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I'm thinking more about enrollment statistics. I've confirmed (looking at course registration pages) that USC runs 200+ person lectures for its core requirements, which is astonishing to me for the graduate level, and it's very unappealing. I guess I took small class sizes for granted after my experience at BU back when CS was not a popular major. Is there any quick way to get a good read on this at different schools? I'm thinking the total number of faculty might be a good proxy(?).

Thanks for the insight. Yeah, I've spent a lot of time looking at unranked schools to be safe, so maybe that's selling myself short. Your point about demographics has made me think too. Looking at Duke's statistics, I was amazed to see that something like 98% of applicants were international. I wonder if that's the case everywhere, and what that experience would be like for me.

I'm looking at MS CS programs and trying to figure out what's in the right ballpark (in terms of reach and safety schools) given my situation. I have a BA in CS from Boston University, 3.4 GPA, Latin honors... but it's from 2008. Since then I haven't done anything professionally or academically related to CS because I've been on active duty in the military (I had an ROTC scholarship). At this I point I think it will be difficult to get a strong letter of recommendation from anyone who can speak directly to my ability in CS, but senior military officers will speak to my general intelligence/character and military achievements. My GRE score is 160Q/170V/4.5W, and I will be a "full pay" student regardless of sticker price. Maybe being a US citizen/veteran helps if I'm competing with a lot of international students. So using the US News rankings as an imperfect guide, where can I realistically look? #1 Stanford? #20 USC? #48 BU again? Places farther down the list or unranked?