Part 1: Program Overview

This post was originally published on DOU in January 2025

This is part two of the OMSCS series. Here I’ll share my admission experience - from IELTS prep to getting the acceptance letter.

Quick reminder of what you need for OMSCS admission:

  1. IELTS Academic or TOEFL iBT at C1 level
  2. Bachelor’s degree in CS with GPA 3.0+/4.0 (82+/100)
  3. 3 recommendation letters
  4. Completed application form and paid application fee

Timeline

The key thing to know is that you need to apply way in advance. I was applying for Fall 2024 semester (starts end of August). The application deadline was March 1st of the same year. If you’re applying for Spring semester (starts early January), the deadline is August 15th of the previous year. You can’t start in summer, so keep that in mind.

IELTS

Let’s start with the most interesting part - English. Here are the requirements:

TOEFL Requirements

  • Internet-based: 100, with minimum section scores of 19

IELTS Academic Requirements

  • 7.5 Overall Band score
  • 6.5 Reading
  • 6.5 Listening
  • 6.5 Speaking
  • 5.5 Writing

I’ve always struggled with English. My school transcript literally shows 8/12, and in my freshman year I was placed in the Pre-Intermediate/Intermediate group, but I skipped most of the lectures. There were attempts to fix this, but nothing systematic. So basically, I finished undergrad with solid vocabulary but almost zero grammar. I could speak well enough to express my thoughts, but I was choosing tenses intuitively, almost randomly.

Knowing I had nearly 9 months until the deadline, I decided to chill for a couple months and start prepping in September. However, I actually started in late September)

I decided to first improve my general English level, then specifically prep for TOEFL/IELTS. Honestly, this doesn’t make much sense - if you’re in this situation, just start prepping for the exam while improving your level at the same time.

I picked First Cambridge Center (not an ad). They assessed my English level at B1+/B2-. I immediately said I needed grammar and wanted individual lessons. Despite this, they first tried to sell me group classes that are more profitable for any online school. I still went to one free trial session. Obviously, it didn’t work for me, as group format is better for people who need conversation practice, not for quickly leveling up grammar.

After that I took individual lessons. My review: teachers work from pre-made presentations developed by the school, which limits personalization. Nevertheless, teachers are nice and have solid language knowledge. The IELTS prep didn’t really work out though.

So in late December 2023 I started prepping specifically for IELTS with another tutor recommended by my girlfriend. In late January 2024 I stopped the First Cambridge Center classes and continued only with the tutor. Overall, this was much cheaper and, most importantly, more effective. I took the actual exam in late February 2024.

IELTS vs TOEFL

The main difference - TOEFL speaking is with a computer, IELTS is with a person. It’s a matter of preference, but keep in mind: if you blank out in TOEFL and don’t know what to say, that’s game over. In IELTS, speaking is conversational format, so if you blank the examiner just asks the next question. Of course blanking affects your score, but not that critically.

That’s not the only difference between TOEFL and IELTS - you can read more online. But I think the speaking format is the defining factor.

More About IELTS Academic

Important to understand - high English proficiency doesn’t guarantee a high IELTS score. There are 4 sections:

  • Listening
  • Reading
  • Writing
  • Speaking

Each scored 1-9 in 0.5 increments. Listening, Reading, and Writing are taken together, Speaking separately, possibly on a different day (I’d recommend booking different days).

Listening

40 questions split into 4 parts:

  • Part 1 - everyday dialogue
  • Part 2 - everyday monologue
  • Part 3 - dialogue about education and training
  • Part 4 - academic topic monologue

You listen to recordings for 30 minutes with small breaks, then get 10 minutes to check and fill in what you missed. Main challenge is that you listen to each recording only once, so you need to answer on the fly without much time to think.

Practice is crucial here. This section is easy to train solo - just listen and answer until you learn to do both simultaneously. This is the third hardest section for me.

Reading

40 questions split into 3 sections, each with a text. Total 2150-2750 words. 60 minutes allocated.

Not much to say really. If you have solid English vocabulary, it shouldn’t be a problem. However, I still recommend you doing practice tests a few times before the real thing. This is the fourth hardest section for me.

Writing

Two tasks, 60 minutes total:

  • Task 1 - describe a visual: graph, table, diagram, even a map. It’s expected to take about 20 minutes.
  • Task 2 - write an essay on a given topic. It’s expected to take the remaining 40 minutes.

I don’t think you can prep well for this without a teacher. The main challenge is that they expect a specific structure. Writing in free format won’t get you a high score. That’s why you need someone who knows what’s expected from you to: 1) explain it to you 2) evaluate your answers and give feedback.

Practice is key here, you just need to build muscle memory, especially for task 1. Once you’ve correctly described one graph, it becomes almost a no-brainer for the next one. This is the second hardest section for me.

About proctoring: before taking these sections, you need to show your entire room on webcam to confirm you’re alone. During the exam they capture your screen and webcam video. You are not allowed to use headphones, cover your mouth with your hand, or go off camera. During my exam I propped my chin on my hand, slightly covering my mouth, and someone connected to tell me not to do that. Generally, taking tests in OMSCS using Honorlock is almost identical, except for the part where someone might connect to you.

