From a 7.0 grade in Manufacturing at BITS to an Undergraduate thesis in Robotics and AI at a University Ranked 17 in the world.

 

“There is always a ladder to your goals, It becomes visible only when you put in persistent efforts."

 

Ever had a confusion between interning abroad vs interning in India? How to get a chance to intern at top universities in the world? I have a low grade point average, will I still be able to get it? Want to pursue your thesis in a different field than your majors at college, is it possible?

 If these are some of the questions you want answers to, you are at the right place!

 

Hello Everyone!

I am Ruchik Mishra, a 2019 graduate from BITS Pilani, Hyderabad campus. I have been getting a lot of queries from my fellow juniors regarding undergraduate thesis, which is an amazing option that the BITS folks have in the final year of their undergraduate study. BITS allows you to pursue your thesis at any university in the world, provided the host university is ready to accept you for the entire semester. 

NOTE: This blog isn’t just for the BITS folks or for undergraduate thesis, but it applies for summer internships as well, since a lot of students opt to intern at a company or a university in the summer preceding their final year. This blog is for a university specific internship/thesis.

 

So, here I am in the picture with the two most amazing people I have met in my professional life. They are Dr. Ewerton Oliveira (left) and Professor Andrea Bonarini (centre). They are affiliated to Politecnico di Milano, Italy and this photo was taken at the Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Lab, which is where I pursued my undergraduate thesis. The domain of research that the lab engages in is “Physically Interactive Robo-Games (PIRG)” and Prof. Bonarini is in charge of the lab. Basically, what PIRG means is that the human plays a game in an arena where its opponent is an actual robot. Sounds cool, right? Well, it actually is as you can infer from the picture. 

The university's QS 2018 ranking was 17 in the world in the category of Engineering and Technology. I also received an acceptance from the National University of Singapore (NUS, Singapore) which has a QS ranking of 10 in the world in this category.

I will give you a very brief idea of what my credentials were when I was applying for my undergraduate thesis:

• Cumulative grade point Average: 7.02/10 in B.E.(Hons.) Manufacturing Engineering which comes in the First Division according to the BITS marking scheme, but  can be placed in the average category.

• Summer Internship experience after my sophomore year (you can ask me more details in the comment section if you wish).

• One IEEE International Conference paper in robotics (related to indoor navigation of robots) under review which was accepted later. 

   

So, these were the key points of my resume. Please do not mail me in the email ID that you see in this paper because I rarely use it. For more of my papers, you can check my Google Scholar Profile.

Now coming to the main questions that I get. I will answer them in a very crisp manner. In case I see any particular point being asked by multiple people, I will make a separate post about it.

 What is an Undergraduate thesis and how does it work?

An undergraduate thesis is a semester long research work that you do in a university. You will have a supervisor (who will primarily monitor your work and give your marks) and a co-supervisor. If you are pursuing your thesis at another university, your supervisor at that university becomes your chief supervisor, You will also have a co-supervisor that will be from BITS who will take care of the formalities like presentations, submission of mid-semester and end-semester thesis report. Otherwise, if you are at BITS, both your supervisor and co-supervisor will be from BITS itself.

In which semester should you go four your thesis?

There can be a number of scenarios that you might be in. Based on that the answers will vary. So, here are the common ones:

 

1. You want to go for your Masters/PhD just after your undergraduate studies:  

In this case, it is always advisable to pursue your thesis in the first semester of your final year. It gives you a number of advantages. It will give a boost to your application in a number of ways. First, by the time you start applying to universities, you will develop some aptitude towards research which will add value to your application, as you will be able to talk about it in your Statement of Purpose. Secondly, if you are performing well, you will get a letter of recommendation from your thesis supervisor and co-supervisor. Thirdly, if your supervisor is impressed by your work, he/she may offer you a PhD position under him or may recommend you to someone he/she knows who is in search of students. 

2. You want to have an year of research experience after you graduate to and then apply for your higher studies:

In this case, my personal advice will be to go for your thesis in the second year. The reason I say this is because you can still continue your work at the same place even after your semester gets over. This will give you a longer time to work with the professor and can result in a good paper which might help you with your application. But there a couple of things you have to watch out. First, if you are pursuing your thesis in a foreign country, you visa status will change since you will no longer be a student of any university after you graduate. If this problem is dealt with appropriately, then second semester is the best time for this particular scenario.

3. No plan of higher studies:

In this case too, you can go for your thesis, preferably in the second semester, since most of the so called ‘dream companies’ and a lot more come in the first semester. Also, you can safely opt out of the thesis option and can go for a company internship (PS2 as it is called in BITS). This will give you two shots for getting a job. Once is the PPO route and the other is while you sit for placements.

When should you start mailing professors for available opportunities?

If you are aiming to go for the first semester, the latest you should start is by the first week of January to apply for the coming semester. That's when I started. But, I would suggest you come in touch with professors during October of the previous year. Some profs might say it is too early, as I know has happened in some cases. But, then ask them if they may have vacancies during your intended period of thesis and also when you should get back to them in the future. The same analogy goes for the second semester also. Mail them during their office hours only. That way your mail may have a higher probability of being read. Also, do not mail them on Saturdays or Sundays or any other holidays. You probably will never get a reply if you do that. If you want to know more about what to write in your mails to increase your chances, do let me know in the comment section, I will post it separately. 

If your mail isn't answered, send a reminder after a week and at max another in the consecutive. If you still don't get a reply, it is a pretty good indication that the prof isn't interested in your work. But, don't get disheartened, there are still a lot of other profs who might have openings in their research group. 

Should you apply to universities in India or apply abroad?

Although this question has been asked to me a number of times, there is a fairly simple answer to it. If you are just concerned about the work, which you should be, it simply doesn't matter where you apply. The key factors that you need to see is the research work of the prof, the kind of papers he/she publishes and how much time you might get to interact with him/her during your thesis. To see the prof's papers, you can always check their google scholar profile. This applies for most cases. If it doesn't, they also have a list of papers on their personal web page or you can also find them on ResearchGate. 

Funding Opportunities

This is one of most important and popular questions asked. How do you fund yourself, especially if you are going to a foreign country. It completely depends on the country and the professor. Do not mention about funding right in the first mail you send. Wait for a reply from the professor. There can be three scenarios here:

• The professor mentions that he/she cannot fund you right in the first reply. In this case, try asking for a partial fund to cover your accommodation at least (which forms the major part of your expenditure) or other living expenses like food, gas, water etc. 

• The professor accepts you but does not mention anything about funding. Ask about it in your next mail and keep negotiating. There is a very good chance that you land up getting a funded thesis.
  

• The professor has funding for a particular project and you get to work on it. That's a jackpot situation where your stay will be funded completely.

 

So, this was an overview of what an undergraduate thesis is and how it is useful. I would like to put in a word of advise. If you are serious about getting a thesis/internship, do not stop yourself from trying to reach out to profs. It may take a lot of mails to get your first reply and that may even be a 'NO'. But as I had mentioned before, there are a lot of professors and universities that do a lot of cool work. Keep on trying. I got the first reply after 25 mails and that was a NO. I had sent around 500 mails till I got my first 'YES'. I know people who have done more. So, don't stop. The process maybe tiring but it pays off. 

If you have anything else to ask, leave me a comment. I am planning to write another post on what happens during an undergraduate thesis when you are abroad. Do let me know if you are interested to know about it so that I can include all the points you wish me to mention. 

Till then, All the very Best and Good Luck!

 

Acknowledgement:

I would like to thank Dr. Pallavi Saxena for helping me to write this post and investing her valuable time.