Achieving the unachievable

Why to read this?

Do you know IIT is a tough nut. And in this, Kanpur and few more is toughest nut. Can you think a person with modest rank can get offer? It is unthinkable and we also thought so. But we used the approach which helped ultimately to achieve. All ethical and legal approach!!

Success Story

There was a bright engineering student whose dream was to do Masters in top engineering college of India. He was trying to fulfil this dream from his B.Tech study. His goal was to crack GATE and for this he did everything whatever needed - Coaching, mock interview, study hard. With all motivation, he was awaiting for the GATE result.

The result of GATE was good but not enough to reach his dream. He was disappointed. A dream which is dream of many is not easy to get. He felt directionless and talked me once about his apathy. I determined myself to help him in this situation. I prepared myself and decided that I should help him to get the best out of his score. End result was pleasant satisfaction for me and "Dream comes true for him". He could get admission in the topmost IIT (Kanpur)

After this, I thought to use this approach to help other aspirants to achieve their dream. This write-up is in line to my this dream.

Approach in brief

When we started working towards this goal, we were not sure about what result we will get finally. But we were sure that we will do 100% and use all scientific and thoughtful steps in this journey. We started with small steps. Each step made us closer to goal and after certain point of time we are more clear about what minimum we can get. We went through multiple stages(mentioned in detail below) and emotions before tasting this success.

Key points

• While deciding about career, don't just think best or worse. Rather keep all possibility open

• Use scientific principles for identifying what is reachable, what may be reachable

• Use statistic and probability to explore right risk amount when you are trying for something which may or may not be reachable to you

• Be motivated and realistic

• More you apply factors of best results, better result you will get.

• Take risk as much as you can afford. Calculated risk may bring the outstanding result, but it can backfire as well. So, keep cushion for worst case as well. For example, if you are sure that in worst case, you will get a decent seat(but below your wish) and you are fine with this, then you can take risk of losing few better offers.

Approach in detail

Preparatory Step (Identify tools)

As a first step, we decide on tools which we need for this. Google Spreadsheet was first tool which we used. It comes free with every google account. This is great tool. You might be aware that it allows to collaborate, chat . We used these features. Myself and the aspirant were staying 1000 km apart. However, this tool helped us to feel that we were at same location.

Other than this, we decided that we will truly follow science even though it will be slow. Initially candidate felt that it is too demanding. I needed to bring him to confidence. And then he worked really as team.

We decided that we will keep all possibility open.

To have glimpse of our work, you can request view request here

First step (To identify source for collecting data)

I was fortunate to have many my friends which are either faculty in IIT/IISc and/or studied there. It helped to get reliable and latest info what we wanted.

We also used google, official website, Facebook, linkedin to collect the data and connect with relevant info. We ensured that data we collect were authentic. Moreover, we discarded noise (unrelated data). These all approaches came from my study in Indian Statistical Institute (One of topmost institute for Statistics worldwide). I am grateful to my this past

Next step (data collection)

We started collecting data about kind of courses offered for Masters. We found many new info like

• • Each IIT has choice of courses they offer

  • Some IIT offers research Master and M.Tech both

  • There are 3 years Master program as well

  • Doing project work in IIT can also make easier to get admission in IIT (as a fallback option). But it is long time effort and not for sure.

  • Initial cutoff for IISC is much lesser than IITs which was surprising. It was since IISc takes interview and so, it wants to give second chance to relatively lower rank aspirants.

  • There are inter-disciplinary courses which many times is quite attractive. For example, Robotics is combined course from Electrical, Computer science and technical department

And so on...

Note that data collection and analysis were interlinked and continuous.

Cycle of analysis and refinement

There were many colleges IITs, NITs, colleges from ISRO etc. Analysis of each at once is impossible. To handle it, we need to schedule. To ease our life, we ordered based on last date of application. So, whoever is earlier, we processed them earlier.

To decide about courses and there ordering, we checked

• • Its value addition in career

  • Research opportunity in world's premium institutes

  • Relevance based on candidate engineering course

These parameters may be different for you.

For institute ranking, it was relatively easier since there is already ranking among colleges. NIRF ranking was one of most important data. We have not directly used ranking. Instead we looked at ranking parameters and decide which parameter is relevant. Why we did this? We did this since institute ranking parameters include parameters which are more relevant to ours (Masters for our case). For example, research and educational strength, teaching qualification is more relevant for Masters program compared to Bachelors.

Scientific principles used

Null hypothesis (from Statistics)

• • It is used for deciding which course should be applied or which should not be. Note that most IITs and IISc restricts maximum number of specialisations you should apply for.

SMART principle (From management)

It is used for overall process

• • S is for Specific: Your goal should be well defined. Don’t say you want to get the best admission; say you want to make admission to these courses and these institutes

  • M is for Measurable: If you can’t measure your goal, you can’t manage it. Getting fit isn’t measurable—running a six-minute mile is.

