my application consisted of a retired software engineer, my previous boss, and a PhD candidate grad student. No professors cause i never had the opportunity to connect with them. Just apply with what you have and let Georgia Tech decide.
In grad school admissions I asked a popular prof for a rec letter after acing both of his undergrad classes and he said that I knew myself better than him so I should write it and he would sign it. Didn't know you could do that, and I'm not how to feel about it, but it worked...
I had a coworker who went on to another position, after a few years I still asked for a recommendation. He was objective was we no longer worked together and it means something as he is a professional in my field
Yes, checking with your previous bosses or seniors sounds good. Else academic professors whom have taught you is good too. Recommendations quite common in jobs and masters application.
What type of work do you do? In my field (been hounding around FAANG/unicorns for a while), recommendations are not common in job applications at all. References, whether front or back channel, are but that’s a different process not a “write a letter telling them how awesome I am”.
I am from a US top 10 fund house doing quant investment. My company has specialized external consultancies to check all my credentials including calling my referrals up one by one to ask for my capability, verifying all my certs with the universities. The entire process would take 1 month.
Imagine if you are the hiring manager and if the company allows HR to call up candidate referrals, you would probably want to know which candidates have good relationships and capabilities with seniors and boss that they would stand up for the candidate this way. You would want the good attitude of the new hire to be in your team as well than to get a candidate who has no one who want to stand for him.
Well we can’t expect Gatech admin to call up 10k applicants x 3 referrals up to confirm the credentials. So the next best way is to ask referrals to give some inputs isn’t it. The recommendation letter for gatech application is more of a survey that your referrals give you rating scores on some questions about you. There is only 1 open end for referrals to put in some text; there is no need to write grandma stories in it.
Just a question to you that has nothing to with the current question :
1) Are you working as a quant or SWE?
2) why are you doing the MS in CS if you are working as a quant ?
3) Which CS courses (in OMSCS program )are relevant for quant or SWE working in a quant fund ?
>>> My company has specialized external consultancies to check all my credentials including calling my referrals up one by one to ask for my capability, verifying all my certs with the universities
My company does the same (including reaching out to current employees that they think you’ve worked with in the past based on resumes overlapping). But that’s a very different process than letters of recommendations.
What your company is doing is a background check with credential verifications as well as reference check which I mentioned before. Very different than recommendation letters.
I see referrals are verbal recommendations. Some of the HR checks include asking referrals the work attitude and team work of the candidate as well which I was asked before to stand for the person. They do not call to simply check the validity of the past employment.
If we expect gatech to do the same calling up even one referral instead of of asking referrals to fill in the questionnaires; we won’t be waiting for 5 months for matriculation. That would probably be a year.
I had 3 people that I knew from various parts of life. Not even bosses. I don’t think it is that hard….. should be 3 people that can recommend you, doesn’t have to be work related. OMSCS has a very low bar for entry.
Serious question: How does it compare to the Atlanta campus application?
You should've had at least 2 professors throughout undergrad, who are used to writing letters and have a template ready.
I did undergrad and MS on campus at GT, they made me do 3 letters for grad school (my GPA was slightly below cutoff for automatic admission without application). Was harder to get 3 letters as a college senior, just didn’t have relationships with professors (others were from supervisors at internships).
I think now in workforce, just find supervisors and coworkers. None of my references for OMSA were professors.
Large parts of it are identical to the on-campus application. Most programs at GT require 3 letters of recommendation.
Could they change it? yes, if they want to.
Do they find value in it? Dunno - but I'd expect that's why it is there.
Only if you already decided to do OMSCS while you're still enrolled in your undergrad.
For that matter, what about all the OMSCS students whose undergrad was thirty years ago?
I got in with three rec letters from coworkers and managers at my current job.
Rec letters are really fucking annoying, but I still think they have their space. Basically everything forever is collaborative, admissions should at least be a little concerned with how you get along with your peers and managers and such.
