What to do After GATE Exam ?

As GATE exam is approaching, many are busy with the exam preparation. We always feel that once GATE exam is over, we are done for the whole admission process.

Please wait! Hold on for a second!

You are assuming it wrong. Actually, GATE exam is the first step of the admission process. It does not only depend on how much you score but also on how you create an opportunity for yourself and convert the same opportunity into admission (even with the low GATE score/AIR) in IIT. To get into IIT, you need to prove yourself again and again, not only at one IIT rather multiple IITs for multiple times. 

As per my knowledge & experience, to get into direct admission at IIT for M.Tech course with GATE AE score, one needs to be under AIR 50. The number of applicants expected for 2019 GATE AE is approximate 4000. So what if your rank between 50 & 250.

Does that mean that you will be not able to make into IIT for the Post-Graduate Studies???
The answer is NO, You can still Make it!!

But How???

There are multiple ways to get into IIT. The simplest way is through the direct admission. The second way is by cracking written test and/or interviews at multiple departments of all the applicable IITs. By the end of the 4-year engineering course, we make up our mind for a particular career path and want to pursue PG studies in that particular field only at the pre-decided department of any particular IIT.

Such types of rigid conditions might bring some difficulty in getting admission in one go. For example, someone from North-India might be interested to pursue M.Tech in Aerodynamics from Aerospace Department @IIT-Kanpur only. There might be various reasons (near to his home-town, particular professor, particular research area etc.)  for this particular choice but in doing so, he/she has stiffened his admission to some extent. 

The same specialization Aerodynamics can also be pursed at Ocean Engineering Depart at IIT-Madras or at Department of Applied Mechanics at IIT-Madras/IIT-Delhi or Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT - Gandhinagar/ IIT- Tirupati / IIT-Guwahati etc. The only change one can find is from the application point of view only. The fundamental understanding of the subjects remains the same across any department or institute. The approach towards any engineering problem might be different but the procedure remains the same. The main aim of pursuing PG should be on improving and developing the problem-solving skills & abilities.

Having this kind of attitude & flexibility can help you to get into any IIT. The course structure of any program at IITs is so flexible that you can credit as well audit any subject even from the other departments. So, in my opinion, and experience, I feel that one should be open to the subject or area of interest more rather than to any particular branch/department/ IIT. It is also not necessary that you would be working in the same domain as you did your post-graduation. I did my B.Tech in Aerospace Engineering, MS in Fluid Mechanics, working in the structural & design department. Most of the companies visiting the campus for the placement looks for the flexibility in the candidate and the urge to learn anything, anytime from anywhere.   

So, what could be the right or correct approach after GATE exam? To be honest, answer to this question varies from person to person. Something might seems to be correct for me while the same approach for the other person might not be. Here, in this post, I would like to share the approach used by me in 2013 and have tried to keep it updated along the time with my personal experience. There can be infinite solutions to the same problem and we are not here to check or decide which is perfect and which is not! I am just trying to share my own perspective which might help someone in some or other way in their career as well as in life.

Important Suggestion: Please treat all IITs equal. First preference can be given to the old IITs, but this doesn't mean that new IITs are not that great. In fact, I personally feel that the new IITs can provide more opportunities in terms of academics to grow as the professors as well as departments wants to achieve great heights within a short period. In terms of placements, most of the companies prefer old IITs.  

Please visit my previous article on Should I change Branch or Department for Post-Graduation?  

In my opinion, one of the approaches that can be used to optimize & utilize the time after the exam and before the results efficiently is to gather the following information

Check with all the IITs & IISc website for the admission procedure for M.Tech/MS/D.PhD.

To understand the basic differences between them, please check out my previous on
Should I go for M.Tech or MS/M.Tech (by research) or direct Ph.D just after GATE? 

Next step is to get more information on the following:

Eligible departments with GATE AE score.

Eligible branches with GATE AE score.

& Eligible Course program with GATE AE score. 

The next step is to check out with the deadlines and the last date of submission of all the application forms. Some IITs needs application hard copy to be sent while some IITs is completely online. 

 For MS and D.PhD @IITs & IISc, check out the details of the professor's from their own personal website, departmental website and many more on Google.

Get the updated information on the research topics and research area of the individual professors. I am sure, you will come across much new research frontiers which you might have not even never heard or thought off. You might also get a new perspective towards the same issue or problem which can be approached in a totally new way. Try to evaluate your area of interest and also find the professor (who can be your research/thesis guide in the near future) whose area of interest matches with you. 

