Intro
With this being my last term at OSU, I thought it would be a good idea to take a step back and and look at my experience with the program overall. It was a big decision to go back for a second Bachelor’s, and it will be interesting to see how the program compared to my expectations.
Time Management at OSU
The biggest difference between the post-bacc OSU program and my previous undergraduate degree is that my classes at OSU are fully remote. I would say that this was a double edged sword in many aspects. On the positive side, I was able to be extremely flexible with my schedule. If there was a special event, I was almost always able to plan around it – even during weekday afternoons! As a person who works in bursts, it was convenient to be able work when I was most focused and motivated, while taking it easier on days where I had less energy. However, this also meant that I had to be rigorous with my time management and scheduling. I didn’t always succeed with this, and I often procrastinated and ended up finishing my assignments during weekends.
Community at OSU
My experience with fellow students has been pleasant overall. As students going for a second degree, I found that most of my peers were extremely driven with a passion to pursue computer science. I loved the diversity of my classes; students came from a wide range of ages, locations, professions, etc. At the same time, this also made it hard to connect with others sometimes. A lot of my peers were juggling full-time jobs, family time, and school. As a student fresh out of Bachelor’s 1.0, it was a bit difficult to find people who had the interest (or time) to develop friendships outside of academics. Most of my interactions have been over text communications such as Slack. While the ease of access to these platforms was convenient, at times I found myself missing the traditional campus-life and face-to-face interactions. I did enjoy the network of people I could reach out to on Slack and Reddit, from the comfort of my home.
Coursework at OSU
With any academic program, the courses vary in level of quality. This is to be expected however, and I was able to learn everything I needed to from the course material, or through external resources. I would say that the biggest strength of OSU’s program is that any student will come out with knowledge and tools that are directly valuable to their future profession, along with multiple portfolio projects that will strengthen their resume while interviewing. Speaking from experience, I leaned heavily on my CS 361 and CS 340 projects in the interviews that led to my first full-time developer role.
Final Thoughts
I would definitely recommend this program to anyone who is looking for a structured pathway to a career change. The ability to have a flexible schedule and change course load on the fly would be invaluable to anyone who is looking wants to switch to CS but is unable to commit to full-time school on campus. From where I started, I have grown a tremendous amount. While there were occasional hurdles along the way, I would say that this program has given me the tools to get into the software industry, and hopefully succeed in the long-run!
