Ask HN: How can one strengthen a Stanford MSCS or MSSS application?

[areeve]

Suppos that the applicant has an unrelated undergraduate degree with a ~3.5 GPA, and a competitive GRE score.

Would side projects such as web or mobile applications be beneficial? What other avenues could an applicant pursue to strengthen their application?

[suyash]

Strong recommendations from Prof, former managers would definitely help. I can't reinstate the importance of a great personal essay.