Dedicated to my Grandmother, whose kisses on my hands I will forever miss
Applying to graduate schools is a long and strategic process—the earlier you start, the better your chances of admission. This blog covers the nuts and bolts of graduate school applications, but unlike other guides that focus solely on the application process itself, we'll discuss strategies from the very beginning of your undergraduate journey through to the final submission. While primarily intended for freshers, this guide also offers valuable strategies for seniors, though their options may be more limited. Here's how we'll break it down: First, we'll explore the benefits of graduate school and career prospects after completing a master's or PhD, along with the mindset needed for this journey. Then, we'll outline specific goals and deadlines for each year, starting from freshman year. Finally, we'll delve into the application process itself, covering all its intricacies.
The contemporary world is extremely competitive, the market everchanging and job security is a relic of the past. The crowd is ever larger with engineering colleges sprouting in every street and corner. Every year, thousands of fresh graduates pour into an already saturated workforce, their Bachelor’s degrees often feeling like mere participation certificates in an overcrowded race. The rise of engineering colleges on every street corner has turned undergraduate education into a mass-produced commodity. But what happens when an item is in oversupply? By the basic principles of economics, its value diminishes. This is precisely the plight of the modern Bachelor’s degree. At this level the crowd is too large– engulfing you as an individual. There are two ways to rise above; the first is to develop exceptional skills in your undergrad– which is easier said than done given the limited amount of time and relentless course work, the other way is to power up with a masters degree or even a PhD. The latter is what I personally prefer and for a good reason. The second route is a longer journey but it provides you with enough room to maneuver. A slow procedure where you mature enough and find your niche. On the contrary developing exceptional skills in undergrad is a slightly less pragmatic approach with more chances of failure– the room for correction is constrained and options are limited. It is also important to remember that merely getting a degree is not what is intended from the latter, rather it is the richness of experience and opportunities that is being pursued here. The higher you rise the less crowd there is, the broader is your horizon and higher is your face value. Consider it like the food chain: at the lower levels, competition is brutal, and survival is uncertain. But the higher one climbs, the fewer contenders there are, and the more control one has over their destiny. An undergraduate degree places you at the base of the pyramid, indistinguishable among the masses. A postgraduate degree, on the other hand, elevates you to a specialized position, where expertise commands respect, opportunities are more refined, and your value in the professional ecosystem increases. Beyond employability, there is an intrinsic joy in student life that we often overlook. Once we step into the corporate world, our options become limited, our roles cemented, and our dreams often sacrificed at the altar of financial stability. As time passes, money becomes the dominant feedback loop, and passion fades into routine. The corporate machine does not reward curiosity—it rewards efficiency and we end up becoming a cog in the technocratic wasteland.
Pursuing higher studies needs a certain mindset, it requires not only patience and resilience but also requisite a good sense of purpose. A fickle nature, a myopic outlook, a constant craving for quick money will sabotage the pursuit of higher studies. Earning a good amount of money is not the aim rather a byproduct of this journey. We must find joy in something we love and care about, of putting our best effort in the field and to bring forth the best in the market or academia. Think about great people in history who did something because they were obsessed with their work, obsessed with creating a value in society, striving for every detail and feeling immense pleasure and satisfaction from it. People like Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel better known as Coco Chanel, the woman behind the french fashion brand Chanel, or Steve Jobs for his trillion dollar tech giant Apple co. , or likes of those of Marie Curie for her contribution in the field of both Physics and Chemistry, Shuji Nakamura who invented Blue LED against all odds or the actress Ingrid Bergman who unlike her contemporaries poured all her effort and mind in the role she played rather than the pay she got from that role. In them we find a common mindset, they thought less of money and fame and more about the work they did. And in doing so, both money and fame followed. This is better put by Robert Greene,
“For many people, the pursuit of money and status can supply them with plenty of motivation and focus. Such types (of people) would consider figuring out their calling in life a monumental waste of time and (consider it) an antiquated notion…. such types enter the field in which they can make the most money the fastest…. their career choices have slight or no connection to their actual inclinations…. Since the connection to their work is not personal, such types become alienated from themselves; the pursuit feels soulless; they are workaholics without a true calling. They may become depressed or maniacs, and they will often lose what they have gained if they become maniac enough.”
You should fuse your mind and work, going far and beyond with every detail, not settling for mediocrity and constantly unsatiated with the results. From the philosophical lens of Soren Kierkegaard you must be an Ethicist, Reflective and a Psychical Lover.
If you are someone who is a fresher in college, consider this as a new starting point in life, a feeling of being born again, an opportunity to find your true calling, embrace the first shimmers of dawn and seize the opportunity. If you are someone who is into your ultimate year, consider this as a wakeup call. You change when you decide to change. It is not the circumstances that guide your actions rather it is your actions that shape your circumstances.
With the right mindset and having clearly thought about the decision, it is time to put things into perspective. What we need is a clear roadmap to our goal– a set of decisive actions and achievable sub goals. We would often be tempted to think that we have ample of time, that we already cleared the entrance and can have a little break without hurting anything. Think of the nursery story ‘The tortoise and the hare’ – if we stop we will be outpaced by the crowd, after the entrance many are eliminated and those who made it to the college more or less possess similar capabilities as you. Complacency can be fatal for your career. We must move not only with a sense of urgency but also shrewdly. Move as if you are in a race but take every step as a move on a chess board, better put by the French Philosopher Henri Bergson as
“Think like a man of action, act like a man of thought”.
