Btech to Msc in Physics ( IITB ) and then Phd in Physics via IIT JAM

 Yes, it is certainly possible. I have exactly been in this situation and I have seen the struggle, especially when your engineering college’s rigid policies give you no freedom of taking physics courses outside your engineering branch and next to nil research opportunities in physics and a research reputation abroad.

I have been fortunate enough to be offered admission to a few top PhD programs in physics in US and consequently, I will be joining the physics department at Cornell University for my PhD. I can advise on how a transition can be made even when your undergrad engineering college has no resources to offer in physics. Clear information was not available in my time and I hope can change that thing.

I had already lost most of my interest in mechanical engineering near the end of my second year at Delhi Technological University. I instead enjoyed learning physics and continued doing so, when at the end of my third year, I realized that I wanted to become a physicist instead of an engineer. I had two options in front of me, one was to apply for PhD programs straight-away and the other was to instead do a master’s degree In physics and then apply for PhD. I chose the former though ended up doing the latter.

I decided to get some research experience in physics. Since my college wasn’t the right place for getting physics research experience, I started applying to internship programs for the summer, both via official portals and by mailing professors. I was rejected by almost all places (lack of physics coursework maybe or not enough marks?). Finally, some luck landed my way when I was accepted by a professor at IISER, Bhopal to work during the summer. I ended up spending my summer there and came back even more excited to pursue physics.

Now, my college had no provision of taking any electives outside my department and thus I had no official physics coursework. (A hat tip: If you are from a college where you are allowed to take courses in any department (like IIT), definitely take physics courses and build up a physics profile) I then took the general GRE, the physics GRE and the TOEFL, and did pretty well on them. Since US allows you to apply directly after bachelor’s for a PhD, I naively thought my credentials are probably good enough to get into a good program directly (mostly on the back of my GRE scores).

Requiring three letters of recommendation (LOR), I managed to get two from physics profs at IISER, Bhopal and one from my engineering prof under whom I did a project. I applied to 8 places. The LOR from my college prof turned out to be the weakest and he did not even send it to most places, and as a result, I got rejected from every place. In hindsight, even without this fiasco, any top place would have rejected since I really had zero physics coursework and PhD admissions are much more stringent.

Lesson learnt: Physics coursework is important, choose LOR profs carefully)

I had already made a back-up plan of pursuing a master’s degree in physics from India, in case things do not work out. I gave the IIT JAM exam and was able to do well enough to be accepted to IIT Bombay’s MSc physics program.

(Common Misconception – B.Tech students are not allowed to take JAM or offered MSc physics admission. Well, IIT Bombay certainly allows B>tech students in their MSc Physics program)

This in my opinion, turned out to be the best decision I took. The academic experience at IIT Bombay was polar opposite to what I experienced in DTU. Not only were the physics professors awesome, but there was plenty of opportunity to get involved in good research. I took a variety of courses in physics, was allowed to freely choose courses, gained research experience in both experimental and theoretical physics (astrophysics, condensed matter, particle physics), collaborated and interacted with professors both from India and abroad of different institutions, and learnt more physics than I could imagine. It was here I realized how less physics I knew and how entrance exams are a terrible way to gauge your knowledge of physics.

This time I applied to the top PhD programs in US again. Not only did I know more physics, I was better prepared, had actual real physics coursework (good GPA) and research experience in hand, and amazing LORs from IIT profs. Needless to say, I was accepted to several places with fellowship (Cornell, UCLA, Penn, John Hopkins, Bristol (UK) ) among which I accepted Cornell’s offer for doing a PhD in physics.

PhD in India: India is also a great option to do a PhD, especially in theoretical physics. I was going to apply to Indian programs as well. TIFR, IISc, IUCAA, ICTS and HRI are among many top institutes where you can try for a PhD. For Indian PhD admissions, you need to clear entrance examinations. There are multiple exams to do that including the CSIR NET, JEST, and the GATE exam in physics. TIFR has its own entrance exam too. A good rank in these exams gets you an interview call from these institutes. One has to then clear the interviews to get admission.

My advice would to be gain sufficient experience in physics before going for a PhD. This includes quality coursework and research experience. PhD admissions are tougher and at top places, GRE scores do not even matter much. It’s all about coursework and research.

I feel that doing a master’s degree put me in a better position to pursue a PhD. However, if your institute allows physics courses to be taken along with engineering courses, and you can gain valuable research experience in physics, then you can apply for a PhD directly too after B. Tech. And for Indian PhD programs, prepare well for the entrance exams and study physics to be able to clear the grueling physics interviews.

