referral etc. Most of the students in computer science get a job before they graduate. Also, the university has tons of resources to help you prepare for your job search. There are resume reviews, mock interviews, workshops about career and job search strategies and much more. Also, we can schedule appointments with career coaches in case we need personalized attention. With respect to social life, there are many cultural student organizations to be part of. There are Friday night events, regular camping and movie nights etc. Overall, the experience at ASU is positive.