Exchange Diaries  

R Raghav | Industrial and Systems Engineering

Carnegie Mellon University, United States of America

Q1. 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?
A: This is a little different for meFrom my early childhood, my mother wanted me to go abroad for higher studiesSince the start of my 3rd year started working on multiple projects. In the 4" year, I became serious and started working hard for the exams and applications.

Q2. What are the factors you considered for selecting the universities you will apply for?
A: First was the ranking of the universities. I have always wanted to pursue higher studies in Computer Science. But the transition from being an Industrial student to a Computer Science student was going to be a difficult one. For some universities, I applied for their Data Science and Machine Learning inclined courses and for others I applied to their Computer Science courses For all the universities, I generally looked at the QS and CS Rankings. I also contacted seniors for their opinion on the various universities to apply to.

Q3. 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?
A: Yes, I did apply to multiple universities - a total of 11. I am yet to receive a response from many of them. Till now I have 2 admits - one from Carnegie Mellon University(CMU) and the other from the University of California, San Diego. I have finalised CMU where I will study Computational Data Science. The application processes for the universities were similar. Every university has its own application as it's not a centralised process. The university portal hosts the application form where they ask basic personal details, internship experiences, CV, Letter of Recommendation(LOR) and Statement of Purpose(SOP). The difference between universities lies in the prompt for the SOP or essay.

Q4. What is the process of interdisciplinary studies? How easy was the switch? What motivated you to switch?
A: Switching from the Industrial to the Computer Science department was a bit difficult. I have received 5 rejects too, although those were from universities like Harvard and Stanford. To bridge that gap, I took a minor in CS in my 3rd year which provided official proof that I had studied some of the courses of the CS curriculum, which can be mentioned in your transcripts and CV. Apart from this, I also did multiple projects in this domain
For people who are not from the CS department but want to get into the same for higher studies, there are universities that offer Bridge programmes. The two universities I applied to which had such programmes were the University of Southern California and Columbia University. The only catch is that the first semester is spent in learning the prerequisites for the CS course. Only then does the original Masters course begin. It spans about two and a half years. Applying to these courses gives non CS students a higher chance at entering a CS Masters course.

Q5. How are you planning to manage your finances? Have you applied for any scholarships?
What were their procedures?
A: I will be looking out for loans as I do not wish to rely on my family for funding. After the first semester, I hope to become a TA or assistant to reduce my tuition. Majority of the universities do not offer scholarships to Masters students. The few universities which do, usually send it along with the admit. My course at CMU does not offer any scholarships. So I will try for an external scholarship or will take a loan. I have not finalised it yet.

Q6. Is CGPA a factor while considering higher studies at foreign universities?
A: I think CGPA is pretty important. In my case, I was switching from Industrial to Computer Science. My CGPA, being about 9.37, was definitely one of the plus points in my application. I was the Department ranker too. I did mention all these points in my CV and SOP. Your GPA shows that you are a serious student and are eager to learn. In the end, there's no harm in maintaining a high GPA.

Q7. Have you taken up any research project at your bachelor/master's level under any professor here at lIT KGP? How did you manage your college studies and work for your research?
A: In my third year, I took up a course on Al and Ethics, which had a term project related to Natural Language Processing(NLP) as part of the minor curriculum. The project spanned 4 months and I eventually added it to my CV. My B. Tech Project(BTP) in 4th year was related to NLP in the CS department itself.
So basically, we need a minimum of 3 LORs for any application. I got one from my BTP professor who was from the CS department. My second one from a professor who taught the course Genetic Algorithm and under whom I also did a project. The third LOR was from my faculty, from whom I studied the same. Meanwhile I also had a paper accepted in the AAAI(Association for Advancement of Artificial Intelligence) workshop on Scientific Document Understanding. My summer CDC internship was at ITC in Supply Chain profile.
Managing everything simultaneously was a bit hectic. In my third year, I had to do multiple projects. In the CS department, the BTP starts from the 6 semester. It was easier to manage since it was an online semester. My main aim in the 3' year was to build good relationships with my professors for my LORs. Since I had applied to 11 universities, each professor had to submit the LOR 11 times. Good relations with the professors prompted them to take additional care while submitting the LORs.

Q8. What were the other difficulties you faced on taking this path and how to overcome them?
A: The main challenge for me was writing the SOP. The GRE and TOEFL exams are relatively easy. The scores of these exams serve as more of a cut off. The only thing the university has to judge you is your Statement of Purpose(SOP). So it has to be perfect. My SOP aimed to engage the readers and leave a good impression on them. I feel that writing the SOP was one of the most difficult parts of the application process. I took over a month to get it done and had to revise it multiple times.

Q9. How did IIT KGP benefit you in your journey?
A: I could get a hold of a lot of seniors who had taken the same path. There were also seminars where MS/PhD students talked about their experience and gave tips. Even the professors were very helpful. One of my professors sat with me and helped me shortlist the universities I was going to apply to, which would have been a hectic task to do alone.

Q10. What are the opportunities after the Masters course?
A: Most probably I will try'for a job. As of now, I am not inclined towards pursuing a PhD. I want to go for a research position in a corporate company. Probably their Artificial Intelligence team since my profile is inclined to NLP and Machine Learning.

Q11. 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?
A: This was my timeline for my applications and where I could have done better. I gave my GRE and TOEFL in the month of October the previous year. The application deadlines were around December- January, It would have been better had I given the exams a little early, like in July - August so that you can retake them to improve your score. After my CDC internship, I prepared for about 5 months before giving my GRE and TOEFL. I would suggest giving the two exams close to each other because the syllabus will be fresh in your memory. I started writing my SOP in November. Had I started earlier, I could have written a better SOP. It is important that you inform your professors that you are planning on applying for higher studies abroad by the month of November itself. So that they have ample time for writing the LORs and it is not a last minute work. You should also try to submit your application at least a day or two before the deadline to avoid any mishaps