Advice for an American applying for master's in CS?

I've been thinking about my options for doing a one year MSc abroad and I've decided on the UK. I'd be applying for Fall 2024. I've been doing research on how postgrad works over there and I would like to share the general outline of my understanding and get feedback on any of it you think would be helpful for me to consider.

I'm 24 years old. I'm currently set to graduate Summer 2024 with a near 4.0 gpa from a pretty average, no-name, online university (it is accredited). I can definitely take on a more intense workload and that's one of the reasons I want to aim higher for postgrad. I feel like I haven't scratched the itch for my education before going into industry. I would have relatively plain LoR's due to the nature of little networking from the online environment, but at least I have entrepreneurial experience about which I can talk passionately. I believe that's the best I'll have to offer in my personal statement to show myself as a "diverse" applicant. What is your advice regarding my application given this background?

I'm definitely leaning towards practical application. My career goals after education are an interesting, high paying job as a software engineer at a company that's doing cutting edge work in AI, and eventually founding my own startup. As I understand it, I'd likely want to apply to a university whose postgrad orientation is less theoretical because of this reason. Therefore, would you say it's sensible to skip the Oxbridge applications and instead focus on Imperial and UCL? It seems the former's curriculum gets quite theoretical and intense on the research end of things.

I'm only truly set on the master's, not the PhD. I think I would need to get a feel for the environment in person to decide on whether to extend things and do a PhD. I'd also have a better idea of how much that would benefit my goals in industry afterwards... not to mention that the field moves unlike anything else. Would need to be very careful on what I choose to research, if so. What do you have to tell me when considering to do a PhD after finishing a master's program?

Thank you kindly for any advice you may have.

Well the details are all over the place.

Firstly, congrats on the grade. What was your major in?

In UK higher education, we're usually less concerned about well rounded applicants as opposed to why you want to specifically want to do the degree e.g. a passion for a subject, to pursue a PhD, to expand your knowledge in a specific area, what you intend to do after the degree. Whether you have entrepreneurial aspirations or experience (which are still impressive by all means), won't generally help your application. Does the entry requirements for the master's degree specifically state that they are looking for "diverse" applicants?

Imperial by reputation is very theoretical in terms of the content of their courses, to my understanding. Usually the top end universities are focused on academics and getting into the forefront of research, so you aren't likely going to find much course material that's going to diverge from that. If you want something more industry related or practical, then you might be looking at the top 5-15 universities for computer science as opposed to the top 5.
On the other hand, doing an industry related certification is probably going to help you get a lot further than a degree in computer science (you might want a second opinion from current software engineers on this).

My expertise is not in computing (although I will be later doing a degree that involves coding), but funding and the specialism of the research of the specific university would be factors in terms of where you should do your research, as well as who is in the research cohort who you can get mentored by. In terms of postgrad reputation, I think it works the same way in the UK as it does in the US; you start off in the highest ranked university you can get a PhD programme in and then you would be looking to secure research related roles in lower ranked universities (the tides can reverse if you suddenly developed a strong academic reputation and the top end universities are looking for someone with such expertise), to my understanding. The lower ranked the university, the more senior the role you can secure, I think. Competition at post-doc is fierce.

I am a bit confused as to what your advice is regarding the personal statement. You first said they want to hear about your passion for the subject and what you want to do after the degree, then you say that me bringing up my entrepreneurial passion and goals after the degree won't help the application...?
My impression from my research so far has been that if one meets the technical requirements like grades and letters, then the rest of the "intangible" value of an applicant comes through in their personal statement. Yes, things like the buzzword "diversity", passion, and what this individual would bring to the student body seems to be what they're looking for in one's statement. I, therefore, began thinking about what makes me unique or stand out.

Regarding practical vs theory and university's approaches, that's good to know. I suppose when we think of industry related and certifications and the like, yeah, there's plenty of things to learn outside of university that would be much more beneficial for landing the actual job. I understand that a master's doesn't prepare you better than a year of preparing for the interviews would. I want to do the master's to learn more about CS in a rigorous environment, and that being theoretical is a good thing as it would make whatever I do in my career afterwards easier to catch onto. I just need to experience more before deciding if I'd really enjoy the research environment. I highly doubt I'll ever do postdoc work, but being a research scientist in industry applying theory is on the table for my considerations, and obviously they need to know theory intimately to do so.

I am a bit confused as to what your advice is regarding the personal statement. You first said they want to hear about your passion for the subject and what you want to do after the degree, then you say that me bringing up my entrepreneurial passion and goals after the degree won't help the application...?
Sorry, I should have been clearer.
To my understanding, universities in the UK care more about what's relevant to the subject you're studying as opposed to what have you done outside of the subject. So being a captain of XYZ sports or starting up a business aren't things UK universities are specifically looking for, as far as I know. They are great if you are applying for jobs, although relevant work experience and skills trump anything else.
For example, saying you have built computer projects in ABC and uploading them onto a website where the professors and administrators can look at them would be of more benefit than saying you have started up a multimillion dollar enterprise by yourself. Likewise, writing computer research papers, having worked in tech roles, etc. are of better appeal than saying you have sailed around the world for charity.
Where they specify diversity, I am not completely sure whether they meant you don't specifically need to have an academic history of IT qualifications as you can come from a tech role that you have worked in for umpteen years in industry, and you have all the necessary programming skills and calibre for the computer degree.

Of course, my understanding of the application can be limited, so you might want a second opinion from a successful CS master's applicant to verify (better yet, administrators from universities; there are a number of their representatives on TSR). My recommendation is to provide links to the specific courses in your post as well as naming the individual universities, and reperesentatives from those universities should be popping up in the thread.