+1  I've been doing applied research for a decade.  I think we need to double Norvig's 10 year rule for this field ... or maybe it is an infinite sequence.<p>I took a 3 year detour through pure engineering just because that part is so important and was causing me to experience a bottleneck.<p>I also agree that driving your studies with a real project helps tremendously.<p>Ultimately, you need to think about whether you really want to commit to this.  It is very hard work, but also very fun and rewarding.