For eg: If you are interested in "high-speed combustion in rocket engines", then you can check out with the professor whose area of interests are high speed flows, computational of gas dynamics, experimental shockwave dynamics, supersonic combustion, high energy flows, solid/liquid combustion, computation of combustion, experimental combustion, atomisation of sprays etc. 

To understand "high-speed combustion", you should know fluid mechanics, subsonic aerodynamics, super-sonic aerodynamics, gas dynamics, shock wave theory, heat transfer, combustion, transport process in reacting flows, liquid atomization, computational techniques, programming, experimental techniques etc.

So in order to learn "high-speed combustion", it is required to go through the above subjects and the courses are being offered at IITs across the department. Care is being taken within IIT & IISc that no department offers the same course in the same semester. So you need to take the course across the departments. 

Start preparing yourself with basics and the fundamentals of the subjects. These topics might have not been covered in GATE as well as in your engineering.

You can use these free online platforms

NPTEL

MIT-Open Course Ware 

EdX Platform

Coursera

Along with these courses, try to get started with the programming language such as FORTRAN, C++, Python, MATLAB etc. Many online free courses are available on the above platforms. This will help you to save much amount of time and energy during your PG studies as you will be definitely using any of the above languages for the assignments, projects, research for your final thesis.

You can follow the whole admission process at Gateing Aerospace.

Kindly share this post on your social accounts so that many can get benefited. 

I hope this will help you to organize and prepare yourself before entering into the IIT.

I wish you all the very best. 

Feel free to comment below. 

Should I change Branch or Department for Post-Graduation?

This is the most common question which occurs during the admission process. This is due to the fact that while filling the admission form, there are many options available in the drop-down menu. The question or doubt is "Should I apply to the same Branch as that of my GATE paper or should I also apply to the other branches/department?"

Many students while filling the M.Tech application forms, select only Aerospace Branch or Aerospace Specialization and ignore the other options available.

This is due to the fact that we as a students have a DREAM & INTEREST only in a particular branch/department/field and have a strong DESIRE  to pursue post-graduation studies & career in the same field.

Simultaneously, we also underestimate the value of the Research based Programmes in India and compare it with regular course based M.Tech Programme from Placement point of view & duration.

To get the basic difference between these Programmes, please read my previous blog on

“Should I go for M.Tech or MS (by Research) or Direct Ph.D just after GATE ?”

Now let’s try to understand the current scenario & some rough calculation for M.Tech admission at Aerospace Department @IIT/IISc. The total number of seats across IITK, IITKGP, IITB, IITM & IISc in Aerospace department for M.Tech Programme is roughly about 160 only.

50% is for reservation category. So only 80 seats are available for General category. Out of 80 seats, the past statistics have shown that around 15-20% seats are reserved for GATE ME candidates with Mechanical Engineering background while 10-15% seats are reserved for GATE CE/EE/CH/IN candidates. So roughly, only about 52-56 seats are available for students with BE/B.Tech Aerospace/Aeronautical Engineering & GATE AE.

There is a high probability that some of the top rankers might be interested in Research based course Programmes such as MS & Direct PhD. So a General Category student upto AIR 80 can expect admission to Aerospace Department (till the end of the admission process and written test @IITK).

Candidate within AIR 40 can expect sure shot direct M.Tech admission to Aerospace Department if he/she had applied to all 4 IIT’s & IISc.

The Big Question is,

What about candidates who secured rank beyond 80. Say around AIR 120, 150 or 200.

Does this mean that a candidate with AIR 200 doesn’t have any opportunity of studying at IIT??

Is competition is really soo tough to get admission for M.Tech ??

Should You take 1 year-drop and prepare again for GATE AE again. Get into top 80 and relax?

Note: even getting into top 80 does not give assurance that you will surely get admission in M.Tech Aerospace Engineering.

So to get into Aerospace Department @IIT, is this is the only way?

Get into top 40 and pursue M.Tech !

What if I say that the candidates from AIR 80 to AIR 250 in GATE AE paper also possess an equal opportunities to secure admission at IIT.

One way is to apply for MS & D.Phd @Aerospace Department and perform outstandingly during interview (after getting shortlisted & clearing written test).

The other way is to apply to other departments such as Mechanical, Applied Mechanics, Ocean Engineering, Engineering Design, Industrial Mathematics, Industrial Design, Climate Science, Energy, Environmental Departments etc. also for M.Tech, MS & D.PhD Programmes.

I personally feel that getting into IIT is much more important than getting into a particular branch or department of IIT.

