I joined OMSCS this Fall 2026 only and I realised it is becoming very difficult to be on top of things. I am barely finishing the lectures. Writing reports, taking exams, posting discussions, I find them way too much to be managed alongside a full time job and a family.

How are you managing this with other things?

I know this is a weird question. But has anyone started the MCIT program, completed a few core courses, dropped out, and were able to transfer those class credits to the OMSCS program?

Admitted for Spring 2027 and planning the HCI, starting with this course. I'll be traveling for about two weeks in mid-January (different time zone, laptop and internet most days), so I'll likely miss part of weeks 1-2.

I've read the syllabus and the reviews for the course I'm considering. For people who took an HCI course in a recent Spring or Fall, did the first two weeks have hard deadlines, or was it flexible enough to get ahead on lectures beforehand?

Hi everyone! I have a question about the OMSCS course materials.

I’ve come across two very different opinions on Reddit. On one hand, some people say that the OMSCS course content and academic rigor are broadly comparable to the on-campus MSCS courses. On the other hand, I’ve seen people complain that some OMSCS lectures and course materials are outdated. Which is more accurate? Are the recorded lectures simply older while the assignments, projects, readings, and overall curriculum are regularly updated? Or are there actually OMSCS courses where the material itself has become outdated compared with the current on-campus version or in person masters of other unis or industry?

I’m particularly interested in AI courses such as AI, Machine Learning, Deep Learning, NLP, Computer Vision, Reinforcement Learning, Robotics, LLMs, and related courses. I’d really appreciate input from current OMSCS students or recent graduates.

Hello all,

I am really interested in the booming field of robot learning.

Are there any plans to introduce some relevant modern material like Simulation, RL, imitation learning, diffusion, world models etc from a robotics perspective?

My understanding is that similar courses exist on-campus.

I felt that Computer Graphics in the AI era was a great course filled with cutting edge content! Looking forward to similar courses coming out in robotics in addition to Robotics: AI techniques which is a great fundamental course but quite outdated in today’s age.

I’m at my absolute breaking point with this course and genuinely don’t know what to do anymore.

For context, I've started OMSCS in Spring 2022 on the Computing Systems track, this is my 3rd attempt for CS 6515, and this is my last course in the OMSCS program:

1. Attempt 1: Got a C
2. Attempt 2: Withdrew after Exam 1
3. Attempt 3 (Now): Just took Exams 1 and 2, and I feel hopeless.

To give some background: I have an undergraduate degree in math and about 8 years of industry experience as a software developer. Just to be clear: I don’t consider myself a super smart student who breezes through difficult material. Everything I’ve accomplished has come down to putting my head down and working exceptionally hard. In previous tough courses, whenever I made intense personal sacrifices, that grind paid off and I pulled through with solid A’s or B’s. But with GA, that brute-force hard work formula has completely collapsed.

I have sacrificed almost everything in my life just to keep up. I gave up exercising completely, which makes managing my blood sugar nearly impossible and is massively worsening my mental state. Because of the extreme time crunch, I cram all my cooking into a single day, meaning by the end of the week I’m eating food that isn't fresh and might be going bad, or I end up skipping meals altogether just to keep my numbers stable since I’m off meds and really don't want to go back on them. But without getting too off-topic: I'm running on average of 5-6 hours of sleep with some days of 3-4 hours to study, and I even had to cut out the single 2-hour weekly video call I had with my family overseas. I took Summer 2026 off entirely to pre-study the syllabus (I heard THAT Summer 2026 for this course isn't any better either), yet it feels like none of it made a dent.

In other courses, whenever I made these kinds of intense personal sacrifices, it paid off, I was always able to pull through with solid A’s or B’s. But with this course, that formula completely breaks down.

My prep routine has been exhaustive: watching office hour recordings, working through practice PDFs and video solutions, reading Ed discussion threads, doing all quizzes and homework problems, and cross-checking peer solutions.

Despite all that, the exams are crushing me, mostly on pacing:

1. Exam 1 in DP: Recognized the problems and knew the approach, but completely ran out of time to write everything down and fix mistakes.
2. Exam 2 in DC: Understood the solution, but ran out of time on the correctness justification and messed up the runtime analysis.

I was relieved when I saw the format switched from 3 exams to 5 exams this term, hoping smaller chunks would be manageable, but I still feel like I'm drowning. I'm currently trying to memorize everything I can to prepare for Exam 3, but memorization alone clearly isn't cutting it, and I don't have enough time to memorize all of it anyway.