  • A is for Actionable: You wouldn’t drive to a new town without asking for directions. Develop the action steps to achieve your goal.

  • R is for Realistic: If you’re living in your parents’ basement, it’s hard to get the result. Your goals should challenge and stretch you, but not so much that you give up on them.

  • T is for Time-based: The phrase, “A goal is a dream with a deadline” comes to mind. Setting a time to complete your goal makes you that much more likely to reach it.

Judgement under uncertainty( Probabilistic principles for mathematics )

It is used to decide the courses based on the previous years pattern, probability of future importance of course (which is not very lucrative right now as per career). Refer abstract here for understanding core approach.

Factors for best result

Motivation factor

• • Careful analysis is the core, So, it needs good amount of motivation. Below is a good way to have high motivation

  • Motivation = Purpose × Energy × S3 (From Limitless book by Jim Refer here)

A quote from Limitless book

Generating sufficient energy is vital—if you’re tired or sleepy, or if your brain is foggy, then you won’t have the fuel to take action. Small simple steps take minimal effort and keep you from being paralyzed with overwhelm.

• The key is to make sure you feel the emotions for your motivation. Don’t make this an intellectual thing.

• Refer below quote to measure your current level of motivation

Quote from Limitless book

Going back to the previous chapter’s list of the seven lies that hold you back, perhaps the eighth lie is that you have motivation —that you wake up and feel motivated every day. The reality is that you do motivation. Ultimately, motivation is a set of habits and routines, guided by your values and your identity, that you carry out every day.

Science factor

Rely on Science. You see scientists changing the world. Science can also change definition of your result

• Rely on Statistical methods described above

• Adhere to management methods described above

Goal setting factor

Your goal is truly personal and it must not be copy of anyone else.

• Don't set your goals seeing result of your neighbour and your friends.

• Your goals should contribute to your mental, physical, and emotional health.

• You shouldn’t always have to push yourself to work on your goals. They should be so exciting, enticing, and engaging that you’re pulled toward them.

Emotion control factor

Result is mix of motivation, Karma and the circumstances. So, emotion must respect them. To tune emotion as your strength, read out below quote as many times as you like.

Quote from Limitless book

Do you know your life’s purpose? Even if you don’t yet, write down a little bit about what it could be.

Execution factor

Act now is the key. There is no tomorrow for the thing which can be done today

Quote from Limitless book

The good student doesn’t pick up her textbook because she’s in a good mood. She does it because she wants to ace that test so she has the best chances of landing the internship that will lead to her dream job.

If you’re still struggling to find motivation to execute, there is a good chance you haven’t uncovered the why of the task. Consider your passion, your desired identity, and your values: How can they create the basis for your reasons? Look at below example as well.

Quote from Limitless book

Let’s say your passion is to help people forge better relationships, you identify as a connector, and one of your values is love. Your reasons for learning to remember names could be simple to find: “I want to learn to remember names so that I can better connect with people in my community and help foster a stronger network of people I care about.”

Taking Small baby steps is another key factor. Every day research a few, analyse a few and conclude a few. Whenever you have doubt, read below quote.

Quote from Limitless book

One of the only things that is likely to change your behavior is to make incremental progress. You really don’t want to make dinner? Make something simple for your family to snack on while you cook dinner later. You’re having trouble writing that big speech for next month’s conference? Just write the keynote to the speech now. You’re overwhelmed by the amount of reading you need to do for your economics class? Set a goal for yourself of reading the first chapter. Like the wise counselor, you must take it one step at a time, one day at a time.

Health factor

Resiliency expert Dr. Eva Selhub often likens the brain to a high- performance vehicle. “Like an expensive car,” she writes, “your brain functions best when it gets only premium fuel. Eating high-quality foods. that contain lots of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants nourishes the brain and protects it from oxidative stress—the ‘waste’ (free radicals) produced when the body uses oxygen, which can damage cells.”

She goes on to note that when your brain is forced to run on inferior fuel, it can’t possibly do everything it was built to do. Refined sugar, for example, contributes to impaired brain function, leads to inflammation, and can even cause depression (something you might want to consider the next time you reach for a tub of ice cream to contend with a tough day).

An indian proverb

Healthy body brings healthy brain

Stress Factor

It is also part of overall health. However it is added separately to give more attention (since it happens to each aspirant).

Whenever we experience stress, a hormone known as cortisol is released to alleviate the physical rigors of stress on our bodies. If this happens occasionally, it’s not a problem, but if it happens with great regularity, the buildup of cortisol in our brains can lead it to cease functioning properly.

But there’s more. “There is evidence that chronic (persistent) stress may actually rewire your brain,” says a piece on the Harvard Health Blog.

Whenever you feel stressed, read below quote.

Quote from Limitless book

What is your favorite thing to do to cope with stress? When was the last time you did it?

Reference

https://sites.google.com/site/jbsakabffoi12449ujkn/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_I_and_type_II_errors