MOOC master’s degree outpaces on-campus programs

The Georgia Institute of Technology has received a considerably larger number of applications for its MOOC-inspired online computer science master’s degree than applicants for its on-campus counterparts combined.

Over an enrollment period of 21 days, 2,359 people applied for Georgia Tech’s online computer science master’s degree program, a survey of the course found.

The total number of enrollment for all traditional, campus-based computer science master’s degrees for the entirety of last year was 1,806.

“[That’s] very strong application numbers with virtually no marketing,” Georgia Tech noted in a summary of the survey.

That doesn’t mean the program has gone without publicity.

The program is based on – and uses the technology behind – massive open online courses (MOOCs) built by Udacity, but differs in that none of the courses are free.

In total, the program would cost a student more than $6,500, which is still a deep discount when compared to the $44,000 price tag for on-campus students.

That discount, and that the program is the first MOOC-like degree of its kind, inspired a flood of national news coverage when the experiment was announced in May.

See Page 2 for a more detailed breakdown of what the applicants are like.