Posts from — March 2008

A lot of you might have guessed that I’m working on a CS degree but that I have a particular interest in cryptography.

Crypto people are an odd bunch but I’m one of them so…

How about a song?

I bet that a lot of you think I chose it because it’s Harvard.

You’re only partly right.  The name did have an effect on my choice but only tangentially so.

I was intrigued by the idea that a school like Harvard would offer distance education courses for credit and even more suprised that they offered degrees.

But it was much more important for me to find a good fit between what I was trying to achieve and what the school offered.  To be successful, I needed to join a school that was targeting students who were like me: working adults with full schedules.  For me, Harvard Extension was that school.

I’m often asked why I didn’t choose to attend a local school instead.  The best answer that I can give is that they didn’t have a functioning and robust program for distance education combined with a rigorous academic level.  Distance education is such a huge factor for me that I’m now biased against any school that hasn’t embraced this method of learning.  It saves so much time and solve so many problems for people that I can’t imagine why more schools aren’t taking advantage or expanding their programs.

It isn’t hard to find distance-ed programs.  There are plenty of them that are out there.  The real challenge is finding a school that doesn’t treat them like an afterthought.  That’s why it’s important to focus on the program itself rather than the name on the diploma.  In the end, nobody will care where you went to school.  They are much more interested in who you turned out to be.

I saw this article in the paper.  The choice quote:

When I was 20 an older friend predicted, “Ten years from now, no one will care where you went to school. In fact, no one will ask.” Ridiculous, I thought. She turned out to be right. Where you live between the ages of 18 and 22 won’t define who you are. One day soon, the proud new college decal on your family car’s rear window will start looking a little uncool.

The author is correct.  It’s not really that important where you went to school.  It’s more important that the school is the right one for you.  For me, that happened to be Harvard.  Your ideal school match might be different.  Don’t get too worked up about it.

Of course, when you’re on campus and looking at all those historic buildings, it’s hard not to allow yourself to believe the fantasy of it all.  Just don’t let yourself be fooled.  A degree from Harvard won’t change who you are.  I have to keep reminding myself of that too.

Now that I’m looking for a graduate program to continue my studies, I’m faced with the same sorts of questions: What place is going to be the best fit for me?  Where will I feel most comfortable?  Where do I think I’ll be able to learn the most?

I’m torn between continuing on at Harvard Extension and their ALM in IT program and pursuing the Columbia MS in Computer Science option.  On paper, the Columbia program is very impressive.  I just couldn’t help feeling like the place was just a little bit too cold for me.

I might just be nervous about changing schools at some point.  I just felt like I should put it out there so that people don’t think that the choice of where to go to school is always so automatic (i.e. pick the best name).  Choosing where you will spend the next several years in intense study isn’t a decision to be taken lightly.  Spend some time on it and try to choose wisely.  Don’t let anyone else’s opinion drive yours.  Make your own choice.

After all, it’s your life.

I want to present some information that I find useful regarding the actual set of courses that you must complete to earn a graduate degree at Columbia.  Since I’m primarily interested in the Computer Science major, some of what I will be presenting will be specific to that program but most of the requirements are the same across a number of the engineering degrees.

To begin with, the CS degree requires the completion of 30 credits (or points).  Each class is 3 points.  Therefore, you must complete a minimum of 10 classes to earn your degree.

The recommendation from the CVN staff is to take only one class per semester if you are working full-time.  Since they offer three semesters per year (spring, summer, and fall), that means about 3 years to get the degree if you somehow manage to take 2 courses in one of the 9 semesters.

For the Computer Science Program, there are required courses for the degree and then a set of courses that correspond to the track that you are following.  The following tracks are offered:

Computer Security
Foundations of Computer Science
Machine Learning
Natural Language Processing
Network Systems
Software Systems
Vision and Graphics
M.S. Personalized

For any of these tracks, you must complete at least four Core courses out of the following six:

COMS W4115: Programming Languages and Translators
COMS W4118: Operating Systems
COMS W4156: Advanced Software Engineering
CSOR W4231: Analysis of Algorithms
COMS W4701: Artificial Intelligence
CSEE W4824: Computer Architecture

Since I’m planning on following the Network Systems track, I need to take the following course:

