[fgimenez]

I have met one person who did it. Even then they were a certifiable genius, still had to jump through an enormous amount of bureaucracy with an enormous amount of sponsorship from many faculty whos grant funding was directly tied to this person working on their project.

So in practice, no.

If you want to learn more theory, I do think it's possible to apply and get an MS. Especially now since MS programs are bleeding people due to remote learning.

[s1t5]

> Especially now since MS programs are bleeding people due to remote learning.

Can you elaborate on this? Are they just losing students? Why do you think it's happening?

[woofie11]

Paying $40,000 to watch a professor give a dry Powerpoint talk over a box in Zoom ain't the deal universities think it is.

I can get a better education with a textbook and a Youtube for free, let alone real online courses.

Universities have neglected teaching-and-learning for the better part of a century, and with COVID19, it's coming back to bite most of them. For a lot of programs, enrollment numbers are dead. Professors have viewed teaching as what they have to do in order to do research, and many approach it with all the vigor and intellectual rigor that entails. You show up. You talk at students for an hour. You hand out last semester's homework. You go back to your real job. Anything beyond that, you hire someone for near-minimum-wage to do for you -- a graduate student who doesn't want to be there, or an instructional designer who can barely tie their own shoelaces (note: there are some really good IDs; just not at most universities. No one qualified would work at that salary or position in the social pecking order).

Universities which have strongly invested in online, blended, virtual, and pedagogy are surging, though. Why would I pay a $40k tuition when I can get GA Tech, ASU, SNHU, or what not which give better quality education for a fraction of the cost?