I will be writing a series of posts about my experience with the Georgia Tech Online Master of Science in Analytics program.

I am currently in my fourth semester of the program and it gives me a clear idea of the courses I have taken.

The first post is about why I chose the OMSA program and the application process.

Why OMSA?

Initially, I was looking for a Master's program to advance my studies and knowledge in analytics. I graduated with a Marketing major in my undergraduate studies and I wanted to strengthen my knowledge of data science. As such, there are three key factors that I used to find an appropriate program:

• Flexibility - I need to look for a program that can provide flexibility as I am working full-time. I am also looking for programs that provide online lectures (even before Covid times!) as I don't want to travel back and forth between work and school at the time.
• Reputation - If I am taking a Master's program, I will be spending at least a year or two of my time on it. For this level of effort, I need to pick a program from a reputable university.
• Cost - Some Master's programs can be costly and I definitely don't want to spend so much on what's essentially a part-time program.

Based on my criteria, I found that the Georgia Tech OMSA program is the best suitable for me. Georgia Tech has a great reputation globally and it offers Online Master's programs at a fraction of the cost. I chose OMSA because it complements my current work and I will be able to get solid technical knowledge. The program is so flexible in way that I can pick and choose any course I want to do every semester. Furthermore, it is one of the Master's programs where you can get it for under USD 10k!

Applying to OMSA

Georgia Tech has a website dedicated to OMSA with detailed information about how to apply for the program. Normally they will have enrollments for every semester.

You will need to provide your Academic transcripts, Statement of Purpose letter and Letters of Recommendation in your application.

Statement of Purpose Letter

I researched a bit on this on OMSA Reddit and other blogs. You should be able to find great examples there. What I learned was that it will improve your chances of admission if you have completed the MicroMasters program from OMSA.  There was already a MicroMasters program offered by GTech on EDX. It is a program consisting of three courses that are also part of the OMSA curriculum.

The idea of doing this program is that you are able to show the school that you can commit the time and effort required to undertake the whole Master's program. It will also greatly help if you manage to score well in these courses as you can opt-out of them when you finally get admitted to the Master's program. OMSA doesn't have a specific guideline on the required points but you should aim to score at least 80 for each course.

When I applied for the program, I had already finished the MicroMasters so it helped me to talk about my interest by providing specific examples from each course. Also, in the letter, I talked about the preparations that I had undertaken to finish the program. omsa.ga is a great resource for that as well.

Letters of Recommendation

This is another important part of your application. You will need to provide three person's names and they will have to write a letter of recommendation on behalf of you and submit it to the program. These can be your managers or professors from your school. I highly recommend you carefully select your references as their letters are important. I am also grateful to Tim, Neha and Eva for providing such letters for my application!

Once you have submitted everything, then all you have to do is to sit back and wait. You can keep checking OMSA Reddit for Admissions Results and monitor the application status.

In my next post, I will write about my experience with the MicroMasters program!.