S8887

Background My first MS was an integrated BS-MS in Mathematics. My grades there were modest (7.3 on a scale of 10) My second MS is in Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning. I have significantly improved my grades- the current being 3.8. Will this be able to make up for the modest grades earlier? I changed fields, and one of the reasons was that I discovered pure math, the only kind that was offered at my UG institute, was not what excited me a lot. I worked for a year in a firm where I did work related to my current area, between my two masters. I have one (joint) first-author paper in submission. I am in good books of at least 3 faculty members I have done projects with. I have a couple more projects presently going on, and should be able to submit them by the time of applications. GRE- 163 Verbal, 168 Quant, 4.0 AWA Questions I have What things should I keep in mind to maximize my chances of getting into a PhD program? How to gauge what schools are ambitious and what schools are safe? What is a good time to get in touch with professors. Do I have a disadvantage as compared to students who did their UG in CS? (Subjective) How strong would you rate my profile?