Lessons for Life #3

Third one says that your attitude matters the most. Any day is defined as good or bad not by itself but by your attitude. If your attitude towards it is positive then it will be a good otherwise it will be bad.

So have a positive attitude each day to define all days as good.

Have a good day.

Lessons for Life #2

Now according to this one everything happens for a reason and all the different types of people we met in our life give us one thing or the other be it happiness by a good person, an experience from the bad one, a lesson for the rest of our life by the worst person or the memories we take on with ourselves blessed by some of the best people we meet down the journey of our life.
So never blame anyone for we can learn from anybody and these all makes us the identity we form over the period of time.

Bbye. Have a great day. :)

Lessons for Life #1

My new sections begins today where I will post photos for you guys to learn new lessons for life....!!
Here comes the first one.

 "Everyday is day ONE- The new day for the rest of your life and that day you choose what to start, what all needs to be ended and the things you need to continue to finish them in coming time".

Start your day with happiness. You owe it to yourself. :)

New Phase of life Begins..!!

Hey there..I am back.

Finally I have reached US. The new phase of life has begun. I reached US on 28th july and now it has been around a month. The culture here is completely different when compared to homeland India. The daily life here is marked by strict laws and rules that are boon to the lawful citizens and bane to others making it one of the best locations for living.

The life experience till now has been great. I stayed for 2 weeks in California at my uncle's after which i came to Gainesville, Florida to pursue my masters from University of Florida. Till now I have attended 3 orientations and thus got familiar with the normal lifestyle and the student life here. Classes will start on 25th. So I am all geared up for it.

Will update you guys soon and from now on I am starting a new section- "Lessons for Life". Be prepared for it and keep reading my blog. Cheers.

Bye. 

A Recap

Its been long since i wrote last. I hope nobody was waiting. (:P)

So I've completed my B.Tech from NIT Jalandhar in Instrumentation and Control Engineering (ICE) recently. Coming over to MS, I got 2 admits from University of Texas at Dallas(UTD) and another from University of Florida(UFL). I applied to 10 universities and therefore got 8 rejects. I thought of getting at least 4 admits, but got only 2. After my first admit from UTD, I thought it’s the first and the last one. But on 21^st May I got my second admit from UFL which is far better than UTD. So I was happy and thought that now I can definitely go to US for pursuing Masters.

8^th semester was different from other semesters in the way we lived it. Those were last few days of our college life and it was difficult to believe that we all be on our own after this semester and parting our ways. So, we enjoyed a lot for those days were not going to come back. Our first class party was organized of the B.Tech, though very few students turned up. After that a series of day started on which we were to follow different dress codes like black color on one day, blue on other etc. Then the week of “Farewell” started just before our final end semester exams of B.tech. Some branches had there farewell before the start of end semester and others after that. The farewell of my branch was before exams on 1^st May. All were dressed up beautifully including me of course (:P). The juniors really worked hard to give us the farewell we got.

Then came the final exams that we were to give in order to complete our degree. Though it was feeling odd as they were the last exams but we managed to study above average which we were proud of once we got to know the grades. I needed around 8.27 sgpa in order to keep my cgpa at 8.41, which is 80%. But surprisingly I got 8.95 as the sgpa and so my final cgpa of the B.Tech came out to be 8.57. Now I think that teachers were lenient to the outgoing batch. After the exams were our practicals and the major project. We also happened to celebrate the “Scribble Day” where others are to write a message on ones shirt. That was fun and it ended up with messages being written on our faces.

The labs were easy to face, but all the students were afraid of the Major Project Presentation as it was to be taken by the externals that came from other NITs. Our group, having 4 students apart from me, too was worried because it (Fuel Quality Monitoring System for Vehicles) was not working properly and even on the final day it started to give random readings though we were able to get accurate readings just the day before. So we were frustrated and finally having a look at the connections made us realize that one connection was loose. Working on that we were able to get better results even though they were not as good as the day before, but still Externals were happy with us and asked us to publish news about our project in the newspaper. We were thrilled and happy that the presentation went well and the grades told the same.

Then gradually the days came when one by one students starting leaving the college behind and stepping in this another world. Mine was 30^th May. My family came to get me and my friends wrote their wishes and ranjan(my classmate) compiled it and gave to me. The messages were awesome. Though ranjan tried hard that I cry after reading those messages before leaving but was unsuccessful.

Finally I got home with great memories of the 4 years of B.tech. Then I started to prepare financial documents which were to be submitted to the University of Florida so that they can issue me I20 form. After a week or so I send them the CFR form and then I was told to fill a student form online which could help I20 to reach me at my home. But just after that I was to go to Kolkata to give an interview in “Voith Paper Technology” for the position of GET. I wanted to keep a backup in case anything went wrong with the VISA process. I gave the interview and it went good according to me, but it was my first interview also. For now I’m on the waiting list and will get my final result in a weeks’ time.

