Hi Everyone, I hope you all are doing very well :)
I am going to share my journey from my GATE preparation days to being a student of IIT Kharagpur.
Initial Journey:
Let's begin ! My actual name is Akash Debnath (in GO known as SilentClimber :D). I done my B.Tech from a Tier 3 college. After my college ends I was in a confusion what will happen next. From 3rd year I started preparing for GATE from GO Classes with high hopes and full enthusiasm that I will do great result and will go for higher studies at IITs. But there was a twist, I struggled a lot with my syllabus completion and tried to do PYQs parallely but in mock test I never scored good marks. Eventually I didn't qualified in 3rd Year of my college. Instead of giving up I again started preparation for GATE 2024. I given my all but still not managed to get a good GATE marks. I thought that all doors are closed and I might not achieve my dream.
Plan-B and Rest Journey:
After my completion of my BTech I appeared for TCS off campus drive and that year not a single companies came in our campus. Eventually I cracked the interview and got a 7 LPA offer from TCS thanks to my GATE preparation. I was happy but not satisfied as my target not fullfilled yet. I taken and accepted the offer as Plan-B but Plan-A was GATE only. But again a delay of uncertainity and the path in front of me what next. My Joining not came yet and in my home my parents were worried. I talked with them and told them about GATE preparation and I started for 2025. Then in January 2025 my joining came but my revision was not done properly. With the sudden surge of competition in GATE made it quite unpredictable. So, without any risk I joined the job and appeared for GATE taking flight earlier date of examination. With so much travel and less revision made my GATE bad and it hampered my confidence.
Path with small wins and building confidence to redemption:
In 2024, I got to know about research admission and winter admission things. In 2024 winter I applied at IIT Kanpur, IIT Hyderabad and IIT Madras. With just little hope and suddenly I received interview call from IIT H. I appeared for the interviews and gone till final round but not selected. Irony is that with GATE qualified also got Interview call.
In 2025, I applied at IIT Delhi for MS(R) AI at Yadri school of AI in winter and again received written exam call but couldn't appear as my health got badly impacted and also hampered my GATE 2026 preparation. Also, in 2026 but this time it got overlaped with IIT Kgp's written test so couldn't appear.
In 2026 (Year of my Redemption) - Quite magical thing happened, I appeared for GATE 2026 and just got around 400 GATE score and I had no hope anymore. But Earlier from 2025 I got to know about IIT Kharagpur's unique MS admission process which is kind of project to MS admission. I applied in several and got interview calls but failed many times eventually I got selected for one JRF position and after one month I appeared for the MS entrance test. It went quite well and I got interview call. In interview the panel asked from basics of DSA, Digital Logic and also from OS as I told them these were my favourite subjects. Finally I got the offer for MS in CSE.
A dream which seemed quite away suddenly it became reality. God's Plan !
Gratitude:
I am always grateful to my parents without their support I might not reach here. Also, thankful to @Sachin Mittal 1 sir and @Deepak Poonia sir for always helping me and guiding me. I am greatful to GATE Overflow community for all the discussions of PYQs and my concept building. Also, thanks to all for providing so much upvotes to my answers ;D and I'm happy to know that it is helping the aspirants for their preparation.
Final Takeaway:
If you think in GATE high score means it will lead to great opportunities like in top IITs you are wrong. Even if you get just 500 or 500-600 or Qualified the GATE then also you have opportunities just you need to be aware and stay in hunt and follow other routes. IITs throughout the year takes Research admissions (MS/MTech(RA)/PhD) just you need a valid GATE score and rest depends on Written and Interview process. So, don't worry just stay honest with your preparation and go ahead ! IITs do take admissions in winter session for research admissions.
I hope this will motivate all the future GATE aspirant and I am wishing all of you for a great journey. All the best !!
N.B: Writing this blog from the hostel of IIT Kharagpur ;D
