I’m going to graduate school!

Unless the Brandeis IT folks are playing a cruel trick on me, I take the e-mail below to be a pretty good indicator that an acceptance letter will soon arrive from the Rabb School’s Master of Software Engineering program:

Dear Jeffrey Mather -

We have created a Brandeis account (aka UNet ID) for you. Your UNet ID is XXXXXX. The account is available now and only awaits your setting your password to become active. [Blah blah blah]

We’re also providing you with a fully functional Brandeis e-mail address. [etc.]

I shall now answer some questions I expect will be frequently asked:

  • Are you quitting your job or taking fewer hours? Absolutely not. I like my job, and I’m getting this rather practical MSE so that I can do it better. The program only has evening courses and is located in a nearby suburb. (Brandeis is where Lisa used to work.)
  • What’s an MSE all about anyway? Why not computer science? Science is the formulation and testing of hypotheses, while engineering is the application of proven knowledge and tools to solve problems. Better software construction and project management has a largely disjoint set of concerns with CS. I was looking for a program that had a healthy mix of theory and practical, tool-based instruction. (For more on the software engineering profession, see McConnell’s
    Professional Software Development: Shorter Schedules, Higher Quality Products, More Successful Projects, Enhanced Careers    .)

  • How long will this take? If all goes well, two and a half to three years.
  • Is this the mysterious, secret project you mentioned earlier? Probably yes, but who can say for sure?
  • Isn’t this just an excuse to be close to the Indian stores along Moody Street? No, but have you tried the chocolate bourbon biscuits?
  • Would you like to thank anyone? Thanks to Lisa for enthusiastically encouraging me to do this, to my manager Steve for writing a letter of recommendation, to Karmi and Matt for letting me print out my personal statement at their Minneapolis home, to The MathWorks for promising to reimburse my tuition if I get good grades, and to the cat.
  • Will you tell us about the things you learn? If you insist. I’ve always wanted to procrastinate have the freedom to post whenever I want and share what I learn like all the other academic bloggers.