This ad I saw on LinkedIn yesterday honestly baffled me

[mentos]

So about half of the CS class failed the exam? Is what you described (4 question exams given over 6 hrs) a common thing in a CS course?

That is pretty common in CS. The freshman class at a public university has hundreds of kids but only a small percentage make it to graduation.

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[VA77]

What is to keep someone from writing down all the questions and giving to another person?

 

[harvoni_rituxan]

So about half of the CS class failed the exam? Is what you described (4 question exams given over 6 hrs) a common thing in a CS course?

oh, maybe less than 1/2. I was talking about the final. half the class coming into the final passed the course, despite only half the class made into q3 and the prof ended up curving the final. a ton of people dropped out after midterm 1, and some people really struggled at midterm 2. the final grade distribution for the class was bimodal, A/A+ vs C/D/E/F, for people who took the final. Anything lower than a B is pretty much a failure cuz the program requires maintaining B average.

 

[harvoni_rituxan]

What is to keep someone from writing down all the questions and giving to another person?

well, unless the first person can do all questions and whoever got the answer can memorize chunks and chunks of codes without messing it up at all. but still, identical codes, which is highly highly unusual and suspicious, can be flagged by the reviewers. An idiot in our class got caught cheating this way last year. got a zero and failed the course along with the accomplice. trust me, if they find out an unusual pattern, they will come to you.

the class has a mix of strictly proctored midterms, group projects, homework, and openbook but still proctored final. they can usually catch you up somewhere, if you absolutely don't know what you are doing. by the end of the day, getting the degree doesn't mean much. at best, the degree itself can set you up for phone screens & onsite blackboard coding interviews. even the best cheats can't cheat their way into a job at Google or Facebook.

for MD, nursing and PharmD, there are board exams to serve as the ultimate gatekeeper. In case of pharmacy, cheating all the way thru the curriculum doesn't really matter now. The pharmacy curriculum does not teach any relevant stuff, and the ones who got straight As are not guaranteed a job anywhere, so who cares.

 

[Hedgehog32]

oh, maybe less than 1/2. I was talking about the final. half the class coming into the final passed the course, despite only half the class made into q3 and the prof ended up curving the final. a ton of people dropped out after midterm 1, and some people really struggled at midterm 2. the final grade distribution for the class was bimodal, A/A+ vs C/D/E/F, for people who took the final. Anything lower than a B is pretty much a failure cuz the program requires maintaining B average.

What kind of CS class was it? I'm assuming that even the entry-level CS masters programs I've been looking at are going to be just as hard and cutthroat in terms of grading?

 

[harvoni_rituxan]

What kind of CS class was it? I'm assuming that even the entry-level CS masters programs I've been looking at are going to be just as hard and cutthroat in terms of grading?

that's for a CS 6XXX course, programming techniques for data analytics and machine learning.
it is essentially the same thing.

 

[Hedgehog32]

that's for a CS 6XXX course, programming techniques for data analytics and machine learning.
it is essentially the same thing.

Here's the curriculum for the CS masters program I'm looking at:

So based on the course titles, is it safe to assume that it will be just as hard to pass that program's courses as the courses in your program?

If so, what can I do to ensure that I pass? Just devote every waking minute to studying, practicing, putting 100% of effort into assignments, etc.? Is it common for students to do relatively well in these programs and then just not have the IQ to pass the last few classes, no matter how much they study?

 

[Timbo]

Notice how they don't provide average salary and don't break it down to how many got full time vs part time, per diem or temp jobs? How convenient.

How many of these 90% employed got full time 40 hours? I'm guessing less than 20% since 32 hours is standard with the chains now. Residencies don't count since those are temp jobs. Part time and PRN don't count.

So yeah, if you include the pharmacists who got 32 hours or less, part time, PRN and temp jobs then those add up to 90% or whatever this school advertises. If you take the average salary of your class then it's probably around $70,000/year. Sounds much nicer than 20% employed with $120,000/year full time 40 hours, doesn't it?

From my class? I'm not sure, it was a few years ago but from everybody I talked to, I'm pretty sure we all got full time or at least 32 hours. Also everybody I know who did residency know have clinical jobs full time. Keep in mind this was before all the massive cuts, just before the CVS-Target merger

It would be nice if ACPE forced pharmacy school to publish standardized job placement surveys in the way you suggest though. Idk why they don't like they do for NAPLEX pass rates

 

[one pharmacy call]

I just finished my CS degree this semester, but when COVID hit and my classes went online, my Theory of Computation class just did away with exams due to risk of cheating.

The professor had us write papers on CS literature and present them via Zoom.

 

[Hedgehog32]

I just finished my CS degree this semester, but when COVID hit and my classes went online, my Theory of Computation class just did away with exams due to risk of cheating.

The professor had us write papers on CS literature and present them via Zoom.

How challenging did you find most of the coursework to be? Would you say that someone has to possess a certain minimum level of intelligence in order to pass the courses? Or would you say most people who have at least an average IQ and are willing to put in lots of effort are capable of passing? Reason I ask is because I'm a c/o 2020 grad who is looking at completing an entry-level MS in CS starting possibly as soon as this summer, and I've heard conflicting statements regarding just how smart someone has to be in order to earn a CS degree. I just want to make sure I'm not signing myself up for something I won't be able to see through.

 

[harvoni_rituxan]

Here's the curriculum for the CS masters program I'm looking at:

View attachment 306639

So based on the course titles, is it safe to assume that it will be just as hard to pass that program's courses as the courses in your program?

