Is a Udacity scholarship worth it if you already know the material?

I applied to the Bertelsmann Data Science Challenge Scholarship on the second to last day applications were open. Given that I was ending my junior year majoring in Computer Science, I was skeptical that a course in basic statistics, Python, and SQL would help me. But, I was interested in Data Science, so I decided to give it a shot.

To my excitement, I was accepted to be one of the 15,000 people who was awarded this scholarship. I won the opportunity to take the offered challenge course. Even though I was skeptical, I found the challenge course to be a great use of my time. It gave me the opportunity to…

Practice Important Skills.

The course was divided up into different modules, where each module was based on one specific topic. Each module had about 20–30 different sections, which included videos and quizzes. Videos were usually a couple of minutes long and explained the material. The quizzes gave students the opportunity to test out their skills.

The quizzes were my favorite part of this course!

The statistics quizzes made me think about the material in new and different ways, solidifying some basic concepts that I faked my way through in my university’s intro stats.

I hadn’t worked in Python in a while, so the Python quizzes gave me the opportunity to brush up on some rusty skills. I also learned the difference between methods and functions, something that had never been clear to me.

At first, the SQL quizzes were relatively basic, but by the end I got stumped by a few! I finally learned how to deal with dates using SQL, something I had been avoiding for a while.

While taking all of these quizzes was time consuming, it made me feel a lot more confident in the material.

Get Involved in a Global Community of Learners.

Along with the course, we were encouraged to get involved with forums for the content and a Slack community set up for the scholarship winners.

Those 15,000 winners came from all over the world, and it was eye-opening to hear about their experiences, insights, and dreams.

I got involved with several Slack channels, including #sf-bay-area to collaborate with students who lived in my area, #college-students to connect with others about their experiences in college, and #women_who_code to seek advice from other women in the tech industry.

Having lived in the United States my whole life, it was exciting to have discussions about what life is like on the other side of the world from people who share similar learning goals.

Teach and Learn from Others.

The forums and Slack community were not just a place to gain friends. They were also a place for people to ask questions and learn from others, and they were incredibly active. On the forums, someone would usually answer your question in the first hour after it was posted, so there was little time for confusion. And on Slack it was usually faster!

I was able to use what I knew about the course material to answer questions and provide resources of my own.

Many people also used this opportunity to share resources. I now have a list of other MOOC courses I want to take and a ton of articles to read.

So, in the end, I’m glad I chose to spend my summer working on this course. I learned new material, practiced material I was rusty on, and taught and learned from others. For those reasons, I would recommend applying for any Udacity scholarship that sounds interesting, even if you’re skeptical. You won’t regret it!