UIUC vs Stanford Master's in CS

Both are good but if you want in on leading software companies in Silicon Valley, 100% Stanford. You'll easily interview at all the top companies and get offers on the high end of the bands. Seen it first hand how much effort recruiters put into Stanford, MIT, Berkeley, and CMU.

I mean UIUC is a great school. The difference is the top companies literally target those top four schools with extra resources and their best recruiters, so you have people fighting over you. The targets/goals for recruiters for hiring from them are also higher. You'll also find that almost all of your peers will go to top hot tech companies that will help you later on in your career. Again, nothing wrong with UIUC but I see a lot more Stanford on resumes at the top companies in Silicon Valley.

Absolutely, I'm specifically talking about Silicon Valley based top software companies which happens to be considered the top places for engineering culture, and tech driven companies. NYC for example skews a bit more ivy league and is more Finance driven companies.

So maybe things changed, but Stanford's MSCS program used to be a full time intense and super legit program with a high bar and wasn't a cash-grab. Many schools do have a lot of international students paying a huge amount of money so they can get a degree and F1-OPT visa to work in the USA. I actually would not say the same about some of the other big name schools who do have programs that are less renown as their undergrads. EDIT: Yeah I think this is still true: "Q: Does Stanford University offer a part-time CS master's program? A: Stanford University offers a part-time masters program called the Honors Coop Program (HCP). The program is available to students who are pursuing an MS and are employed full-time. HCP students can be either remote or local. Please check out the web site for the HCP program at [http://scpd.stanford.edu/programs/masters-degrees](http://scpd.stanford.edu/programs/masters-degrees) or see our HCP section. Note that the admission process is the same as the one for full-time students." \[Source\]([https://cs.stanford.edu/academicz/prospective-masters/faq](https://cs.stanford.edu/academicz/prospective-masters/faq))

There are a lot of paths, but I help people specifically prepare for FAANG level jobs and interviews now as my job and it's a heck of a lot more than grinding Leetcode. You can get your odds up to decent numbers by solving hundreds of Leetcode problems but you can have higher odds if you practice 1. deeply understanding concepts and bolstering your toolbelt. 2. actually practicing interviews and technical communication. 1. is being an expert with simple tools so that you can get a heck of a lot done with them. You want to be the veteran contractor who can get a lot done with an old rusy hammer and drill rather than the DIY person who buys a full suite of power tools to hang a photo. 2. ia about passing interviews even when you don't know the question. You don't want to pass 4 out of 5 interviews and lose an offer because of failing the 5th. Even of you dont do well, you want enough partial credit to get an offer.