Branch: ECE; Batch: 2017
MS Admit: Columbia University (IVY)
CGPA: 7.1
GRE: 328
Q. What are you currently doing?
I’m a 2021 graduate in ECE, and I’m going for a Masters in Electrical Engineering. I'm still trying to figure out my specialization. But I’m going into wireless communications, mobile communications and RF (radio-frequency) engineering.
Q. How did you choose between a corporate job and an MS? What made you choose electrical engineering over core electronics?
At the end of the second year, everyone was trying to figure out what they wanted to do, and I was lost. I really wanted to continue with electronics, but the core jobs out there are very few. And they only take people with high CGPA. So I knew I didn't stand a chance, mainly because I did poorly in my initial two years of college. Because I didn’t attend classes, I thought I was terrible at electronics. But when I got my 2-2 grades, I realised that I desperately needed to work harder. So, in my 3-1, I started working harder. While putting in the effort, I began to enjoy electronics and began doing projects under different professors from the department. When placements preparation began, I knew getting a core job would be very difficult, so I started preparing for IT placements. But I lost interest very soon and realised that wasn’t what I wanted to do. Moreover, most of my classmates who were planning to go for core electronics were doing VLSI Design, Hardware Computer Engineering, PCB Design, and I never enjoyed courses related to any of them. So I decided to go for a Master’s Degree in electrical engineering.
Q. How do you acquire projects in the EEE department?
The problem with acquiring projects is that most professors look at the CGPA first. An ideal time to apply for a project to be done in 3-1 is the end of 2-2. When the list of projects was shared with us during my 2-2, I thought I had no chance, so I didn’t even try applying for any project and missed the deadline. But one of my friends convinced me to go for it at least for the sake of an easy ‘A’ grade worth three credits. That worked as an incentive at that point, and I saw a post on FEG asking people to join for a project under Dr Prashant Kumar and got in. For 3-2, I ended up applying way too early than anyone else, and that helped me grab good projects even with an average CG. So if you don’t have very high grades, fetching a project becomes way more manageable if you approach professors early enough. On top of that, if you’ve some experience in software like MATLAB or any such technical skills for the project, you’d have the edge over others.
Q. What was your college selection process like?
I applied to around ten colleges and covered all ambitious, moderate and safe categories. Ironically, I got into an ambitious one and didn’t get into a safe one. So considering that my GRE score was good enough for the top colleges, my GPA was the problem, so I didn’t even try to apply to colleges that required a minimum of 3.5 GPA. Many private colleges in the US are not so strict with GPA. That was why I applied to Columbia and NYU. I got into only two of the five public colleges I applied to, and one of them was because they considered my grades from the last two years only, which were way better than my first two years. I also looked at where seniors in the same range as me were studying and chose to apply to NCSU. I got into NYU with a scholarship, but I think the programme offered matters too, so I decided on Columbia in the end because the program is flexible as I was first able to explore the fields and then chose my specialisation.
Q. When does the application process start?
Most application deadlines are around November-December; there were a couple due in January. I first got over with GRE around July end and then started filling applications around September-October. The earlier you send in the applications, the more likely you are to get scholarships. Sending cold emails to professors at different universities might also be of help sometimes. Just make sure you make it slightly personalised for every professor you email.
Q. What would you advise your juniors in college to make the best use of the resources available and figure out the most optimum path for a career they wish to pursue?
1st year: In my opinion, the essential thing that you should do in the first year is attending classes. Many people start stressing out way too early about what they want to do in the future, which is unnecessary, in my view. Instead, try to look for what you might probably be interested in and start exploring several things. If you’re a Phoenix student and still on the fence on what to choose between core and IT, maybe try playing around with an Arduino or a Raspberry Pi. Numerous people suggest starting with coding, but nobody talks about Arduinos or Raspberry Pi. I spent my first summer exploring them, built some automated stuff on my own and had a lot of fun, so I would strongly recommend doing that. But the gist of it is that you should try exploring everything you’re interested in and not stress out about it.