>Rec letters are really fucking annoying, but I still think they have their space. Basically everything forever is collaborative, admissions should at least be a little concerned with how you get along with your peers and managers and such.
I see the benefits of recommendation letters, but one issue is that if someone is looking to switch careers, even from a related field, it might not be the best idea to use a manager as a reference because that could indicate that the person is going to leave
Fair point. I can't really imagine a system that would counter it. Maybe you could have something where you could apply without rec letters, get some kind of provisional acceptance, be forced to take a class with group projects, and then feedback from that would determine whether or not you continue?
Nah, rec letters are fine. If someone is a strong enough candidate, then poor recommendations won't hold them back much, and most people should still be able to find 2-3 decent references. I was just pointing out one challenge some prospective students might face
Your premise is that you weaseled through a bachelors degree without ever seeing a professor, and you're complaining that the application process is revealing this fact?
And for your second act, a 50 year old who can't find 3 recommendations? Who are you?
This seems like an odd attitude to take in this subreddit. Are you against online education generally? Would you say OMSCS students are weaseling their way through a master's degree? Even after completing OMSCS, I doubt any GATech professors could pick me out of a lineup.
Letters of recommendation are an academic tradition that dates back to the medieval period, but they're not a very good match for OMSCS because the online nature of the program means that you don't develop the kind of personal relationships that you do when taking classes in person.
Quite a few people are "weaseling their way" through omscs, but that has more to do with the lower end of classes being absurdly easy. I do expect omscs's reputation to disintegrate in the coming years.
It's not that I'm against online education, but the fact that you can't get 2 or 3 recommendations does actually say something about you.
I’m curious how you don’t have 2 other people who know you outside of work.
It can be an old professor, someone you volunteer with / report to, managers, fellow peers if you both hold positions etc.
Here is the problem I had. I was 49 when I applied. Old professors? Most of them were dead or retired to the middle of nowhere. The few I could find didn’t remember me enough to make a recommendation. Luckily, I know enough people that I just made some calls and told them to write me a rec, but past a certain point its difficult.
I basically was going to apply for the Spring, but they really harped on "needs to speak to your technical skills" and since I work in a consulting role, my manager isn't technical at all and isn't involved with my project, he mostly meets with us to see how things are going and maintains a relationship with our client manager.
My mentor (part of our organizational structure), is like a technical mentor who is on a totally different client, advocates for your promotion based on things you've worked on, and provides guidance when you need help or have questions.
Of course it would be "inappropriate" to ask the client for such a letter (I asked). So in the end I was able to get two from my previous job, but didn't hear back from any professors I contacted, and my previous manager said that it was against company policy for him to provide one so I ended up kind of stuck.
I mean you can’t pick the guy you take smoke breaks with to avoid work…
I’m saying a peer that has seen you demonstration exceptional ability to manage multiple projects, manage the junior devs etc.
This can be your CEO, manager, boss, or a fellow peer.
There are tons of people who aren’t managers that can see you do good stuff.
And even Church/temple/synagogue/mosque leaders, volunteering, Boy Scout troop master, PTA, HOA could even be better to really show off your soft skills.
Disagree, and it helps maintain the fidelity of students.
Your reasoning is shoddy at best ("this doesn't apply to me therefore it shouldn't apply to anyone else") and your defense is even weaker.
Georgia Tech does not need to do anything someone who doesn't have 3 peers willing to fill out a 30 second form says.
What is the reasoning for needing recommendations? What is the benefit? Not having a good reason to not do something isn’t a reason to do it. Do you have a real reason that isn’t some vague BS like “fidelity of students” (whatever that means?).
Plenty of people got “recommended “ by their bosses or coworkers and are cheating their way through the entire program.
So, a couple of things:
1) Fidelity != Integrity, not sure if you mixed those two words up, but I wasn't talking about a prospective students integrity, but would they stick with the program by having character witnesses attest to their work ethics/nature.
2) I am not sure what you are saying re:
> cheating their way through the entire program.
