JBSilBlog

I’ve always felt that I will eventually get a Ph.D. in something, whether it’s Information Technology or Computer Science, or something similar, I’m obviously not sure yet. Logically, it seems to make more sense to get a Masters degree first, and then try to apply some of that work towards a Ph.D. There are straight to Ph.D. programs out there that say not to get a M.S. first, but that’s like 7 years of my life I’m not quite ready to sign over right now.

So, I’d much rather get an M.S. now, and worry about the Ph.D. later. I went in to see my adviser this morning, to see what RIT offers by way of Masters programs. As it turns out, the generic M.S. in IT program has fairly flexible requirements. It requires one writing course, to help you write your thesis or capstone project proposal, one elective, and 9 concentration courses. Those 9 can be broken up into 3 courses per 3 concentrations, or 5 and 4. Considering that I already know exactly what I want, I thought it would make sense for me to go for the 5 course web concentration, and a 4 course gaming/design concentration.

There are only 2 courses in the web concentration that I have not already taken (9 that I have taken). There are also only 2 courses in the gaming/design concentration that I have not already taken (2 that I have taken). Apparently, since I took the courses and applied them to my B.S., I’m not allowed to reapply them to my M.S. Therefore, there are really only 4 courses left at RIT that would benefit me, and only 1 of them would actually interest me. In the words of the Volkswagen lady, “You got an F.”

I’m going to look around at other programs at other schools, obviously, but it just sucks that I basically have already taken enough courses to fulfill the requirements for an M.S., but I can’t get the degree. Also, since RIT is one of the leading IT programs in the nation, the fact that they have nothing left to teach me in the specification that I want to go into, is not a good sign for continuing my education