Have I started too late to get into a good graduate program?

Graduate School
1

I started my first year of undergrad as a neuroscience major at an ok school, then transferred to a better academic school where I took courses for a biochem/math major fall semester - for all three semesters, my gpa was 3.7 or above. Fourth semester, I did not know what I wanted to do and was struggling with personal problems. I wound up taking 6 courses (not including labs), all of which were considered very difficult classes, and I withdrew (passing) from one (linear algebra) - I wound up getting a 2.95, and a C+ in one class, bringing my gpa way down.

Obviously that was a really bad semester for me, but now I have a much more focused view of what I want to be studying and I would like to go to grad school for computer science. I am planning on completing a major in math and a coordinate major in computer science. Right now my math gpa is something around a 3.8, and I am hoping to take linear algebra in the fall and get an A to possibly take some weight off of the withdrawal…

I would like to know if my chances of getting into a reputable (and maybe even a top) graduate program focusing on AI or machine learning, and what I would need to do besides obviously getting higher grades in my last half of undergrad.

2

Your change in majors is normal. Most students change their majors.

I think that the main thing is to get top grades from here on. I would avoid taking six classes at once. My guess is that you will be fine, but it has been a long time since I went to graduate school (I did get into a good program with one C in an in-major class).

3

It might be helpful to get involved in some research or obtain some work experience. What have you done outside of the classroom?

4

Right now I’ve been working part time jobs, as I can’t really afford unpaid things right now and I haven’t been able to get a paid internship, although I’m hoping that will change as I take classes/have more experience in the field - I’ve been learning programming languages/skills on my own as well (which is also what I did before taking any computer science classes) and was allowed to skip some prerequisites because of it

5

If you want to attend a good (especially top) grad school you HAVE to have research experience.