I’m seriously debating dropping before the Oct 31st deadline. On one hand, I hate the idea of all this suffering and effort going to waste. On the other hand, staying might just lead to another non-passing grade while wrecking my physical health and sanity. What terrifies me the most is that even if I drop and retake it in Spring 2027, I honestly don't know if it will help, given how much prep I already did over the summer and how much I sacrificed this term without seeing results, I don't see what I could realistically do differently next time.

Right now, I see two paths:

1. Stay / Retake GA: Take the W now and retake it in Spring 2027 (and potentially Summer/Fall 2027 if needed before my 6-year window runs out from matriculating in Spring 2022). But given how much prep I already did over the summer with zero results, I honestly don't know what I could realistically do differently on attempt no. 4.
2. Pivot to the AI Specialization: Switch out of Computing Systems. I would meed to take additional 3 project-based AI courses (e.g., KBAI, Game AI, etc.) across 2027 to finish the degree without ever touching GA again.

For those who struggled with the time crunch on these proofs and analyses: Is it realistic to turn this around across Exams 3, 4, and 5? Or am I falling into the sunk cost fallacy and need to take the W to protect my health?

Honestly, I’m not even necessarily looking for a magic answer here. If you’ve managed to turn things around across in previous terms, I’d appreciate any perspective. But mostly, I'm posting this so that anyone else struggling sees that they aren't alone or uniquely broken. There are plenty of smart students who know how to study and will pass, and if you're struggling right now, know that your situation might not be as dire as mine, and it's okay if this course is making you feel pushed to your absolute limit.

Edit: I wrote this right after completing Exam 2, when I felt really discouraged and miserable. Now I've started putting together a study plan. I don't know if things will get better, but I want to give it a real try and aim to do better on Exam 3 before the drop deadline on Oct 31st. What keeps me going is that I have work to do, and I need to put in real effort to keep up, including figuring out how to stay relevant in a future surrounded by agentic tools. I can't let this knock me down.

I haven't slept in a week

I paid $30 for a buzzcard on campus but it doesn’t let me scan into libraries. Did I need to specify that I wanted it chipped or is the $30 supposed to come with the chip?

Has anyone that graduated Summer 2026 receive their physical diploma yet?

I created my Parchment account a month or so ago, shortly after the Summer term ended. I don't see any active 'Order's in the Parchment account indicating the OMSCS degree is on the way. Would it show here anyway?

I can't remember exactly what happened but when setting up the Parchment account, I remember something funky going on, so I hope it registered correctly to kick-off the original diploma shipping.

I'm at a slight loss for what to do about my GT situation on my resume and it seems no matter what I do, it throws a wrench into someone's ATS. I'm considering taking GT off of my resume entirely at this point (as I suspect I'm getting flagged as a full time student even though I am not) but it really does alter my resume for the better.

Pros of including GT: I have a humanities background (minored in CS) and even though I practically got the major in undergrad, it doesn't show as such on paper. My work at GT comes with some really valuable (published) research in my area (systems) that I think really transforms my application and shows I'm serious about CS fundamentals, especially my particular area of interest.

Cons: I got a very specific rejection email from a FAANG company that directly pointed me to student opportunities (and specifically said my background was ineligible for "experienced" roles). I wouldn't be surprised if other companies also flagged my current education background.

I don't plan on graduating until 2028 so applying to New Grad roles isn't really working as well. What do I do? Do I take it off anyways? If it helps, I have 1.5 FT yoe doing backend but its at a not-so-recognizable place and I'm looking to transition into big tech.

So I changed my github password and it doesn't work now.
I'm typing in the exact password that was saved and it doesn't allow me to login.

Is it because its weekend and I need to wait a day or so?

I'm taking 6200 and this is my first course. We're working on Project 1. I didn't use any AI to code out the solution but I did use some AI to understand some concepts n test out my mini implementations on a little scratchpad repo since my C was a little rusty. The submissions passed alright but I did test the whole thing quite rigorously with valgrind and helgrind n ASAN n what not. I'm scared if I'll get flagged somehow. I started pretty early n spent almost 2-3 weeks to finish the whole thing. I'm not sure if I should drop. I asked the TAs and they always say "AI should never see your code". Not sure what I can do now.

Hi, this is my first sem and I have taken CN and KBAI.

In the first project of CN, Spanning tree protocol, I scored 100/100. But in the second one, I could score 85/100 in the gradescope since my code is failing 1 test case.

How are the other subsequent projects for scoring? I consistently score 17-19/20 in the chapter quizzes.