You can also check out this blog where I have written about my experiences: http://physicsafterengineering.blogspot.com/2018/06/my-journey-into-physics-after.html

-Vaibhav Sharma Phd in Physics , B.Tech in Mechanical

 After I finished my schooling, I went to a university in a city some three hundred kilometers away from my hometown. I had to stay in the university hostel. This was my first experience staying away from home. All around were people I didn’t know and all I thought of was the number of days left for the first vacation.

A month after my arrival, the campaign for hostel election started. This was a new experience for me since I hadn’t witnessed any such thing in school. It seemed like a mini version of state and national elections. I was told that the winner (one who became hostel president) would have a large sum of money at his disposal. Besides, for those wanting to pursue politics as a career, this was a good starting place.

I stayed away from the campaign and concentrated on my studies. The candidates, however, did not leave any hosteler alone. They’d come to our room to try to sway us in their favour. There was one particular candidate who was extremely sweet. When he spoke to me it felt like he was the closest person to me in the hostel.

One evening when I was having my dinner in the hostel mess, he came and sat next to me. He asked the server to give me an extra helping of a dish I said I liked. Next day, when he requested me to make some posters for his campaign, I readily agreed. And when the voting day came, I obviously voted for him. I was glad he won.

The day election results were declared was also the day our association ended. He even refused to recognise me if we our paths crossed any time. After a week, he was barely visible in the hostel or the university. The condition of the hostel remained the same. I learnt soon that he made a killing from the hostel funds.

In my first venture into the huge world outside my small township, I had learnt very soon that things may not be what they seem and they may be what they don’t seem to be. This is often true if ‘things’ are ‘people’.

(Ravenshaw University, Cuttack. My hostel is on the left side behind the main building)

-Rahul Shrivastava, IFS

Especially for competitive exams

1. Your mind should be shut to the external environment, no incoming, no outgoing, no phone, no fun, no friends, no issues. Analyse what's in your mind, what's bothering you, what appears important, overwhelm them by your goal, by your career, by your dreams, everything can wait. Move them on a side one by one. Calm down, make peace with life, it's a start of a big purposeful journey.
2. Change your goal from exam, marks, percentages, friends, results, comparisons, expectations to only one thing, your dearest friend, the vast syllabus, the knowledge, make it your best friend, or your worst enemy which you have to conquer before it conquers you. No matter what, whatever you study must fascinate you.
3. Starting and staying alive through the initial phase of study is the key, whether it's a day of studying or start of a years long journey of studies. Your start should be comfortable, easy and interesting, just aim at starting, don't look at the entire goal, just start with anything interesting or easy, give it time, give it more time, slowly build up interest, put in time and efforts so that you reach a point of no return. Where the only option is moving ahead and then you will easily cover every complex thing. Just don't be stuck initially.
4. Be a little shameless for household chores, be a little shameless for ignoring friends and family, be a little shameless to people asking you questions about employment, marriage, children, be a little shameless to fights and complexities at home and use a headphone, just shamelessly study. This is the time, it won't come back, people would still exist. Here “shameless” has been used to symbolise the judgement of people.

-Anubhav Jain

Make The Subject Interesting................

 Get into the subject. Try to figure out why other people find the subject fun. Someone put this material into the curriculum because they loved it; if you can love it too, you will learn without memorizing, your time spent studying will be a joy.

Imagine your professor guiding your study. Ask, what do you think your professor thinks most important? Then spend time on that. Most of what you learn will be on your own, and the reason you have a professor in charge is because the professor can guide you. Spend most of your time on the important subjects. You may be wrong, but you’ll still be better off, since there is never enough time to study everything.

Why is this topic important? On every topic you study, ask that question. What about it is new? How does this contrast, if at all, to the other things I know? Most importantly, don’t just learn but also think.

Think about the subject even when not studying. Discuss with others. Make your study into a game; challenge your classmates as you are walking or eating with them. Doing this is far more important than are long study sessions. In fact, you probably can cut back on the amount of time you devote to study. Spending hour after hour can be a crutch, an excuse for being lazy and not actively thinking while you study. But—and this is important, think about the subject yourself when you are not “studying”.

Make sure you understand the material the first time, prior to your study sessions. Never put off thinking about it until the exam. If you do it early, you can ask questions to your professor, to your classmates, to yourself. You save enormous time by being ahead of the game. Read the material before the lecture, not afterwards. Yes, the lecture can make the material make sense, but if you read it first, you’ll be the student who asks the most thoughtful questions in class.

Take breaks in which you mentally think about what you have just studied. Don’t confuse time of study with depth of study. You can very likely reduce the hours you spend studying, if you recognize when you are drifting. If that happens, maybe you should stop studying for a few minutes, walk away, and just think about what you have learned.

