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
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