When came back to Delhi I quickly started the VISA application process. And here I’m today with my VISA approved. That was a lot easier than I actually thought. I got admit from UFL on 21^st May and in a months’ time my VISA is approved. The VO only asked 3-4 questions and next VO told me that My VISA is approved. It was just the matter of 30 seconds only. I was on cloud nine at that moment.

Now I’m ready to explore US and pursue MS from there.

Bye for now. Will come back soon. Enjoy (y)

A Hat-trick...

In the morning of 27th March, Thursday, I woke up around 7 and was hoping to see the decision from any university as I was informed via mail by few university that the decisions on application would be released by the end of march. So, having in mind that the end of march is near, I opened my mail and found out that I woke just to see my first reject. Although this reject, from University of Washington-Seattle(UW), was just the confirmation as I was told on 14th February that all the admits have been sent out and the rejects will be sent by mid-April.

But the main hitting came in the afternoon. I was eating lunch and checked mail before it because of this habit of me checking mail after every 15-20 minutes. The newest mail was from University of California, Los Angeles(UCLA) graduate studies department. It said that decision on my application has been made and I can see it by going to the link mentioned in the mail. I opened the portal and the words "Show Decision Letter" were there to take me to another link which came as a shock with my 2nd reject. In my mind somewhere, while jumping from one link to other then again to final one, I was convinced that UCLA graduate studies will offer my an admission, all in vain though. I was dishearten for the rest day and at the end of the day I made my mind believe that it was indeed an ambitious university.

The very next day in the morning, after I woke up, in the bed itself I opened my mail to check any new mails. And there it was, a mail from University of California, San Diego(UCSD). I didn't opened it for about half an hour and continuously told to myself that it has to be my first admit. But that also ended in disappointments with the third REJECT in a row.....a hat-trick...

Now lets wait and watch what the next University has in it for me...it better be a admit.

Bye, and I will come back soon with my first admit. Have fun.

Columbia Interview

 

This was my first interview for I applied to Columbia University for pursuing MS in electrical engineering.
I got mail from their side on 25th feb' 2014 for the interview and was excited for the same. The mail said me to fill in the form via google docs which would hold the date and times appropriate according to me. I filled it and starting to think what would they ask, could I get into an IVY-League university, was I only one step behind etc.
Then I collected things required for the interview: a laptop with nice webcam, a dongle for internet connectivity and of course a formal shirt. Getting all these things I was again thinking for all those questions.

Then the time slot allotted to me i.e 10am to 12pm EST or 8.30pm to 10.30pm according to IST came. I started my friend's laptop and connected the tata photon device given to me by my junior. I called them 5-6 times via skype but it seemed busy. Then around 9pm i got their call and picked it. On the other side was a lady and we greeted each other. Then a lady started to ask questions and I started to answer them. The conversation is as follows.

Q1: Please confirm your first and last name.
Ans: My first name is Manmeet and last name is Khurana Ma'am.

Q2: Tell me something about yourself.
Ans:  My name is Manmeet Singh Khurana, i was born and brought up in Delhi. Currently I'm pursuing b.tech from NIT Jalandhar.(was too short)

Q3: What do you do for fun?
Ans: For fun, i read novels and do blogging. To blogging she asked what type of blog. I said that i write 2 blogs. One where i share my life experiences(this one only) and other in joint venture with my friend where we write about technological advances.

Q4: How do you feel studying at NIT Jalandhar?
Ans: I feel great here at NIT Jalandhar. Its in punjab and I'm a sikh by religion. So I like it here and my experience while pursuing B.tech all these years here has been wonderful.

Q5: Why have you chosen Columbia for MS?
Ans: I have applied to Columbia for its an ivy league university, oldest in NY, fifth oldest in US and have great faculty, research centers and lab. So it would be great for me.

Q6: Why have you applied for MS in Electrical Engineering?
Ans: Ma'am my branch here at NIT Jalandhar is Instrumentation and Control Engineeirng. And the subjects i have studied here in this branch are very much related to Electrical Engineering, so I would like to specialize in Electrical Engineering only.

Q7: What will you do after MS?
Ans: After MS i will be pursuing Phd from there only.

Q8:  In which all companies do you see yourself in after few years?
Ans:  Few years from now I will be in research or in companies like National Instruments, ABB etc.

Q9:  Who will fund your education?
Ans: Funding for MS will be done by my parents.

Q10: Have you ever been to US?
Ans: I have never been to New York or US.

Q11: Have you gone outside India?
Ans: I haven't gone outside India, but have traveled in various cities in India and also down south as well as east.

At last she said that i would be notified by mail in a week or two about the final decision about my application and asked if there are any questions from my side.
I took the opportunity and asked them a question(otherwise it would have seem awkward).

Q: How many time does it take for one to complete MS there, is it required to be 2 years exact?
Ans: No, its not like that. It mainly depends on the students and in general students complete it in or under 1.5 years.

Then at last I greeted her good day and said bbye.
Now lets see whats it gonna be from their side: YES or NO.
Keeping my fingers crossed.
Bbye to you folks.