Maximizing chances to get into Stanford ICME PhD

[StefanBanach]

Hey everyone!

I am currently studying Master's degree in Engineering at Ivy League school and I would like to apply for Stanford's ICME Ph.D. program in two years. In short, I would like to ask what would you recommend me to do/focus on in the next two years in order to maximize my chances of getting in? (I would like to focus on Machine Learning and Optimization as a PhD student).

Here's a short background:
- Ongoing Master's degree at Ivy League institution, GPA 3.8
- Undergraduate degree in Pure Math (wrote one research oriented thesis)
- GRE 170Q, 155V (can this hurt my chances?), AWA 4.0
- GRE Math subject test: 85%
- Combined 1 year internship experience in Business/Data Analytics.
- Teaching assistant for undergrad statistics
- Experienced in R, C/C++, Matlab, C#, Python, SQL

Before applying, I am planning to do some research in either machine learning or optimization, get more teaching experience, work full time in Data Science/Machine Learning position after finishing my masters and try to connect with professors at Stanford somehow. Do you have any other suggestions what to do to maximize the chance of acceptance?

Thanks a lot for all your suggestions!

[Euler]

It sounds like the objective stuff you have in order.

Make sure you have as many people as possible read your statement of purpose. Letter recommenders, friends, other professors- input goes a long way there.

And the other big thing is do everything in your power to make sure your recommendation letters are stellar. Try to keep building relationships with people you plan to ask- the more memorable you are, the easier it'll be for them to write great letters