Read here!
Account of an Undergrad - first year.
Showing posts with label LSE. Show all posts
Showing posts with label LSE. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Friday, February 22, 2008
My experiences with Statistics
My total earning from tutoring Statistics is 100 pounds now :) The topics that I have taught are:-
1) Regression
2) Hypothesis testing
3) Non - Parametric tests
I am glad that I graduated from ISI and no matter how much I have hated Statistics (and, I still do), the course-work at ISI made me learn some basics of the topic. I have the confidence to read up on stuff and manually calculate everything for my students (and I am being paid 20 pounds an hour :D And, the number of my students is rising exponentially :D :D)!
Come to think of it, who would have thought I would actually tutor Statistics and be paid for it!
Moral:- Money is a good motivation to learn Statistics :P
1) Regression
2) Hypothesis testing
3) Non - Parametric tests
I am glad that I graduated from ISI and no matter how much I have hated Statistics (and, I still do), the course-work at ISI made me learn some basics of the topic. I have the confidence to read up on stuff and manually calculate everything for my students (and I am being paid 20 pounds an hour :D And, the number of my students is rising exponentially :D :D)!
Come to think of it, who would have thought I would actually tutor Statistics and be paid for it!
Moral:- Money is a good motivation to learn Statistics :P
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
fuck-wit-excellente
Here is a piece of conversation between me and a batch-mate of mine. This chap has been in UK since 1993. Lets just call him X for the time being.
X:- So, you are from India?
Me:- Yup [smile]!
X:- I like India.
Me:- Oh! Cool! Have you been there?
X:- Nope. Not yet.
[Pause]
X:- There are lots of Maharajas in India, no? Maharajas and Princes?
ME:- Not any more. That was before independence.
X:- [Pause] [Ponder] Do you have elephants in India?
Me:- Yeah. Loads.
X:- You guys use it as a taxi, right?
Me:- (!!??!?) errr... NO!
X:- [puzzled disbelief] But, I saw it in James Bond movie!
Me:- Thats a Goddamn movie mate! We have the same Taxis as you guys do.
X:- Oh [slightly disappointed]! Do you have snakes in India?
Me:- Yeah. In jungles.
X:- But, there are a lot of them in cities, no? They can come like-this-like-this [makes a slithering movement with hands] to the cities. And, they bite!!!
Me:- Dude! How often do you get to see snakes on the streets of London?
X:- Never seen 'em.
Me:- Precisely! Snakes hardly come to the city.
X:- But this is UK! And, THAT is India.
Me:- Oh yeah?
[I must say, I was getting amused by this guy's hopeless general knowledge. I had no idea that such exhibits managed to survive this world for 23 years and come to LSE as well]
[Awkward silence for a minute]
X:- Do you have loads of crocodiles in India?
Me:- Dude! Now you are pushing it.
X:- No! I want to go to India and swim in Ganges but I am scared of crocodiles.
I ran out of patience by then and told him I will see him later in class.
Another chick. She is British-Bangladeshi. She loves wearing loads of kajal so that she could look like Bipasha Basu (who, as she puts it, is a Bengal-tigress). Exhibit B here has also joined a facebook group titled Bangladeshi doesn't mean Bengali-Muslim, you dumb bitch!!! (note the extra exclamation marks). Fair enough. She is probably disappointed with other people's ignorance.
BUT,
she thinks that all Indians who have come to UK for the first time are "Fresh From Oven". And, everytime she looks at a male Indian postgrad or first year Indian undergrad (even those who were born and brought up in Malaysia/Australia/NZ/Hongkong) she gets a totally romantic feeling of them being village-boys. The other day she casually enquired whether the brands like Vogue and Nike existed in India. After being told that they pretty much do, she said, "But, in India, everyone is so poor!!! How do they manage?"
Well... yup. LSE is quite an interesting place to meet people.
X:- So, you are from India?
Me:- Yup [smile]!
