Fests and plans for the future

You know, the period mid-Jan to mid-May is the college fest period. Colleges all over south-India (i guess so) conduct their festivals during this period. Mid-Feb to mid-March is the period when normally MBCET conducts Crossroads. But because of the crises and the issues, and the fights that occurred (both on- and off-campus), the management and the academic heads called off the conducting of the fest. So, March was a month for the first time in MBCET's (short) history that we witnessed no Crossroads. What made it heartbreaking (or so I thought it did) was that the Crossroads that should have taken place would have been conducted by the students of S6, which i represented then. And it was partly our doing that led to it being cancelled. The progress the guys had made since Nov-2007 seemed hugely promising to be the biggest and hugest fest Trivandrum had seen (probably Kerala's second best, after NIT-C's Ragam). It was depressing, since a great deal of effort that was taken by many students (special mention, my classmates: Akhilesh, Alen) had gone in vain.

Many of them got over the disappointment through various avenues. There was Ragam 2008; few from my class had gone. I wanted to return for the 2008 edition because Karthick was performing for the Pro-Show. I'm a fan of Karthick and love the attitude with which he performs. It's somethin I haven't noticed many others have/do. I didn't go; can't seem to remember exactly why. There was some reason. Then there was Broadband, a joint production of MBCET and IEEE. It was a two-day national level seminar/conference. I had gone for the inauguration by Infosys chief Kris (can't seem to recollect his name). It was a good speech. The opening day ended with the cultural evening. That was fun. There were some very good performances that night.

Higher study options - that was what was on my mind. Aerospace studies, masters, abroad. Where abroad was the question that needed an answer to take the right next step. The US was certainly a good destination, as it had such a rich tradition in education, and class and standard in the degree. The UK was certainly not behind; in fact, from some studies it is known that the US and the UK have nearly the same value when it comes to higher study-options. Australia also seemed promising, but the options in Australia are few; also when compared to the above two destinations, it was slightly behind. 

I settled for the US, at least, for the time being. This was probably because of multiple reasons. The movie-influence, i guess. Having seen lots of movies about Americans, the American-way of life, their lifes, the A-dream, and stuff like that, would make anyone go for it, without thinking too much. Besides, and more importantly, the quality of education is great and the degree is of high standard too; also i've got my own uncle and his family there (Florida), another cousin of mine, and other relatives and friends too.

So, to pursue higher education in America I need to satisfy certain requirements. GRE is one of them which requires much preparation. Thus, I began my search for an institute that offers good training for aspiring GRE-takers. You know, one needs at least 1450 on 1600 to be eligible for Ivy-League and other good universities. I visited some of the institutes in Trivandrum and learned of the GRE format, its associated info, and the like.

IMS seemed to be the right one, and I began calculating the process, after studying the calender about the process of studying and appearing for the GRE, the application procedure, and related stuff. I figured I'd join right away or in April and begin preparations and get set by October or so, which is the right time to appear, or so they claimed. After having completed that stage, i could then move on to applying to the universities i should have short-listed by then.

I seemed set on the right path. My folks were always supportive and kept getting all sorts of info regarding these important decisions for me. I had also emailed my cous, Vinod, in Florida, about my queries about the course, universities, life, and the like. He helped a great deal in the formation of my understanding about the system in the US.

My search was not just confined to the US; I had also made significant progress in finding suitable places in Australia and New Zealand. But, I think, those i did in April or so. Actually, I don't seem to remember the happenings of April 2008.

I'll work on that uptil the time I publish the next blog which is due in April.