What significant and unusual educational, social, cultural, economic, or other barriers have you overcome in pursuit of your education? Describe the challenge as well as any unique insights, perspectives or skills you gained while overcoming this challeng

“We couldn’t do it but, we want you to live your dream and make us proud”. I grew up hearing these words from my parents. Due to poor economic conditions of my grand-parents, my parents could not pursue their dreams. This was my first ever motivation to do something big in my life. I feel extremely lucky to have such parents who have allowed me to drive my life in my way. Right from my childhood I have been working extremely hard though my goal was not that clear then, but it started taking a good form as the days passed and now I am crystal clear about what my next step in life should be.

All started from my school days where any task in any subject I would complete that with at most dedication, determination, and hard work. This made all my teachers and friends admire me. I would never restrict myself to the specified syllabus so it was easy for me to help my friends in difficult topics which they could not comprehend in the class. This made me realize that I do have good teaching skills which I have been continuing till date. Science and Mathematics being my favourites made me take up many National level and International level exams and excel in them. “Dream Big”, being my motto about life, would always push me forward. So I started taking IIT classes when I was in my class 9 itself. Being one of the best decisions of my life, this strengthened my knowledge in science and mathematics.

This decision was the precursor for opting Electronics as the major post my High School studies. I feel extremely privileged to have had the best teachers and it is because of them I have been thoroughly enjoying my studies. My school and pre-University lives have made me realize my strengths and weaknesses. It has also helped me to bring out hidden talents namely leadership qualities and teaching skills, which I never thought I could do it. These qualities helped me to get “Best Student” award twice from the school management. On the whole, I have completely enjoyed my school life.

I was dejected when I could not get into my dream Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). But, I firmly believed in the saying “Hard work always pays”. In a state level entrance examination for undergraduate study, I secured 122nd rank among hundred thousand students of my state and this paved an easy path to R V College of Engineering, one of the premier institutions in the country. This is one of the best accomplishments of my life.

I was all excited to study my favorite subject in one of the top colleges. As an undergraduate student, my approach towards studies changed. I started spending more time in labs working on innovative projects. I would always enrol myself in the most challenging courses and would work with the professors whom I felt were most qualified in my areas of interest. I would never settle for lower grades. If I got one, I would go to the professor and ask him how I could improve. This ultimately helped me to strengthen my work. Like me being me, even here I would not restrict myself to just academics. I actively participated in workshops, seminars and was also part of Team Vyoma, which works on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. I was proud to be a part of team Vyoma’s initiative of conducting Aerodynamics workshop in schools and colleges across my city. The team extended its initiative of conducting workshops in remote areas in order to motivate students from rural backgrounds. These activities and projects undertaken at Vyoma have played an important role in developing my leadership and management skills.

Looking at my enthusiasm, one of my professors insisted me to pursue an internship for the better career. So I started applying for internships in various organizations. I was again lucky here as I got internships in IISc under the guidance of prof. K R Ramakrishnan and National Instruments during the summer breaks of 2015 and 2016 respectively. The former provided me a grand experience in signal processing and the latter a matchless one in RF domain.

As an undergraduate, my focus has always been towards the graduate school and continue my studies in Research field. I strongly feel that my life experiences, as well as my commitment to education, will help me to excel in my graduate studies. Without much of self-appraising, I would like to sum-up by saying that my life is driven by ideals, principles, and strong aspirations. I firmly believe that one of the best ways to contribute to and encourage diversity is by sharing experiences, ideas and opinions. An opportunity to study at the University of California, San Diego would be a great culmination to my academic journey and will herald the commencement of the journey to materialize my aspirations.