Bit of a pickle...

[vraman]

So I am currently an undergrad senior studying ChemE who very recently decided to tack on a CSE degree. Its not too bad as I will just need one more year to complete both majors. I enjoy CS a lot more, specifically the more mathy/theoretical stuff, and want to pursue a PhD in ML/DL, like everyone else haha. Problem is, the vast majority of my research experience is in ChemE, and so I really have no research experience in CS. On top of that, most of my LORs will probably be coming from ChE professors since I basically just switched over, and again do not have a ton of exposure to the CS department at my school. The only good news is that I go to a pretty competitive school, my GPA is pretty good, GRE is pretty good, and the research I do have in ChE is also decent(I will be submitting a first-author paper to a peer-reviewed journal pretty soon).

I guess I want some insight into what y'all think my chances would be into getting in a CS PhD program at top5/top10 schools. With my background(or lack thereof), would a masters at a top10/top5 CS program be easier than PhD? 

Edited April 11, 2019 by vraman