CSEE W4119: Introduction to Computer Networks

That leaves 5 courses for electives.  You can take any 4 of the following classes but you need to make sure that at least (2) are 6000-level courses:

COMS E6181: Advanced Internet Services
COMS E6998: Advanced Internet Routing
COMS W6998: Content Networking
COMS W4180: Introduction to Network Security
COMS W4261: Introduction to Cryptography
COMS W4995: VOIP Security
COMS E6998: Advanced Topics in Security
COMS E6185: Intrusion and Anomaly Detection Systems
COMS E6118: Operating Systems II
COMS E6180: Modeling & Performance Evaluation
COMS E6125: Web Enhanced Information Management
COMS E6901: Projects in Computer Science
ELEN E6717: Information Theory
ELEN E4703: Wireless Communications
ELEN E6761: Computer Communication Networks
ELEN E6950: Wireless & Mobile Networks, I
ELEN E6951: Wireless & Mobile Networks, II
SIEO W4606: Stochastic Processes (or substitute with IEOR-W4106)
IEOR E6704: Queuing Theory and Applications
IEOR E6801: Monte Carlo & Discrete Event Simulation
IEOR E4406: Facilities Location, Routing, Network Design

One class is left for you to take as a free elective.

Here is the shocker: the classes are expensive.   Remember that you are paying graduate school tuition as well as a CVN program fee.  There is no financial aid available for CVN students either beyond what the government provides.

Here is how it breaks down for 2008:

CVN Credit Tuition:                   $1184 per point (Credit Hour)
CVN Audit Tuition:                    $634 per point (Credit Hour)
CVN Fee:                              $375 per course

Non-refundable one-time fees:


Transcript Fee:                       $75
Graduate Admission Application Fee:   $65
Certificate Program Application Fee:  $100
Late Registration Fee:                $100
CVN Withdrawal Fee:                   $75, plus prorated tuition

For example:

A three credit course would be $3552 + transcript fee $75 (one-time) + CVN fee $375 = $4002.

EXPENSIVE.

The degree programs at Harvard Extension School and Columbia Video Network both require you to make a formal application for admission. In the case of the undergraduate/graduate programs at Harvard, the main discriminator is the successful completion of the required three classes with required grades. Because of this, it’s more certain that everyone who applies has been exposed to the coursework and can do the work. GRE scores and recommendations from previous professors are not required.

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Since I’ve had a very varied educational experience, one of the things that I pick up on when looking at schools is their history and how that affects their current positioning. As you may already know, I’m completing an undergraduate degree at the Harvard Extension School. The Harvard Extension School developed out of a series of lectures that eventually led to a whole program for delivering education to working men and women. Thus, HES is rooted in a process that began over 170 years ago and has grown to encompass a wide variety of disciplines in the liberal arts and sciences.

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I was finally able to visit Columbia University to check out their CVN program. I’m preparing a full post that includes a good bit of detail about the program along with some commentary but one thing is certain: it’s a much smaller program than Harvard’s Extension School and that’s both good and bad. More details to follow.

I’m in NYC today at the Theory of Cryptography Conference (TCC 2008). A great thing about HES is that it provides you access to really top notch faculty who are experts in their field. For example, one of the professors who taught a class I signed up for is presenting a paper. Since I asked him to help me pick a topic for a senior thesis, it also turns out to be a good time for me to meet up with him and discuss it. I’m planning on doing my paper within the field of cryptography, so going to academic conferences is a good way to get a feel for what other people are working on.

Writing a senior thesis is no picnic. You need to pick a topic that is easy enough to do within a single semester and deep enough that it isn’t just a rehash of stuff everyone already knows. According to my unofficial advisor, this usually means a synthesis of work done by others. In an email to me on the subject he writes:

For theoretical CS theses (or math theses) in the College, producing
original new research results is often not a reasonable expectation, and
thus the originality often comes in the form of synthesis and exposition.

Since I plan on attending graduate school immediately following graduation from HES, I’m looking at this thesis as a first step towards a graduate program. Publication is a key aspect of graduate work and it never hurts to get a feel for how much work is really required. As Ian and others write, it’s often a lot more work than people imagine to do any kind of thesis and deadlines don’t make the process any easier. Many never finish at all. That’s why it’s important to pick a topic that you find interesting and don’t mind spending the time on.