Frankly speaking, once you are in IIT, you will find many people/students in the same course from different academic background and discipline.

I would like to bring a point that irrespective of department or branch, learning engineering techniques is much more important. Branch & departments are just the applications of the same engineering techniques. Just like how Aerospace/Automobile are specialized branch of Mechanical Engineering.

Here are some Non-Aerospace Department domain which can be related or connected to the Aerospace field also.

If you do Post-Gradation in Climate Science you will learn CFD, scientific & parallel computing, heat transfer, atmosphere stability, heat transfer, and computation methodology for properties evaluation of air/gaseous medium, simulations & mathematical modelling and many more subjects which can be related to Aerospace domain too.

Post-Graduation in Industrial design includes the basic concepts of designing principles, FEM, vibrations, Fracture Mechanics, Fatigue strength evaluation etc. which are common for every mechanical engineering field.

Post-Gradation in Applied Mechanics includes subjects such as Computational Fluid Dynamics, Boundary Layer, combustion, transport phenomena in reacting flows, gas dynamics, physical gas dynamics, nano-fluids, rarefied gas dynamics, solid mechanics, structural & solid mechanics, mechanics of materials at nano-scale (which is useful for composite materials), energy harvesters, fracture mechanics etc. All these above topics/research area.

Post-Gradation in Ocean Engineering includes subjects like hydrodynamics, heat transfer, design principles, computations of heat transfer, marine structures, studies of IC & gas turbine engines, combustion of fuel in the engines, fluid mechanics etc. are also related to the Aerospace domain.

I am trying to make my point clear that fundamentals & physics of the subjects or study remains the same. Only based on applications, theories are modified and applied accordingly.

At IIT, some subjects can be credited from other departments also. So you can study the subjects offered by Aerospace Department as elective subjects which can be useful for your M.Tech Project.

Even from placement point of view, pure Aerospace domain companies like Airbus, Boeing, GE etc. does not always hire candidate from Aerospace Department only. They also hire candidates across discipline, branches and departments. You can check the placement website of IIT-Madras for the same.

At the end of the Post-Graduation what really matters is

‘How well you have been able to enhance your technical skill & knowledge and your approach towards solving any problem’,

‘How good you have been at your research or M.Yech/MS project’

‘How good you have improved or enhanced your problem solving abilities & capabilities’

So I suggest to apply to all available option, try to get exposure in other domains too and at the end when you secure admission in non-Aerospace Department, think twice before joining.

There can be many other factors which may influence your decision. But constraining yourself to Aerospace Domain in the beginning itself, narrows down your chances of admission at IIT’s as well as restrict your future opportunities.

At the end of the day You can say to yourself that ‘Atleast I tried my level best to get into IIT’.

IIT Madras Thesis Template in LaTeX Format

A thesis or dissertation is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.^[In some contexts, the word "thesis" or a cognate is used for part of a bachelor's or master's course, while "dissertation" is normally applied to a doctorate, while in other contexts, the reverse is true. The term graduate thesis is sometimes used to refer to both master's theses and doctoral dissertations. (Source: Wikipedia)

This is the most important stage and your thesis should be according to the IIT Madras Format. The initial LaTeX format was created by Dr. Prabhu Ramchandra (PhD from Aerospace Engineering Department, 2004).   

The main LaTeX file which is compiled to create PDF of the thesis was just a single file. To make debugging easy , I had tried to make it in Parallel version (chapter wise). 

The whole thesis format can be download from the below link.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Lv8bSRfSRXt8NN6-4F7E_hiKKF-8GVSr

This format can be used for B.Tech, Dual Degree, M.Tech, MS and PhD.

To compile, use thesis.tex file using TeXmaker. 
Additionally, tex file for the synopsis is also included in the folder which can be used to make the synopsis of your thesis easily.

My Problem, My Solution

It has been more than four and half years, that I had came across this beautiful article when I was going through the most tough phase. Yeah, it was really hard, rough phase where you gave your 100% and still things around you have not took any single step further as per your plans. It is that point where you don't have any idea whether to hold on and give one more try or should move on and try something else. 

Yes, I am talking about the situation where your only dream at the moment is to pursue Post-Graduation (M.Tech/MS/PhD) at IIT's and IISc but not able to get in somehow. During that time, I came across this article by Mr. Manish (M.Tech from IIT-K and PhD from USA), where he had tried to motivate many students at a given single instant through his motivational writing. 