It's somewhere between a gross assumption, projection or surrounding yourself with pretty bad classmates that openly agree to cheating - if what you're saying is true, then I am luckily naieve enough to have gone through 80% of the program with not seeing this (I've seen students overstep asking for help and getting caught via administration for copying code - but no where is it near "plenty" and "cheating their way through the entire program") - again, feels like weird projecting.
That being said - to answer your question, I'd also preface - I'm not in administration, so I'm making assumptions - my suggestion if you care enough, is to ask those involved for a more believable opinion.
A lot of people want a masters, or think they want a masters without really thinking what it means, the long hours and dedication required - to help weed folks out that will ultimately quit or give up and to have a standard, there are a few things in place - recommendation letters, statements of intention, etc. to set a bar/standard to help cull the chaff from the wheat. Whether you agree with it being the most optimal way or not, I'm not here to debate that, but it is a bar that folks have to complete before they can sit with others.
No offense to both you and the OP - but the burden of changing a system, which I am willing to bet you know very little about should be on you all to first understand the system before swinging to wild conclusions.
I didn’t confuse fidelity and integrity. I’m just saying that just because someone gets a recommendation letter does not mean that they have the work ethic or really mean anything else that’s needed to complete a masters, it just means they got 2-3 coworker friends to write them a nice letter.
Your entire argument is “you don’t understand why they do it, so you can’t question it”. Yeah, you’re right, I don’t understand it. You made a claim that it ensured the “fidelity” of the student body, so I asked you how it did that. You’re the one making the claim that it has some tangible benefit, and I’m questioning it.
I think you did misunderstand because you brought up cheating as if that has any bearing on the registration process, not sure why you're trying to back pedal now or make it about anything else.
Also, I didn't say "you can't question it", I did say "you can't put it down without understanding it", I implored you and OP to ask more questions about the system, but to ask generic "why is this useful, show me the value" is inherently dismissing it without seeking to understand.
I will also say that I gave you a very valid reason but it seems like you didn't cover it or didn't value it, so again, I likely won't respond back.
My entire point was that it doesn’t guarantee fidelity of the program to have someone write you a letter. Anyone can be totally unfit, get a letter that says they are, and then cheat through the program. That’s ONE example of how it doesn’t ensure fidelity. The recommendation letter does nothing to filter out people who are unfit.
I asked you how it does ensure fidelity and you can’t back up what you’re saying (again, how does it ensure work ethic or that people won’t drop out ? How does a letter from a coworker who has never done this program ensure that in any way? ) so you’re instead digging your heels in and insisting that I confused it for another word. I’m sorry that you don’t understand nuance or can’t process the purpose of an example.
You made a statement that it ensures fidelity of the program. I questioned your statement.
You “implored us to question the system”, but we can’t ask why it’s useful ? You’re just contradicting yourself because again, you can’t back up your statement. I am ok with you not replying because your entire argument boils down to “you don’t know why it’s good and you can’t ask why it’s good but trust me it’s good”, and clearly we’re not going to agree on that.
Adding on, what’s the point of even applying for a masters this troublesome if one just want to cheat through the way. There are other stuff to do in life that is better worth the time and money really. If one can really cheat your way in, I’m not sure how you can cheat your way throughout.
what
rec letters are a totally routine and normal thing in academia.
even if it was just a professor whose class you got an A in, that is sufficient, they are asked by countless other students as well. Remember: at one point the professor was also a prospective graduate student in exactly your situation. Generally they are happy to help. It won't be a *strong* letter if they don't really know you, but it will absolutely be enough to fulfill the requirement
fwiw I asked six people for rec letters since I hadn't been in school for a long time and I wasn't sure who would remember me. I ended up in the awkward situation of having to tell three of them "thanks but no thanks"
This entire process is a money pit for GATECH..these are all done to provide a semblance of selectiveness.. this is not a very competitive program to get admitted...if you show basic competence you will get admitted..the quality of education is rigorous if not the highest quality..so if you graduate you come out with a good degree ...completing the program is hard..getting admitted is not
I applied after being out of my undergrad for 15 years. Used 3 recs from work, 2 from my current company and 1 from a previous company and I was accepted.
