I would have 3 ranks for universities: prestigious or elite CS schools, name-brand schools and every other school. I call out name-brand schools simply because

I would have 3 ranks for universities: prestigious or elite CS schools, name-brand schools and every other school. I call out name-brand schools simply because if you get a degree from a school that has a recognizable name, you have a better chance of having an alumni network that can help you. My guess is these name-brand schools are there because of sports programs. This is me guessing because I went to an "every other school". After working for a few years, nobody (that's hiring) cares what school you went to, its about work you have done on the job. Having a degree will open more doors. You can build a local network of people you've worked with that could help in finding new positions which could be the same as a name-brand school alumni network. A masters degree is a lot of financial and time commitment. In this field, I work with people that have no degree, unrelated Bachelors, to people that have unrelated PHD's - it really doesn't have an impact on what they deliver.