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A few masters-level questions...

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  • 20-05-2015 9:47am
    #1
    a fat guy
    Registered Users Posts: 800 ✭✭✭


    Hi folks!

    I hope to enter the Masters in Computer Science (Negotiated Learning) course in September and I have a few questions if anyone has the time to look at them:

    - The third semester is pure thesis/dissertation/project, correct?

    - For the project mentioned in my previous point, the only requirement is that you keep in contact with an assigned supervisor?

    - If so, is it required to live in Dublin for the third semester? It would cut down on costs significantly for me if I could simply commute on the bus to keep in touch with them.

    - Is this course still covered under the Graduate Skills Conversion Programme? It doesn't seem to be according to this. Or at least not as much as before. If so, what alternatives are there?

    - Are there any "hidden" fees that I should be worried about? I know someone who had to pay substantial tuition fees for another college when it really didn't make any sense. According to [URL="vhttp://www.ucd.ie/registry/adminservices/fees/2015/index.html"]this[/URL], the course should cost €6,240 for the year. This includes a student contribution charge, student levy and (I'm assuming) the tuition/registration for the year. Does anyone know if this is everything I have to pay in order to attend this course?


    Any help/advice is appreciated!


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    #2
    a fat guy
    Registered Users Posts: 800 ✭✭✭a fat guy


    For the benefit of anyone wanting to look this course up in the years to come:

    -Third semester is almost always a group project, but the option to do a thesis or very difficult internship is there too.
    -In theory if you did the thesis, what I proposed should work. The problem is finding a lecturer to agree to supervise you.
    -The graduate skills fund hasn't been seen as very beneficial to postgrad courses lately. I got €750 knocked off it this year, which is down from over a grand the previous year. It is unlikely that this fund will exist at all for the following year.
    - So far, the only "hidden" fee has been a €500 deposit, that I'm assuming is going towards the course fee. So far, so good!
    -Lastly, I got my acceptance a few days after I submitted the full registration form. Pretty quick!


    So has anyone on here done this course lately? I've trawled through every thread about it on boards, but any screed of information would be appreciated.

    I'll likely be taking for semester one:
    • The Object Oriented Programming module. I've heard this one is very, very difficult. I have a degree in Software Systems development and know the Object-Oriented aspects of Java pretty well(Module covers Ruby), so I think I'll be okay. 5 credits.
    • The Entrepreneurial module. I've worked in a small startup-style company before. I also might want to own my own business one day. 5 credits.
    • The Context Sensitive Service Delivery module! It basically translates to covering mobile apps in general. I think this means anything from laptops, smart watches, smart phones, etc, with an emphasis on GPS. 10 credits.
    • I'm not sure what else to take for the last few credits. I REALLY wanted to take the Exploring Programming with Ruby module, then I could take the Project Management and Decision Analysis module to compliment the Enterpreneurship module. I could drop Object-Oriented programming to allow for this, but the Project Management module sounds like it might contain heavy math/algorithms based on the module descriptor. I'm not much of a math person, my undergrad didn't have much in it. That said, I can understand and implemented algorithms in Java handily.


    Semester two:
    • The "online" Android module. I say "online", but it seems to be popular and the descriptor makes no mention of online studying. I'm assuming it might not actually be online 10 credits.
    • The Recommender Systems module. This seems teach how to show relevant advertisements/search suggestions to the user. 10 credits.
    • The Object-Oriented Design module. This one caught my eye because it seems to be a bit more advanced. I plan on studying Design Patterns quite a bit over the summer too. I thought about going for the Advanced Software Engineering module based on Design Patterns, but it doesn't seem to be running until next year. 5 credits.
    • Again, for the last five credits I'm not sure on what to take. I could take Compiler Construction, but that'd just be a filler module for me.

    I've also looked at some of the online Java ones:

    But don't like the idea of paying six grand only to fill a semester with online courses. I prefer to get more bang for my buck, since I could just pay for some Coursera/Udemy/Lynda courses and get a similar result. If it turned out that there was a chance of having a lecturer teach me for these courses (See the Android one), then I might go for them.

    Any comments will be met with a "thanks" and one of these bad boys: :D


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