X:- I like India.
Me:- Oh! Cool! Have you been there?
X:- Nope. Not yet.
[Pause]
X:- There are lots of Maharajas in India, no? Maharajas and Princes?
ME:- Not any more. That was before independence.
X:- [Pause] [Ponder] Do you have elephants in India?
Me:- Yeah. Loads.
X:- You guys use it as a taxi, right?
Me:- (!!??!?) errr... NO!
X:- [puzzled disbelief] But, I saw it in James Bond movie!
Me:- Thats a Goddamn movie mate! We have the same Taxis as you guys do.
X:- Oh [slightly disappointed]! Do you have snakes in India?
Me:- Yeah. In jungles.
X:- But, there are a lot of them in cities, no? They can come like-this-like-this [makes a slithering movement with hands] to the cities. And, they bite!!!
Me:- Dude! How often do you get to see snakes on the streets of London?
X:- Never seen 'em.
Me:- Precisely! Snakes hardly come to the city.
X:- But this is UK! And, THAT is India.
Me:- Oh yeah?
[I must say, I was getting amused by this guy's hopeless general knowledge. I had no idea that such exhibits managed to survive this world for 23 years and come to LSE as well]
[Awkward silence for a minute]
X:- Do you have loads of crocodiles in India?
Me:- Dude! Now you are pushing it.
X:- No! I want to go to India and swim in Ganges but I am scared of crocodiles.
I ran out of patience by then and told him I will see him later in class.
Another chick. She is British-Bangladeshi. She loves wearing loads of kajal so that she could look like Bipasha Basu (who, as she puts it, is a Bengal-tigress). Exhibit B here has also joined a facebook group titled Bangladeshi doesn't mean Bengali-Muslim, you dumb bitch!!! (note the extra exclamation marks). Fair enough. She is probably disappointed with other people's ignorance.
BUT,
she thinks that all Indians who have come to UK for the first time are "Fresh From Oven". And, everytime she looks at a male Indian postgrad or first year Indian undergrad (even those who were born and brought up in Malaysia/Australia/NZ/Hongkong) she gets a totally romantic feeling of them being village-boys. The other day she casually enquired whether the brands like Vogue and Nike existed in India. After being told that they pretty much do, she said, "But, in India, everyone is so poor!!! How do they manage?"
Well... yup. LSE is quite an interesting place to meet people.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
On jobs in London city
Certain major differences from Indian job market are:-
1) Campus presentations and NOT campus placements-
The companies come to campus only for presentations and not to recruit. All applications are made online and off-campus. Applications are judged on their merit and then applicants are invited for further rounds of selection.
2) Open market-
...that is, anyone with ANY degree can aply for ANY job. So, do not be surprised if company website mentions a profile of a geography or English literature graduate as an investment banker. As long as the applicant can convince that he/she has the required skill-set, he/she stands a good chance
As a result, the pool is immense and so competition is pretty stiff.
3) Selection process-
A standard procedure is,
Online application---> Numerical and verbal/logical test--->Telephone interview (competency based)/First round of interview---> Assessment Centre---> On rare ocassions, a final round of interview.
Do read up on assessment centres!
4) Work experience prefered
Preferably relevant! Voluntary work also respected but the applicant should be clear about what he/she has learnt from it and how is it useful for the job applied for.
5) Strict guidelines for CV and cover letter
Refer to the college's career services. Basic pointer is, i-banks--> one page CV, consultancies--> two page CV,industry-->refer to the website.
6) Extra-curriculars, team skills and leadership skills a must!
Nobody wants a geek.
7) Excellent communication skills required.
8) Apply early!
Deadlines are sharp and applications are considered on a rolling basis. So, apply early.
9) Huge salaries :)
Banks and consultancies, on an average, offer 35K Pounds basic for analyst positions. Gross might come up to 50-60K depending on the division and firm. Industries offer 25K basic.
10) Where to start?
For i-banks, here!