If you are having trouble thinking of a research idea, it never hurts to register and attend a conference in your field. For one thing, you get an idea of what other people find interesting. For another, you get a feel for where the boundaries of knowledge are in your specific discipline. Finally, you get to meet professors and luminaries from other universities. If a topic is presented that interests you, you’ve got an idea of where you can look at graduate programs.

I’ll be at the conference for another day. It promises to be an interesting session.

After reading a recent post from Ian Lamont over at Harvard Extended, I’d like to talk a little bit about how Harvard Extension students are perceived by the rest of the school.

By far, the predominant way that HES is used is as an adjunct to further study somewhere else or to add incremental knowledge rather than to serve as a complete program of study. Most students who take classes at HES either already have undergraduate degrees from somewhere else and are getting themselves ready to enter a graduate program or are trying to round out a gap in their education to serve some particular function. In either case, a degree from HES isn’t the goal.

The upshot from this is that HES students are all painted with the same brush by the other parts of the university: part-timers who are not doing serious academic work and are not committed to their studies in the same way that someone who applies for admission and maintains a full-time course of study within the university. A nasty side-effect of this is a certain feeling by others that it’s OK to consider HES students as “fair game” for insults and derision from those that are.

One example is the almost casual way that Alexandra A. Petri uses HES students as a punch line to make a point concerning the strange course selections that make up the Core at Harvard College:

This emphasis not on a common base of reference but a common set of “approaches” leaves Harvard students seeking to fulfill the Core with the choice between rigorous introductory courses geared towards prospective concentrators and unbelievably abstruse Core classes about topics like Boll Weevils in 1680s Holland. Few survey courses remain that offer a comprehensive view for students not planning to pursue further studies in given subjects. This phenomenon has the bizarre result that, often, only concentrators can put their knowledge in context. Most non-concentrators are marooned on islands of specific knowledge in a sea of ignorance, along with one or two other non-concentrators and someone from the Extension School who is starting to smell funny.

I’m sure that Alexandra thought she was being funny with that little quip. Sadly, Alexandra isn’t the exception when it comes to opinions about HES at the College. There is precious little knowledge of the programs available to HES students and how favorably they compare to the traditional programs available at Harvard.

I suppose that doing a better job with getting the message out about HES would help somewhat but that will only take us so far. As long as the administration abets the negative stereotypes that are allowed to circulate about HES, things will stay the same. A large part of the Harvard “brand” is the perception that it’s the ultimate educational credential. Whether or not this really is the case is almost immaterial. Students at the College seem to suffer almost universally from the delusion that they are among the “chosen.” To believe otherwise would be to admit that they were duped into paying a premium price for an education that is only marginally better than a comparable state school education. It’s only natural to engage in a bit of elitist daydreaming.  John Kenneth Galbraith wrote “The threat to men of great dignity, privilege and pretense is not from the radicals they revile; it is from accepting their own myth. Exposure to reality remains the nemesis of the great — a little understood thing.”

Fortunately, those of us who actually have a little experience with how far an educational credential can take you know otherwise. Somehow I managed to build a career that included several Fortune 500 companies and an assortment of international assignments with nary a degree to my name. What served me well was a certain drive to succeed and a willingness to learn from experience. Those qualities aren’t unique to residents of the Ivy League. A good dose of maturity doesn’t hurt either.

Which brings us back to Alexandra. Her byline quotes her as a member of the class of 2010. If we stick with some reasonable assumptions about her age, she’s likely to be all of 20 years old. As such, she’s barely old enough to realize how insignificant her perspectives are at this stage of life. Her writing reflects a narcissism that few adults can indulge in without finding themselves spending more than a few lonely nights wondering why people aren’t more enamored of their “wit.”

Far more troubling is the effect that the ill-formed opinions of 20-somethings have on people who are trying to decide how and where they should try to complete a degree. If you’re considering completing a degree at HES, remember that you’ll be sitting in front of the same professors and doing the same work as the College students. That’s what counts.

But drop me line if you happen to sit next to Alexandra in any of those classes. I want to know if she smells any better than I do. If her columns are any guide, the answer is “probably not.”