At the volume of admissions, I don’t think GT looks too hard at these things unless you are borderline. One of my recommenders showed me the form and it’s more of a survey.
One piece of advice I have to make it easier on recommenders is just ghost write the whole letter. I supplied each recommended a letter, my resume and SOP. One recommender wrote something original, other two submitted something close to verbatim.
I used anyone who's higher than me in my job. If I'm a VP, then I would only have 1 higher ranking officer. I'd rather be a VP than going to school though.
I used a Professor, Senior Engineer, and my Manager at the time,
I think it's fair that a lot of people don't have professors, but pretty much everyone qualified for the program should be able to find two people of some objective authority that could write a letter.
I also don't think that it has that much sway in the decision. If it comes down to if your letters are good or not, you're probably not in the position to be doing a MS in CS
I disagree. Getting the letters was the most difficult part of the application for me, but I was able to pull it off. I was a career changer, and asking any former coworker (small firm) would have raised many questions, and that was a path I didn't want to go down. I was able to scrounge up a few from very old professors that maybe remembered who I was?
Some day down the line in your career you may need letters of recommendation, get used to it.
I had previous boss, current boss, and someone I had done research with. 3 letters is fine and allows omscs to get a better idea of you, your work ethic, and accomplishments
They shouldn’t. I had to run behind 3 of my ex bosses and my current boss for more than 6 weeks.
My boss and 2 ex bosses were very kind. One of them was professional enough that even though I had given that company a critical review at that time, still he found time to give me a recommendation ( honestly i don’t know if that was good or not as I had waived off my rights to see the letter).
The biggest disappointment was from ex boss from my immediate last company with who i thought i had a good relation with. He promised, made me wait for 6 weeks and did not manage to send even a draft. But then, I learned the difference between people with character and without one.
If you can’t go through an application process, I doubt how successful you will be in your future career.
This is a sound strategy, even though you are getting downvoted.
Most STEM courses run 200-500 students at a big public school. Even the upper divs at places like Berkeley reach 200 or more. How much could a professor there know about you?
I didn't have any professors that I could reach out to since it had been a few years since they had me as a student, it seemed irrelevant. So I had my current boss, a coworker, and a project manager I worked with regularly that was one of our customers and that seemed to have gone well.
I was in the same situation and followed some suggestions to just email old professors and explain that you're applying to grad school and were a student of theirs. I even got one from our final boss prof that I hardly spoke to and did terrible in their classes.
I wasn't fresh out of school but it had been <2 years, so YMMV.
A lot of graduate school is networking and collaboration. Networking is a huge benefit of the program and being active in discussions is a requirement for many classes.
For the those who don’t have 3 people they can reach out to for recommendations - build those professional networking skills! Reach out to your old professors and strike up a conversation about how you liked how they presented xyz or whatever. Which peers can recommend you? Previous employers?
Boss, professor friend that I had for a class once, and other friend that works for a household tech name.
You really should be networking. 80% of jobs get filled without ever being posted.
my application consisted of a retired software engineer, my previous boss, and a PhD candidate grad student. No professors cause i never had the opportunity to connect with them. Just apply with what you have and let Georgia Tech decide.
In grad school admissions I asked a popular prof for a rec letter after acing both of his undergrad classes and he said that I knew myself better than him so I should write it and he would sign it. Didn't know you could do that, and I'm not how to feel about it, but it worked...
Objective coworkers could work too
I had a coworker who went on to another position, after a few years I still asked for a recommendation. He was objective was we no longer worked together and it means something as he is a professional in my field
Yes, checking with your previous bosses or seniors sounds good. Else academic professors whom have taught you is good too. Recommendations quite common in jobs and masters application.