If so, what can I do to ensure that I pass? Just devote every waking minute to studying, practicing, putting 100% of effort into assignments, etc.? Is it common for students to do relatively well in these programs and then just not have the IQ to pass the last few classes, no matter how much they study?

It really depends on the school and program. There is no clear cut answer.

In short answer, nobody can ensure you pass. try as hard as you can. that's all you can do.

 

[TheBlaah]

it is recording all the time. once you say you are ready for the exam, they will prompt you to take the carmera to show the whole room, your photo id, your face, door closed, window, all your exam taking area (they will ask you to have a clean desktop prior to the exam, and leave only allowed items on the table ), if notes is allowed, you have to show both sides of the notes. all immediate surroundings and walls, no other people is allowed in that room. video, sound, keystroke, and screenshot are recorded all the time, and your face has to be in the camera all the time too. you are not allowed to leave the seat. if you are not in the frame for a few seconds, you risk getting flagged by the proctors when they review the recording.

Seems like the easiest way to cheat would be to put a cheat sheet directly behind the camera. Panning the camera around would do nothing and it'd just look like you're looking at the camera the whole time.

 

[mentos]

Seems like the easiest way to cheat would be to put a cheat sheet directly behind the camera. Panning the camera around would do nothing and it'd just look like you're looking at the camera the whole time.

Yup it would be super easy.

 

[Momus]

I just finished my CS degree this semester, but when COVID hit and my classes went online, my Theory of Computation class just did away with exams due to risk of cheating.

The professor had us write papers on CS literature and present them via Zoom.

When you start making faang money 350-500k+ in 5 yrs, come back here and brag about it to those dummy pre-pharmacy noobs.

 

[harvoni_rituxan]

Seems like the easiest way to cheat would be to put a cheat sheet directly behind the camera. Panning the camera around would do nothing and it'd just look like you're looking at the camera the whole time.

for our midterms, we were allowed a double sided cheat sheet. but guess what, the average was still in low 70s. you can write everything as tiny as you want, then find out what they exam you is not regurgitation, but methodology and cases. I ended up not even looking at my cheat sheet once. for our final, it was proctored open book coding exam. we were allowed to "cheat" however we liked, as long as we don't post it on stack overflow, but still half the class failed. it doesn't really matter you "cheat" or not. the faculty designed the exam taking into account of possibility of cheats.

 

[one pharmacy call]

How challenging did you find most of the coursework to be? Would you say that someone has to possess a certain minimum level of intelligence in order to pass the courses? Or would you say most people who have at least an average IQ and are willing to put in lots of effort are capable of passing? Reason I ask is because I'm a c/o 2020 grad who is looking at completing an entry-level MS in CS starting possibly as soon as this summer, and I've heard conflicting statements regarding just how smart someone has to be in order to earn a CS degree. I just want to make sure I'm not signing myself up for something I won't be able to see through.

Sent you a pm.

 

[Hedgehog32]

It really depends on the school and program. There is no clear cut answer.

In short answer, nobody can ensure you pass. try as hard as you can. that's all you can do.

I guess I'll just prioritize my CS coursework over everything else if I happen to get accepted to a program. Hey, it's not like I'm going to have to juggle CS courses and a pharmacist job, LOL (or at least, it's looking like that will be the case).

Just curious, are you able to tell whether or not this MS program would prepare me for the majority of CS/SWE jobs? Or more specifically, does it look like it would qualify me for the kinds of jobs that pharma/biotech companies hire dual-qualified pharmacist/software devs for?

The degree's curriculum is below:

The program is called the MS in Computer Information Systems and is offered by Florida Tech. I did some research and it looks like FT isn't ranked very high relative to other tech universities, but so far it's the only other school I've found that offers an entry-level CS masters program for students who don't already have a background in CS or an engineering discipline.

The only reason I'm unsure as to whether it's the right program to attend to become an SWE is because the various program materials seem to describe it as more of a generalist IT degree and not specifically a CS one.

The website content also states that graduates are prepared for a multitude of different tech careers (from systems administrator to web developer to SWE and everything in between), so I'm naturally kind of skeptical of the proposition that a single MS program can effectively prepare someone for so many different careers.

MS program link:

Computer Information Systems, M.S. | Florida Tech

The M.S. in Computer Information Systems emphasizes problem-solving, with attention to software and services, in emerging technologies on a variety of platforms

www.fit.edu

 

[Hedgehog32]

Shoot, I just realized that harvoni_rituxan had been banned. This place is like a minefield for pharmacy -> CS refugees.

 

[ValeRx]

Shoot, I just realized that harvoni_rituxan had been banned. This place is like a minefield for pharmacy -> CS refugees.

Probably because you essentially hijacked this thread to a discussion about CS.

 

[Hedgehog32]

Probably because you essentially hijacked this thread to a discussion about CS.

What about the posters who initially hijacked the thread and transitioned from the original topic about a new online pharmacy school to one that focused exclusively on the job market and why the pharmacists on the forum seem to be miserable?

 

[ValeRx]

What about the posters who initially hijacked the thread and transitioned from the original topic about a new online pharmacy school to one that focused exclusively on the job market and why the pharmacists on the forum seem to be miserable?

At least that is pharmacy related, unlike CS.

 

[Hedgehog32]

At least that is pharmacy related, unlike CS.

Honestly, at this point it appears that the very topic itself of transitioning from pharmacy to CS (or some other tech profession) has become a pharmacy-related discussion subject.