Exchange Diaries  

Amatya Sharma | Computer Science and Engineering

University of Michigan, United States of America

While you were in college, what was your motivation to go for higher studies and in
which year did you get that motivation? How did you manage your academics with
your preparation?

I was always interested in doing higher studies and research. I was always
motivated by the peace which is there in research instead of the rush and hectic
corporate work culture. This hatred was one of the major motivations as I didn’t want
anyone to be sitting on top of me and ordering me. Moreover, I was willing to use
math physically, applying it to real-life problems. I was a research intern under Prof.
Arindam Khan at IISc Banglore, who introduced me to research, during my 2nd-year
summer vacation. There I got to explore myself and read tons of research papers.
That was where I was motivated for research

What are the factors that you considered for selecting the universities you are going
to apply for?

While selecting the universities, ranking always does matter. Not only the QS overall
rankings but also the subject rankings. You should always have a threshold like
top-50 or top-100. For me, it was top-70 in QS and top-20 in Computer Science. After
you cross that threshold, the ranking doesn’t matter much. I got offers from Michigan,
Toronto, EPFL and Georgia. I talked to some professors and post-doctoral scholars
about research and lab facilities. I would advise not to shortlist on the basis of the
number of papers a professor has published, but to see that how close his research
is to the work you’ve been doing or are willing to do. Also, look for mutual
connections between the professors of the university and those you’ve already had
collaborated with.

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, and what could you
have done better?

I applied for 11 universities in total. You should apply at least in 7. For 6 of them, I
was supposed to pay an application fee of $ 150, the rest 5, i.e those in the
Schengen areas, had 0 application fee. I contacted the professors, whom I knew via
those I’ve collaborated with and they were happy to accept me if I cleared the
process. It’s always advised to have a good LOR (Letter of Recommendation) from
the professors you’ve worked with.
I didn’t apply for MIT as only one professor was there whose area of research
matched mine. Moreover, he was not even accepting any PhD students under him.

CMU rejected me because I had a competition with a guy for the same position and I
got beaten by the CGPA factor. Also, there was only 1 professor for theoretical ML
who was full. Michigan on the other hand had more professors whose areas matched
mine. I got rejected by a university below Michigan due to the fact that they already
took three students from IISc and were not accepting any. Though I’ve already
inquired about this via mail, the profs didn’t reply. It’s always advisable to look
through the availabilities before registering.

How are you planning to manage your finances? Have you applied for any
scholarships? What were their procedures?

PhD programs are funded. We get finances in form of stipends and grants. The
stipends are decent to live there. I’m getting $ 4000 as a stipend per month and even
if I live comfortably, I can save around $ 1000 a month. If I live tightly, that can go
even to $ 1500 a month. So, for a PhD programme funding is not a very big issue.

Is CGPA a factor while considering higher studies at foreign universities?

CGPA is one of the major factors but not the most important one. In a department
like CSE, 9.5+ is considered quite good when applying for a good PhD programme.
There are many more important parameters too like the research papers you
published under a prof or the LORs which can definitely overpower the CGPA factor
many times. I’ve got a friend who got selected into CMU even after scoring 8.9
CGPA, just because the other factors overpowered the CGPA.

Have you taken up any research project at your bachelor/master's level under any
professor here at IIT KGP? How did you manage your college studies and worked for
your research?

I’ve done four research projects till now. Two were in IISc Banglore, one at IIT Delhi
and one here at IIT KGP. Here, I collaborated here with a professor who had done his
PhD from IISc and got a reward for the best thesis. It was at the beginning of my 3rd
year. I used to read a lot of research papers related to the subjects I liked thereby
increasing my knowledge in that subject. Time management was a key factor there.

What were the other difficulties you faced on taking this path and how to overcome
them?

The major difficulties which were faced by me can be grouped into three categories.
● In life and Research: We’re always not the best in any field when we start.
Especially when it comes to research on a new topic, there are always a lot of
people who’re ahead of us. They’re not ahead, but they’ve been doing it just
for a longer time. Don’t compare as it takes time to read and know about the
stuff. It took me 2-3 months at IISc just to read the research papers and to get
to a level of a novice researcher. It’s all about patience.
● Specific to KGP: What I felt, people here are very lazy. They don’t explore and
just depend on some advice given by a random senior. They’re just aiming to
get a good placement in so and so company. The research culture here is
quite poor which can lead to anyone losing his/her motivation for research.
The professors though are excellent researchers but they themselves have
lost their motivation as students are least interested in research.
● Confusion regarding the trade-off: As you begin your journey towards a PhD,
you make a trade-off between peace and money. Research life is quite
peaceful but there is not that much money as that in the case of a corporate
job. Though even the researches are well funded but not as rich as a
corporate job. So, you need to face this dilemma while considering for a
PhD.

How did IIT KGP benefit you in your journey?

Though the research culture is not good at IIT KGP, especially in CSE, still KGP
helped me in many ways. The most important was the IIT tag and brand value
associated with it. It helped me gain recognition while applying for research projects
and registrations. It helped me in building a better profile and getting projects at IISc
and IITD. Also, professors from abroad know about IIT KGP, improving the chances
of getting an affirmation. Moreover, you can get a good LOR which can further
strengthen your profile.

What are the opportunities after the PhD course?

There are mainly two opportunities after a successful PhD course:
● Academia: Here peace and independence are the most important thing you
can earn. There might not be as much money as that in corporate jobs but
still decent enough to get a smooth life. Moreover, successful researchers get
heavy grants, if we consider money as an important factor.
● R&D in companies: Corporates pay hefty amounts to the PhD and
Post-Doctoral researches to work and R&D scientists if you’re doing research
on a new and profitable topic. But they can’t do any actual research as they’re
doing the things only keeping the company profits in mind.

What are the suggestions that you would give your juniors who want to pursue higher
studies? Could you please give a rough roadmap to ease their journey?

The suggestions would depend on their year of study.
● For 1st and 2nd-year students:
○ Start exploring research not merely MS or PhD as a degree. Choose
your subject wisely.
○ Take additional courses as per your interest. After completion of the
course ask for a project under a professor or research papers on
relevant topics to read.
○ Don’t go for any online course as research must be guided. Instead,
ask for a project under a professor.
○ Look for some research internships in your 2nd-year vacations if you
can.

● For 3rd-year students:

○ You should decide on a pathway for your research. The path should
be motivated by your interest, the number of people going into that
field and the future scope of development in that subject.
○ Don’t go for any topic which has reached its dead end. Instead, look
for some unsaturated topics
○ After the internships, also start looking for some research internships
○ Instead of running blindly behind foreign universities, try looking for
good profs in India, who’re new and willing to take students under him
● For 4th-year students: They mostly know the things. If they don’t, then instead
of getting demotivated, they should explore more about their interests.
Though they’re late but not behind.