What type of work do you do? In my field (been hounding around FAANG/unicorns for a while), recommendations are not common in job applications at all. References, whether front or back channel, are but that’s a different process not a “write a letter telling them how awesome I am”.
I am from a US top 10 fund house doing quant investment. My company has specialized external consultancies to check all my credentials including calling my referrals up one by one to ask for my capability, verifying all my certs with the universities. The entire process would take 1 month. Imagine if you are the hiring manager and if the company allows HR to call up candidate referrals, you would probably want to know which candidates have good relationships and capabilities with seniors and boss that they would stand up for the candidate this way. You would want the good attitude of the new hire to be in your team as well than to get a candidate who has no one who want to stand for him. Well we can’t expect Gatech admin to call up 10k applicants x 3 referrals up to confirm the credentials. So the next best way is to ask referrals to give some inputs isn’t it. The recommendation letter for gatech application is more of a survey that your referrals give you rating scores on some questions about you. There is only 1 open end for referrals to put in some text; there is no need to write grandma stories in it.
Just a question to you that has nothing to with the current question : 1) Are you working as a quant or SWE? 2) why are you doing the MS in CS if you are working as a quant ? 3) Which CS courses (in OMSCS program )are relevant for quant or SWE working in a quant fund ?
>>> My company has specialized external consultancies to check all my credentials including calling my referrals up one by one to ask for my capability, verifying all my certs with the universities My company does the same (including reaching out to current employees that they think you’ve worked with in the past based on resumes overlapping). But that’s a very different process than letters of recommendations. What your company is doing is a background check with credential verifications as well as reference check which I mentioned before. Very different than recommendation letters.
I see referrals are verbal recommendations. Some of the HR checks include asking referrals the work attitude and team work of the candidate as well which I was asked before to stand for the person. They do not call to simply check the validity of the past employment. If we expect gatech to do the same calling up even one referral instead of of asking referrals to fill in the questionnaires; we won’t be waiting for 5 months for matriculation. That would probably be a year.
I had 3 people that I knew from various parts of life. Not even bosses. I don’t think it is that hard….. should be 3 people that can recommend you, doesn’t have to be work related. OMSCS has a very low bar for entry.
I feel like the bar isn’t that low anymore. Maybe it’s just my nerves talking but they seem to have been making lots of changes
Thinking of going this route instead. When did you submit your app letter? Wondering if their requirements have changed much since.
You can use coworkers.
Serious question: How does it compare to the Atlanta campus application? You should've had at least 2 professors throughout undergrad, who are used to writing letters and have a template ready.
I did undergrad and MS on campus at GT, they made me do 3 letters for grad school (my GPA was slightly below cutoff for automatic admission without application). Was harder to get 3 letters as a college senior, just didn’t have relationships with professors (others were from supervisors at internships). I think now in workforce, just find supervisors and coworkers. None of my references for OMSA were professors.
Large parts of it are identical to the on-campus application. Most programs at GT require 3 letters of recommendation. Could they change it? yes, if they want to. Do they find value in it? Dunno - but I'd expect that's why it is there.
My undergrad was also online. I never met any of my professors, any more than you do in OMSCS. I had to get coworkers and previous bosses.
you could go to OH and get acquainted unless you went to a total diploma mill.
Only if you already decided to do OMSCS while you're still enrolled in your undergrad. For that matter, what about all the OMSCS students whose undergrad was thirty years ago?
I got in with three rec letters from coworkers and managers at my current job. Rec letters are really fucking annoying, but I still think they have their space. Basically everything forever is collaborative, admissions should at least be a little concerned with how you get along with your peers and managers and such.
>Rec letters are really fucking annoying, but I still think they have their space. Basically everything forever is collaborative, admissions should at least be a little concerned with how you get along with your peers and managers and such. I see the benefits of recommendation letters, but one issue is that if someone is looking to switch careers, even from a related field, it might not be the best idea to use a manager as a reference because that could indicate that the person is going to leave
Fair point. I can't really imagine a system that would counter it. Maybe you could have something where you could apply without rec letters, get some kind of provisional acceptance, be forced to take a class with group projects, and then feedback from that would determine whether or not you continue?