2nd year: Again, I’d say attending classes is one of the most important things to do. But what is more important is not to have a commonly prevalent block in your mind that being in an electronics branch will make your life hell. The misconception is that it is way too tough to handle, and you stand no chance before you even begin to try. This becomes a little too demotivating at times, and it’s something you need to stay away from. Instead, if you practically try it out, you’ll know better for yourself. Once you start attending classes religiously and score decently, your confidence boosts up too.
3rd year: It’s the time when almost everyone does some projects under professors. In my 3-1, I started with a project on MEMS and had the apprehension that it might not particularly interest me too much. But it did. So much so that I took up another project on MEMS the following semester too. It was easier to acquire the project in 3-2 because I had my experience from the previous semester to convince the professor to take me. However, soon, I realised that I was no longer interested in the field, so I completely switched my projects after that. I took up extra courses on my interests during my third year from the basic idea that I had from the second year. It’s a very crucial period because you start implementing stuff you’ve learnt until that point in projects.
Lastly, I think the 4th year is the most misunderstood by everyone. It’s perceived as a time where you just chill and are the most stress-free. I felt quite the opposite. I think the fourth year is when the reality starts hitting, with all of the applications and placement tension prevailing around. The most important thing is to celebrate your friend’s wins and not compare yourself. It’s ok if it takes longer for things to work out for you.
Q. Looking back, what do you think are mistakes you could’ve probably avoided or things you wish you hadn’t done in college?
I wish I had attended classes regularly. I didn’t do that for the first two years of my college, and those grades reflected like a big red flag in my application. My GRE and TOEFL scores were all good, but I was stuck because of my grades. So, I addressed it in my SOP. I was honest about it and said that I did terribly in my first two years of college. But if you look at the trend of my grades, it’s on an upward slope. My SGPA increased by 2 points from 2-2 to 3-1, which is too big of a jump to not notice. In my opinion, being honest and articulate with whatever you write in the SOP makes a lot of difference.
Q. How does one go about acquiring strong LORs for master’s applications?
There’s this mindset that for a strong LOR, you should get endorsed by very renowned professors. But I don’t think that’s absolutely necessary because what is more important is the content the professor writes in the LOR and not the designation they’re at. In case you’re to choose between a very renowned professor you worked with for a short summer internship and another who you did your thesis under, I’d suggest choosing the latter. The thesis professor would certainly know you better as a student and can highlight your knowledge very well in the LOR, which is exactly what the colleges are looking for. For instance, there was an electronics course for which I attended all classes, interacted with the professor and we also had a project for that course. Even though I didn’t end up getting the best grades in the course, I enjoyed it and our course project went really well. Because of that, the professor remembered me and gave me a really good LOR when I requested him to. I got another LOR from a professor I did a semester project with and the third one from my manager at an internship. But what is most important is that the person giving you a LOR knows you well so that the content does not seem to be superficial because such people will be able to quote examples.
Q. What made you take up this particular course at Columbia?
I will be pursuing an MS in Electrical Engineering and I will be choosing my field of specialisation later, as Columbia offers a lot of flexibility. But my application clearly indicated my interest in the field of wireless communication and RF, Wireless Communication, Antenna Engineering etc. In college, I was interested in Communication Systems, Digital Signal Processing (DSP), Signals and Systems, EMFME and that’s when I realised that I was interested in the communication field. In my final year, I did a project on MIMO Antennas for 5G applications wherein we were basically studying antennas and looking for ways to optimise them for faster data speeds and I found it to be interesting, so I asked my project professor about the opportunities and future prospects in these fields and he convinced me that this field is worth going into.
