Should I drop Georgia Tech OMSCS?

As you already know if you have visited my medium page a few times, I’ve been in Georgia Tech’s online CS master program since I graduated from UIUC MCS in 2020 and started the actual program in 2021.

I’ve been taking multiple classes but only made one class to the final and got a grade of A. I drove to the mid-term for CS6601 AI but then had to visit South Korea during COVID-19 for family issues. It’s not like a day or two, but two weeks of trip, so I had no choice but to withdraw from the semester. CS6601 was challenging but interesting enough, and I am unsure if I could make an A even if I didn’t drop the class.

There was 1~2 occasion that I wasn’t able to concentrate on the 1st week’s material and assignments on the semester, either due to sick family members, including myself, or busy work at the office, and that led me to withdraw from the semester as it is hard to catch up till the final exam and project if you have a late start on 1st week. Sometimes a family trip is planned way ahead of time. It’s getting worse as my daughter becomes an elementary school student.

Unlike when I was taking the UIUC MCS program, I have had many schedule conflicts since I started GT OMSCS. I thought it was just me doing the schoolwork great and my achievements were my own, but now I know I was super lucky back then, and there was my wife’s full support every weekend.

My goal for OMSCS wasn’t to graduate or earn another CS degree from those TOP CS schools from the beginning of the program but to learn whatever I was interested in without worrying about graduating ASAP or having the pressure of a good grade to get my tuition reimbursement from my current employer.

I love this OMSCS program as it has A LOT of classes I’d like to try, and tuition is reasonable enough for me as an online program; however, maybe it’s not a good timing or higher priority in my life anymore? I don’t know.

For this Fall, 2023, I was planning to take CS7631 Game AI but forgot to pay tuition in time, and the registration was canceled. Since the class was the only one this semester, I was automatically withdrawn from the semester, which made me skip two consecutive semesters. Luckily(?), OMSCS recently changed the policy, and now a student can skip two consecutive semesters without a readmission request, which made me eligible for Spring 2024 without requesting readmission.

So that’s it. You won’t see any updates for this journey till... probably Dec 2023.