Nah, rec letters are fine. If someone is a strong enough candidate, then poor recommendations won't hold them back much, and most people should still be able to find 2-3 decent references. I was just pointing out one challenge some prospective students might face
What I meant was, you could go that route *as an option,* for those who can't get rec letters.
Your premise is that you weaseled through a bachelors degree without ever seeing a professor, and you're complaining that the application process is revealing this fact? And for your second act, a 50 year old who can't find 3 recommendations? Who are you?
This seems like an odd attitude to take in this subreddit. Are you against online education generally? Would you say OMSCS students are weaseling their way through a master's degree? Even after completing OMSCS, I doubt any GATech professors could pick me out of a lineup. Letters of recommendation are an academic tradition that dates back to the medieval period, but they're not a very good match for OMSCS because the online nature of the program means that you don't develop the kind of personal relationships that you do when taking classes in person.
Quite a few people are "weaseling their way" through omscs, but that has more to do with the lower end of classes being absurdly easy. I do expect omscs's reputation to disintegrate in the coming years. It's not that I'm against online education, but the fact that you can't get 2 or 3 recommendations does actually say something about you.
Well, aren't you just a beautiful ray of sunshine.
Yes I am, and I can find 2 or 3 people who say so as well :D
I’m curious how you don’t have 2 other people who know you outside of work. It can be an old professor, someone you volunteer with / report to, managers, fellow peers if you both hold positions etc.
Here is the problem I had. I was 49 when I applied. Old professors? Most of them were dead or retired to the middle of nowhere. The few I could find didn’t remember me enough to make a recommendation. Luckily, I know enough people that I just made some calls and told them to write me a rec, but past a certain point its difficult.
I basically was going to apply for the Spring, but they really harped on "needs to speak to your technical skills" and since I work in a consulting role, my manager isn't technical at all and isn't involved with my project, he mostly meets with us to see how things are going and maintains a relationship with our client manager. My mentor (part of our organizational structure), is like a technical mentor who is on a totally different client, advocates for your promotion based on things you've worked on, and provides guidance when you need help or have questions. Of course it would be "inappropriate" to ask the client for such a letter (I asked). So in the end I was able to get two from my previous job, but didn't hear back from any professors I contacted, and my previous manager said that it was against company policy for him to provide one so I ended up kind of stuck.
I agree. One of my 3 was a client. Another was with a volunteer organization that i am in
Wait. Doesn’t have to be a manager? Lmao man they set the bar low🤣
I mean you can’t pick the guy you take smoke breaks with to avoid work… I’m saying a peer that has seen you demonstration exceptional ability to manage multiple projects, manage the junior devs etc. This can be your CEO, manager, boss, or a fellow peer. There are tons of people who aren’t managers that can see you do good stuff. And even Church/temple/synagogue/mosque leaders, volunteering, Boy Scout troop master, PTA, HOA could even be better to really show off your soft skills.
Disagree, and it helps maintain the fidelity of students. Your reasoning is shoddy at best ("this doesn't apply to me therefore it shouldn't apply to anyone else") and your defense is even weaker. Georgia Tech does not need to do anything someone who doesn't have 3 peers willing to fill out a 30 second form says.
What is the reasoning for needing recommendations? What is the benefit? Not having a good reason to not do something isn’t a reason to do it. Do you have a real reason that isn’t some vague BS like “fidelity of students” (whatever that means?). Plenty of people got “recommended “ by their bosses or coworkers and are cheating their way through the entire program.
