I went to a state school that had a particularly crappy CS program and it was the same. I don't think busyness is an indication of the "eliteness" of a program

I went to a state school that had a particularly crappy CS program and it was the same. I don't think busyness is an indication of the "eliteness" of a program. You can just be working hard but not actually learning much because the tasks you're working on are not efficient at teaching.