Will online degrees gain more reputability after COVID?

Looking at those online CS (and in two cases, math) degrees from otherwise reputable schools. Till now as soon as I hear "online" I think it as subpar and I feel like many older hiring managers think the same, but do you think that will change?

With my background and grades the ONLY CS/Math program I'll get into is probably an online one, so wondering if I should go with that or just not bother with graduate school (for the purposes of trying to become a quant). Obviously with an online program I don't expect to be a Jane Street quant or anything, but just the title of "Quantitative Fixed Income Analyst" or something like that at a decent sized fund (like a Canadian pension) would already be amazing. Another issue is most of the programs are in the US and I work in Canada so the recognition of the schools' brands is not as clear cut unless it's an Ivy or something.

Looking at, in no particular order:

  • U of Washington Applied Math (pro: fair price, con: Canadians probably not impressed by UW)
  • Johns Hopkins Applied & Comp. Math (pro: great course offerings, con: expensive and JHU not known for math?)
  • Columbia Applied Math (pro: name brand, con: full time online program, hard to get in)
  • Georgia Tech Online CS: (pro: seems to be gaining popularity for CS, con: limited course offerings that aren't exactly in my preferred focus field)
  • UPenn Computer & IT: (pro: very cheap; con: limited course offering and hardly even real CS)
  • Any data science programs: (seem like bait; I'd rather go for strict CS or Math degree)

Basically, I don't want to get a 50k USD degree that nobody in Canada (or anywhere) cares about.

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