anon_leap

To corroborate LEAPstudent's post: I received partial scholarships for the LEAP program for phase 1+2 and am looking to get a job as a software engineer. The software offerings are anemic in the college of engineering and the computer science department is more or less defunct. Keep your job and start teaching yourself how to code (you will be teaching yourself everything even if you decide to come to BU). I am now essentially sprinting toward the finish line; I've given up on educational prospects at the college and am dumping time into personal training and projects. My BU classes are a hassle and time drain, nothing more nothing less. Now a report from the trenches that I wish I had heard when applying, but no one gave me. I feel students in the program are walking examples of the sunken-cost fallacy. BU costs thousands of dollars and the education is sub-par. You either realize this fast and get out/minimize your work load and work on outside projects or like many students live in this weird bubble of denial as your student loans accrue interest and you are financially crippled. Phase 1 you can do ANYWHERE and once you do you can apply to ANY master's program you want especially if you're thinking about CS. The amount of fudging and lack of care put into cementing down requirements is a travesty. This stretches into funding problems and ways to screw you over financially which has happened to multiple students. I'd rather not get into it because the details are specific to my peers. Suffice it to say that nowhere will you find stringent policies regarding fund disbursement and status in relation to the LEAP program. This has become much more of a problem after they fired Helaine Friedlander and replaced her with Leslie Tellalian and Maria Isabel Tereso. Suffice it to say, you have no advocates in the program and it is beginning to stink of a cash cow abyss that BU throws clueless post-baccs into. This program is only worth it if you have funding and are only doing it for a piece of paper (i.e. minimize your workload, work on outside projects, get out fast, nicely fill in a gap in your resume). The one good thing this program did for me was give me a jump start from stagnancy because now I fear for my financial future (remember I have funding, but it's still costing me about 6000x what the education is actually worth), but there are much cheaper and smarter ways of getting yourself out of a rut. As a final note, LEAPstudent please send me a private message so we can get a beer and bitch about this program. The lack of realism and common sense in this program is nauseating. edit: Sorry if I sound so harsh, but I think you should have uncut advice from someone dissatisfied with the program. The program was and is a great idea, but the implementation and quality of education are terrible. I don't like to see people who are a bit unsure of what to do after college to get destroyed financially for the benefit of bloodsuckers at BU. You have options and take my report with a gain of salt, if it sounds like I'm bitter it's because I am.