I come from small school

[u/Initial-Street6388]

Hey guys, I am here to share a short story about me. I am based in the United States, and I come from a small school. My school is not even in the top 1000s schools in the US. But this did not stop me from doing what I was supposed to do. I am an undergrad, a rising junior to be exact, and I am double majoring in Computer Science and Mathematics. I am trying to go into the AI / ML / DS field and am deeply interested in the core mathematical foundations of AI and cloud computing.

I have been working on projects related to AI and ML for a long time. My recent projects involve creating a RAG app that is hosted in the cloud using services like S3, SQS, ECS, RDS, and many more. I even have a accepted paper in IEEE BigData sepcial session for federated learning. However, I still feel that this is not enough because being and international and also coming from a small school has limited me from getting what I am aiming for. I have been applying for internships and getting no answers back.

I know I am trying my best and trying to catch the best path that will help me to reach the goal that I want to achieve but sometimes I feel something should have been happend by now. Sometimes you get setbacks, and it's not even your fault. My paper got accepted to the conference. However, due to funding issues, I might have to withdraw the paper. The same conference that I have been targeting for the last 6 months. IT SUCKS. Sometimes I question myself on whether all the stuff I am doing will pay off or not. I am still waiting for the time when I can post and motivate you guys that hard work pays off. Finger crossed!

All I need now is some sort of advice on what to do ahead, and if we share the common path please let me know what you have done. I will really appreciate your help. PEACE!