[olug] Opinions of MSCIS program at Bellevue

[Thomas D. Williamson]

About the Bellevue program I have heard of a concern. My brother-in-law was
taking a Master's degree in computer science, I don't know if it was the same
as you are considering, but he had mentioned some things he saw. He has a two
Bachelor degrees, one in business from Creighton and one in computer science
from UNO. 

This course of study had programming segments and he ws doing that in in work
and had done it in the courses at UNO. While in this course many of the other
students did not seem interested in working on the assignments and would
"complete" them in class. At quizzes and tests for that segment only he and
another student would get them done in about 45 minutes to an hour, while the
other students seemed to struggle to write the programs that were only slight
variations from the homework assignments. He felt that a large part of the
class were interested in getting the degree without really working at improving
their skills and expanding their knowledge. The concern for him was what value
would the degree have when others who have the same degree cannot do the basic
work that the degree is supposed to qualify one for. So out in the job market
as these other graduates go out and demonstrate they do not really have the
education and skills needed, what will future employers think of a Master's
degree from Bellevue.

I taught a statistics segement in the Human Resources for two instructors and
found similar attitudes in the students there. Many were wanting to put in the
18 months to get their piece of paper, while a small group saw the value of
learning the subject to understand what statistics mean and how they can be
used in planning and projecting work that would effect human resources.

Essentially you may receive a great education and develop new skills and gain
knowledge, but what will the other students do to the value of your degree?

Tom Williamson