My IIITD Journey

I still remember how I cried and felt like all my dreams got shattered when I got admission in this institute, which later served as a blessing in disguise. Here's a little insight into it: I was an outside Delhi student who just had the passion for pursuing Engineering from any reputed college. I did not have any branch preferences even though everywhere I heard that Computer Science is the best. Till the last week of final counselling rounds, I had two options in hand: 1) Computer Science from NIT Kurukshetra and 2) Mechanical engineering with Automation from DTU. After a lot of thought, I decided to start my college journey in DTU, leaving behind the buzz word Computer Science. The reason why I chose DTU was that it had a vast campus, more brand value, better alumni base, excellent placement record, and it's in the Capital city, namely Delhi. I was very excited to join DTU; I had visited the campus with my parents, paid the hostel fees and explored the various sports avenues there since I've always been interested in all sorts of sports.

Now here comes a twist to the story, it was 29th July when the upgradation list was to come out on the JAC website. I had not even checked the list as I thought everything is final for me and I'll go to DTU. Just sitting idle at my home, I resorted to having a look at the list to check whether any of my friends' preferences got updated. Out of the blue, I saw my name on the list! It mentioned: Abhishek Agarwal, IIITD, ECE. I got really upset by this at that time as I knew IIITD had a smaller campus, lesser alumni base and too much academic pressure. With tears flowing in my eyes, I immediately called my parents (who weren't home) and begged them to talk to the authorities to get me admitted back to DTU. It was 5 pm, and we rushed to IIITD, a drive of about half an hour. Even though one of my school seniors studying at IIITD had fantastic feedback about the institute, I still tried talking to the academic office to revert the decision and send me back to DTU, but it was not possible. Seeing that nothing can be done now, I accepted my fate of spending the next four years here and kept faith in destiny.

IIITD has a magnificent seven-day induction program before the commencement of classes for all the incoming B.Tech aspirants. The induction was for students to know more about institute life, courses, sports, interact with seniors and fellow batchmates. Unfortunately, I had missed that because of getting late admission. On the first day when I went to IIITD, I saw almost everyone having groups, studying and chilling together. I started to feel left out and lonely during the initial days. Eventually, as studies and sports picked up the pace, I made a lot of friends and started feeling more comfortable. Hostel life accelerated the process of giving a home-like feeling at the campus. In the hostel, we had the freedom to play, study, eat and enjoy during the day. All thanks to the open culture at IIITD. All the labs, libraries, canteen and sports facilities were open 24*7. This was something I'll cherish my entire life. I started to like my fellow students; the extraordinary faculty with no Professor having less than a PhD degree.

The coding culture at IIITD was astonishing. From the 1st year itself, irrespective of the branch we are taught Python, Java, Data Structures, Operating System concepts and things which gave us strong foundations to being a successful engineer. We had regular interactions with seniors who provided excellent mentorship. The whole institute seemed like one close-knit family. When I started programming, I realised that coding is all about logic and finding efficient solutions; I much enjoyed every coding experience I had. After the first year, I moved to Computer Science and Applied Mathematics (CSAM). Initially, I was a little sceptical about this shift since our batch was the first to enter this stream. However, the authorities and faculty were very supportive throughout, which gave us confidence and constant reassurance for full freedom and equal opportunities.

The best part about the courses at IIITD was that, once you do a course you can say with confidence that you have thorough knowledge about that subject. The courses here are not like typical courses in other colleges where you study on last night and do wonders the next day. Each and every course requires consistent effort, and the overall performance gets evaluated. Throughout the semester, students have multiple overlapping deadlines for various courses. Alongside this, the freedom to choose electives in the 3rd and 4th years enables us to excel in our areas of interest.

IIITD is generally known as a research institution; I also wished to try my hand at it. During my 3rd year, we received an email from one of the professors (Dr Anubha Gupta) regarding an educational chatbot building project for which she required a group of students. I thought about exploring the research side of Data Science and applications and started working on this with two other batchmates. It turned out well, and we also published a research paper in the IEEE ICASSP conference in the first semester of the project. This project continued almost until the end of my life at IIITD, and we have submitted two more journal papers since then. It was a fascinating experience for me which taught me significantly what research work entails.

In my second year, I interned at PwC as an android developer. I got an internship at Myntra via campus internship drive during my 3rd year. I worked as a web developer at Myntra. To end it all, I finally got placed at one of my dream companies, namely Goldman Sachs.

Alongside, I indulged in sports a lot. I got selected in the badminton team in my 1st year and became the badminton coordinator in my second year. I was a part of the badminton team across the four years and represented IIITD at numerous sports events also winning quite a few medals. One of the best badminton match experiences I had was at IIIT Gwalior, where we played finals against their home team. I can't forget how our entire sports contingent came together to support us. It was a remarkable experience.

In conclusion, this incidental decision that brought me to IIITD truly shaped my life. I deeply regret not being able to enjoy the last semester on campus because of the pandemic. The college journey is undoubtedly something I won't forget in my lifetime. I want to thank everyone for making it memorable who supported me throughout my journey: my friends, family and the faculty.