UT Austin was the best University among all that offer Online MS (Other options are Georgia Tech and UIUC). Both in terms of courses offered and tuition fee.
Course Curriculum
The courses are great here. Currently you have around 16 courses from which you have to finish 10 to graduate. More courses are being added every semester. Most of the courses are related to ML AI, there are very few Systems courses. The curriculum is equivalent to that of the on campus ones. And few courses are rigorous having Math!
Exams
The program requires GRE and TOEFL. Since I was applying during the pandemic, I was able to waive off my GRE requirements. TOEFL 115/120
Placement
The University offers a lot of Career Fair opportunities periodically through the Handshake app. The online students can also apply there.
Internship
No.
Fees
It costs 10,000 USD. If you are an international student, you will have to pay 125 USD additionally per semester as an international fee.
Scholarship
Unfortunately, the online program students do not have any scholarships offered.
Faculty
For the online program, the courses are provided to us through edX. The recorded lecture videos from the professor are put up weekly, and they are quite good and detailed. Piazza is used for posting questions and getting your concepts cleared. The Prof and TAs are always active and reply within hours to our queries. Additionally, the TAs conduct Office Hours twice or thrice a week where you can join them through Zoom and discuss your queries.
Campus Life
A student from the online program has access to all facilities and events occuring in the campus. I have seen a lot of Austin residents visiting the campus and using the facilities there.
Hostel
Regarding Infrastructure, using your assigned student ID you will have access to remote computers, and everything that a on campus student can access virtually.
