PeeAAchDee

I just graduated with a degree in engineering (not strictly computationally related) from one of MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, Caltech. I am working as a computational biology associate at a very well-known university for a well-established PI. I'd like to get a Masters in CS if I could to advance myself to other opportunities. I graduated with a 3.96 GPA and did 97 percentile on the GRE. I have 1 first author paper in a well-known journal that isn't related to CS. I've taken some coursework while as an undergrad, but I self-studied a lot and may possibly get authorship on some biocomputational papers. Should I even consider a Masters in CS given my background? Do I have any chances at top masters programs?

Graduating senior in engineering that will be working in industry R&D after graduation. For complicated job-related reasons, I decided not to apply to grad school last year, but I'm planning on applying this fall. Which brings me to my question: does a year off look that bad on top schools? I like research, but to be completely honest I'm not sure I would devote 5 years to it unless it meant I get get into either CalTech, Princeton, Stanford, or MIT (I know this sounds shitty but realistically I think it's the wisest move) when I have other career options available. My stats are pretty good (I think): 3.95 GPA from a top engineering school for UG 2.5 yrs of research with a 1st authorship in a high impact journal (my greatest kicker, I think) 1 Summer sophomore year in a research fellowship (Amgen, REU, etc. - will likely have a coauthorship by the time I apply too) Various leadership positions in ECs Should have good LoR too