Imagine that you are teaching this material to a friend who missed the lecture. How can you present it coherently and thoughtfully? Putting yourself in the shoes of the professor can be very effective in identifying the parts on which you are weak.

I didn’t know all this when I was an undergraduate. I picked it up over the years, and learned much of it from my better students. It’s all obvious advice, once you’ve heard it, but it often isn’t obvious to the student who is panicking over a class that seems too hard. But these are the key methods that I use now, as a retired professor who was writing a book (Now: The Physics of Time). These are the methods I use as I try to master the subject of nuclear waste, my latest project. I knew a lot, but needed my knowledge to be complete enough to ace the subject. Do you think that once you graduate college, your exams are over? If you are a physicist like me, then you are taking an exam every time you give a talk—the exam comes at the end, when people ask tough questions. I take an exam whenever I discuss an advanced topic with colleagues; they can tell how much I know and how much I don’t.

These study methods are not ones that you will use for classes alone; you will use them for your entire life, assuming your vocation is one that requires constant and continual learning.

-Richard Muller PhD in Physics, Former Professor in UC Berkeley

Can't Bring Yourself to Study Everyday ? Here's the Reason..........

Because you hate what you’re studying.

People today feel resistance or boredom towards what they’re doing and they think they have a “procrastination” problem.

Procrastination really is a first-world luxury problem to have.

There are two situations where you’ll never procrastinate:

1. Life or death
2. Your true passion

Someone is holding your daughter hostage and you need to wire $10,000 to set her free?

You are not going to procrastinate.

You are going to move mountains to free your daughter.

Or just say you need to do something that makes you feel complete, makes you feel rewarded, puts a smile on your face.

You are not going to put that off, are you?

If you can’t bring yourself to study, it means one of two things:

1. It’s not important
2. You don’t like it

So ask yourself if this is really the life you want:

Trying to make yourself do unimportant and unexciting things.

You only have one life to live.

Spend it on the stuff that matters.

-Benjamin McEvoy

Bollywood

CA is a course which I would compare with a “Shopping Mall”

 

CA is a course which I would compare with a “Shopping Mall”. This might seem funny, but I'll try and justify the same…

So, Can you visualise and describe this public place called “Shopping mall”? You may take help of this picture..

Rich people will think of it as a status symbol, but Financially weak person will visualise them with the words such as 'Grand, Attractive, Respectable, Visual treat, Heavenly, Lifestyle' etc. etc…. In short, a great place to go…!! Isn't it?

Who all have access to this place? (Everyone, whatever the age may be and whoever he is, rich or poor..)

Is there any age restrictions to have access to the shopping malls? (Obviously not)

Is there any hefty amount which you need to pay in order to go inside and roam around? (No ways, that's why we go there more often than other places..)

Is it that you need to pay some random amount even if you want to touch the premium brand shirt? (No, you can just pick it up, head towards the changing room and try it without asking for anyone's permission and click a few pics as well.. and show it off on social media.. and all of it without even buying it..)

Is there any time restriction for entry and exit on per individual basis? (No, not at all… you can stay there as long as you want, and keep searching for the stuff which your pocket can afford…)

---

If you're reading this answer and if you're a CA student, you would already have got the idea of what I am talking about..

The reason why most people fail to complete CA is, it is more accessible than most of the other professional courses..

CA Course has a huge entry gate, the most attractive “Welcome” board, and while entering, everyone carries equal amount of opportunity in their pockets!! but Everyone who goes in are not the ones who can manage to pay their hardwork at the billing desk and take the degree to their home..!!

• Grand image, Respectable profession, Reputation, Earning potential, Lifestyle..

• It has no hi-fi prerequisite qualification requirements. Any person who has cleared 12th standard can enter into the CA course.. and graduates can also use the ‘elevator’ (directly to the second floor)…

• There's no cost involved in order to get into the course.. no hefty admission fees, no donations, no merit requirements… and not much struggle to get inside the course..

• There's no time constraint involved. You may enter at any age (after 12th) and exit at any age..

• You get perks in your teenage. You get paid for learning for 3 years in the form of stipend.. you can use it for paying your classes fees (to some extent at least)…

So CA is not at all costly in terms of Money involved.. it welcomes everyone, whether rich or poor, intelligent or average…No reservations!! anyone can test their capabilities… but we need to prove our worth, we need to decide whether we would want to come out with or without the degree…It is very liberal unlike CFA, MBA or any other similar course, which attracts and allows only those people who fit into their criteria of entrance…

But yes, CA is way too costly in terms of efforts which we need to put in order to succeed and get that qualification which commands lods of respect..

