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@mctvm96 >> Creativity >> How To >> Bio Med Engg.
Bio Med Engg.
A hands-on guide to I. I. T. Bio Medical Engineering

I. I. T. Bio Medical Engineering : Dr. Dennis Kumar ( view bio )

KK had persuaded me to write about the whole I. I. T. Bio Medical Engineering thingy. This is not a how-to article per se. It's just an account of what I've been through to get to IIT Bombay. So without much of delay, here goes.

Basically, I wanted to do anything that did not involve practicing medicine. So I was looking for options. I had always wanted to do something along the lines of engineering, as I always believed, whether true or false, that I had an aptitude for those kind of subjects. So as I was saying, I was on the lookout for other options. Then my father found out that the IITs had a bio-medical engg. program which admitted MBBS graduates. So, I was really excited and tried to get more information. This was back in December 2001.

I visited the IITB site and was in constant touch with my father regarding the admission procedures at IIT bombay and IIT delhi, the two IITs that actually had bio-med programmes (subsequently, I have found out that IIT Madras also has a bio-med program, but I don't think they admit doctors). My father was in constant touch with a professor in IIT Delhi. But IIT Delhi only had a Ph.d program which I wasn't too thrilled about getting into, as I had no idea what it was that I really wanted to do.

So my main focus was on IIT Bombay. But the site was not at all clear as to the requirements. For instance the site said that those seeking admission needed to have either a GATE percentile high enough if they were engineers, or if they were doctors they needed to have qualified for the AIIMS entrance exam. But this was only if they wanted a teaching assitantship. Those who were applying in the self-financed category had to have had at least two years of experience (for doctors the house-surgeoncy was considered one year of experience).

So I was a little dejected. I did not have the sufficient experience and I really did not hope to qualify for the AIIMS entrance exam. I wrote about 4 or 5 emails to various people in the office and to the faculty as well. I got no reply from the faculty. In fact someone from the office was really rude and said that all the info I needed was at the site. Finally after I wrote again a month later I was informed that I should try sending in my application anyway and see what happens.

I really did not have any hope by then and I was planning to drop the whole thing. But by this time I had also applied to Delhi and was practically sure of getting in because that was the impression that my father got after talking to his contact over there. So, I was really preparing for that. But one week before the interview date I got an email saying that I was to report for an interview and a test. I was quite surprised by all this as in the site they had only mentioned an interview. Moreover, the test was going to be a math test.

I had absolutely no idea what kind of test it was going to be. I assumed that it was going to be a JEE style math test and started preparing hard for it. It had been mentioned in the email that the test was going to be held first and those who qualified for it would be interviewed. Then the selections would be based on the interview and the test scores. The test turned out to be too easy, in fact. But to make matters worse again, I thinking that I had somewhat aced it, came out of the exam hall in 15 minutes, only to find that I had made a number of mistakes.

I was really dejected. There were about 20 candidates who wrote the math test and I had placed only 6th overall. I knew that they usually only took a maximum of 5 MBBS candidates and the year before that it was 3 or something. The interview was quite general. There were more questions about my reasons for applying for the Biomed course than any specific ones on the subjects themselves. I was asked about some biomedical applications in clinical medicine like PETs, functional MRIs, EEGs and all that. Then I was asked about my interests and some research ideas. I told them something really corny (or so I thought at the time), but it turned out that that was what worked in my favour. One of the profs was extremely impressed by my ideas.

So, I thought that the interview came off well enough. But, it was still touch and go. In about 3 days the names of all those who had been selected was put up. I had a nasty shock when I saw that my name wasn't on the list. But then I noticed that no doctors name was on it. So I called them and Oh Frabjous day. Callooh! Callay! I found that I had been selected. The rest, as they say, is history. Of course, I guess I should also mention that in the middle of all this I went to Delhi to attend the interview for Ph.d and was thoroughly humiliated because they were of the opinion that MBBS people, who had had not lab training of any sort was totally unfit to do a Ph.d in biomedical engg. Why they took my application money then, I still do not know.

Ok guys, I know that this is not what you wanted. It is long and too personal. But, if you want anything clarified you can always write to me.

Dr. Dennis Kumar Sasikumar

(Did this article help you in anyway? Do you need further information on some points? Feel free to write to Dennis and the webmasters about this article.)


This page was last updated on 8 August, 2003 10:48 PM .
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