I didn't go straight from undergrad, took a few years off to work in various places, then started a master's degree in CS/math. The first year was mostly course

I didn't go straight from undergrad, took a few years off to work in various places, then started a master's degree in CS/math. The first year was mostly coursework (some were good, most were meh) and a bit of probing to find interesting fields for research. Unlike undergrad, some courses you take in graduate school are incredibly specific and cover whatever material the professor has been researching lately. The second year is typically more focused on doing research - you find an advisor and start diving deep into some specific problem. Though, the exact schedule can change from place to place. I'm really enjoying myself and continued to a direct PhD track. It's the best job I've ever had. The work is interesting and the freedom is amazing. Your milage may vary. I'm not sure what is the "value" of a master's degree is. It certainly looks good on a CV and might help you get a higher rank at some megacorp. Google for example is known to be very fond of advanced degrees. If you want to make software for a living I don't think it matters an awful lot. Particularly in the smaller companies and startups. Taking advanced courses will teach you some new tricks and acquaint you with fields you've never even heard of. You'll probably relearn some things from undergrad and understand the better. But the main point in a master's degree is to get a taste of academic research and see if you like it or not. There are a lot of interesting fields in CS and doing research in most of them is entirely different than being a professional programmer. My recommendations to you, if you think you might be interested in research: 1. Try to get into a very good university (e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Turing_Award_laureates_by_university_affiliation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Turing_Award_laureates_...). No point in doing an advanced degree at a mediocre school. Some of those places only offer PhD programs, but you can leave in the middle and get a master's degree. 2. If you have a specific field that interests you, try finding a school with several professors working in that field. You'll have more options that way. 3. Don't do it if you're burned out! You can get a job instead. If you like learning and solving difficult problems, after 1-2 years you'll probably get that itch again. 4. In my experience 2-3 months of travel is enough to completely recuperate from any feelings of burnout and to start getting excited about "regular" life again. This shouldn't cost more than a few thousand dollars if you fly to somewhere far and cheap.