My Masters degree is from the Applied Math Department at the University of Washington. The degree is in Computational Finance and Risk Management, which is through applied math. There is some overlap in professors between the applied math and computational finance, but many of the professors are different. And it is the professors that strongly influence your experience.
There are some complexities with doing a remote degree vs. being on campus. Some courses allow you to ask questions in real time, but many don’t. However, the sections allow questions and professors often have sections, in addition to the sections run by graduate students. I took part in every section that was offered. The bottom line is that there’s less interactivity as a remote student.
Another big issue are the exams. When I got my degree I worked for a government research lab. The Lab has an education department that supports employees who are getting advanced degrees. Although the Lab did not pay for my degree (the finance aspect was too much for them), I was able to use a Lab room and proctor for my exams.
In order to do a degree, you will need to arrange something for the exams that the UW department is OK with. There is a lot of concern about academic integrity (e.g., cheating) so they want to make sure that you have an arrangement that they’re happy with.
The Computational Finance program was founded by Dr. Douglas Martin (who was also my Masters project adviser). He has left the department, as did one of my favorite professors. So I don’t know what direction the department has taken or what changes may have been made.
My experience getting the Masters degree was, over all, positive. Getting this degree was one of the hardest things I have ever done. I got the degree while working full time. This meant that I was working about 80 hours a week. A few of my fellow students worked somewhat less, either because they had less catch-up in math and statistics or because they are geniuses.
For the two and a half years it took me to get my Masters I did not see movies and my social life was very limited. I pretty much worked, studied and did homework. That includes working 16–20 hours every weekend. So I think you need to ask yourself whether you are willing to make this level of commitment.
There is also the issue of your family. I am also fortunate that my wife got a Masters degree before I did, so she understood the level of work that is required in graduate school. Someone with an undergrad degree may not understand. I know that I didn’t really understand.
I think that I would have had an easier time with a Masters in computer science.