After reading his article, some kind of energy was pumped into me and helped me to get up on my dreams once again and started working again from the scratch. I hope this will also help you to work on your dreams and remember "Never Give-Up". If you don't do it for yourself, no one else is going to do it for you.  Its necessary to taste the "Failure" in order to understand "Success" in real terms.        

The original Article by Mr. Manish is as follows,

GATECounsellor » campus » My Problem, My Solution

My Problem, My Solution

By manish@gcblog | June 27, 2013 | campus, GATE, gate preparation

Contributed by: manish@gcblog on June 27, 2013.

In the following article, I have tried to express my views regarding the topic given above. Before proceeding with the article, I would like to let you know that I am a person from your “young” generation. I am exactly aware of the condition(s) you are through. I did my B.Tech. from Aligarh Muslim University in the year 2009. Just after finishing my undergraduate course, I planned to pursue M.Tech. from IIT Kanpur. I am continuing my studies as a PhD student in the United States. I think these details are enough to begin the article now.

So, if you look at the topic “My problem, My solution”, the influencing and connecting word is “My”. In particular, it does not asks for “My problem, and advices/solutions by other persons”. Because, if you are going to ask anybody about your problem, you will get a whole list of things you can do. I am very well aware of how our (Indian) society works. The only thing you can get free is “Advice”. And, in those conversations, we forget to ask someone, who is constantly ignored by us. He/she is nothing other than someone reflected in the word “Me”, i.e. your soul!

Eventually, we get so many advices that we feel confused and frustrated which are enough to leave the things as they are. We come back and realize that the problems are still there. Instead of asking that innerself, we try to skip the problem. We wonder, how to find a “shortcut” button, which can ease our pain.

I love to remain in contact with my juniors. The most common situation faced by them is given below (even this scenario was at my side, when I was a kid who was enjoying his life perfectly with a group of friends in his B.Tech. program ).

(i) The story starts in the first year of B.Tech. with a feeling “I have enough time to catch up for GATE/PSUs”, “I wasn’t selected in IITJEE, but see me this time dude, I will rock, IITs will be mine.”

(ii) Slowly, we realize that we can score reasonably well in midsem/final exams without spending much time in books/lectures. We keep rewarding ourselves by minor achievements (like scoring an “A” grade in a tough subject etc.). Time passes by, and we try to look at the eligibility criterias for GATE and PSU exams, whether they allow third year and fourth students.

So, we decide let’s do one thing: “I will see what happens in third year result. Accordingly, I will prepare in my fourth year (with the same rocking feeling)”. How about doing some GATE coaching?

(iii) As soon as the results of those third year eligible exams are out, we realize that the exam was a bit tough and we need to spend more time on books. 

The discussion consists of phrases like:

“Everything was from book. Damn it! That formula slipped from my mind. Believe me, the question just needed that stupid formula”

“I have more than a year in my hand, I will break the rules in fourth year. See how I speeds up “

“Let’s make some plans, let’s strategize everything, especially which subject to study first?”

(iv) And, the person gets in his fourth year. The scenario is:

More labs to attend. Which makes it reasonable to say “Less time to spend on books”

Placements are not good. Trying to search for off-campus type options

Still thinking, whether try companies like TCS, Infosys or aim for core companies like Siemens etc.

Download placement papers from internet. Let’s take the placement first. At least I should have something as a “backup” (no discussion about competition like GATE, my mind is on “I will think about it LATER mode”)

My friends are getting placed. How should I land one job?

(v) Finally, we get placed in some company. And, we always have one good phrase from our company’s profile/history, like “My company has largest number of employees”, “My company was first in introducing ______ instrument in India”

Time goes by. Almost every night becomes a reason for long-ending parties. We do not get time to think more about our “needs”. The needs that will feed our mind in few years from now.

The story ends, we still don’t understand what we were aiming for? Everything gets practical, it’s hard to save money, we keep switching the companies. Because, we forgot to turn-on the switch that may have reflected the solutions to our problems, at the right time. Friends keep posting their pics/news about their new “highly paid” or any other “attracting” job/update. At that time, we try to think, we should have done something better.

The funny thing is that we do not forget every little decision that could have changed our lives. Our mistakes comes in front of us, motivating us to wipe off all those things. Friends keep departing, a group of ten is scattered into a group of two or three.

Believe me, the scenario I have discussed above is very common in our generation. I do not oppose the “getting placed” type attitude. Neither I believe that getting placements is a trivial thing. The thing I will be stressing in this article relates with the person that was left behind.

If you are in your B.Tech. program and you believe that there are still many things you need to prove, following are the suggestions from my side.

