Exchange Diaries  

Kumar Aniket | Computer Science and Engineering

New York University, United States of America

Research Area: Cybersecurity and software engineering

Duration: 2.5 Months

Why do think foreign training is important for a student's life?
For students who are interested in research, foreign training gives you a whole new perspective. You don't do just an internship, you get to know about the Masters or Ph.D. programs of various universities. There are many research developments in such universities, and through FT you get the idea of Ph.D. which helps to know about your interest in research.

How was your experience?
This foreign training gave me a research-oriented experience. Apart from that, the lab I was working in, was similar to a usual corporate firm. So for me, it was a mixture of both the worlds, the research one with some elements of the corporate world.

How did you manage your finances?
The professor under whom I was working at the New York University gave me a stipend that covered the entire expense including food, travel, and accommodation. So the expense was negligible.

How did you apply for FT?
In my second year, almost everybody was working on machine learning or data science and I didn't want to be a part of it. I developed my interest in cybersecurity and computer security and then at the end of my second year I worked in a firm in Mumbai that works in cybersecurity. There I got more experience in the field and how people are working in this area. After the internship, I was confident that cybersecurity is the field where I would like to go. I started applying for universities where people are working in this particular field. NYU has a special domain for cybersecurity and so it really attracted me.

How was your stay in New York?
New York is not a place where you would feel left out or something. The city is really beautiful and people from almost all corners of the world live there. The co interns with whom I was working with were from China and they had their schooling in Germany, so you meet a lot of diverse people. So my stay was comfortable enough.

Role of CG in FT?
In my case, CGPA didn't make a difference. FT actually revolves around the fact if you have done that amount of work in your research field, or not. So I would say CGPA does not matter much if you really have that enthusiasm towards your research field.

Any advice for your fellow kgpians?
The most important part of an FT is to grab the professor's attention and for that, you should have a good cover letter. When you get a call from the professor there would interview, they may test your skills, so you should be really prepared for it. If you have a decent CGPA, something like 9 or above, the various programs would make it easier In case you don't have such a high CGPA, then start early and work smartly. Take into consideration all types of universities, like there should be some diversity in their QS- ranking. Always have some universities in back up, if your target is not attained till January or February.