Exchange Diaries
Siddhant Haldar | Electrical Engineering
New York University, United States
From where did you get the motivation? How did it all start? How did you handle your preparation with your academics?
I always wanted to have a research profile. That’s why I joined the research club AGV. It all started from doing research in the club and because of the club I had to stay on the campus during my summer break, so I took on a couple of projects under professors and explored there.
Managing your academics with other activities is something which you get used to while on campus. I got a DepC from the Mechanical to Electrical department which in retrospect turned out to be helpful for me.
What is the process for interdisciplinary studies? How easy was the switch? What motivated you for the switch?
I joined AGV as an electrical team member, where I started with working on circuits, sensors and explored computer vision. From there I gradually shifted towards exploring other aspects of AI and took up various courses in computer science. You can always opt for different courses based on your interest and workload of the course along with your major courses.
Did you apply to multiple universities? If yes, can you please elaborate on the differences in the selection processes of the universities? In universities in which you were not selected, can you please share what you felt you lacked, what you could have done better?
The selection process is more or less the same. In the U.S you start by giving GRE and TOEFL. After both the tests, you can opt to send your scores to a few schools for free and it’s recommended that you send them to schools you are more or less certain about applying to.GRE scores are like a cutoff, once you clear the cutoff it doesn't matter much. Then you need to apply to individual colleges, where you submit your SOP(statement of purpose) and LOR(letter of recommendation).
The universities where I got rejected, I cannot blame a particular factor for the rejection. There are many factors (such as your CGPA, internships, past experience, SOP, the interest of the professor) that affect your selection.
How are you planning to manage your finances? Have you applied for any scholarships? What were their procedures?
I have a fellowship from the university, so it all gets covered from it. It mainly depends on the country to which you are applying. In the U.S usually, when you get admitted to a Ph.D. it’s through some sort of funding.
What was the role of your CGPA?
It plays a vital role once you go for higher studies, but is not the deciding factor. I had a mixed profile, so I cannot say how many roles it played. In case you have a low CGPA, you must make up for it in some way to attract attention to your profile.
How is your university going to manage everything in this confusion of COVID-19?
In-person classes will take place, but due to issues with Indian visa permits currently (the Embassies are closed), students can join remotely. Students can defer by 6 months or 1 year in case they don’t get a visa. The University has mandatory check-ups on arrival and you must be vaccinated to enter the campus, either from India or from the university.
How did IIT KGP benefit you in your journey?
I owe everything to IIT KGP. If I were somewhere else, I wouldn’t be free to dream. Here I got research clubs, projects, competitions, and culture which helped me in exploring my interest. Most importantly AGV played a vital role in building my profile. AGV was like a rocket that provided escape velocity to my profile. It’s not necessary that you should have some research club, you can always take projects under professors. If I wasn’t in KGP, I wouldn't have been able to come so far as I have come today.
What difficulties do you think the pandemic will bring (or has brought already) in the process?
I think there is no such difficulty in the selection process because of the pandemic as the application process was always done online. The only difficulty that I faced was while giving the GRE as the test center got closed in the pandemic.
What are the opportunities after this Ph.D. course?
After a Ph.D. there are usually two paths, first, you become a professor in some reputed college. Second, you can enter the industry as a research scientist.
What message do you want to give the juniors today who are interested in pursuing similar courses?
In PhD, you must have a good CG and a good profile. It's also recommended to have some research papers and internships under your belt. As computer science is a very competitive field, you should focus on building your profile. The most important thing is whatever you do you must get something out of it. Instead of doing things randomly and leaving things midway, try to complete things that you have started. Your experience should speak about how easily you can cope with whatever is to come. If you can do that, you are good to go.