1. Start thinking from the very basic: Keeping in mind: you reap what you sow

2. Blame yourself, even if it is obvious that you are not wrong: Now is not the right time to prove anything. Focus on your work irrespective of what others are doing, or what others are achieving.

Be straightforward, if you’re wrong accept it. Don’t live in any imaginary world, neither try to put reasons in front of everyone. Try to place the “real”reasons in front of you. So, if you were not able to qualify IIT-JEE, accept it. Accept that there were some mistakes. Don’t tell anybody, rather save it at

the very back side of your mind. And, don’t forget that you need to work on these mistakes, once you become a part of new battle.

I am not really a big fan of Facebook. Probably because, it tells you more about the life of others, than giving an insight to “yourself”. That in my way, keeps you away from the real scenario/perspective.

Just a thought: why there aren’t any “dislike” options on Facebook? May be because, we try to hide the “dislike” things from ourselves, we try to escape from our inner-self. We are happy with our good side and don’t want to discuss our dark side. And, guess what? We are interested in other’s life more

than we know our likes and dislikes. The day, they will try to incorporate this feature, people will find it difficult to make even few hundreds of friends on Facebook. That’s just my way of looking at it and according to me, it’s new name will be Fight-book

I may be wrong, but some of the facts pushes me to think in this manner. We know everyone more than we know our “inner-self”.

I was attending a spiritual talk at IIT Kanpur in 2010. The speaker asked: “List five strengths and five weaknesses about yourselves”. Everyone started counting in their mind. Most of us were able to figure out some of our strengths. But, almost everyone was blank at their weaknesses.

The speaker smiled and said: “What if I ask you to write weaknesses of your friend/companion/colleagues?” In that case we will provide her a complete word document, maintained in a nice font and color. The document will provide several problems in our friends which they need to work on. This observation was enough to prove that we know others more than we know ourselves.

That’s true. We know ourselves. But, we don’t!

I was harshly distressed by a suicide committed by a highly talented IIM girl. She had approximately 700 friends on Facebook, still the conditions made it worst. 

Understand the problem/situation. Be practical, none of your friend is going to give you a part of his salary each month. Everything looks good at the beginning, things fade out with time. And at last, we regret the things we did, hiding the things we could have done to live this place better.

In short, train your mind for solving your own problems. Don’t expect anything from others. Neither do much for them. Like I said it once:

“When you do MORE than what other deserves,

AUTOMATICALLY you expect MORE than what you deserve.”

This doesn’t mean to get secluded and live like a monk. But, find time to spend with your inner-self

to understand your actual needs. Remember, that’s your life, you have to answer your inner-self

one day. If not today, then tomorrow!

3. Close every door: Realize your inner potential. Forgetting everything, ask yourself: What do you want? Where are you heading to? How can you better utilize this time?

Recently, when I was talking to one of a B.Tech. final year student, she said: “Hey, I think I am late. I am in final year, we have about 8 months left for GATE. Now GATE is merged with PSUs, it’s tough to crack. Also, placements will start in some time etc. etc. (and she had a list of these type of reasons)”.

I said, if I were you, I would have started preparing for the exam from this instant. Be true to yourself: “You’ve done it. You have to face it.” Just use your time efficiently.

In future, you will be glad to see how better you have utilized your time. According to my understanding “Success is making BEST out of your POTENTIAL“. And, to me: success is a synonym of satisfaction. 

Along the similar lines, I was talking to a sophomore who was confused in selecting his career path (from M.Tech., MBA, or placements). As our conversation proceeded, I realized that the problem arises when we compare everything in terms of “Money Factor”. Don’t try to chase something because it will be a step to improve your financial status (unless your family needs it badly!). Neither try to do something because it’s easy to achieve. Instead, ask yourself what kind of life you want to live?

Be true to yourself and give yourself some time to compare these three lives. Like in M.Tech., you will be spending much time with books. You will be on the technical side. However, in MBA you will be on the management side. Now, you have to ask yourself about the things you like most. I do not underestimate any of these things. But, it’s really embarrassing when you are forced to do the something that you don’t like (like a robot).

4. Keep exploring yourself until you get the solution: It’s in there, give yourself some time to figure out what is best for you. The more you explore yourself, the better you will understand your problem. 

And in case you haven’t got what you demanded, take a chill pill. You will get what you deserve, just keep pushing the cart. Adjust yourself to the surroundings. And, when you think you’re good to move ahead, start new iterations by considering that point as the starting point.

