I wrote a blog about M.Tech curriculum in IIITB to help the aspirants getting into the course and it did solve my purpose. But I also started getting a lot of queries about the MS course offered in the same institute. As I am into the M.Tech course, it became very difficult to answer all those queries. So finally thought to come up with a FAQ list about the MS course. All the questions were answered by an MS student as per his experiences and views. So here goes the question-answer session :
Special Thanks : Priyankar Talukdar (for creating such a nice and compact FAQ)
Q: How important is it to have a knowledge on programming
languages like C ?
Communication skill is not an issue here. Merely mentioning C is
considered weak stance. I feel concept and depth of knowledge about a field
like database, networking, computer architecture, control system is more preferred
than a language such as C ,java ,python or whatever u call it.
Q: What about the Campus placement? Do I have a fair chance to make it
to the big companies like Google?
As far you dreams of getting into Google and Amazon and Yahoo FaceBook
are concerned, there is less scope of making it there unless you are exceptionally
talented and get it off campus. To my knowledge none of them comes on campus.
Microsoft is the only exception here.
Exception: MS student, (2011 pass out) under Prof
Chandrasekhar bagged a job in Yahoo ( code testing ).She got it
off-campus
Q: How is it different from M.Tech in IIITB and generally how long does
it take to complete the course?
As MS applicant you have to go real deep into what you would like to do.
Before you jump into MS, you must understand clearly MS is not a course
based curriculum. It takes average 2.5 - 3+ years and is extremely rigorous. Mtech
has options of final semester as internship/ thesis and is strictly a 2 year course.
I hope you have read the application procedure for MS , requiring Statement of Purpose,
Letter of Recommendation.
Q: How do I prepare for the Interview OR Steps to preparing for MS?
Statement of Purpose: The document of 1-2 pages should briefly mention
why you want to pursue MS. Please refrain from mentioning you want to work
at Google , FaceBook and whatever ! Be discreet and concise about your
research area and what have you done /know about your field of choice (on which
u want to work for 3 yrs at IIITB)
Letter of Recommendation: The better the professor/industry person under
whom you have worked /studied, the better your chances of a good review.
Grades and Scores: GRE/GATE scores are good to show but not mandatory.
Undergrad Grades: Mine wasn’t very good and had to justify that
with projects and good internships I did during my undergrad and during my 2
yrs work experience as Embedded Design Engineer.
Most Important of All: Preparing a particular/specific topic of a
subject. For example I am from ECE background and I picked up the topic
Power Optimization in VLSI circuits .I prepared a presentation on that and had
to deliver that to a panel of 12 professors (Duration : 45 minutes ) . I am
still continuing my research on that topic I presented the day of my admission.
This means you have to decide well ahead which area you wish to work upon.
However upon joining, you may be asked to change a little bit depending upon
your Advisors wishes ,but that is rare.
Concluding on the above, prepare your documentations meticulously.
Your approach and your frame of mind is what the professors will gauge. If you
follow the simple techniques I have mentioned above, I am sure you won’t
have a problem getting through.
Another thing worth a mention is kindly go through the professor's
profile on our website and try to go through their publications/research
area. They feel that if a candidate has done his homework well is a genuinely interested
researcher. They want researcher, they have no concern for your job ambitions.
If you prove well in a span of 3 yrs they have all the right contacts to get
you placed. Moreover R&D based companies prefer MS candidates over
Mtech(without thesis).
These were the collection and I am quite sure that it contains all the necessary details.
These were the collection and I am quite sure that it contains all the necessary details.
All the BEST !!!