Just some general questions about liberal arts and mobile computing.

[wolfrider]

I realize this is a total shot in the dark, none of my friends or family have ever gone to grad school so I don't really know what I'm doing, but here goes. 

 

I'm a senior at a difficult liberal arts school that doesn't offer GPA's and grades everything on an odd sort of pass/fail system. I majored in Game Design and minored in CS (both with a focus in the hardware and software of mobile computers), and I'd like to go for a Masters with a thesis option to continue researching the development of mobile software. The 'tier' of these programs isn't extremely important so long as I can eventually return to school for a PhD. I've found several programs in this field that offer "Professional Masters" degrees and that I definitely qualify for, but I'm not sure if there's a serious difference between professional and research Masters degrees regarding where I can go afterward. I've been told to check out Loyola Chicago and DePaul, and UC Berkeley but other than my own research of these programs I haven't heard any other opinions about them.

 

What I'm going to end up doing is taking non-degree CS classes at a local university until I have enough to complete a CS major, and then hoping I have a chance, but is there anything else I can do for now?

[ak48]

I realize this is a total shot in the dark, none of my friends or family have ever gone to grad school so I don't really know what I'm doing, but here goes. 

 

I'm a senior at a difficult liberal arts school that doesn't offer GPA's and grades everything on an odd sort of pass/fail system. I majored in Game Design and minored in CS (both with a focus in the hardware and software of mobile computers), and I'd like to go for a Masters with a thesis option to continue researching the development of mobile software. The 'tier' of these programs isn't extremely important so long as I can eventually return to school for a PhD. I've found several programs in this field that offer "Professional Masters" degrees and that I definitely qualify for, but I'm not sure if there's a serious difference between professional and research Masters degrees regarding where I can go afterward. I've been told to check out Loyola Chicago and DePaul, and UC Berkeley but other than my own research of these programs I haven't heard any other opinions about them.

 

What I'm going to end up doing is taking non-degree CS classes at a local university until I have enough to complete a CS major, and then hoping I have a chance, but is there anything else I can do for now?

 

What an odd system. I wonder how you'll input a "GPA" into applications and such. Did you ask various departments how this may affect you? Will you be applying to PhD directly, or only masters?

 

[free_radical]

This isn't my field, so don't take everything I say to be truth, but it seems that if your eventual goal is a PhD, a research-based Masters would be far better than a professional one.  Your thesis supervisor can then write you a strong recommendation based on the research abilities you show.  

 

As for what you can do now, probably just the same stuff everyone else does to prepare - score as highly as possible on the GRE, think about which professors you'd like to write recommendations for you and make sure they actually know who you are, and get involved with research (with a CS professor or other professor doing work you're interested in).  Your school probably also has a pre-graduate advising office for students, which you can try - the qualify of these advising offices vary by university, but certainly worth a try.