Exchange Diaries
Saumitra Joshi | Mechanical Engineering
ETH Zurich, Switzerland
From where did you get the motivation? How did it all start? How did you handle your preparation with your academics?
I was always motivated to be honest. I had an interest in my subjects and was fairly good at them. In my 4th semester, something happened. I got to know about a topic called Kinematics of Machines and that sparked an interest in me. I had an internship after my second year. Then I delved deeper into the same topic. In my 3rd year, I was sure that I wanted to do a master's but I wasn’t sure about which topic. But vaguely I had made a decision that I would do my masters in robotics. But to be honest the kinematics of machine was the career-defining moment for me and the rest is me just digging deeper into the rabbit hole.
Did you apply to multiple universities? If yes can you please elaborate on the differences in the selection process of the universities? In universities in which you were not selected can you please share what you felt you lacked, what could you have done better.
There’s a basic difference between American and European schools. US schools first look for your CV, next to your experience/ publications, and also there is more emphasis on the SoPs in US schools. Since for US schools, the competition is much higher, so the selection process is much more rigorous there as compared to European schools. The latter are comparatively calmer than the former. They look for your CV and check whether you’d be fit for the institute. It would probably be just the experience for me. I guess if you asked about me not getting into some colleges, the rest of the factors are very exclusive to a particular college that we are considering.
How are you planning to manage your finances? Have you applied for any scholarships? What were their procedures?
US schools don’t frequently give out scholarships. I did apply for scholarships but I did not get any. But in my case, My family has enough expenses to cover my Masters and is taking any loan as such. Once you reach them there are alternate ways to earn money. You can apply for a research assistantship and teaching assistantships that might help lighten the burden.
Role of your CGPA?
CGPA is an important element of the selection process. It separates the more tenacious and intelligent students from the others. And also when the competition gets higher that works. CGPA cut-offs are not always that strict. I have met people with less than 7 CGPA here but who had a really good profile in terms of projects, interns, and publications. It also highly varies from program to program. 8.5 is to be safe. For students with >=9 CGPA, they are pretty well off in their CGPA aspect and need to be working and looking into other aspects of foreign university selections i.e. experience, publications, and projects. Some countries like the German and the Dutch universities are pretty adamant about the CGPA factor so yes it is an integral part of the selection process.
How is your university going to manage everything in this confusion of COVID-19?
Well since I’m going to ETH Zurich, the cases seem to be lowering in Switzerland. Other than that vaccines are well available there so yeah I’m relieved for now that COVID security wouldn’t pose a great problem.
How did IIT KGP benefit you in your journey?
First of all, it's the brand value, the IIT brand is very famous across the United States, and IIT KGP itself too is famous across the nation and other parts of the world so that is helpful. IIT KGP provides you an amazing experience to communicate with professors, study with the best brains of the country, and lastly, and most importantly form some very useful connections. So yes, IIT KGP is instrumental in accelerating my path to success.
What difficulties do you think the pandemic will bring(or has brought already) in the process?
Firstly the visa procurement procedure this time was very difficult and tiresome because of the pandemic. There is an intense level of formality.
What are the opportunities after the Masters course?
At this moment I’m not very sure, I may go for the industry, or I may as well go for a Ph.D. We do not have research-intensive experience so committing 5 years for Ph.D. needs a little more time. So I can’t tell for now.
What message do you want to give the juniors today who are interested in pursuing similar courses?
First do not be disheartened by rejection. You will be applying to a lot of schools and you’ll be rejected by a lot of schools. Do not be disheartened. You need to be good at what you are pursuing and need to be passionate about the same. Writing a flowery SOP does not matter until and unless you are passionate about the topic.