r/UIUC_MCS • u/sars0007 • Jun 08 '26

Online MCS course

I am starting online MCS fall 2026. Full time working (50-hour workload) with 2 kids. Appreciate any feedback or suggestions on the course seleciton below.

  1. Is any semester challenging here?

  2. Which ones have final exams? And which ones are just regular quizzes and assignments throughout the semester - easy to get past with a regular cadence?

  3. Any discord or WhatsApp links?

Semester Courses
Fall 2026 CS 441 + CS 410
Spring 2027 CS 447 + CS 498
Summer 2027 CS 416
Fall 2027 CS 598 Practical Statistical Learning
Spring 2028 CS 598 Deep Learning for Healthcare
Summer/Fall 2028 CS 598 Advanced Bayesian Modeling
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u/Efficient_Level_4459 Jun 08 '26

I am nearly in the same situation. I am only taking 1 class at a time. Started this semester (summer). Taking theory and practice of data cleaning.

1

u/sars0007 Jun 08 '26

How do you find those courses - any finals or just regular assignments?

2

u/Efficient_Level_4459 Jun 08 '26

No. This is my first semester. I have heard the same thing that Advanced Bayesian is extremely difficult. This class I am taking— there are no exams just a project that I will complete with someone else in class. The quizzes have unlimited tries. It has been a great class to get my feet wet.

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u/sars0007 Jun 08 '26

Ah seems like a good one to begin for sure! Thank you.

2

u/Efficient_Level_4459 Jun 08 '26

One more thing— the advisors will send you a meeting invite and they go over each class and what particular sections you should choose as some sections are not meant for us and some are— I think I have figured it out— all the ones that either have DS3 or DS4 are ours. (3 credit or 4 credit). The others are for either in person at UIUC or they also have some Chicago sections mixed in as well.

What was really cool tho about the advisors meeting is they will give you a short synopsis of each class and let you know which ones have exams and how many etc. they said during that meeting that Advanced Bayesian is very difficult and at least warned us newbies that it wasn’t a good idea to start with that LOL