For a list of all companies, click here!
Refer to this for Europe's top employess.
Cheers!
Shivam
1) Campus presentations and NOT campus placements-
The companies come to campus only for presentations and not to recruit. All applications are made online and off-campus. Applications are judged on their merit and then applicants are invited for further rounds of selection.
2) Open market-
...that is, anyone with ANY degree can aply for ANY job. So, do not be surprised if company website mentions a profile of a geography or English literature graduate as an investment banker. As long as the applicant can convince that he/she has the required skill-set, he/she stands a good chance
As a result, the pool is immense and so competition is pretty stiff.
3) Selection process-
A standard procedure is,
Online application---> Numerical and verbal/logical test--->Telephone interview (competency based)/First round of interview---> Assessment Centre---> On rare ocassions, a final round of interview.
Do read up on assessment centres!
4) Work experience prefered
Preferably relevant! Voluntary work also respected but the applicant should be clear about what he/she has learnt from it and how is it useful for the job applied for.
5) Strict guidelines for CV and cover letter
Refer to the college's career services. Basic pointer is, i-banks--> one page CV, consultancies--> two page CV,industry-->refer to the website.
6) Extra-curriculars, team skills and leadership skills a must!
Nobody wants a geek.
7) Excellent communication skills required.
8) Apply early!
Deadlines are sharp and applications are considered on a rolling basis. So, apply early.
9) Huge salaries :)
Banks and consultancies, on an average, offer 35K Pounds basic for analyst positions. Gross might come up to 50-60K depending on the division and firm. Industries offer 25K basic.
10) Where to start?
For i-banks, here!
For a list of all companies, click here!
Refer to this for Europe's top employess.
Cheers!
Shivam
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
On ISI and ₤$€
This post is a compare-and-contrast between Indian Statistical Institute - Bangalore and The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE ≡ ₤$€).
[The writer of this post has a B-Math (Hons) degree from the former institution and hopes to have an MSc in Applicable Mathematics degree from the latter by this year end.]
The possible destinations for a B-Math student would be Masters in - Applicable Mathematics, Statistics, Risk and Stochastics, Operations Research, Operations Research (Decision Sciences). Nothing is stopping one from applying for a degree in Economics/Finance but, I think, B-Math does enough to ensure that one will not think about these options when one is applying.
I, being a Dept of Math student @ The LSE, will talk about the MSc - App. Maths course only. The details about other courses can be provided on request.
So, here goes...
To begin with, there is a lot of differences between living in Central London and living in Muthurai Nagar and, beleive-it-or-not, these factors do have an immense effect on your academic performance! So, its a bit difficult to point out all the causes, their interdependence and the overall effect. I shall point out two concrete ones:-
Standard of teaching:- Click here! The standard of teaching varies immensely over departments and within the departments. One advantage that ISI has is one can walk into a prof's room anytime and ask doubts. Here, you get one hour per week. The coursework is presented in the form of lcetures and classes. "Lecture" means the professor coming and well...lecturing! Hand-outs and assignment sheets are distributed. Be prepared to meet a guy whose accent you cant make sense of or who is too lost to pay attention to what the students are talking about. The "classes" where assignment sheets are discussed, are a platform to discuss ideas and so on. But, not very helpful. But, of course, some of the teachers are simply brilliant. So, the deal is how will one know who is good and who is not? Well... Here, you have almost a month to decide on your course. During that period, you can go and attend lectures by various professors and make up your mind, which I would say is not too bad. The only thing is, level might go down gradually as the term progresses. In fact, do not be surprised if you end up wasting one hour of your class-time learning differentiation-by-first-principle (That after you have just covered Ito-integrals in the previous lecture) The level of studets varies immensely depending on the country and background they are from.
In short, its all about what you make out of the opportunities. Make an aware decision, decide what you want from the course and degree and after that, things aren't difficult at all. (DO NOT join LSE if you wish to take up research in pure mathematics. Go to Imperial Maths Department!)