5. Try to keep your mouth shut and listen: Be succinct in words. Don’t put infinite reasons of why you were not able to achieve your goals. No one wants to know that. Even if they try to, they are just verbose speakers. You will see them enjoying their life after few hours. So, talk to yourself and

prioritize everything accordingly.

6. Make it low, make it slow: Don’t take shortcuts. If you cannot work on your goal right now, you won’t be able to achieve it tomorrow. The shortcuts are bad. They may give you a temporary satisfaction. But, at the end you will realize that you have skipped many important things.

Consistency is an important thing to learn. Don’t try to run too fast that you fall off and get injured. It’s better to study 2 hours daily for five days rather than studying for 10 hours continuously. In this manner you will understand the sacrifices you need to do to achieve your dream. 

7. Think how the perspective is from the top of the earth: After few years from now, the problems you have faced will look trivial. Think from a broader perspective. Don’t compare your life with your friends, everybody is different. And, everyone has different physical and mental capabilities.

Lastly, if after pushing it too hard, you’re not able to move it. Think about your past achievements, think about a non deserving candidate getting paid more than you thought . If they can survive, you are of course better than them.

In this article, I have tried to share my experiences. I did not had any plans to prove that any other philosophy is wrong. My whole intention was to make you realize that: within you lies the solution of equations you are trying to solve.

Control your mind, it’s yours. No one has the right to occupy even a ΔV volume of it.

Take your time and understand your priorities. Believe me you will be better than you ever thought you could be.

I have been through those times. I can imagine the life you are through. Training your mind is tough, the best way to achieve this is by exploring yourself through meditation. Get in touch with me, if you want to discuss more about it. You are also welcome to share any of your personal troubles. I will keep the confidentiality of your details. Even if GATECounsellor places your question somewhere, you will be kept anonymous.

Thanks for reading the article. Please feel free to comment* below.

Have a wonderful life ahead.

Your

senior.

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To know what TO DO in your life is as much important as to know what NOT TO DO in your life.

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*Disclaimer: Although we will try our best to share our experiences. I am (or GATECounsellor is) not responsible for the future actions you may take based upon the article, comment or the advice.

This article is really worth of your time. 

Thanks for reading it patiently and do share this article among your friends. Please feel free to comment below. 

All the best for the GATE Preparations. 

Should I go for job or give ONE more try to GATE again?

As admission 2017 is its final stage, there is always a big question in mind for those who were unable to secure admission in IIT's. The big question is what should I do now? Should I settle with the Non-IIT's college or should I give one more try for IIT's or should I go for Job now and try GATE in near future.

To answer the above question, let's break down this big question in a step-by-step approach.
The admission to the post-graduate program can be of 3 types.

1. Course based Program
2. College based Program
3. Mixed based Program

Course based admission means you are sure that in which department, engineering stream/field you want to pursue. This means you are ready to study what actually you wanted to study without considering any other factors such as placement, faculty, facilities etc.

The second admission is college based type in which your preference is the college and you are ready to study any course in any department.

The third admission type is a combination of the first and the second type. In this type, optimum combination is selected. Most of the students try to get admission of type 3.

In my opinion, one should try for IIT's first. They can study anything in IIT's because education system of IIT is designed in such a way that any student can enroll themselves for any course across the departments (elective courses). This is a big advantage if you want to study any subjects from others department. After IIT, the second most preferred college can be NIT's. In NIT's a little care should be taken while selecting the stream. If you are interested in that stream then only go for it.
If you can get admission in NIT's than there are chances that you might also get admission in MS at IIT's.

If you go for the job directly now, in long run it will be difficult to grow in any organization without post graduation. Once you start working, it might also be little difficult to get back to studies.

I feel that its worth of investing 1 more year for GATE 2018 to get into IIT's rather than struggling after post graduation. The experience of studying in IIT's will help you to grow at a faster rate in your future career. This will give you an additional edge over others. If you see the gap, it is actually just 6 months only. This is because direct Ph.D. and MS interviews are scheduled for November end and early December.

So basically, you have got only 4 months to complete the whole GATE syllabus. In reality, these 4 months duration is really a tight situation to prepare for GATE 2018. During this period you can prepare from the basics to make your fundamentals clear as this will also help you for Nov/Dec Ph.D. & MS interviews.

Now you have enough experience of GATE preparations, real GATE exam and post-GATE exam admission process. So based on your experience, you can prepare for GATE 2018 accordingly. You can improve your strengths where you were lacking this time. For example, you got confused in the formula, which led to the wrong answer (this wrong answer was one of the options). So you have time to improve your strategy during these 4-6 months.

