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I read your recent column about the Georgia Tech College of Computing, and it made me recall my recent experiences there as a graduate student. I have to say that I strongly recommend against Georgia Tech for anyone considering trying for a computer science degree, especially an undergraduate one.
I was excited to find out in the summer of 1999 that I had been accepted as a master's student into the computer science program. I had only minored in CS at my undergraduate school, and my acceptance letter stated I would need to enroll in some undergraduate courses to make up the difference. I e-mailed my future advisor, Mike McCracken, to talk about what I needed to take, and he suggested we meet during orientation.
During orientation I found out Mr. McCracken was at a conference for the weekend, breaking our appointment to meet without notice and leaving me without any formal advisor during registration. There were also no course catalogs, which detail degree requirements, available during this time.
This proved to be my downfall during the fall semester, as I sought advice from others that turned out to be misleading or false. First, I was informed by a student volunteer during orientation that I could take a course pass-fail for credit toward my degree, which turned out to be wrong. (Plus, once the registration period is over it's impossible to change this designation.) Second, without any proper guidance, I mistakenly registered for an undergraduate CS theory class on a letter-grade basis. As a graduate student, I did not think the class would count against my GPA, and thus did not do all the work; when I found out it did count (only after the semester ended), I had a D on my transcript and was put on academic probation.
(Incidentally, this class' professor was replaced halfway through the semester for doing a poor job of teaching and for giving failing grades to a vast majority of the students, but the grades at the time remained in effect.)
Desperate to rectify the situation, I sought the help of several of Georgia Tech's faculty and staff members, only to be rebuffed at every turn. The Georgia Tech Dean of Students was indifferent to my situation, and Kurt Eiselt, the associate dean of the college, replied to my e-mail with a very rude message stating that it was solely my fault, that the college was not at fault, and that I was trying to blame my own failures on the faculty.
I was shocked that a dean would use that kind of tone towards a student with a problem. Granted, I'm sure they deal with academic problems rooted in laziness or cheating several times a year. But I wasn't just some undergrad going to college at his parents' insistence. I had voluntarily chosen Tech to get my master's degree because I wanted to learn. I already had a degree in English and film studies from Emory, where I had also served as the newspaper's managing editor. I knew how to balance an above-average workload at a quality school better than almost anyone. If the problems I had performing the simple task of registering for classes had tripped me up so badly, they could trip up anyone; and yet, the associate dean of the college felt the need to berate me just for telling him about my situation.
Fortunately, I was able to turn the convoluted registration system and lack of faculty oversight in my favor. I registered on a letter-grade basis for a freshman-level English class, despite the fact that I have a B.A. in English. As you might expect, Tech's classes in English are pretty much a formality, and I was able to cruise through it and two CS classes to earn three A's toward my GPA (pulling it from probationary level to over 3.5). Exploiting the registration system the same way it had hurt me gave me some sense of satisfaction, but it was annoying having to waste my time and tuition dollars on a semester of high school-level reading to ensure that I wouldn't be expelled (or "dismissed" as they call it) for my mistake.
My story does have a happy ending. I studied the college's course catalog as carefully as I could to avoid getting in trouble again, overloaded during the summer, and with virtually no help from Mike McCracken (who could barely be bothered to return my phone calls, let alone advise me), earned my master's degree with flying colors. (I now work as a software engineer in the Washington, D.C. area.) But as you can imagine, if I ran into these kinds of roadblocks as a graduate student, it would be even worse for an undergrad.
The workload I witnessed being assigned in the undergraduate classes I audited would make it nearly impossible not to collaborate or cheat and still earn a B or better. (I have to wonder if the students who do well in these classes have simply found better ways to cheat or get around the college's detection system.) When you're in a situation like this as an honest student, it makes learning frustrating. It's no coincidence that a higher than normal percentage of Georgia Tech's students are "dismissed" from the school for poor performance, compared to other colleges. Were these students really not ready for college, or did they fall through the cracks of a faulty system perpetuated by an indifferent faculty and staff?
As you can see from my story and the one you wrote about earlier, the College of Computing is more likely to hinder, distract or attack the students than help them actually learn. I strongly urge potential computer scientists to look elsewhere for their education.
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When you connect to a network, a little wizard pops up asking you if it's "Home", "Work", or "Public Location". Choose Public Location and sharing will be disabled automatically.
"I have a sheet of paper somewhere around here with all the steps needed to promote a user in Windows, I was astounded by what the PC tech said had to be done."
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Recently got done with a job search; didn't get any worthwhile responses until I posted my resume on craigslist, and out of that I got two great offers.
