Iima Pgp Prep

Since childhood, I have always been driven by two instincts – curiosity and the desire to achieve. I studied in Patha Bhavan High School, Kolkata, where I consistently earned one of the top 3 ranks each year from classes V through XII (1998-2005), among 250 odd students. As a young student, I took a keen interest in Mathematics. I participated in the state-wide Achievement cum Diagnostic Tests, conducted by the Centre for Pedagogical Studies in Mathematics (CPSM), West Bengal each year from 1998-2003, earning the highest possible grade, A++, in two consecutive years (1999-2000). In 2003 I also won state-wide 1st rank in the annual Math quiz contest organized by the CPSM.

A highly ambitious and goal-driven individual, I went on to earn 4th rank in the state, (1st among girls,) in West Bengal Joint Entrance Examination, in 2005 out of the 50,263 candidates. In 2005 I joined the Electronics and Telecommunication department of Jadavpur University – the most sought after engineering department in West Bengal at the time. In spite of the stiff competition, I managed to maintain a GPA of 9+ out of 10 in 7 out of 8 semesters, graduating with a 3rd rank in my class. I also received the prestigious D. Mukherji memorial gold centred silver medal upon graduation.

It was in my engineering days that I first got an opportunity to formally develop and test new ideas, in the form of research projects under the guidance of Dr. M K Naskar, professor of Electronics and Telecommunication, Jadavpur University. We studied energy dissipation patterns of sensor nodes in wireless sensor networks through extensive MATLAB simulations and attempted to devise optimal inter-node communication algorithms to maximize network lifetime. This project culminated into a series of four papers presented in various national and international conferences, including one which was presented in an IEEE-sponsored international conference (2007), and is now available online through IEEE Xplore.

During these years of graduation, I gained experience of the various facets of the academic research process such as literature survey, research question formulation, theoretical and empirical model development, testing of the same using software simulation or analytical methods, conventions of writing an academic paper, presentation and communication of results in a conference etc. These are key skills that I think would come in extremely handy as I look to develop a research career in economics.