A PhD especially in ML is not about Software Engineering or learning how to write code. Learn how to do research, write a proposal, survey the breadth of the fi

A PhD especially in ML is not about Software Engineering or learning how to write code. Learn how to do research, write a proposal, survey the breadth of the field. Find interesting problems. Attempt to get to the stage where you either publish or are able to have an interesting conversation with your professor. There are multiple ways of doing this. 1. Do this solo. 2. Work in a research lab as an intern. 2. The other possibility is to do a Masters and work with a Professor. Getting into a PhD has very little to do with your GRE, undergrad grades or where you went to school from. These are merely supposed to be proxies for your ability to focus on doing research. I would argue that you should spend sometime doing research to understand whether you actually like doing research.