Seriously. No ads, no login, no cost. Craig is my friend.
Here's my response to the columnist:
Dear Mr. Mathews,
I read your recent column about the Georgia Tech College of Computing,
and it made me recall my recent experiences there as a graduate
student. I have to say that I strongly recommend against Georgia Tech
for anyone considering trying for a computer science degree, especially
an undergraduate one.
I was excited to find out in the summer of 1999 that I had been accepted
as a master's student into the computer science program. I had only
minored in CS at my undergraduate school, and my acceptance letter
stated I would need to enroll in some undergraduate courses to make up
the difference. I e-mailed my future advisor, Mike McCracken, to talk
about what I needed to take, and he suggested we meet during
orientation.
During orientation I found out Mr. McCracken was at a conference for the
weekend, breaking our appointment to meet without notice and leaving me
without any formal advisor during registration. There were also no
course catalogs, which detail degree requirements, available during this
time.
This proved to be my downfall during the fall semester, as I sought
advice from others that turned out to be misleading or false. First, I
was informed by a student volunteer during orientation that I could take
a course pass-fail for credit toward my degree, which turned out to be
wrong. (Plus, once the registration period is over it's impossible to
change this designation.) Second, without any proper guidance, I
mistakenly registered for an undergraduate CS theory class on a
letter-grade basis. As a graduate student, I did not think the class
would count against my GPA, and thus did not do all the work; when I
found out it did count (only after the semester ended), I had a D on my
transcript and was put on academic probation.
(Incidentally, this class' professor was replaced halfway through the
semester for doing a poor job of teaching and for giving failing grades
to a vast majority of the students, but the grades at the time remained
in effect.)
Desperate to rectify the situation, I sought the help of several of
Georgia Tech's faculty and staff members, only to be rebuffed at every
turn. The Georgia Tech Dean of Students was indifferent to my
situation, and Kurt Eiselt, the associate dean of the college, replied
to my e-mail with a very rude message stating that it was solely my
fault, that the college was not at fault, and that I was trying to blame
my own failures on the faculty.
I was shocked that a dean would use that kind of tone towards a student
with a problem. Granted, I'm sure they deal with academic problems
rooted in laziness or cheating several times a year. But I wasn't just
some undergrad going to college at his parents' insistence. I had
voluntarily chosen Tech to get my master's degree because I wanted to
learn. I already had a degree in English and film studies from Emory,
where I had also served as the newspaper's managing editor. I knew how
to balance an above-average workload at a quality school better than
almost anyone. If the problems I had performing the simple task of
registering for classes had tripped me up so badly, they could trip up
anyone; and yet, the associate dean of the college felt the need to
berate me just for telling him about my situation.
Fortunately, I was able to turn the convoluted registration system and
lack of faculty oversight in my favor. I registered on a letter-grade
basis for a freshman-level English class, despite the fact that I have a
B.A. in English. As you might expect, Tech's classes in English are
pretty much a formality, and I was able to cruise through it and two CS
classes to earn three A's toward my GPA (pulling it from probationary
level to over 3.5). Exploiting the registration system the same way it
had hurt me gave me some sense of satisfaction, but it was annoying
having to waste my time and tuition dollars on a semester of high
school-level reading to ensure that I wouldn't be expelled (or
"dismissed" as they call it) for my mistake.
My story does have a happy ending. I studied the college's course
catalog as carefully as I could to avoid getting in trouble again,
overloaded during the summer, and with virtually no help from Mike
McCracken (who could barely be bothered to return my phone calls, let
alone advise me), earned my master's degree with flying colors. (I now
work as a software engineer in the Washington, D.C. area.) But as you
can imagine, if I ran into these kinds of roadblocks as a graduate
student, it would be even worse for an undergrad.
The workload I witnessed being assigned in the undergraduate classes I
audited would make it nearly impossible not to collaborate or cheat and
still earn a B or better. (I have to wonder if the students who do well
in these classes have simply found better ways to cheat or get around
the college's detection system.) When you're in a situation like this
as an honest student, it makes learning frustrating. It's no
coincidence that a higher than normal percentage of Georgia Tech's
students are "dismissed" from the school for poor performance, compared
to other colleges. Were these students really not ready for college, or
did they fall through the cracks of a faulty system perpetuated by an
indifferent faculty and staff?
As you can see from my story and the one you wrote about earlier, the
College of Computing is more likely to hinder, distract or attack the
students than help them actually learn. I strongly urge potential
computer scientists to look elsewhere for their education.