Extra-Curricular Activities:- There are a lot more opportunities to gain experience. Various student socities organize a variety of programs (from cultural shows to business games to enterprenual challenges) and its upto students to participate in them. This is one of the major deciding factors in job-selection procedure. The companies have no place for plain nerds. One has to excel in different walks and demonstrate diversity and excellence. The international student body and the diversity of opportunities that one offers are an excellent platform to learn a few improtant things like team-skills, communication-skills etc which go a long way in helping one survive in a global business scenario.
Most probably, an ISI student will have trouble adjusting for first couple of months, but, if one chooses to, one can have the time of one's life and take away certain things one is bound to miss out on having spent one's undergraduate years in an elite-yet-isolated institute like ISI. Such a role-change is definitely challenging, but, after spending one - term at this college, I would say, its worth it! And, definitely interesting as well :)
Cheers!
Shivam
[The writer of this post has a B-Math (Hons) degree from the former institution and hopes to have an MSc in Applicable Mathematics degree from the latter by this year end.]
The possible destinations for a B-Math student would be Masters in - Applicable Mathematics, Statistics, Risk and Stochastics, Operations Research, Operations Research (Decision Sciences). Nothing is stopping one from applying for a degree in Economics/Finance but, I think, B-Math does enough to ensure that one will not think about these options when one is applying.
I, being a Dept of Math student @ The LSE, will talk about the MSc - App. Maths course only. The details about other courses can be provided on request.
So, here goes...
To begin with, there is a lot of differences between living in Central London and living in Muthurai Nagar and, beleive-it-or-not, these factors do have an immense effect on your academic performance! So, its a bit difficult to point out all the causes, their interdependence and the overall effect. I shall point out two concrete ones:-
Standard of teaching:- Click here! The standard of teaching varies immensely over departments and within the departments. One advantage that ISI has is one can walk into a prof's room anytime and ask doubts. Here, you get one hour per week. The coursework is presented in the form of lcetures and classes. "Lecture" means the professor coming and well...lecturing! Hand-outs and assignment sheets are distributed. Be prepared to meet a guy whose accent you cant make sense of or who is too lost to pay attention to what the students are talking about. The "classes" where assignment sheets are discussed, are a platform to discuss ideas and so on. But, not very helpful. But, of course, some of the teachers are simply brilliant. So, the deal is how will one know who is good and who is not? Well... Here, you have almost a month to decide on your course. During that period, you can go and attend lectures by various professors and make up your mind, which I would say is not too bad. The only thing is, level might go down gradually as the term progresses. In fact, do not be surprised if you end up wasting one hour of your class-time learning differentiation-by-first-principle (That after you have just covered Ito-integrals in the previous lecture) The level of studets varies immensely depending on the country and background they are from.
In short, its all about what you make out of the opportunities. Make an aware decision, decide what you want from the course and degree and after that, things aren't difficult at all. (DO NOT join LSE if you wish to take up research in pure mathematics. Go to Imperial Maths Department!)
Extra-Curricular Activities:- There are a lot more opportunities to gain experience. Various student socities organize a variety of programs (from cultural shows to business games to enterprenual challenges) and its upto students to participate in them. This is one of the major deciding factors in job-selection procedure. The companies have no place for plain nerds. One has to excel in different walks and demonstrate diversity and excellence. The international student body and the diversity of opportunities that one offers are an excellent platform to learn a few improtant things like team-skills, communication-skills etc which go a long way in helping one survive in a global business scenario.
Most probably, an ISI student will have trouble adjusting for first couple of months, but, if one chooses to, one can have the time of one's life and take away certain things one is bound to miss out on having spent one's undergraduate years in an elite-yet-isolated institute like ISI. Such a role-change is definitely challenging, but, after spending one - term at this college, I would say, its worth it! And, definitely interesting as well :)
Cheers!
Shivam
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