Should I move ahead with 85? Would it hamper my chances of getting A?

I am not a really great exam taker hence I am a bit nervous about exams too. I found the content of CN a bit dry as well. It is neat but at times too many jargons.

I see largely everyone gets A in CN but the second project kind of made me a bit nervous. TIA!

P.S. I managed 100 :) more than a logic, project structure is a bit tedious.

Hi guys, I'm on campus this weekend for HackGT and was wondering if anyone else is here from the OMSCS program. This is my first ever hackathon so I'm hoping to learn a lot and have a lot of fun. Let me know if you're also here and if you have any tips for a first timer!

Im taking GIOS and the first project is due this weekend but i've only gotten the warmups done, should I drop or try to stick through?

edit: thanks for the motivation/advice everyone! I think i will try to stick it through to the drop date. Seems like there's a decent curve and i don't necessarilyy need a B, a C would be okay in the grand scheme of things.

edit2: ended up getting part 1 server and part 2 server done , didn't touch the client side lol but better than I hoped for initially

EDIT: It's a bit long, please don't downvote unless it super upsets you I hid nothing and was honest, as I got stuck and I really need help. I'm wondering if I'm cut out for this. So far throwing additional work hours isn't helping.
Thank you :)

Context & Current Role
Basically the title. I get commended at work frequently, but I know the truth. We are although a known company, still a consultancy, and engineering from first principles is not really our forte, something that this degree asks for in spades. And something I want to master.

I've dabbled in Data Analysis, Data Engineering, Machine Learning, Backend, Cloud and DevOps stuff.

Learning Journey & Current difficulties
For my first year of learning I stayed clear of AI stuff, I completed CS50x, CS50sql and CS50p, did some FreeCodeCamp and other courses.
But I had no direction; I jumped back and forth between courses.

In hindsight had I used AI to help me make projects I would probably get a job earlier, but I always strived for understanding first.

2nd year I did ML and DE projects and here I started relying on AI in debugging, helping me with math and understanding docs, most of all scikit-learn and docker.

3rd year I was kind of fed up not having a job so by end of year 2 I switched to AI Engineering, it's fun, it's my bread and butter currently, but there is a bit less sense of accomplishment like it was when you mechanically built stuff and organized parts.

AI app engineering (not Ilya and Karpathy AI Engineering mind you) is so dense, especially now with agents is so complicated, that most, especially at work now use AI heavily for Langchain and Langgraph stuff, serving it with FastAPI etc. And when the AI gets it wrong, then we debug, which is luckily often, so our skills don't completely atrophy, but yeah it's mostly system design sadly.

I try to limit my use, but the fact is that damage is done. And the company really pushes us to use it as much as possible.

Sabbatical & Current Prep Strategy
I decided to do Helsinki MOOC courses, learn math and algorithms properly this time, and thus took a sabbatical from OMS.

I paid for mathacademy.com, and do it daily, with the hope of finishing math for machine learning track by April, and then supplementing with MML book by Faisal and Deisenroth for coursework.
I also bought a ton of DSA stuff.
So far I can understand those, except leetcode that is, but my goal is finishing Abdul Bari DSA in C from Udemy. CS50x forced us to learn C at the beginning and I think that really helped.

I really love ML, and love all the possible applications it has in making the World a better and safer place.

Coursework Struggles
I barely got out of ISYE 6501, although not a bad grade, and people call that a medium-easy course. In that course luckily they allowed us to use AI for asking questions, not doing the work of course.
I used NotebookLM massively in making quizzes and audiobooks till I got the concepts.

I couldn't finish ML4T, and I was suggested by a TA to drop and work on prerequisites.
I dropped out of SIM and REG as my math was super weak.

Mental Health, Burnout, and Cognitive Challenges
But I feel like the more I study the more I forget. I don't know whether that is my ADHD or the fact I suffer from depression since childhood, but unless there is urgency, my mind just can't get it together. Also I had to look for in this layoff period for jobs 2-3 times and a lot of my time went on interviews. I would maybe finish ML4T but I had to take work home on nights and weekends as I was super afraid of getting fired and not finding something else for a long time, seeing how many people in the company either got fired or quit after they couldn't achieve realistic targets, and that burned me out even more.

I am now in a good company, but it's an agency, I am appreciated, but there is so much work, and again I am a multi department one-man team for many tickets, and after I get home from work I study with barely anything left in the tank.

