|
| Alive and kicking |
| Sunday, August 09, 2009 |
Some recent conversations have made me look back in time, rewinding about 10 years. It was beginning of 2000, I was in my third year of Engineering, when I started studying for GRE. It was not very difficult to get into the groove, with a few others from the class also preparing toward the exam. Memorizing stuff was never my strong point, and GRE Verbal expects you to know the dictionary by-heart to get a decent score. But try I did. Evenings saw me with the Barrons book, trying to remember the words and the meanings. GRE had three sections, Quants, which was supposed to be a breeze for most engineers, Analytical, which was my favorite with lot of puzzle like problems, and Verbal, the menace.
Not many in our class were praparing for GRE, most were preparing for Campus than for higher studies. There was this other guy, who used to bring Hindu crossword puzzles to class and work on them. I was terrible with them. I was terrible with English. Period. And I didnt understand why someone who wants to do a Graduate program in Engineering needs to be tested in English language.
June-July saw a light lull in GRE preparation. With Final year beginning campus interviews were to start. These months saw me sitting with Shakuntala Devi's puzzle book, which I very much enjoyed but some of the puzzles were real killers. Our responsible Placement Representatives had special sessions during Summer holidays to prepare for these interviews. I was only going to appear for Infosys. July 26th many of us, except the 12 already placed in TCS sat in the Vivekananda Auditorium of Anna University listening to pre-placement talk. I saw some new papers floating around which were previous years question papers. Even though it wasnt the real thing I was after I didnt want to be the girl who gets top grades in classes but fails miserably in Campus!
I enjoyed working on the puzzles which were the first screening for Infy. It was announced that a few candidates would be interviewed right away. I had my slot at 7 in the evening. I was a nervous wreck when I entered the room. Two guys were sitting on the other side of the table. They asked me some basic questions, teased me on being a 'bookworm', Overall when I got out, I didnt feel the interview went well. I found out later that what I had was one form of interview, stress interview. They had already decided to take me in, who wouldnt want a topper ;--P, they just wanted to stress me out. Anyhow that was the first interview of my life. Not much to say. I did spend the next day evening lying on my Mom's lap almost crying, heart beating fast, while I waited for someone to call me and give the results. I was selected, I remember friend C called me and told me. And DH was selected too! That was July 28th 2000.
With a job secure under the belt, GRE prep started yet again in full force. By this time I had booked the date too, Sept 4th. More words, meanings, flash cards, crosswords, sitting in library with other GRE folks, feeling a bit dumb. Somehow English and I dont get along.
I dont remember much of the Test day itself. Its a big blob of blur. The test center was all the way in Nungambakkam. Of course my Dad accompanied me to the test center, like he did for all of my life changing exams. He stayed outside, for the full four hours, was it?, while I wrote the exam came out with a decent score. It was for 2400. 800 each Quant, Verbal and Analytical. Anything above 2000 is enough to get into a decent top tier University. My goal was 2100, given my poor verbal skills. I landed a 2180, 780Q, 800A, and 600V. I was hoping to cross the 600 barrier in Verbal and I was glad I just scraped through.
GRE scores are just one part of the whole application package. You need to have the minimum required score, which was usually 2000+, which I had achieved. After I came back I felt I was one step closer to the dream of making it to the US. I did dream of the US that night, I think. One caviat, I had to get funding. I knew I could not make my Dad spend money out of his pocket to get me a degree from the US.
Then followed the SOP writing, Statement of Purpose, the recommendations, the hundred application related things to complete. And of course the selection of Universities. Universities in CA were ruled out by default because of the cost of living. That was from Dad. I applied to 7 universities, 2 dream, 3 so-so, 2 safe universities. First 'ding' was from Purdue, stating that my Instrumentation Engineering background is not in sync with the Electrical and Computer Engineering program I was applying to. I got two more admits from the medium and safe Universities I dont even remember which ones. I got admit from UW-Madison, my other dream Univ, the last I think.
Then started the whole drama of emailing every single professor in the school you got admitted to, to ask (beg) for Research Assitantship. Your GRE scores no longer mattered, now that you were in. All students were equal. Thats when I realized, GRE is just a minimum requirement for admit only. If you dont score the bare minimum you get a ding. Thats it. It does nothing much else. And anyway it was not only good to get a good admit but also to get funding. I did apply for Teaching Assistant positions and a Fellowship. Miraculously, this is were I agree my Engineering grades were useful in some way, I was asked to submit a separate SOP for the Fellowship. I churned out some piece where I talked about research and ambitions and greater good.
Those were the days when contrary to my self, I used to checking mails everyday, wait for those yellow long envelopes from the USofA. I still remember the day when it came, my Fellowship from UW. I remember walking to the train station from home, on the cluttered muddy dirt road, thinking, some University, a good one in top 20 mind you, in the US of A is ready to pay for my studies! It must be really something! And yes in those days it was a big sum of money by all standards.
My GRE journey ended there, I believe it was sometime in February 2001. While my other friends were continuing to email professors. I do believe I missed out on those experiences, doing a TA, working additional hours, the 20hr work times etc. I escaped the money crunch in Grad School. I sent money back home right from the first month I got the paycheck. It was funny, I was getting paid more as a student than what I would have been paid if I joined Infosys.
I was telling DH about all this on one of those nostalgia filled days, and he said, " See, you are currently doing what you wanted to do, you are currently reaping the rewards of your endeavors of those days" Which is very true. All the days I toiled with the endless GRE word lists was to be right where I am now. :--P But am I happy? I am happy, but I am not content. I can never be, I have realized. With one mountain conquered, taming another beast is becoming an obsession.
PS: Dusting cobwebs off the blog. |
posted by SK @ 9:18 PM  |
|
| 6 Comments: |
-
came here from Coconut Chutney's blog.
charmed life, huh? :)
-
Ah! Badgerland alumnus :)
-
:-)
Girl, this made it to DP is what my source tells me ;-)
-
Anjana,
Welcome :--) Charmed.. I dont know if you can call it that. :--)
Kaushik,
Welcome! Yes! :--)
Rads,
What is DP? I dont understand. Now my head is going to burst :--S
-
-
Thanks Anon. :--) Found that out.
|
| |
| << Home |
| |
|
|
|
|
came here from Coconut Chutney's blog.
charmed life, huh? :)