I wish you all the best for the preparation.

Should I go for M.Tech or MS/M.Tech (by research) or direct Ph.D just after GATE?

After GATE exam, one can take admission to M.Tech/ME programmes offered by IITs, IISc, and government/centralized/deemed Universities. But these days, many programmes such as MS [Masters of Science in Engineering – by research], M.Tech [Master of Technology – by research], D.PhD [Direct Ph.D.] are offered by many IITs and IISc apart from their regular M.Tech programmes. The structure, criteria, and eligibility of these programmes are slightly different from a regular M.Tech programme. In this post, I would like to make it clear regarding the admission process, differences, pros, and cons between these programmes in brief.

Regular M.Tech Programme:

The most common program which is offered after GATE is M.Tech/ME in Engineering. This programme is well structured, organized and definite timed base course. Student has to complete the minimum requirement of core courses offered by the department and the elective courses (can be from the same department or other department also) with minimum grade requirement.

This programme is a 2 year course and under some adverse condition it can be extended for another 6 months (who fails to fulfill the minimum requirements for completing ME/M.Tech).

Mostly, the first year consists of coursework and second year is for the project and thesis. By the end of the fourth semester, the student has to submit a project report and/or thesis as per the department/institute stated guidelines.

Admission process:

The admission process is very straight forward. It is solely based on the GATE score only. There are many departments which allow for cross GATE score (for eg: a student with GATE Mechanical Engineering (ME) can apply to Aerospace department for their M.Tech Aerospace Engineering programmes). 

Some IITs may ask for additional suitability test and/or interview for cross GATE scores. There are some M.Tech programmes which might require additional requirements of written test and/or interview.

Master of Science (in Engineering – by research) / M.Tech (by research)

MS in Engineering - by research is offered by IITM, IITK, IITKGP, IITD and M.Tech - by research is offered by IITB and IISc. The concept and the structure of both the courses are almost similar. These programmes are like a mini - Ph.D programme where a student is focused on a particular area of research of his/her own interest and completes the programme accordingly.

The structure of these programme follows the below pattern.

• You will be provided a guide/research advisor (who will play a critical role during the whole program) as per your research interest and the requirement of the lab. The important point to remember is that the research interest of student as well as advisor should match so that at any point of time advisor can provide the guidance.
• After selecting the advisor, student undergoes general courses which are in consistent with the research theme of the lab and student interest. The course work (minimum 5 courses with a CGPA of 7.5 and above is required for MS at IITM), literature review and problem definition is completed mostly within 2-3 semester. 
• The completion of research for the defined MS research problem may take around 1.5 - 2 years after completing the coursework. The minimum criteria such as publication in peer review journals, national/international conferences as per advisor and IIT should be fulfilled for the successful completion of MS/M.Tech program by research.

Advantages: 

• This will help in developing problem solving capability on the cutting edge technologies.
• You would be working on the real time problem/project or futuristic problem/project. 
• This will help you to develop the skills required for research-oriented jobs in labs and industries. You will be directly part of a scientific community where there will be a contribution from your end for the benefit of the society directly or indirectly in some way. 
• The best advantage of these programmes is that even with a lower GATE score, one can expect a call from IITs for admission.
• This will give you an essence/taste of a research programme (such as Ph.D) at very early stage of your life which can help you to mould your career either in research field, academia or into industrial/service jobs accordingly. 
• You can convert your MS program into Direct Ph.D programmes at any time during the course upon fulfilling the minimum criteria required to do so.  This may help you in saving time if you intend to pursue Ph.D after MS/M.Tech.
• You also get a chance for attending a fully funded national and international conference once during your stay at the institute.

Disadvantages:

• These research programmes are independent of time. On an average, it takes around 3 years.
• You will be master of a particular subject or research area while a regular M.Tech guys have a broad and a generalized view about many areas as they undergo many graduate level courses in short period of time (2 years).

Admission process:

• The admission process to this research-based Master programmes is different from the regular M.Tech admission process.
• The candidates are shortlisted for a written test and/or interview on the basis of GATE score with additional requirements such as BE/B.Tech score, projects, professional skills like programming, industrial software tools, projects done during BE/B.Tech etc.
• The general rule is 70:30 weightage for interview and GATE score respectively.

Direct Ph.D. Programmes:

The program is almost similar to the MS program with additional requirements such as 2-3 peer review publications with additional participation in national/international conferences (these requirements vary from advisor to advisor and institutes).