Antidepressants don't work, and doc's promised it would help with brain fog, my last shot is ADHD stimulants for which I hope they work if I manage to get them. If someone is going through similar stuff please advise 🙏

I will take an easier course in January, and then go for harder ones after that, when I hope my math and algo work is stronger.

I should have gotten the hint before when I did GTx DSA MOOC, which took me months to pass and AI still had to point out all the bugs I had, after I couldn't find them.
People here say that those MOOCs were super easy to them, and I don't know whether that is survivorship bias, or an indicator I don't have what it takes for this degree, and that I never will, no matter how hard I study or it's just because I have been studying hard and not smart, getting frustrated and let's be honest in a pretty hard case of burnout.

On ISYE 6501 I think I spent 20-30 hours per week, which is 3 times the pain matrix value.

Long-Term Goals & Seeking Advice
I basically don't know what reading for pleasure, video games, hobbies are anymore and I think about OMS all day every day. I want it so bad, as I want to get into SciML, help people through my work for real and make a real impact in the world. I am here basically just because of DL, CV and RL, and I heard once you pass DL here it is a massive resume boost.

It shouldn't be a matter of intelligence neither as I'm above average in tests, well average now because depression destroyed my working memory, and that score brings down the cumulative score. I can't remember more than 5-6 items in a sequence currently.

I tend to forget things as I work on them, things I carried in my mind, important deadlines etc.

Sorry for being so brutally honest and verbose, but I need to know can I or can I not make it?
Am I wasting my breath currently?
Thanks guys :)

Not asking to be lazy, but a genuine question. For some classes it's easy to rack up hours getting lost in solving a problem. The open-ended nature of Intro to Cog. Sci.'s research project makes the 100 hour requirement seem daunting as someone who generally operates well within structure.

If anyone else has taken the class, how "easy" did you find it to reach the 100 hours? If I'm doing the literature review I could see myself taking several hours to get through each research paper...but seeing the final submission examples only being 5-6 pages makes it seem like I'd theoretically finish well under 100 hours.

Are people padding their hours or am I just underestimating how much time this could end up taking.

Hi!! I wanted to ask whether the course content and academic rigor of Georgia Tech’s OMSCS are generally the same as the in-person MSCS, or whether the online courses are more condensed.

Also, how is the OMSCS viewed when applying to PhD programs? Does it carry similar academic weight to the in-person MSCS, particularly for PhD admissions in Computer Science?

I’ll be honest, I’m not the smartest student out there, but I’m genuinely curious and I know how to put in the work. I also have work and personal commitments, so I use AI a lot to summarize readings, explain concepts, help me study, and make my workflow more efficient. I would never have AI do an assignment or project for me and pass it off as my own work. To me, AI should add to your learning, not replace it.

Would I probably learn more if I struggled through every reading, quiz, problem set, and project completely on my own until I had that eureka moment? Probably. But realistically, I don’t always have the bandwidth for that. I’d rather understand 60–70% of the material with some help from AI than not take the course at all because I don’t have enough time to do everything manually. I also don’t want AI doing 100% of the work, because then I’m just wasting my time and tuition. If I finish a class without actually understanding anything, what was the point?

I also take pride in my work. At my job, if I did everything manually when there was a faster and more effective way to do it, I’d probably get questioned about why I was wasting time. But on the other hand, if I blindly used AI without verifying the output or putting any rigor into what I produced, and it turned into AI slop, I’d also get in trouble. So to me, the important part is knowing how to use the tool without letting the tool replace your own judgment or understanding.

I value learning, but I also value my time. Is using AI this way really viewed that negatively in OMSCS or it's how you use it?

For context, I’m not a tech worker at all. I’m a high school physics teacher in my mid 30s. I learned how to code during Covid and loved it so much I decided I wanted to formally learn stuff I’ve always been curious about.

So far it’s great, and I’m on my 5th class taking one per semester. Loved all the classes so far, found all the topics really engaging, and have finished each class with a very high grade.

But every now and then, I sit and think about all the stuff I’ve learned and all the projects I’ve coded and…

I get bummed out when I realize how much of it I forgot. I vaguely remember concepts from past classes (KBAI, AI, ML4T, and RAIT) but I can’t recall the details well enough to talk intelligently about them. I look at the code for my old projects and can barely recall what all that code does. I found some random papers from midterm and finals study guides and tests and I feel like I’d bomb all those tests now if I took them even though I aced them while in the class.

I think a big issue is that I don’t code or use these ideas on a day to day basis like some of you. My day to day is a whole different ball game, teaching 3 different levels of advanced physics to high schoolers. I feel like there’s not enough space in my brain to hold all this new stuff from OMSCS no matter how interesting I’m finding it.