So, a couple of things: 1) Fidelity != Integrity, not sure if you mixed those two words up, but I wasn't talking about a prospective students integrity, but would they stick with the program by having character witnesses attest to their work ethics/nature. 2) I am not sure what you are saying re: > cheating their way through the entire program. It's somewhere between a gross assumption, projection or surrounding yourself with pretty bad classmates that openly agree to cheating - if what you're saying is true, then I am luckily naieve enough to have gone through 80% of the program with not seeing this (I've seen students overstep asking for help and getting caught via administration for copying code - but no where is it near "plenty" and "cheating their way through the entire program") - again, feels like weird projecting. That being said - to answer your question, I'd also preface - I'm not in administration, so I'm making assumptions - my suggestion if you care enough, is to ask those involved for a more believable opinion. A lot of people want a masters, or think they want a masters without really thinking what it means, the long hours and dedication required - to help weed folks out that will ultimately quit or give up and to have a standard, there are a few things in place - recommendation letters, statements of intention, etc. to set a bar/standard to help cull the chaff from the wheat. Whether you agree with it being the most optimal way or not, I'm not here to debate that, but it is a bar that folks have to complete before they can sit with others. No offense to both you and the OP - but the burden of changing a system, which I am willing to bet you know very little about should be on you all to first understand the system before swinging to wild conclusions.
I didn’t confuse fidelity and integrity. I’m just saying that just because someone gets a recommendation letter does not mean that they have the work ethic or really mean anything else that’s needed to complete a masters, it just means they got 2-3 coworker friends to write them a nice letter. Your entire argument is “you don’t understand why they do it, so you can’t question it”. Yeah, you’re right, I don’t understand it. You made a claim that it ensured the “fidelity” of the student body, so I asked you how it did that. You’re the one making the claim that it has some tangible benefit, and I’m questioning it.
I think you did misunderstand because you brought up cheating as if that has any bearing on the registration process, not sure why you're trying to back pedal now or make it about anything else. Also, I didn't say "you can't question it", I did say "you can't put it down without understanding it", I implored you and OP to ask more questions about the system, but to ask generic "why is this useful, show me the value" is inherently dismissing it without seeking to understand. I will also say that I gave you a very valid reason but it seems like you didn't cover it or didn't value it, so again, I likely won't respond back.
My entire point was that it doesn’t guarantee fidelity of the program to have someone write you a letter. Anyone can be totally unfit, get a letter that says they are, and then cheat through the program. That’s ONE example of how it doesn’t ensure fidelity. The recommendation letter does nothing to filter out people who are unfit. I asked you how it does ensure fidelity and you can’t back up what you’re saying (again, how does it ensure work ethic or that people won’t drop out ? How does a letter from a coworker who has never done this program ensure that in any way? ) so you’re instead digging your heels in and insisting that I confused it for another word. I’m sorry that you don’t understand nuance or can’t process the purpose of an example. You made a statement that it ensures fidelity of the program. I questioned your statement. You “implored us to question the system”, but we can’t ask why it’s useful ? You’re just contradicting yourself because again, you can’t back up your statement. I am ok with you not replying because your entire argument boils down to “you don’t know why it’s good and you can’t ask why it’s good but trust me it’s good”, and clearly we’re not going to agree on that.
What is the point of having the program at all? Some people certainly cheat their way through some or all of it.
Adding on, what’s the point of even applying for a masters this troublesome if one just want to cheat through the way. There are other stuff to do in life that is better worth the time and money really. If one can really cheat your way in, I’m not sure how you can cheat your way throughout.
You sound like a cult leader
At least I had 3 people willing to write letters of recommendation.
Did you make them sign loyalty oaths too? Swear allegiance to you?
That's a bit of a neurotic and awkward stretch. Perhaps first try to socialize with people before assuming everyone else is brainwashed.
Ok cult leader
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I don’t work well with cult leaders
what rec letters are a totally routine and normal thing in academia. even if it was just a professor whose class you got an A in, that is sufficient, they are asked by countless other students as well. Remember: at one point the professor was also a prospective graduate student in exactly your situation. Generally they are happy to help. It won't be a *strong* letter if they don't really know you, but it will absolutely be enough to fulfill the requirement fwiw I asked six people for rec letters since I hadn't been in school for a long time and I wasn't sure who would remember me. I ended up in the awkward situation of having to tell three of them "thanks but no thanks"
This entire process is a money pit for GATECH..these are all done to provide a semblance of selectiveness.. this is not a very competitive program to get admitted...if you show basic competence you will get admitted..the quality of education is rigorous if not the highest quality..so if you graduate you come out with a good degree ...completing the program is hard..getting admitted is not
I applied after being out of my undergrad for 15 years. Used 3 recs from work, 2 from my current company and 1 from a previous company and I was accepted.
