Anybody has an opinion on CMU for a machine learning or robotics PhD? You think they'll let me in? (I've heard horror stories from their selection process tbh)

Also, any good Canadian unis and degrees for AI/robotic combo PhDs?

I can't say much for robotics and AI in particular unfortunately, but as far as Canada is concerned, in my view the universities to check out if you haven't already are McGill, UBC, l'Université de Montréal if French isn't a problem for you (idk if they offer English programs at a (post)grad level, but knowing them, doubt it), and the University of Toronto

Carnegie Mellon? ML department and Robotics Institute are very, very selective for PhD (and masters), unless you have a stellar record and recommendations I doubt you'd get in. The work they do is absolutely legit though. No harm in trying if you think you have even a slim chance though, mail a bunch of profs and throw in the application.

Source: friend applied to CMU RI for robotics PhD, got rejected, went to UPenn instead, enjoying it thoroughly. Might want to look at both Penn and Michigan Ann Arbor, they have excellent robotics work. A good bunch of robotics PhD work involves one or both of control systems/modelling and ML/DL, so if you're in that area you'll pretty much end up working on both.

@RememberMe how would MIT fit then, compared to them?

About cmu, I'm not that "stellar" sorta say, but I have read a bunch of their works and it fit right with my interests. Like, I'm not keen on jumping through hoops to get hired, you know. I do proper work, but not a fan of overselling myself for the sake of getting in somewhere. (which is why I'm not considering MIT)

@chilledfrogs French will be an issue. I came to realize that I can't manage any other languages, because my whole day and work is in english and switching is actually hard.

@NoMad check the edit.

I'd say they're all comparable, it really depends on individual professors and how well the work you want to do jives with them (and how much they need new people around the lab). I don't know much about MIT's PhD process sadly, it wasn't one of the places I or my friends looked at.

@rutee07 is the expert of phd's, both robotic and natural

@NoMad I must admit that I've heard that MIT is incredibly cutthroat though unfortunately, hence why it's not on my list 😅