Is CGPA the most important thing in IIT life?

Well, this is debatable and IITians would be divided in answering this one. I'll pen down my perspective here. The answer is even though it is important, its not definitely the most important thing. Now the next part is - it depends. If you are planning for higher studies in engineering it may be the most important thing. If you are going for higher studies in other fields, maybe not so important. For someone who is looking at jobs or startups in the future definitely not the top of your agenda. CGPA definitely sends out a signal to a person looking at your profile about your sincerity and hardwork. So if you are dealing with people with conventional mindset and who view academics as the screening factor it can be very important. If you are looking at IIMs then again its one of the criteria to score over others. Not to forget a lot of shortlists and final selections in placements are based on your grades.

Sounds contradictory, right. Well even though I've mentioned points in which grades can be the most important differentiating factor let me tell you why I think its not the most important factor. The answer is success and my definition of success here is excelling in one's particular field in the long run. And to me, the things that matter more would be the quality of the person, his passion, hardwork and directed effort in his field. Decisions at important junctures and luck are also important based on experience. CGPA is too minuscule a thing to capture all those aspects to play as the most important factor in the long run. But again, if you've got relaxed and thinking about caring less about your grades let me warn you if you compromise on grades you should back it up with something else to show that its not just lax attitude or lack of competitiveness that got you there. In my experience, people with better CGPA are more often than not are more hardworking, sincere and likely to succeed in future. Also lower grades often lowers your confidence which may hamper your prospects in the short run. Its one of those things that you rather would like to have than not. 

Seen people with 5,6,7 GPA doing better than 8 pointers and definitely seen the other way round. So know that there is no rule. My best advise would be to treat them as school percentages, always better to keep them high to keep parents, peers and society happy. A balanced approach is the best approach at the end of  the day.

  

How does it start at 15?

Memories have to roll back 10 years to get this at one place. Do things change drastically once you start preparing for the much coveted IITs? What gets the motivation going? What changes take place in your thinking? Think it would be different for everyone so will pen down here my experience. Please do not feel its generic because its not. So lets begin. I was one simple unimportant boy who kept mostly to himself and to close ones around him. Remember watching other people and friends doing well in Quizzes ( remember one friend getting to BQC), someone doing nice things in Astronomy, Olympiads, MBD talent search etc etc and standing in the crowd watching people winning in those sports meet, sitting in audience watching debates. Always wondered when would my turn come to receive one of those awards, how does it feel to hear your name announced etc etc. It was very kiddish and very childish but nonetheless it was an obsession at that time. Had to find something where you were the best. Watching the show all the time was saddening. And although I was consistently among top 5 in my class in those school exams neither there was any sense of achievement nor did I respect myself for cramming stuff up and getting good results. Something more satisfactory was needed to pacify the feeling of underachievement and commonness. IIT was a tough nut to crack, maybe the toughest we all considered. It could be that thing. As was common after X boards I and my friends joined one of those coaching classes for JEE. It was too fast for me and for one month I really could not catch up and understand anything. Changed the coaching but the confidence was down. Then came the X board results. Was shocked and devastated to see that all my friends had done better than me. I felt cheated and felt a lot of hardwork had been wasted. That acted as the trigger. Deep down I knew the board results are erratic and true quality and hardwork would be fairly rewarded in the competitive exams. I was very confident about my IQ and maths but never confident about my motivation and hardwork. Deep inside I never felt anything great about scoring marks in exams. But this was a different challenge. It got you respect in society. It tested your brain and perseverance. So still remember my father telling me if you have to get to IIT it would take 2 years of dedicated effort. "Tapasya" was the word. Now all this sounds big but somebody who is going through that age and who wants to know about my experience it was exactly like that. Like one simple foolish boy feeling too bad about those maybe "not so important things". You mature and grow and most people including myself would laugh now but this was how it was. Those 2-3 months really left me hungry and motivated. I felt sad and had to vindicate myself. The moment was 2 years ahead of me but I wasn't prepared to let anything come between me and my success. I was very sincere, focused and determined for the next 2 years. Yes tough times, ups and downs were there but the fire to get there was much more. I am sure for all those looking at JEE would definitely find their set of stories and reasons to get them fired up. One thing that hasn't changed in my mind over these 10 years is the belief that you never go the distance until you are prepared and desperate to slog it out. So find your reasons, maybe better ones than I had but do give your best. Nobody but you will feel nice about it later.