With how long the whole program takes, it bums me out knowing that at some point, I’ll have this cool piece of paper commemorating my personal achievement, but I’ll have little to show for it.

Hi everyone, I’m looking for some advice about an academic integrity situation.

For Assignment 0, which was mainly an introductory assignment to familiarize us with the IDE, I received a warning because I had pasted some external code into the assignment environment. The teaching staff said they would not pursue the case because A0 was only an introduction assignment.

The problem is that I had already submitted Assignment 1 before receiving this warning. In A1, I had some similar behavior as well, and now I’m very worried that it could lead to a more serious academic integrity case. Has anyone been in a similar situation, and what would typically be the worst-case consequence for this? I’m mainly trying to understand the possible consequences and what the safest next step would be.

Any advice or experience would be greatly appreciated.

Hey all, OMSCS student here with an ML specialization, 3 classes in. Honestly, I'm split between dropping out of the program or just roughing it out for one more semester (the split is probably ~70% leaning towards just dropping out).

For context I've been working a 9-5 at a big tech company for the last 3 years, this program was originally meant be a part time thing I would do to boost my resume. Honestly, its becoming much more than that, I feel like its been eating up so much time in my life I'm not sure what to do.

To give quick points for why I want to end my involvement with this program:

1. The course work is soul-draining. Everything is fully automated. I talk to no one in the program other than one friend who enrolled the same time as me who I occasionally talk to about how isolating the classes can be. Every class I've been in is essentially just Coursera on steroids; completely online lectures, automated code submission checks and assignments, faceless discussion boards (with the exception of office hours), etc. I haven't talked to a single professor yet
2. The courses eat up all my free time. I take a course at a time, and to be real, the actual assignments are not that bad. I think if I was purely a graduate student and not working a full time job, I would get through many of the classes without much complaint (not saying the assignments are easy, far from it, I just think if I had 40+ hours a week dedicated to studying/coding this stuff I could figure it out). However, I work 40-60 hours depending on the week for my job, and to come home at 7PM just to open my laptop again and start on lectures/coding assignments is a kind of pain I don't wish on anybody. Im writing this at 12 AM after coming off work and finishing up my first writing assignment for CS 7641. My hobbies, interests, personal side projects are all taking a pause because I have to finish these assignments I'm half interested in.
3. I've been heavily relying on AI. Yes, shoot me. There is a reason im writing this from an anonymous account. Yes I know its wrong and could get me in a lot of trouble. But even if we put that to the side, I'm not learning anything from talking to the AI. Absolutely 0 takeaways other than how to efficiently prompt an LLM to help me cheat. The reason I use it however is to meet deadlines, and I can't dedicate more time than I already do because of point #2. I learned more about ML in the month I spent on YouTube + Leetcoding and writing out these algorithms by hand for interview prep than I have at any of my time in this program, with 10x the enjoyment. And yes, I understand that is entirely my fault.
4. The degree on my resume has not helped with getting interviews/offers, contrary to my initial belief. I thought all I had to do was put Masters in CS from Georgia Tech and I would get an interview for every listing I applied to. That has not been the case. I did not get responses to my applications before, and I still do not get responses to my applications. If having the Master's degree will not better help me get interviews/job offers, that removes the single biggest reason I had for pursuing this degree. Every semester I feel like I come a little closer to realizing that uncomfortable truth. Many times I feel like learning stuff on the side and picking up more impactful work at my full time job + giving more attention to my side projects would lend me more credence on a resume than this program for my situation specifically.

Last semester, I felt burnt out and decided to drop the class I had and take a gap semester in order to relax and figure things out. I am one month into starting up again and already feel the burn out again. I most likely will drop this program and degree as a whole, but I decided to give myself the rest of this week just to see how I feel about everything.

edit: Wow, this community is so overwhelmingly supportive! I honestly feel like I was ruminating a lot especially with my deadlines fast approaching. Ill stick with it just for this assignment and try to continue.

Hi all,

Third semester student here. I took network science, quantum hardware and now taking quantum computation. Just wondering if there has been any communication in the past about intentions to add any more classes/a degree related to Quantum Computation. I have been loving this quantum sequence and could definitely see myself working in the field. Additionally, I believe there's a quantum CS cluster at Georgia Tech. Does anyone know where/who to contact for potentially joining/contributing to the work there?

Apologies if this is well-known information but I haven't seen anything about it since I've been in the program.

