As a non-engineering graduate student at a top-25 CS university, I took 2 classes in the CS dept for fun (my undergraduate degree is CS). The first was a subje

As a non-engineering graduate student at a top-25 CS university, I took 2 classes in the CS dept for fun (my undergraduate degree is CS). The first was a subject on the phD qualification exams and populated by phD students. It was the hardest class I've ever taken, both conceptually and workload-wise. I am prouder of that B+ than any A I've ever received. The second was full of Master's students, there on their employers' dimes. For less than half the effort (including re-writing a teammate's entire final project contribution on the due day because his MBA ass was too busy trying to schmooze the professor into doing it for him), easy A. It was my own personal introduction into the difference between a phD and a Masters - at a fairly decent university.