2025/12/14 Sunday - Update - Similar Degree - Plans

I have been busy with school so I have not been able to work on this site much, or my QChat app. The QChat app is fairly stable and useful, and I plan on covering it more soon.

I have changed the layout of this site somewhat, and plan on updating it more over this break. Today is technically the first day of the school break (Sunday 2025/12/14), as final exams ended yesterday. I have about 3 weeks until my final semester, Winter 2026, which starts in January. This is the fourth and final semester of my graduate degree.

I mentioned in the ‘About me’ section my degree meets the same requirements as another similar degree. I will explain this in more detail now. I will first repost my ‘About me’ section which covers this.

“I am a student in my final semester of grad school. My degree is in Artificial Intelligence, with a concentration in AI & Software Engineering. Interestingly, my degree has the same courses of the Software Engineering degree which has a concentration in AI. They are in the same department of the school, and have identical undergrad and prerequisite requirements also. It is really a matter of what was wanted on the degree, as I could have signed up or switched to that degree program.

• Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence with a concentration in AI & Software Engineering
• Master of Science in Software Engineering with a concentration in Artificial Intelligence

My undergraduate degree is in business with a concentration in accounting, and even though I had an undergraduate degree in a non STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) program, I was able to get into the graduate program in AI (a degree in the College of Innovation & Technology). I have a history in computers dating back to my first computer which was an IBM PS/2 in the late 80s (1980s). I have been programming off and on since then, and have always been interested in building PCs and technology in general. I have two Microsoft certifications also, both in Windows Server technology. I also had to take two pre-requisite classes to be admitted into the graduate program, which were both computer programming related.”

The main components of the degree

Here is a section from the catalog on the pre-reqs:

Required only of students with undergraduate degrees in non-technical fields who need preparatory coursework, grades of C (2.0) or better and a grade point average of 3.0 or better in:

• CSC 175 - Problem Solving and Programming I (4)
• CSC 275 - Problem Solving and Programming II (4)

Each of the two degrees required these pre-req courses. After those, there are Core Courses (12 credits), a Concentration (12 credits), and then Electives (8 credits) from the conentration courses. There was both an option for a Thesis route also of two courses, or you could take the additional two courses of the electives, which is what I took.

The course options for both of the degrees, which are in the same department (technocally called the College of Innovation and Technology), are very similar. There were eight concentrations that could be chosen from for the AI degree, and seven for the Software Engineering degree. Many of the course options are the same. My degree and concentration, AI with a concentration in AI & Software Engineering, met the criteria of one of the concentrations from the Software Engineering degree, the Artificial Intelligence concentration. The courses I took (this is phrased here in the past tense, with me about to begin the final of four semesters, assuming I am going to pass) covered the core courses of the Software Engineering degree, the concentration courses, and the elective courses.

More on plans

For this site, I want to make some AI and Python programming articles, and other technology related articles, including possibly YouTube versions / additions to them. I will be working on that somewhat over the break, and in my spare time as I finish this degree (April 17th is the last day of the Winter 2026 semester). I might include some articles on the Grind 75 programming interview problems, of which there are about 170 total. These are very popular in the programming interview area, and I am wanting to learn them.