Speaking

Three parts, 11-14 minutes total:

  • Part 1 - introduction and short interview that includes questions about life, home, work. Generally, it’s almost normal conversation 4-5 minutes long.
  • Part 2 - you get a card with a topic to talk about 3-4 minutes. The card includes points you can use with one minute to prepare.
  • Part 3 - discussion of your answer given in part 2 with follow-up questions, taking 4-5 minutes.

If you think having good conversational English means you’ll definitely score high, then you’re wrong. Not only do you need to speak grammatically correct, you also need advanced vocabulary and grammar constructions you wouldn’t normally use in conversation.

However, that’s not even the main challenge. The main challenge is squeezing out maximum information. For example, if in part 1 they ask a simple question like “what’s your favorite food”, you can’t just say “Borscht” or “My favorite food is borscht”. You need to come up with 2 sentences on the spot, ideally using some perfect tense. But keep in mind that if you ramble off topic, they’ll deduct points for that too.

To illustrate: in part 2 they might ask what advice you recently received, but you might not have received any advice at all! Or you can be asked to describe a song you like. How do you even describe a song for 3 minutes? I was lucky, since I got something about environmental pollution, and you can talk about that forever. In part 2 your goal is for them to stop you, not to stop yourself.

This was the hardest section for me because I’m a straightforward person in conversations and can’t really talk about nothing even in my native language.

Registration and Results

Where to register? I used British Council. Registration includes access to a practice platform.

On February 20th I took Speaking, 21st - everything else, 23rd - I already had the results. I recommend taking it early, because IELTS lets you retake individual sections for a fee, so it’s better to take the test in advance to have time for retakes if needed. IELTS results valid for 2 years. Also note you need to register early too, because there might not be any slots available.

Resources:

My results:

  • Listening 8.0
  • Reading 8.5
  • Writing 6.5
  • Speaking 6.5
  • Total 7.5

As you can see, I barely passed, but overall happy with the result, especially knowing where I had started.

Summary:

  • Start prepping early. Prep time depends on your level, but I’d allocate around 6 months.
  • Prep with a tutor familiar with the exam format who can develop a program tailored to your needs.
  • Take the exam and register early too, so you have the option to retake if needed.

Application

After you pass IELTS or TOEFL, everything else is straightforward. Here’s the application instruction guide.

Diploma

You need a Bachelor’s degree in CS or related field with GPA 3.0+/4.0, which is roughly 82+ on a 100-point scale, but this isn’t strictly required. The required part is having a Bachelor’s degree, but it can be in almost any field with GPA below 3.0. Such cases are reviewed case-by-case. There are lots of Reddit stories about people in this situation successfully completing OMSCS.

When I was applying, there was zero information about whether it’s even possible to get in with a Ukrainian diploma. So I was worried they might not accept mine. But as you can see, those worries were for nothing)

You need to upload your diploma copy and diploma supplement. After you pay the application fee and get preliminary approval, you’ll need to send the original diploma with supplement and apostilled translations to Georgia Tech. They’ll tell you separately when you need to send a physical copy. The diploma deadline isn’t the same as the application deadline, so you’ll have plenty of time.

I got lucky as my diploma is bilingual, so I didn’t need to do anything extra, just sent it. After they verify your diploma, they send it back.

3 Recommendation Letters

You need to ask 3 people to recommend you, and in the application provide their university emails (if asking professors) or corporate emails (if asking your direct managers) with a description of who they are to you. Then these people get an email with a link to fill out a form.

Honestly, I don’t know if you need to attach the actual recommendation letter there. So when I reached out to professors, I also sent them a letter they could use just in case. I got lucky - only one professor ignored me, meaning I only had to reach out to four in total.

One more thing: preferably these should be professors. If you don’t have contact with professors anymore, recommendations can be from your technical managers or colleagues who can say something positive about your CS knowledge and skills.

Keep in mind that people might not respond for a while or take time filling out the recommendation, so don’t leave this to the last minute.

Finishing the Application

You’ll also need to briefly answer a couple bureaucratic and motivational questions like: why do you even want this program and why do you think you can complete it.

Then you pay the application fee. When I applied it was $105. I had no problem paying with a Ukrainian bank card online.

That’s almost it! Then you wait to be “processed”. Usually they send decisions to everyone around the same time, so you can monitor OMSCS Reddit - people will start posting about getting accepted. Then they’ll tell you that you’re conditionally accepted, after which you need to confirm your Bachelor’s degree by sending it to GaTech (described above).

If you have questions, there’s an official email you can contact. They’ll definitely respond, but be ready for it to take a while due to volume. You can also ask questions on Reddit to get “unofficial” answers from students and even university representatives.

Afterword

I want Ukrainian IT folks, especially young professionals, to know there are other paths besides defaulting to a Master’s at the same place you got your Bachelor’s. Today there are opportunities to get world-class education for reasonable money that combines well with full-time work, without leaving Ukraine, that regular people can get into.

Even if you got your degree long ago - good to know you can retrain or upgrade your qualifications. I’ve met many cases of people with 10+ years industry experience going into OMSCS to discover new opportunities or just learn something interesting.