(Thanks to Shreyasi for suggesting the topic, hope it helps)   

What to do at IIT

Well let me not make you read this if you are looking for a magic formula if you are looking for one. There isn't any. Many people think better grades will get them there, others rely on too much extra-curricular activities to make it etc etc. There are many viewpoints but there's no single thing that you can point out that people did at IIT that took them where there are at lives. But I am not here to say there aren't better choices that people make. Infact I write down this post to pen my viewpoint based on my experiences and post analysis looking back what could have been done better and who were the people that were doing better as its much clear and easier to explain things in hindsight. Intellect is one thing as an IITian which you need to develop while you are there. IIT gives you loads of opportunities and even most IITians may disagree when they are in IIT there is a lot of time at disposal. Explore would be my advice. You have the best facilities be it sports, books, labs, professors, LAN, exceptional people around etc etc. Look at them very seriously and as opportunities which you may not find easily post IIT life. Do what you are most interested in but never lie down around doing nothing. Don't waste time talking around on petty issues (yes ie ba**hodi). There you build a network of people which can use to learn and grow as a person all your life. Also if are basically somebody who does not love mingling with people this is the time to learn it. The world is quite big outside IIT but the things you can pick up in IIT life will empower you to excel in your future life. Also its very important that you read a lot, watch a lot of documentaries and explore the world in this life. As IITians let me tell you nobody is going to doubt your technical skills and IQ but most successful IITians also focus on their interpersonal skills to make a mark. Its very important in these times where businesses and societies have got so integrated that the soft skills that you carry with you are as important if not more important sometimes to gain recognition and grab opportunities. The easiest part is in college its too easy to naturally enjoy all these things and develop simultaneously. The point of this post is to stress the importance of not losing focus and get distracted when you get to IIT. I am not really talking about the ones who will work on the next best technology in the world but its more applicable to IITians who look to enter the job market sooner or later or maybe thinking about their own firms. How you add on to yourself as a person is going to be very important determiner of your success in future. From what I see many who developed themselves, utilized time and maybe enjoyed also more than others are reaping benefits. So key take away understand the JEE exam is over, realize the outstanding facilities and exposure you have access to, make full use of them to excel and stretch yourself but this time in a holistic way. The focus on all round development and breadthwise expansion may be the key for 4 years stay there. 

Preparation: Smart vs Hard work

Anybody will tell you that both are important. But the question which one is more important. Often people say its all about talent and if not its then about passion and hardwork. Loving the game, engrossing yourself in it is very important but only if your first step is right. The first step is technique ie how you approach the game. Trust me, you are not going very far if you haven't got your basics right. At each and every thing that I've experienced in life, I have learnt you conquer ultimately only if your base is strong. Yes its a cliche but would still stress and emphasize the point here. When I was preparing my maths used to be very strong, it came naturally and so was quite confident about it. Physics and chemistry were weak for starters. I am sure most IITians would have strengths and weakness between the three. So even though ultimately I cleared JEE I was still a failure preparing for it a lot of times. There were instances when I got single digit marks out of 60. So even though I could have afforded to be confident about my maths I had to figure out to crack the other two. I never did. Actually I just managed them. Still the tougher question would make me uncomfortable. So there was physics, in which I felt the need to master the concepts well before I could attack the questions there was chemistry where I did not know how to do it. Believe me all through out my preparation I went back to reading those basics in both the subjects again and again just to ensure that they were ingrained in my head. For chemistry, I got a shock in screening when I was able to attempt something like 50% of questions properly and focused only on it post screening till mains.  Smartwork was to understand how the time allocation was required and where. When you are good at something you can beat the rest anyways. Be smart at picking what to do and how to do which might help save you a lot of time and focus much better. Don't get bogged down if you are some weak in areas as they will be there. Just plan it out well. So its about hard work but most successes are achieved by smartly working hard. 

Wake up call!

