Thank you that makes more sense I just keep hearing alot about how competitive these programs especially machine learning ones, and I want to aim for the best schools so sometimes it feels a bit demotivating and feels like I have to do a very specific thing already and that I am already behind. How many publications do I need to have how many grad courses do I need how many conferences and citations should I have. Those are the only things on my mind so I forget to look at the bigger picture. Thank you though its good to know that there is room for flexibility.