Thinking about Masters

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”                    - Steve Jobs

   It was 2011 when I was first thinking of GATE as an option to getting into IIT's. As like many other engineers in our country, I did come from a tier-3 engineering college where getting a job means getting into TCS/Infosys/Wipro.

   I had  never tried for IIT during my 12th standard, but based on the reputation of IIT's I always had a dream of stepping into IIT's, not to study, but atleast to see how to study. For me, it looks like IIT's are in a different world where every student tries to work hard and tries their best, if not, tries to be of themselves.   

   It was my brother who encouraged me to go for Masters.When I started thinking about the Masters first, I had three options in my mind.

1.  Crack CAT exam and get into IIM or any other well known management school.
2.  Crack GRE and go for MS in USA.
3.  Crack GATE exam and get into IIT/NIT's.

   I did a lot of survey from my fellow mates and seniors who had gone through this phase before making up my mind. Cracking the CAT exam needs alot of verbal communication skills. Being a Telugu medium student till my Xth standard, never had confidence of cracking exams that requires good english communication skills. So, I eliminated the option of preparing for CAT from my list since I thought it never suits me :P

   Cracking GRE requires less effort than CAT exam. But, it also needs some sort of verbal communication skills which am badly lacking at the moment. Basically, I'm from a poor family.  So, my family cannot afford the expenses to go for MS in foreign university. So, there was no reason for me to think about MS ;)

   Finally, I had left with the option of cracking GATE exam. GATE needs basic computer science fundamentals along with bit of logical reasoning. From the initial days, I was very strong in my CS fundamentals and I had a gut feeling that I can be better if I can work on something I was good at. And at the time, I was also thinking that GATE is the only short cut way of getting a better product based company job. Considering all the ways, I have choosen GATE as my future, career and started my steps towards it from my second year of under-graduation.

   I'm aware of the fact that there will be alot of competition for GATE. But, competition will come into the picture only when you are bad at it or feel it ;) I know I have to be a little bit smart to get good rank/score in GATE. When you choose something that you are left with, you have to give your 100%, if not, more than that ;)