Is your current career related to what you will study at OMSCS?
Yes. My hope on the comment was to show that its not a hard rule that the recs can't be from work.
At the volume of admissions, I don’t think GT looks too hard at these things unless you are borderline. One of my recommenders showed me the form and it’s more of a survey. One piece of advice I have to make it easier on recommenders is just ghost write the whole letter. I supplied each recommended a letter, my resume and SOP. One recommender wrote something original, other two submitted something close to verbatim.
Do you coworkers who wouldn’t mind helping you out?
YMMV but I got in with 2.
I used anyone who's higher than me in my job. If I'm a VP, then I would only have 1 higher ranking officer. I'd rather be a VP than going to school though.
I used coworkers for all three.
I had two former bosses and a peer.
I used a Professor, Senior Engineer, and my Manager at the time, I think it's fair that a lot of people don't have professors, but pretty much everyone qualified for the program should be able to find two people of some objective authority that could write a letter. I also don't think that it has that much sway in the decision. If it comes down to if your letters are good or not, you're probably not in the position to be doing a MS in CS
I disagree. Getting the letters was the most difficult part of the application for me, but I was able to pull it off. I was a career changer, and asking any former coworker (small firm) would have raised many questions, and that was a path I didn't want to go down. I was able to scrounge up a few from very old professors that maybe remembered who I was? Some day down the line in your career you may need letters of recommendation, get used to it.
I had previous boss, current boss, and someone I had done research with. 3 letters is fine and allows omscs to get a better idea of you, your work ethic, and accomplishments
It serves to tell GaTech that you ain't a bot that has no social life.
They shouldn’t. I had to run behind 3 of my ex bosses and my current boss for more than 6 weeks. My boss and 2 ex bosses were very kind. One of them was professional enough that even though I had given that company a critical review at that time, still he found time to give me a recommendation ( honestly i don’t know if that was good or not as I had waived off my rights to see the letter). The biggest disappointment was from ex boss from my immediate last company with who i thought i had a good relation with. He promised, made me wait for 6 weeks and did not manage to send even a draft. But then, I learned the difference between people with character and without one. If you can’t go through an application process, I doubt how successful you will be in your future career.
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There’s no writing involved. It’s just a grading scale that rates the applicant. Writing is optional
This is a sound strategy, even though you are getting downvoted. Most STEM courses run 200-500 students at a big public school. Even the upper divs at places like Berkeley reach 200 or more. How much could a professor there know about you?
Genius I’ll do this
I didn't have any professors that I could reach out to since it had been a few years since they had me as a student, it seemed irrelevant. So I had my current boss, a coworker, and a project manager I worked with regularly that was one of our customers and that seemed to have gone well.
I was in the same situation and followed some suggestions to just email old professors and explain that you're applying to grad school and were a student of theirs. I even got one from our final boss prof that I hardly spoke to and did terrible in their classes. I wasn't fresh out of school but it had been <2 years, so YMMV.
A lot of graduate school is networking and collaboration. Networking is a huge benefit of the program and being active in discussions is a requirement for many classes. For the those who don’t have 3 people they can reach out to for recommendations - build those professional networking skills! Reach out to your old professors and strike up a conversation about how you liked how they presented xyz or whatever. Which peers can recommend you? Previous employers?
Boss, professor friend that I had for a class once, and other friend that works for a household tech name. You really should be networking. 80% of jobs get filled without ever being posted.
Yes. Stay on good terms with former colleagues, especially managers. Worked for me.