Value of Stanford NDO in CS for MS application?

[Caturra]

Hi all,

 

I am wishing to get into a master program in CS at Stanford (my first choice) or other prestigious schools. My background is a non-CS bachelor (Mechatronics Engineering), yet I have taken several CS courses during my undergrad years. I read that taking some non-degree (NDO) courses online at Stanford would help increasing the chance of getting admitted to Stanford. However, they cost some fortune. 

 

My questions are:

1) How helpful are they actually are in terms of getting into Stanford?

2) Do those courses ONLY help getting admitted to Stanford? would they be of any use for applications to other schools? since Stanford is a pretty credible school.

 

Thanks in advance.

[bsharpe269]

If your uGPA is bad then getting As in courses would help. I don't think the prestige of the university you get them from matters much though so it probably isn't worth it to spend a ton of money to get the courses from Stanford. GPA/course work is just one small part of the application so your internships and research experience will be considered more seriously than a couple classes as a non degree student.