Do you spend like six hours studying after school and eleven hours in weekends for several years? Then it is comparable :)

I'm sure it's a similar regimen to get into Stanford, except that time is spent towards research and other extracurriculars in addition to SAT prep.

It's not even close... it's... soooooo much more intense, and social/professional consequences are quite a bit more impactful.

Really? Most people going to 'target schools' for CS in the /r/cscareerquestions subreddit describe their experience as very intense and demanding.

So called 'target' schools for CS are largely not elite. People will be impressed by a degree from Harvard or MIT but I doubt you'd ever get a reaction for UIUC or the University of Texas.

(as someone who went to a CS target school) I would disagree with this, I would argue what you did also matters and who you're trying to impress

Yes, I would agree with your statement that what matters is who you're trying to impress. If you want to impress a graduate admissions committee, they are going to prefer certain schools for various reasons. When I think of an "elite" school, I am thinking in a more traditional sense. You aren't networking with the offspring of the people who are running countries and industries, the overall reputation and the type of students who attend are what separates "target" and "elite" schools. Outside of job interviews you don't really have the option to go through your CV and explain your research and related publications. Telling someone that you went to school in New Haven is much more impressive than telling them you went to CMU for this reason. I doubt Mark Zuckerberg would have met an Eduardo Saverin at CMU or UIUC.

Ah I apologize for misunderstanding -- I agree with this point quite well

you are a lot more busy in elite american Universities than in japanese ones.