One caution: depending on the school you go to, being in the Master's program might not afford you any opportunities to do any real research (outside of semeste

One caution: depending on the school you go to, being in the Master's program might not afford you any opportunities to do any real research (outside of semester projects for your classes.) I did a CS Master's at Michigan and there's a huge difference between the Master's student and PhD student experiences. Master's students are expected to do the coursework and get out. I was actively discouraged from even doing a Master's Thesis and I was told doing one was almost unheard of in the department. PhD students are in research labs right away and are guaranteed funding, which leaves essentially no room for Master's students to do research or teaching assistantships. This arrangement worked well for me, since I wanted to do a lot of coursework and get into industry, but it would have been a horrible place to test my aptitude for and enjoyment of research. On the other hand, a friend of mine got a Master's in HCI at Michigan and did a bunch of research and had funding for 3 of his 4 semesters. So it all depends on the department.