Not much to say! We have a reputation when it comes to manufacturing mathematicians. For starters, I would suggest this link from Vipul Naik's homepage. Vipul has a very descriptive style of writing and he provides useful links as well. So, shouldn't be a problem. This page here talks about the basic stuff grad schools look for and basic details about GRE, TOEFL etc.
For a list of Unis offering PhD programs in Mathematics, click here!
For an insight into grad life, click here!
Cheers!
Shivam
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
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
New Year Celebrations in London!
Click here!
I was there with 40,000 other people. Simply breath-taking :)
I was there with 40,000 other people. Simply breath-taking :)
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
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Christmas Time!
I went to St Paul's cathedral for midnight Christmas mass and listened to the Bishop of England furiously demeaning Science and urging the humanity to be meek and receive the Lord in them or whatever :P There were a bunch of us. If at all there was anyone at peace there, it was Sid anna! Smashed on half a bottle of whiskey, anna snored through the sermon. Haha! Typical budhu anna! Most of us snored through the sermon or admired the amazing architecture. Apparently Prince Charles and Princess Diana got married in this particular church.
Today is the X-mas day and the city has come to a standstill. No shops open! No public transport! Christmas tree and lights all over :) Time to roast the turkey and drink and be merry! We have a potluck tonight. Around 20-30 of us getting together, bringing food and will meet up, eat and then hit the streets!
AND, tomorrow is BOXING-DAY! Amazing sales all over London city. Up to 70-80% price slash! Amazing stuff and cheap :)
So the job hunt can wait! Time to forget everything and be happy :)
Wishing a Merry Christmas to all my friends and good luck to all my juniors who are applying to Universities for MSc/PhD.
Congos to Goo-rub for getting into LSE with Graduate Merit Award!
BTW, I got a 10 week internship with Barclays Capital for summer. I will be working as a risk-analyst. Its paid :)
Alrighty! Off I go to cook for tonight's bash! :D
Today is the X-mas day and the city has come to a standstill. No shops open! No public transport! Christmas tree and lights all over :) Time to roast the turkey and drink and be merry! We have a potluck tonight. Around 20-30 of us getting together, bringing food and will meet up, eat and then hit the streets!
AND, tomorrow is BOXING-DAY! Amazing sales all over London city. Up to 70-80% price slash! Amazing stuff and cheap :)
So the job hunt can wait! Time to forget everything and be happy :)
Wishing a Merry Christmas to all my friends and good luck to all my juniors who are applying to Universities for MSc/PhD.
Congos to Goo-rub for getting into LSE with Graduate Merit Award!
BTW, I got a 10 week internship with Barclays Capital for summer. I will be working as a risk-analyst. Its paid :)
Alrighty! Off I go to cook for tonight's bash! :D
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Thanksgiving and Winter
So guys, next week we'll be getting Thanksgiving holidays and the sem is also gonna end in a month or so.
What are your plans for these vacations?
Myself, I am going to my brother's place for Thanksgiving and flying to San Fransisco for winter to my sister's place.
Sister has already planned a lots of things.
They've booked a car for rental and we'll be going to Lake Tahoe for skiing and also to Los Angeles, from where we'll going to Hollywood.
So will upload loads of pictures after that trip.
Enjoy!
What are your plans for these vacations?
Myself, I am going to my brother's place for Thanksgiving and flying to San Fransisco for winter to my sister's place.
Sister has already planned a lots of things.
They've booked a car for rental and we'll be going to Lake Tahoe for skiing and also to Los Angeles, from where we'll going to Hollywood.
So will upload loads of pictures after that trip.
Enjoy!
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
My Personal Blog
Hey people!
I write here too. I shall continue posting on the BMath blog as well. Mostly pictures (or the links for it) and about various events and whatnot...
Do drop in to my personal page and leave a comment. Please read this before you start browsing the page. Your comments are always welcome.
Until then, keep checking Nair Anna's homepage for pictures.
I understand that everyone is busy with their respective coursework but, guys! do post a bit every now and then or this page will be dead soon. Those of you who maintain a homepage or a blog or a Picassa account, please post the links over here...
Cheers!
Shivam
I write here too. I shall continue posting on the BMath blog as well. Mostly pictures (or the links for it) and about various events and whatnot...
Do drop in to my personal page and leave a comment. Please read this before you start browsing the page. Your comments are always welcome.
Until then, keep checking Nair Anna's homepage for pictures.
I understand that everyone is busy with their respective coursework but, guys! do post a bit every now and then or this page will be dead soon. Those of you who maintain a homepage or a blog or a Picassa account, please post the links over here...
Cheers!
Shivam
Sunday, October 14, 2007
London Pics!
Hello!
I have been very busy trying to settle down over here. Classes have started and these people have the knack of coming up with the craziest of timetables. So, I haven't had the time to sit and write a post. There is a lot to tell you guys. I think I will try and put one long post up by next weekend. For now, follow the link below (Sid's homepage) to check out the pictures :-) (I will post links to the albums of other friends of mine soon!)
http://personal.lse.ac.uk/nair/Site/Photos.html
PS:- Where is the heck is the Europe crowd? And, has Mayank still not figured out how to post on the blog? :-P
I have been very busy trying to settle down over here. Classes have started and these people have the knack of coming up with the craziest of timetables. So, I haven't had the time to sit and write a post. There is a lot to tell you guys. I think I will try and put one long post up by next weekend. For now, follow the link below (Sid's homepage) to check out the pictures :-) (I will post links to the albums of other friends of mine soon!)
http://personal.lse.ac.uk/nair/Site/Photos.html
PS:- Where is the heck is the Europe crowd? And, has Mayank still not figured out how to post on the blog? :-P
Saturday, October 6, 2007
Life in US
Hey, finally got time to take some pictures of my house and post them over here.
Weekly assignments sap my energy and time and I am left with nothing more than enthu to watch One Piece.
So enjoy the pics!
Weekly assignments sap my energy and time and I am left with nothing more than enthu to watch One Piece.
So enjoy the pics!
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
My First Days in US
Hi,
it's nice to get in touch with you guys. I am now in the US. Got over my jet lag and am doing some exploring work today. Americans are nice people, very polite (actually too polite for my liking, ask me, sometimes politeness becomes a bit of a pain in the ass).
My flat-mate is a Korean fellow very nice fellow indeed. He is here for Journalism. What else..... shall let you know of the life here once I have settled down somewhat, now it's too early.
it's nice to get in touch with you guys. I am now in the US. Got over my jet lag and am doing some exploring work today. Americans are nice people, very polite (actually too polite for my liking, ask me, sometimes politeness becomes a bit of a pain in the ass).
My flat-mate is a Korean fellow very nice fellow indeed. He is here for Journalism. What else..... shall let you know of the life here once I have settled down somewhat, now it's too early.
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