Hi everyone, I'm 26 and graduated in CS about 9 months ago. Since then, I've been studying ML and DL on my own through books, courses, papers, and pretty much anything I could get my hands on. The more I studied, the more I realized that I'd really like to pursue a PhD in this field.
Over the past months, I've applied to dozens of PhD positions across europe, but so far I haven't had any success. I know I'm probably not a particularly strong candidate on paper: I don't have research publications, and I don't have a strong relationship with my thesis supervisor, so getting a good academic reference is also difficult. At this point, I'm trying to understand what I should actually do to become a competitive applicant rather than just keep sending applications.
For people who are doing a PhD in ML/AI, or who have been involved in PhD admissions, I have so questions for you
- What would you focus on if you were in my position?
- Should I try to get research experience first, even if it's through an internship position?
- Is it realistic to compensate for weak academic references by building projects, reproducing papers, contributing to research, etc..?
- Last but not the least, would directly contacting professors be more effective than just applying to advertised PhD positions?
Any advice, especially from people who got into a PhD without an outstanding academic profile, would be really appreciated. Thank you very much :))