How do I make myself competitive for a master's in CS after college?
menloparkbum: The Media Lab is totally different than the Symbolic Systems program and both are completely different than the CS programs at their respective schools (and any other school.)The Media Lab does not require the GRE nor does it require that you even really have any formal training in computer science or engineering. It's more like an MFA program than an engineering degree. However, you do have the opportunity to take cool engineering courses if that is your bag.The Media Lab is a joke academically but it is the easiest way to get a graduate degree from MIT. If you align yourself with the right projects and professors it can be a much better experience than a "real" master's program and you can parlay the experience into a cooler career than most. If you align yourself with the wrong projects it is a massive waste of time. It is unique in that it is a funded master's program so at least you won't waste any money.The way to get into the Media Lab if you didn't go to MIT as an undergrad is to create a portfolio of cool projects that look like what the research groups you are interested are producing. For instance, if you want to get into the computational photography program you should start writing some photo manipulation programs and build a blog about them. It also helps to become friends with the professors there.If you didn't get an undergraduate degree in Symbolic Systems at Stanford you are ineligible for the master's program. It is a "co-terminal" degree which means it is essentially just an extra year after undergrad.