By Archita Goyal, Batch of 2017
“If you do not apply, you are never going to get through, but if you apply, you just might.” Having scored a sublime 334 in GRE and cracked the three most reputed universities abroad- MIT, Michigan, and Berkley, and placed in ZS Associates, Rahul Chawla, MPAE, Batch of 2014, has surely made every NSITian proud. The Alliance brings to you a candid tete-a-tete with the achiever-who not only outshone brightly in academics, but is also an excellent football player and a marathon runner. Read more to find out how he made his dream come true.
Q1.With an AIR of around 9500 in AIEEE, you had taken up MPAE as your stream for specialization by choice. Holding department rank 2 along with many other academic laurels, what makes you so passionate about this stream?
The whole concept of having nothing in hand and then making something that works and sells really fascinates me. The kind of satisfaction I get to see something work, after having brainstormed for hours and days on it is truly amazing. With a mechanically inclined mind, I had always been passionate about engineering and the stream (MPAE) gave me just the right opportunities for the same.
Q2.What exactly is the course that you will be pursuing at the MIT?
The course I have taken up is Masters of Engineering at the MIT, basically a one-year course which prepares you to manage people, design a manufacturing system, manage the manufacturing line and enables you to find an industry oriented job afterwards.
STRAIGHT FROM THE HORSE’S MOUTH: CANDID CORNER
On Bullet Hawk Racing:
I was mainly in-charge of the engine department of the team. Working at BHR taught me many things. It was a plenary amalgam that inculcated skills like resource allocation, working well with teams, technical aptitude, and fabrication; and excel in them.
On MARUTI RESEARCH RnD LAB:
Two years of internship at Maruti gave me an enriching industry exposure, made me demarcate what interests me and what doesn’t, and helped me gain clarity in what I wanted to take up in future.
On XLRI:
With an XLRI XAT percentile of 98.7, I had managed to get into the best management program in the whole of Asia, the XLRI-HR.
On ZS Associates:
Since I wasn’t very sure in taking up manufacturing in India and there’s never a surety that you could get into MIT or a reputed foreign university, I considered sitting for the placement session. It was an opportunity that came along and I acknowledge the company for imbibing in me some of the skills that I currently possess.
Q3.The number of projects you have done in college is a staggering figure of 4, and that too under Pradeep Khanna (our very own PRK Sir). How did you manage to do 4 projects under him, despite the fact that getting to do a project under him is so difficult? Tell us something about the projects that you had done.
Taking up the first project under PRK Sir is somewhat difficult. However, if you work really hard and persevere, you are likely to bag more projects under him. The first project that I took up was a research on submerged arc welding. Then I worked in the BTP project of my seniors which was a study on Vibratory Stress Relief Equipment. I also worked on a welding manipulator development project.
Q4.What do you think was your USP in getting into MIT?
I think my USP for MIT was the logical fit. The whole package of industrial internships, the objective criteria, and the interest and fascination for manufacturing made me get into MIT. The universities abroad look for the subjective criterion in the applicant, whether he/she actually wants to study the course and more importantly why he/she wants to take up that particular course. Since manufacturing was something I really wanted, it was way easier to score, find projects and work for it. And so, somewhere deep in my heart, I was always sure that I would get into.
Q5.What suggestions would you like to give to all our readers who aim to go abroad for further studies? How should they get going with the preparation for GRE and GMAT?
Getting into a good college doesn’t really mean that you have a bed of roses laid before you. Great colleges open up great opportunities for you. First of all, I would suggest you to figure out your area of work–the field where your interest and passion lies, and then start working for it. Don’t just blindly follow what people around you say or do, rather find your own way, and establish clarity in what you want to do. Planning matters. Throughout my college, I’d efficiently plan out things, even the amount of time to be spent on entertainment and football was appropriately scheduled in my time-table! One must learn to make a “realistic” time table and follow it by rule. I am not saying that become a bore or a sob, but yes, sitting idle and doing nothing isn’t the key to success. You need to work like a horse to make way for yourself!
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