Perhaps the following posts on Stack Exchange may help: What should a CS grad know? http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/16325/what-should-a-cs-grad-

Perhaps the following posts on Stack Exchange may help: What should a CS grad know? http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/16325/what-should-a-cs-grad-know http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/16325/what-sh... Advice for nontraditional CS student? http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/39243/advice-for-nontraditional-cs-student http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/39243/advice-... Personally, I believe the most important language-agnostic skill for any CS/engineering graduate student is the ability to model problems and solutions with pen and paper before diving into the code. The theory lays the blueprint for the house. The code is the bricks.