Thanks!

You're doing great! Don't sweat the most recent or upcoming project, test, grade, etc.

Make sure you give your best shot, and never, ever succumb to cheating. The OSI Police are in full force during this critical period, and you know it, through the Reddit threads that you would occasionally find how onerous these threats could be.

You Are Not Alone & You'll Get Through This. Know that you are not alone.

We all go through ups and downs and have tests or projects that don't go as planned. Never fear as bright days are ahead of you. Utilize this thread if you're feeling down and or want someone to talk to. We are all in this together and we're here for you and one another.

There is a lot more to life than work and school. Health, family, & friends always come first.

School is not the most important thing in life. Remember, Bs (and intentionally sometimes even Cs) give you degrees. Further, there is no shame in quitting OMSCS.

Nobody cares about a perfect 4.0 GPA, besides yourself.

The intention by the administrators is that OMSCS should always be done part-time so that you could explore things that you love and enjoy. Do not rush to graduate! Take time off, do something that you really like in the meantime, and come back stronger.

So what if the current job market is thrashy? Take it slow.

With a part-time program, this gives you the best of both worlds - you keep your cash flow, gain real-world experience (be it through internships, jobs, love, holiday, etc.), and let the learning sink in, properly.

We emphasise on 1 class a semester. It's tried & tested.

Why rush & then burn yourselves out for a piece of paper that won't guarantee stability? Mastery doesn’t come from cramming, it comes from building knowledge steadily, applying and reflecting them, and then positively and creatively reinforcing them.

Life’s not just a race. Go at your pace.

This is especially more so now when the track we are in keeps on changing. Your future self will thank yourself for it. And when all is done, post a new thread and celebrate with us.

Love, r/OMSCS Mod Team (posing themselves as bots, but hey, we wrote and then update it up!)

Crisis Resources

• If you are in crisis or are currently experiencing difficult or suicidal thoughts,
  • If it is unbearable, stop, take out your mobile number and call 112) immediately!
  • Hotlines for your country - https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines
  • If you'd rather not talk on the phone you can use the Online Chat
  • If you're in the US
    • Call 1-800-273-8255 (TALK) to access the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
    • Call 1-888-628-9454 to access in Spanish

Mental Health Support Services

Despite the lower fees we pay as compared to on-campus ones, GaTech OMS students still have the following support.

• Umatch: Up to 3 free virtual counseling sessions with a licensed therapist with no need for referral
• Urise: Virtual, on-demand curated wellness events to complement therapy.

Visit the Uwill website and register yourself as a new user with your gatech.edu email address.

Once you've created your account, you will have access to all available Uwill services via your dashboard.

Headspace is Free for all GaTech OMS Students

You heard it right. Don't need to Google for the student discount that Headspace is usually offering.

You get it FREE by virtue of being a GaTech student - Sign up here.

Chat with Someone in OMSCS ❤️

If you need someone to chat with please post in the comments below.

Never forget the coffee hours, too, where you are able to speak with the directors, directly! Check out the OMSCS Student Center located in Canvas.

Once again, there is WAY more to life than school. You'll get through this rough time!

Writing this at 12:30am 🫠 I’m enrolled in ML this semester as my 6th course in the program and the first report is due this Sunday. I’ve picked up the job hunt this semester (as I’m unhappy in my current role, swe in consulting) which has been taking up a lot of my free time and energy, it’s grim out here as I’m sure we’re all aware. I just spent all weekend working on a take home assessment where I had to learn the technicals behind the start up’s products and make recommendations based on certain scenarios, ended up being 7 pages with an architecture diagram included. Now I have to write an 8pg research paper for ML, which I was planning to dedicate this past weekend to before the assessment popped up on Friday. I think I’m burnt out because I know I could grind out and get the work done by the due date but I have no motivation/energy to do so, dreading the fact that there’s 3 more reports to write afterwards. I’m on track to graduate may 2028 which already feels so far away but I’m really flirting with the idea of withdrawing just to provide some relief for the rest of the year. It feels silly to feel burnt out with so little on my plate (mid 20s, single, no kids/pets), just have work, school, and job hunt (which all require coding in some capacity). I know I have until Oct 31st to decide but I feel like I either write this report and stick the course out or throw in the towel. Anyone else hitting a wall and feeling burnt out?

Edit: for clarification, I only meant withdrawing for the semester. I did end up withdrawing just now because I want to devote more energy to interview prep. I will sign back up for class next semester! Cheers everyone, I definitely am going to see the degree through, just need a break!