Scene - A student was sitting on the last seat in a class of computer science professor who was supposed to be one of the most arrogant and shrewd ones in the campus. This was the second semester at IIT and the first course in computer science for the students from various branches. The student found it hard to comprehend what he has been upto now although one-third of the semester was over. It was all there in the notes which came in the exam and the lectures told something out of his zone. So he was not interested happily sleeping. And then suddenly like always there was buzz around. Papers of Minor I, the first exam in a semester usually responsible for 20-25% of total course were being distributed. Time to wakeup and wait for yours. People were getting different ranges of marks between 0 to 40 out of 40. He expected his to be somewhere in between. Paper was okay and expectations were average. The name came, paper stopped with different people, the red marks could be seen from a distance and stupid gestures were giving some anxious moments.Finally, it reached but unlike always it was a 1/40. Not the number to believe. Disbelief and shock. It could not be right. It wasn't so bad at all. All through IIT people share the same feeling which was not shared before. You always get marks below your expectations. But 1/40 when you expected 15-20/40 was a bit too much. The paper was structured in a way that you had 4-5 questions and if you could get through the first, then only you could answer the rest. It's a mistake the student thought. Ohh! these MTechs who act as teaching assistants never really understand our procedures and profs make them correct our papers. How stupid. So he went straight to the prof. Prof said aha, so you deserve more. Lets see. Check again, you've got the right marks he says. Student is even more shock confirms but cannot figure out whats wrong with the algorithm. Prof has his moment, can you tell me what does sum(a,b) does in your algorithm? Student - It adds obviously (now smiling). Prof - Where do you mention that? Student checks and says Gosh nowhere. Boom! So here you go. No more arguments, no more explanations. And so the poor thing goes back. And only in a week's time, one more shock. He actually misses the deadline for the second assignment as he mailed his on the wrong email id by mistake. Now on the brink of his first failure because the prof has a reputation of setting tough papers ahead. It was all too plastic. That is the way world is in IIT sometimes for no reason. The student finally passed the course with a bad grade, making one of the toughest assignments (which could not be copied as a software matched them while checking), but not before taking a lot of stress. Call it carelessness, call it his stupidity, call it bad luck that's what IIT does to you sometimes. Profs can be relentless sometimes, so can be the situation. Lesson learnt probably for him and others. 

Do IITians lack personality?

This was one of the searches on google which led somebody to my blog. This question has not been answered in any of the posts. Good time to do it now. The answer is yes, most of them do. And a rather sorry part is many of them unwilling to change that. But not all as some IITians do possess impressive personalities, some develop and some are keen to. As my current manager always stresses in each of his advises and conversations - "You guys are terrific when it comes to solving mathematical problems and modelling solutions but you still need to read and develop interpersonal skills to get to the top". And if you go by facts many IITians do reach the top. And in life its also about phases and experiences that model your personality. So most of the IITians when they are entering IITs have never explored themselves, have only concentrated on one aspect and did not work in different directions or had to work on different challenges. But as time goes by they do and they improve. Also by the very nature of our country IITians consider themselves successful too soon in their lives being always at top in their academic pursuits, getting all the attention and accolades. And as I pointed out earlier IITs do help in improving students in developing better personalities. Infact, when I think further most of my friends of IIT improved a lot more compared to all my other non-IIT friends while at college. There could be difference of opinion here though.
A lot of people often around IITians like to balance their complex by undermining their personality. So let me put it this way, IITians entering IITs fall behind the curve, IITians after IIT are on an average scale, IITians always lag behind for me when personality is the primary requirement for a role and IITians can compete when personality is one of the requirements. To conclude, yes its their weakness in general but given their very nature they have the tendency to get things right. And truly believe, it is something you can fix and develop with time.

{All through the post probably you can feel me defending the IITians :)}

3 idiots - Interest in IIT life - 1

Some parts were true, most were not. People have to realize commercial cinema cannot be 100% reality. What are the key differences? Well there is no Aamir Khan at IIT. People are not so mature and niether there is only one hero in IIT. Everybody is to an extent. Some of the personality traits of professor shown are true but no one Prof at IIT dominates to an extent as shown in the movie. Suicide thing is not common if you by chance believed it so. But yes, many people do realize that they are interested in something else other than engineering at IIT and that is what I would like to concentrate on in this post. There are so many societies/clubs/sports at IIT to focus on that many students who never maybe had a chance to pursue their hobbies and to think about what they actually like do so. One of the main reasons that I think that IIT does that to you in the sense of achievement that you get at an early age. If you remember the character of Madhavan and how he finally decides to pursue photography and wonder whether that actually happens the answer is yes. There are some mad IITians who get mad not about any academic research but about dramatics, sports, social work, reading etc etc. The other day I saw a status on facebook of my friend who went to IIM after IIT, then did 2 jobs moving to 4 different places, read over 300 books in two years and has left it all to read and maybe write in the future. He has been an extraordinary student and a good friend. Why am I writing all this here? Does that even matter? Do you take bad impressions about IITians post this that they do things they are not supposed to do? Well, I write to all those people who think not going to IIT is a terrible pullback and failure and get too disappointed. Take heart. There are still who get disenchanted. There are still IITians who don't know what to do with their lives, who after working so hard to get there leave it all for something else. So its never too late to start, you can make it big anytime. And even after getting somewhere you may have to start all over again. What 3 idiots told you correctly was yes there are a lot of idiots in IIT who for no reason do things which nobody expects them to do. I've ended up writing a post which looks quite disorderly, forgive me for that as I am in a hurry to finish this up. Hope to write more on this topic though.