Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Why IIT-R? Why Applied Mathematics?

I cleared JEE back in 2010. 4839 wasn't exactly a very good rank, which meant I did not have much choice during the counseling. Consequently, I ended up being enrolled in an Integrated M.Sc. course at IIT Roorkee. 5 years hence, I have graduated this year. I have fond memories, great experiences and above all: a fairly decent job.This post was written way back in 2012, with the objective of creating awareness regarding Applied Mathematics at IIT Roorkee. I keep updating this post almost every year, and this year, an FAQ section has been added. 

Quoting from my own experience, I believe clearing JEE is a lot easier than the counseling procedure followed by it, especially if you have a 3000+ rank. While choosing a branch, you need to keep the following things in mind:


  1. Getting into an IIT does NOT guarantee a job at the end of 4/5 years.
  2. NOT everyone is placed at an IIT.
  3. All the packages offered at the IITs are NOT in the excess of Rs.10 lpa.
  4. The placement in the core branches viz. Mechanical, Civil, Chemical and the Electrical Engineering is NOT 100%.
  5. Of the most sought branches only the Computer Sciences, ECE and Electrical Engineering are the well-off branches when it comes to placements.
  6. India lacks in manufacturing industries and as such there is little or no demand of engineers outside the IT sector, which explains the preceding point. 
  7. Most of the recruiters come from the non-core background, like IT, Finance, Banking and Consultancies etc.
Every other day dozens of IT based startups are springing up in the country. There is an increasing demand for technical analysts, software engineers, app developers and data analysts. Therefore, it is advisable to opt for a branch with opportunities in the IT Sector.

Most of you will agree with me that CSE is currently the most sought after branch at the present. But, there are only limited seats offering CSE in the IITs. As such, with a rank as much as above 3500 you cannot expect to get into CSE at the original IITs, even BHU or ISM. This is where Applied Mathematics comes into play.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What are the course contents and the course structure to be followed?


You can go through the course structure and the list of the electives offered over here:


What are the Course's Placement Statistics?


Packages Offered

Placement Percentage



What are the companies that usually recruit students from Applied Mathematics?

The students are mostly recruited by IT firms, Financial Institutions and Consultancies.

Following is the list of recruiters for the past 4 years:

2011-12

PayPal (2)
InMobi(1)
Flipkart(1)
Deloitte(1)
Oracle(2)
Cognizant(1)
CA Tech(1)
Tavant Tech(1)

2012-13

Goldman Sachs(1)
Microsoft (1)
Royal Bank of Scotland(1)
Oracle(2)
TCS(2)
Mu Sigma(1)
Sapient(1)
Grey B Technologies(1)
Futures First(1)

2013-14

Royal Bank of Scotland(1)
Oracle(1)
Groupon(2)
Axtria(3)
Indian School of Business(2)
Capgemini (1)
Teach For India(1)

2014-15

Visa Inc.(2)
Housing(2)
Oracle(1)
DocSuggest(1)
Policy Bazaar(1)
HackerEarth(1)
MuSigma(1)
Cognilytics(1)
Beehyv(1)
MeritNation(1)


What are the opportunities offered to a student enrolled in this course?

Phoren mein Internwa!
There is a multitude of opportunities for the students enrolled in this course:
  • Internships are an essential part of the college life today. (How else are you expected to flaunt your visits to foreign lands otherwise?) Being a basic sciences course there is no shortage of internship opportunities both in India and abroad. Students from the branch have interned at Canada, UK , Netherlands, Italy (the gentleman in the photo), Germany, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Spain, Singapore and New Zealand.
  • The placement stats suggest that the average packages are significantly above the Institute average which remains at about 6-6.75 lpa.
  • The placement stats also suggest 100% placement from the first 2 batches to pass out. Whereas the the placement at the institute level remains at 60-65%.
  • The good thing about Applied Mathematics is that you can always diversify. You can always pursue a career in diverse fields like, Computer Sciences, Finance, Economics, Operations Research or Academic Research. 
  • Another good aspect of the curriculum is that the contact hours are comparatively very less, which will let you spend more time on learning other skills or even prepare for competitive exams such as the CAT or GRE. 

What is the INSPIRE Scholarship?



INSPIRE is a Scholarship offered to all the students enrolled for Applied Mathematics by the Department of Science and Technology. The students receive Rs. 60,000 p.a. if they can maintain a CGPA above 6.000.

BOTTOMLINE

Do not consider an Integrated M.Sc. course as your last resort in accordance with your JEE Rank, these courses esp. those in Mathematics and Economics are very much at par with the B.Tech courses.

In case you have further queries, kindly drop in a mail at: Mathematiciansiniitr@googlegroups.com

You may like the followup post to this one, the one about fresher life-hacks at IIT-R:

Lastly, I would like to thank you all for your overwhelming response to this post.

3 comments:

  1. well formulated defense :).... Msc in mathematics is a tough course and at IITs it is comparably tough. However, it is all specious marketing that seems to work things the way they are.... which is actually unfortunate...

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  2. I know. Despite the fact that there are great opportunities in these courses the people are highly reluctant to enroll for one. :/

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  3. Yes. Petroleum, Earth Sciences at IIT Roorkee, IIT Kharagpur, ISM and BHU have good packages to offer. But, those PACKAGES are scarce. Not everyone gets placed in Schlumberger or Shell. And, again these courses offer super specialisation, very much like the course on Ceramic Engineering offered at BHU. Once you end up super specialising in a a field, you find it difficult to diversify your job prospects. However, that is my opinion. Feel free to choose for yourself.

    P.S.: A friend of mine did not opt for Applied Maths at IIT-R because:
    1. He was averse to Maths, and
    2. He felt that I would rag him if he came to my instt and in the same branch. :D

    And, he went on to take up Ceramic Engg. at BHU. I believe you know him? :P

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