Q. How did you go about preparing for the GRE?
It was right before my fourth year when I decided to take the GRE, and I studied for one month. Everyone's always aiming for 340, but there's not much difference between that and a 330. The colleges are only concerned with you satisfying their minimum GPA, GRE and TOEFL requirements. So try to get a full in quant section and a good score in verbal. Quant is very important if you're going to get into engineering and any of the sciences. A lot of kids in our college take Magoosh or Princeton for preparation help, but I found everything I needed online. Reddit was very helpful here, even throughout my whole grad admissions process. I was reading up on things and asking people for advice. I used the GRE subreddits a lot. And in terms of preparation itself, I just made a proper schedule and followed it. Finding out good resources is mostly trial and error since it’s all very person dependent. I did the 5LB Princeton book for math. And on YouTube, there’s a guy called Gregmat, he has a lot of content, but his videos on the essays were really helpful. For vocabulary, Magoosh’s app should suffice; the advanced material isn’t necessary. There’s this older big ETS book that has all the old exams and if you just do all the reading comprehension from that, you'll kill it in verbal, but it isn’t much help for the other sections since the format’s changed. The two mock tests ETS gave were slightly easier but also the closest to the actual exam. Also, the best thing to do would be to network with a lot of people, assimilate their experiences and see what you can take from them.
Q. What advice would you give to people with lower CG?
The best advice I can give is it’s never too late to attend classes. I know it’s hard but you might enjoy it. Use it to explore! Not just to increase your CG but also to understand the subject and figure out your niche. I think our college perpetuates the notion that electronics is hard so most people just give up and go into finance or IT without even giving it a try. Keep trying and NEVER GIVE UP! Give it multiple chances. You can’t go lower than your lowest moment, it’s only an UP from here. Think about it as a positive and use it as motivation to pick yourself up. And if you’re sure you’re not interested in your branch, use the opportunity to take open electives well and explore other fields, whether it’s IT, finance or management related courses.
Q. Any advice on how to integrate college life with academics?
Explore which clubs you like and only be a part of a few and not too many as it gets super time consuming and slightly distracting. But be sure to enjoy and explore. I was a part of Basketball, Swaranjali, JC, shades and IEEE. I think my IEEE POR helped me a lot in my application as it was an Electronics oriented, universally recognised technical association.
Do enjoy, but don’t slack off. ATTEND ALL CLASSES; this gives you time to do other activities. And time management is the key.
Q. Could you tell us how to write a good SOP?
I was really organized with this since I had to make up for my GPA. A lot of people are over dramatic in their SOP’s in order to look good, adding in extra characteristics that would complement the branch they’re trying to get into. I wanted to be genuine and honest. The most important thing in an SOP is to showcase all the work you’ve done like projects, work experience, etc. My SOP was a narrative of my college experience. Contrary to what a lot of people would suggest, hiding the truth that you had bad grades, I just felt better being honest and wrote about how I was initially uninterested in electronics but gravitated towards Wireless communications and RF engineering later on. It’s important to explain what you’ve done and how that has helped you decide on what you’re applying for. Make sure you do some research about the university and the program that you’re applying for so that you can make your SOP college-specific and use the program’s uniqueness to your advantage. I had the same SOP for every college, but I changed the last paragraph for each college. I would use that paragraph to tell them which labs I would work in, talk about the professors, etc. The ranking of the university shouldn’t be the only reason you’re applying, and one should try to find more. A good SOP should answer the following questions: Why are you applying for a higher degree? Why are you applying to their college? How can I contribute? And why bother to admit me? I mentioned I read the papers of the professors I was interested in working with. I also sent the said professors cold emails telling them I applied to their college and hope that they’ll take a look at my application and also added why I’m applying, which may aid in your selection. Just try to personalize each SOP to every college.
Q. Any final advice?
One important thing I’d like to say is don’t get disheartened when you open groups such as BITS to MS/PhD. That page can be very demotivating at certain times. Read it for the advice given there. A lot of high achieving people put up their profile for review, which can be a little demotivating at times. Yes, doing that helps, but it’s not the end of the world if you don’t do the same. Try not to get demotivated by the whole glorifying of CGPA that goes on in college, try not to get under-confident and keep trying, also try to aim for a few colleges that might seem impossible (moonshot/dream colleges); you never know. I’m the last person who should tell a person to be confident - I wasn’t even going to apply to Columbia, my dad forced me. At the same time keep goals that are realistic and achievable (colleges that you can fall back on).
Disclaimer: The points given above are the views and steps taken by the individual. They are not fixed steps and guidelines to base your college upon. Our hope is to inspire students so they can take the necessary steps hereafter. We hope you like it!
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