Anyone can go to a mall and 'try’ a premium brand shirt, but it requires tremendous amount of efforts for buying and owning that shirt…So, If you're already into this course, make most out of it. No matter how many times you've tried, hustle hard and reach to the 3rd floor, and do come out wearing that costliest shirt in the entire mall…

Thanks for reading (please excuse grammatical mistakes…)

Cheers..

-Hardik

The General Sherman

 The General Sherman, a giant sequoia in Sequoia National Forest in California, is the largest tree on Earth by volume, at 52,500 cubic feet (1,487 meters). It's 275 feet (83.8 meters) tall, and its trunk has a diameter of 11 meters. It's estimated to be 2,200 to 2,700 years old.

The tallest tree in the world is Hyperion, a coast redwood in Redwood National Park, also in California. It's 380 feet (115.8 meters) tall, and is estimated at 600–800 years old. The exact location of Hyperion is kept secret from the public, for its own protection.

"I’ve lived in a chawl my entire childhood"

 “I’ve lived in a chawl my entire childhood. As a kid, I understood the importance of education–I’d study & top my class. But as years passed, Papa couldn't afford my fees; he was a contract worker & we were scraping by. I remember being in Class 8 when my fees hadn’t been paid for 9 months. That’s when Papa told me, ‘I can’t send you to school.’ 

But instead of giving up, I tutored kids from junior classes to pay my fees. I was 13 & I promised myself, ‘One day I’ll study in a reputed university & work at a big company’–that was my dream. 
The want to be a ‘somebody’ only grew & so, after I graduated from school at 18, I decided to go to a college in Mumbai. Vapi to Mumbai was a 3.5 hours journey, daily, but I didn’t mind; I was hungry to make it. 
I continued to tutor to fund my education. Everyday, I’d wake up at 6 AM, travel to college, tutor, visit a library to study & return home at 11! I knew my efforts would pay off & after I completed a year, my family moved to Mumbai to support me. 
In my 2nd year, I heard about a program being offered by NIIT. When I read more about it I knew by the end of the program, I’d get placed with a good company & so, I gave a screening test for it. And I got chosen! It was the happiest day of my life & I told myself, ‘The sky’s the limit!’ Papa was so proud of me! 
I put all my energy into my studies & not only topped my college, but I also got placed by NIIT at KPMG! When I got my first salary, I took my family for dinner & bought Mummy a ring for Mothers Day! 
After 3 years of hustling in Mumbai, my placement secured my future & I earned steadily.  
Then, I started working on my next goal– getting an MBA degree. And so after a 8 hour work day, I’d study for my exams & return home post midnight! Still, I failed the exam... It hurt, but I put in even more hours & passed on my next attempt! 
My family threw a party for me & Papa told everyone, ‘My girl paved her own path!’ To see him smile is all I’ve wanted!
I am the first girl in my family to have come this far. And when Papa tells my story to girls from my town, I feel proud to see their eyes sparkle with the belief that they can achieve their dreams too!” #AbPlacementPakki

{Credits : Humans of Bombay }

What isn't important.............

 What isn't important: a fantasy that the average person with a degree has fewer skills than the average person without. Of course, there are exceptions, but they are just that: exceptions. Companies complain all the time about college grads not having every single skill under the sun, but who do they turn around and hire for basically every professional, white-collar job?

IIT-B Food

Food is really good here in IIT Bombay. But no matter how good food is, any way you will be saturated after few months.

there is also some variation in food depending up on in which hostel you are. In hostel 18, food is little better than others. I am attaching some pics below.

Quarantine food at IIT BOMBAY

BREAKFAST

Lunch

Snacks

Dinner

After quarantine:

These Will Hold You Back

 I will get everything perfect.

I will control everything.

I will say yes to everything and leave myself open to feeling exhausted and taken advantage of.

I will determine boundaries are selfish and as such will have none.

I will decide saying no means I am not loyal or dedicated enough.

I believe I am not good enough and this belief will influence all my decisions.

I believe I am helpless and cannot do things without others doing them for me.

I will live with envy in my heart for all the things others can have that I can’t have.

I will be perpetually attracted to people who are not available to me or don’t treat me well.

I am afraid that others will judge me so I will take no risks.

I will be angry at anyone who does not see things the way I see them.

I will commit to things and then not follow through so I can show me I cannot really be counted on.

I will make excuses to justify things I do that are not good for me. (I’ve had a rough week and deserve this plate of french fries.)

I think people who truly love me should just know what I want so instead of spelling it out I will get angry if they don’t get it right.

I will never ask for help.

I will live convinced that I don’t deserve good things, and don’t deserve to be loved.

-Dushka Zapata