correct me if i’m wrong

I recently posted a question to Hacker News, asking, “How do I make myself competitive for a master’s in Computer Science after college?” The colleges in question are particularly the super-competitive and elite that produce legendary talent, such as MIT and Stanford.

The responses are surprising. Most people suggest to shoot for a Ph.D. program, for a variety of reasons:

1. Universities prefer to admit Ph.D. applicants over master’s; they’re an investment. Ph.D. candidates publish research that gives the school a return on their investment. It improves their reputation to have more publishing (Ph.D.) students than non-publishing (master’s) students. Hence…
2. You are more likely to get funded as a Ph.D. student. Being a master’s student eliminates fellowship opportunities and leaves only the possibility of teaching assistantship. Because Ph.D. students are an investment for the university (see #1), they tend to assign the limited number of TA positions to those students which gives them the highest return.
3. The possibility of continuing on to a Ph.D. typically only exists if you initially apply. There are some schools that are exceptions and allow you to opt for the Ph.D. program when your master’s is completed, but most are structured in such a way that they foster Ph.D. applicants from the beginning.
4. (For Americans Only) It is cheaper to accept American applicants than international applicants. Lacker, the most up-voted commenter, states that, “a professor at a top-25 CS grad school once told me they accept almost every American citizen who applies to the PhD program because it’s so much cheaper - so worst case, you should be able to go to a well-known school that has merely a good CS program.”

In summary, make the grad school investment as though you are applying to a Ph.D. program. This means that the importance of research and publishing is paramount. Have solid grades and fantastic recommendations from well-published people. 

Last, I have heard that graduate admissions councils rank students in this order:

1. Undergraduate degrees with publications.
2. Graduate degrees with publications.
3. Undergraduate degrees without publications.
4. Graduate degrees without publications.

Why is it detrimental to have a graduate degree (a master’s) without a publication? Because it shows that you have attended school for a long time without showing a lot of interest in research. If you have done research, then you must not have been very successful.

EDIT: Rearranged the title to save space.