wolfrider

I realize this is a total shot in the dark, none of my friends or family have ever gone to grad school so I don't really know what I'm doing, but here goes. I'm a senior at a difficult liberal arts school that doesn't offer GPA's and grades everything on an odd sort of pass/fail system. I majored in Game Design and minored in CS (both with a focus in the hardware and software of mobile computers), and I'd like to go for a Masters with a thesis option to continue researching the development of mobile software. The 'tier' of these programs isn't extremely important so long as I can eventually return to school for a PhD. I've found several programs in this field that offer "Professional Masters" degrees and that I definitely qualify for, but I'm not sure if there's a serious difference between professional and research Masters degrees regarding where I can go afterward. I've been told to check out Loyola Chicago and DePaul, and UC Berkeley but other than my own research of these programs I haven't heard any other opinions about them. What I'm going to end up doing is taking non-degree CS classes at a local university until I have enough to complete a CS major, and then hoping I have a chance, but is there anything else I can do for now?