Admission process is also similar to the MS program. On an average duration of direct PhD program is about 5-6 years.

In a nutshell, if you are looking for a job after your post graduation than M.Tech will be a good choice.
If you are looking for a career in research than MS will give you a solid foundation. After MS from IITs, one can get fully funded Ph.D in many foreign universities. 
As I preferred top institute over programme, I went with the MS journey at IIT Madras. This gave me a chance to stay for a longer period at IIT Madras (heaven for me while for some it was hell). Take your own decision and don't think what people will say if you are not successful. You will be happy that you tried something out of the box and what you liked to do. Wishing you all a great luck with the admission. 
I hope this helped you to understand the difference between M.Tech and MS programme and its structure. If you have doubts or information is unclear please feel free to drop a comment. I will be happy to get back to help you.

Why Not You ?

I am Darshak, did my B.Tech in Aerospace Engineering from a private college, MS (by research) in Fluid Mechanics from IIT Madras and now working at Ebara Corporation, Japan.

I am an average student with the positive attitude towards the life. I strongly believe that if one wants to achieve something in life, they can achieve it (it may take some time) but they will succeed at the end. You get only one life to achieve so if you are not able to do it till now then “Make it Possible Now”.

This blog is dedicated to the students who want to pursue higher studies through GATE. Basically, it will be through GATE Aerospace paper so I would speak my views and opinion regarding GATE exam and Post Graduation at IIT's/NIT's and the Central University of India. 

The motivation behind doing GATE and studying for it:

When I was in the 3rd year of engineering (2011), I found that just by doing engineering I will be not able to get good opportunities as far as a job is concerned in private organization. Even if I get into some good organization I will take time to grow. At some stage down the line, the growth will be stagnant and the reason for it would be the educational qualification. So I understood that doing M.Tech/MS (If you want to be in the technical field for minimum 5 years) would be a good option for a long run.

The next question was from where I should do my Masters, USA or Europe or India? After some initial research, I came to the conclusion that IIT would be a great choice. And we all know that IIT’s are the best place in India for technical education. Based on my initial research regarding the colleges, IIT’s are the best followed by NIT’s and Deemed Universities.

Colleges for Post Graduation in the order of preference after GATE AE:

With Aerospace background, I have to clear GATE Aerospace Engineering (AE) paper. Based on GATE AE score, I can apply for all major old IIT’s (IIT-B, IIT-K, IIT-KGP, IIT-M) and IISc. There are few good government organizations such as DIAT (Defence Institute of Advanced Technology – Pune) and IIST (Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology – Trivandrum) where M.Tech in Aerospace Engineering can be pursued based on GATE AE score. In 2012, I came to the conclusion that with a Gate score more than 450 (around 45 marks out of 100), one can get a written and/or interview call from IIT’s and IISc (MSc [now M.Tech] in Engineering by research ).

With this initial information, I started preparing for GATE AE. From various forums and experts, the best advice I found that is to solve as many as numerical problems and previous years GATE question papers. Once you understand the pattern of the GATE question paper, your preparation will be automatically in that direction. For GATE preparation, the most important point to remember is that to read as many topics as you can and should try to cover the complete syllabus. I would recommend that nothing should be kept in the option.

Life Changing experience at IIT:

The life at IIT is totally new, exciting and very good experience. You will have each and every count of the day which you will spend inside the campus. You will be living a dream life of many students across the country. I promise you that it will enhance your personality with the exposure you get inside the campus academically as well as extra circular activities. If someone asked me the best part of my life which I would love to live it again, the answer would be very simple. The life at IIT is like a life in heaven and you will miss it after you are graduated. The point I want to convey here is very simple, before you, many have gone through the same stage and got into IIT, with your batch also many will take admission in IIT’s and in future also many will be taking admission for sure. So “WHY NOT YOU?”. If you feel it as difficult, impossible task (indeed it is), then “MAKE IT POSSIBLE NOW”, you can do it. Actually, anyone can do it if they really want too. 

Success is when an opportunity meets preparations. So it is better to be prepared for any situation rather than preparing at that moment when opportunity knocks at your door. For GATE exam and preparation, stay calm and focused. Practice as much as you can, read as much as you can. Don’t leave anything for the last moment. Try to cover each and every aspect of GATE pattern and syllabus thoroughly. These preparation days for GATE exam are most important and these can change everything for the rest of your life. Everything will fall into the correct places at the right place and at the right time if you have given your all sincere efforts. Hard work always gets paid off at the end.