<p>Unlike others, UW-Madison CS considers MS and PhD applicants as a single pool. In other words, your profile must be competitive enough for the PhD programs at most top-10 departments to get into UW MS program. In your case, you need solid research experience to be competitive. The upside is once you get in, you will almost definitely get funded and can switch to the PhD track w/o re-application. </p>
<p>Tips: Push your numbers as high as possible - I was told they actually curved the "cutoff" points. The typical admission rate is ~8-14%.</p>
<p>If your intent is pursue a terminal degree in CS, may I suggest that school at Palo Alto?</p>