The first thing to do in your freshman year is to build connections. Networking is a powerful tool and often underrated. Try to approach your seniors in college ( a thing that was extremely difficult for me ), ask them for their advice but do not let them be your compass, for your compass is your inner voice. Take as much advice as you can and contemplate the different perspectives people have. You may find a whole spectrum of people with a whole spectrum of opinions. You will find people extremely pessimistic to overly optimistic, try to cut out these extreme forms as noises and focus on people whose actions are louder than their words. Focus on their achievements and their skills; what position do they hold? Check their history for achievements and projects. Try to start a conversation, ask them about their projects and observe as they speak. Do they sound authentic and excited about the work they do? Do their eyes light up when asked about their expertise? Are they more than willing to explain how they did it? Do they genuinely enjoy talking about the future prospects of the field? These people are who you would want to learn from. If they are shadowy about their work or are not able to clearly explain it or are not as excited even though they have a stellar resume; these are the types you would want to avoid. Make good acquaintance with those mentioned in the former. Also we often tend to praise those who score stellar in course; be cautious with these types, as merely scoring high enough does not guarantee the right mindset ( at least in India and definitely in my college ZHCET). Develop your Clairvoyance to judge.
Having said this, it is worth mentioning that maintaining a healthy GPA is one of the cornerstones of pursuing higher studies. Pay little heed to those who say “GPA doesn't matter, it is skills that matter”. As a matter of fact these types often have little achievements to show for and constantly misguide people with saccharine words and pipedreams. As for what constitutes a good GPA is a matter of subjective discourse and from my experience it is better to be in the 85th percentile of the class topper, less than 80 is trouble. If you think you can be better or can be the topper yourself without sacrificing the extracurricular then definitely go for it.
For working on projects and developing your skills, it is best to join chapters and student clubs available at the campus. It is better to be a part of the herd than to be a lone sheep, for a lone sheep is devoured by wolves. If you think you are the underdog, the OG, then again, go for it, work alone if that is what suits you. However, I personally love to work in a team. Explore all the clubs and chapters before you decide to commit, do not forget the mindset and never lose the inner voice that you have. Exploration often results in a healthy outcome. After exploring and getting the taste of many fields and expertise and having met many different people, you have three wide choices available: first is to contemplate the experiences you have had and choose the one which strikes a chord with the inner voice; this is a difficult and draining task. The second choice is to follow the crowd, to blend in with the trend or to go with the flow; the easiest of them all. The last is to elicit the Robert Frost in you and follow the road less travelled by. Each choice has its own caveats; the first one is difficult to achieve as not many people think deeply enough, the second is easier to follow but the competition would be fierce, the third is a classic high risk high reward scenario. These are just rigid divisions, in reality your choice will be a mixture of all.
Finding your niche is a long gradual process – it won't happen in the first months and not even in the whole undergraduate career. We will always move towards it but not quite reach it, think of it as gradient descent (if you don't know, search for it, maybe it interests you; Pun Intended). Let me explain with an example. In the three strategies discussed above I chose first and second i.e. the mixture of my inner voice along with the field's popularity. I was always fascinated with thinking machines and intelligent computers, so in my first year I explored the field of AI along with other fields such as Blockchain (very popular in my first year), Embedded, and Front end. Having explored them I settled for AI and started reading and listening to lectures, soon enough my tastes became slightly more specific as I delved into Machine Learning reading Statistical Learning and classical algorithms. At the end of my first year I got into Deep Learning, designing Neural Networks from scratch and reading books such as Introduction to Deep Learning and Mathematics for Deep Learning. One thing to note is people often start learning programming languages and more often ask questions like “which programming language to learn?”. This is a little absurd, because the programming language that you would want to learn will be dictated by the field you would want to work in. Solely Learning a language is time wasting at best. In my case python was requisite for Deep Learning and I learned it alongside. I am still learning because it is a constant process. Further I started exploring the Computer Vision side of Deep Learning and learned different architectures until I reached the very edge – ongoing research in the field. Still I constantly try new things but only around my niche – exploration is not broad.
Your tasks as a fresher in college are three folds: first you must develop a sense of purpose. You must see yourself apart from others, and recognise the uniqueness in yourself. Use your Dark sides for bringing out the positive in life. For instance if you want fame in college and want people to know you, if you crave attention, put this energy to your work so that people know you through your work and admire you for your knowledge and intellectuality. You are here to give your best. Best put by Friedrich Nietzsche as “Man would rather have the void as purpose than be void of purpose”. Second you must act – start making acquaintances and connections, join Clubs and Chapters, find what you love and start honing your skills. Search for harmony between your inner voice and your work. The third task is to score as high as you can in exams. This is the ripe time to score a good GPA, after this it is highly probable your GPA will go down. You have to understand GPA is a weighted moving average and to score as high as possible in the first year is the key for maintaining it throughout your undergrad career. All of these strategies depend on how ardently you put them into practice and how much you are willing to sacrifice.
“No one can construct for you the bridge upon which precisely you must cross the stream of life, no one but you yourself alone.” – Friedrich Nietzsche