Ms. Bhuvi Gupta is an undergraduate student in the Electrical Engineering Department from the Y15 batch. Take a look at the journey through her eyes…
I remember being in the second year and attending one of those ‘gyaan sessions’ when, a first-year student stood up and asked with a very straight face – ‘How many projects does one need to do in a year ?’ I had a hearty laugh! It was equivalent to someone asking you ‘How many hours do you need to study to get into IIT?’. Amazing! How truly ‘bachhas’ we are in our first year.
I was no different in the beginning. The first year was tough. I can recall a few incidents fixed in my mind till now. Starting with my first quiz ever– the major quiz of MTH101, my hands were trembling throughout the test. My TA101 mid-sem answer sheet came back with so many zeros. Moreover, the professor had made sure to write ‘00’ and then put a huge red circle around it. I started longing for home and began counting days till the mid-sem recess.
Well, this was just the beginning and in front of me lied the insurmountable task of filling up a blank A4 paper that I would call my resume, four years down the line. If I am allowed to make a generalized statement, a resume is ‘CPI + Projects/Internships + Position of Responsibility.’ Of course, one can be more creative!
Let us start with CPI. What is the secret to high CPI?
I believe there are two kinds of students who maintain a good enough CPI. The ones who like what they study, and the ones who know how to score marks. If one lies in the former category, good for them! The world is a perfect place, and all their stars were aligned when they were filling their preferences in JEE counseling. Now, the latter takes advantage of the fact that the same professor who teaches in the lectures, sets the question paper. So, they attend the lectures and figure out the exam paper even before it is set, because they know what was emphasized in the class. They try and submit assignments on time and don’t have the entire semester’s syllabus piled up for the last moment, because they attended the lectures!
In my experience, I never found anyone lying purely in either one of those categories. There were some courses which we liked and some which we had to do for the sake of the degree. I asked a few questions to myself. Why make life tougher than it already is? Why skip lectures of a course that you anyway don’t have enough ‘enthu’ for, especially when someone else is ready to teach it to you. Some people might say it is easier said than done. To be honest, it was challenging, but a better CPI is a choice! It is a choice one makes every single day. It is a choice one makes alone and not with their wingmates. One chooses to attend the 8 am lectures, to submit the assignments, to study for not only exams but quizzes as well!
Coming to the coveted ‘projects’ and ‘internships.’
I have been lucky to be presented with varied opportunities here. I got a chance to be a part of a few smaller student-led projects, a year-long project mentored by professors, an internship in India and a research internship abroad. I have been on the other side of the table, offering projects to campus junta as a club coordinator. But it all started small and from day one of the college!
When I first came in, I had nothing but my JEE rank in hand, which I was very conveniently asked to forget. It was time to find a new identity for myself. I was always fascinated by technology (my father being a tech enthusiast) which motivated me to explore SnT Council. I did not start with a goal to score a foreign internship. I started with a small step by participating in Takneek, then a 15-day project under Electronics Club, and then Techkriti, moving on to summer project under Robotics Club, and finally becoming a part of Team IGVC in my second year. I found IGVC exciting and continued to explore it. It was not always about filling my resume. Rather, It was also about learning new things, making amazing friends and meet awesome seniors in the process!
Your paths will open up. You don’t need to plan all your projects in the coming four years. If an opportunity shows up and you seem to like it, dive into it! There is no template here to follow, with a different curve for everyone. Of course, there are going to be some amazing projects and some slightly salty experiences that will eventually help you figure out ‘what you do not want to do’ (or better still, what you want to do), but that should not deter you.
Finally coming to PORs. First of all, huge shoutout to all those people who take up PORs and do justice to it! #Respect! It is NOT easy, to be a student (with all the coursework going on and the general anxiety of being a young adult) and go out of your way to manage additional responsibility. If you can be this person, go ahead and take up PORs. Work so hard people cite you as an example.
But don’t be ‘that’ person. ‘That’ person who will write 3 PORs on his/her resume and does not show up to work for even one. ‘That’ person who makes life difficult for others. From my experience, you rarely need a POR on your resume to get to where you want to be in life. Be it placements, or MS applications. So, if you are signing up for one just because of placements, please don’t, and keep life simple for everyone.
Four years or more are never sufficient to know the perfect recipe for a good resume, but I surely learned ‘how not to fill an A4 sheet to be my resume’. I hope that by the end of four years, you have a bucket load of stuff to write that you find hard to chose from, to fit into an A4 sheet! I also hope you would have made lifelong friends and leave as a better person than you came in.
Written by Bhuvi Gupta, Edited by Avisha
