Several Questions from Undergrad Looking to Get Into ML field, Any Help Appreciated

Hi all,

First I want to say this is a little long, so I appreciate those of you who read through this.

I am a senior in college who, having just taken an engineering optimization course (some GA’s, convex optimization, etc.) last semester and loved it, came across something called “machine learning” and realized it was something I’ve always been interested in. I’ve looked through countless forums and discussions on the net about it, but I need specific advice about where to potentially start such a journey into the field. I am a Mechanical Engineering major, and through my curriculum, have taken Stats, Linear Algebra and the like, and will be taking an actual Machine Learning class before I graduate.

Some questions for you all:

1. Is grad school really necessary/worth it for this field? I mean are there enough reasonable industry jobs right now in which a Masters geared towards ML is warranted? Or is ML as it is now still a tool in the toolbox for most engineers? Keep in mind I definitely want to work in industry/a startup. I have no intention of getting a PhD.

2. If so, do you have to go the CS route for grad school, or is Stats also a viable option? Given my major, I don’t see myself getting into grad school for CS, due to the sheer amount of programming I don’t have experience in—so it might be possible for a different department? I understand it that the CS path might be for more the application side, which is what I’m looking for, while a Stats/Math grad program might focus more on the mathematical theory behind ML?

3. Also, my GPA took a hit (currently under a 3.0), during heavy semesters; I might have put more effort into other courses rather than say, stats a few years back (kicking myself now). I do go to a top engineering school that is in the 15-20 range in the nation for my major. Still, does that kill any chance of getting into a school that would be worth it? Is perhaps getting a MEng preferable for someone in my position?

4. Lastly, if you don’t recommend grad school, is ML something that’s easily applicable to other fields? I was thinking robotics given my undergrad. Or more out of the box—could the type of ML algorithms that work for voice recognition work for recognizing patterns in other sounds (music)?

Sorry for the wall of text, any help on these matters is greatly appreciated.