Planning for Ph.D - Things to keep in mind (Part-1)

IITs have started inviting application for their Ph.D programme and within next few months IIMs and other B-Schools would be doing the same for their Fellow programme (equivalent to Ph.D). My inbox is filling with many queries from aspirants. This series of posts is an attempt to answer them publicly for the sake of a larger audience.

Q. IITs or IIMs - Which is better?

Ans. Never judge IITs/IIMs with their B.Tech/MBA programmes. Picture is so complex when it comes to research. Let me give you some examples.

• Based on research quality, Operations Management Group at IIT Madras is ranked in top-20 in the world. The only two Indian professors, who have been consistently ranked in top 15 POM (production and operations management) researchers in the world are from IITs (IIT-M and IIT-Kgp).
• If you want to do research in Neuromanagement (e.g. Neuroeconomics is a hot area and attracting many researchers), don't look at anywhere, you better go to IIM Ranchi.
• When it comes to Game Theory (Economics), then ISI Delhi, IISc Bangalore, etc. are far ahead of any other Indian institutes. Life is beyond IITs/IIMs also

So, instead of asking "Apple or Banana - Which is better?", you better ask "which vitamin do I need and what is the best source of that?". Therefore first decide your research area, shortlist some of the institutes, go and meet scholars working there, talk to them, even talk to professors also before you come to the conclusion.

Q. My CGPA, CAT score, work ex are XYZ - What are my chances?

Ans. There is no universal formula which can be applied to all institutes. CGPA, CAT score, work ex do matter but the requirement widely varies across institutes and sometime within the same institute across various functional domains. So, if you feel your credentials are above average (be optimistic), then go ahead and apply.

If your credentials are below average (less than 60% marks, score of less than 85 percentile, no work ex, etc.), then you can still try your luck, if you feel you are good researcher.

will be writing Part-2 shortly....

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No more an MS student - upgraded from MS to PhD

Today, I got upgraded from MS to Ph.D. Now I will be doing a direct Ph.D and I won't get MS degree. Following is the eligibility criteria for upgradation:

1. Your CGPA should be more than 8 on 10 point scale.
2. Your research progress should be satisfactory (e.g. you would have published some papers, etc.)
3. Your research guide and other GTC members should be convinced about your reason for upgradation and your potential to do Ph.D (they evaluate you in the GTC meeting through your presentation).

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My First International Conference Experience - SING9, Spain

My paper presentation was scheduled on July 10, 2013 (the 3rd day of the conference) at 8:45 AM. I reached at the conference venue (Centro Social Novacaixagalicia) at 8:40 AM. The presentation was in a small auditorium on the 3rd floor. I introduced myself to the chair of the session and started the presentation. There were approx. 50-60 researchers in the audience. Initially I was a bit nervous after seeing the person like Prof. Laszlo Koczy, one of the best researchers in cooperative game theory, sitting in the audience, but once I started speaking, I felt relaxed. I finished my presentation within 22 minutes and I had 3 minutes remaining for Q&A. There was only one question from the audience which I answered satisfactorily. After the session got over, I had a discussion with Prof. Koczy on my research problem for 10-15 minutes, which made my day.

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My First Paper Got Accepted at SING9 Conference

Today, I got the notification of acceptance of my research paper for presentation at the 9th Spain-Italy-Netherlands Meeting on Game Theory (SING9) conference to be held in Vigo, Spain in the month of July this year. I am very excited to attend the conference and meet researchers in the area of game theory. Here I want to mention that IIT Madras provides grant of Rs. 1.25 Lakhs for attending an international conference. So funding is not a problem, if you are at IIT Madras. Now it's time to start running here and there for necessary formalities to receive the grant and apply for visa.

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Changing My Research Problem

Last month, I was assigned my researcher supervisor. He had a well defined research problem in the area of Contract Theory and based on our preliminary discussions I decided to work on that. My General Test Committee (GTC) has been constituted and my zeroth GTC meeting will be on June 14, 2012, in which I would have to defend my research proposal on relational contracts. So I had already started reading research papers in this area. Meanwhile I attended a talk on cooperative game theory, given by none other than my research supervisor. He introduced the topic nicely and also discussed few research problems. After the talk, I went to his office and straight away told him that I want to work in the area of cooperative game theory and not on relational contracts. Initially he was not convinced because changing a research problem is not a good idea, but later he agreed. So I was once again back to square one. Before defining the new problem, I had to first study the basic concepts of game theory and so my research journey started with the self study of following reading resources:

• [Book] Multiagent Systems: Algorithmic, Game Theoretic and Logical Foundations by Yoav Shoham and Kevin Leyton Brown.
• [Book] A Course in Game Theory by Osborne and Rubinstein.
• [Book] Real Mathematical Analysis by Charles Chapman Pugh.
• [Lecture Notes] Cooperative Games by Stephane Airiau, ILLC-University of Amsterdam

I had been reading some research papers also by Laszlo Koczy, Lucas and Thrall, Myerson, etc., but I found it difficult to comprehend. Finally with the help of my research supervisor, I defined my new research problem which is about developing a solution concept for the stability of cooperative games with externalities.  

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Choosing My Research Guide

Almost three months are over and I am still not able to decide whom to choose as my research guide. Today I talked to almost all faculties in Operations. Now, I have to give 3 names as my guide's preference and the final name will be decided by the HoD, which is usually the one whom you have given your first preference. According to S. E. Widnall, past president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science - "The adviser is the primary gatekeeper for the professional self-esteem of the student, the rate of progress toward the degree, and access to future opportunities". Generally, the following points should be kept in mind while choosing a guide.

• What is your research area? Does it match with the research area of the professor? If there are more than one such professors, see who is having a well defined research problem. Because an already well defined research problem will save your time. - This should be the most important criteria.
• How are his past students performing? What is his expectations from his students in terms of no. of journal papers? How much time his past students have taken to graduate? Some professors have inherent tendency of delaying your degree irrespective of how good you are doing. It is always good to avoid such professors.
• Should you choose a senior professor or a very young assistant professor? - Now there is a trade-off. Young professors usually give more time to you, they will be helping a lot and be very friendly to you. Senior professors are so busy and inaccessible, that most of the time you will be feeling helpless. Depending upon their reputation, their research expectations from you will be very high and it further increases your pain. However, senior professors always have very good contacts and it will be very easy for you to get a good placement after graduation, which is a bit difficult in case of working with an young professor.

Now I think I have done enough research on this, it's time to finalize the names. I am going to submit the 3 names tomorrow in the HoD Office.

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MS (by Research) in Management - IIT Madras

Department of Management Studies, IIT Madras is perhaps the only institution in India, which offers MS (by Research) programme in management. The following write-up is based on my experience as an MS student at the department.

About the Programme

It is a post graduate, a specialized research oriented degree. It is very much different from MBA which is a taught programme. In this programme, apart from the course work, students also work on a thesis and publish their work in reputed journals and refereed conference proceedings. Duration of the programme varies from 1.5 years to 3 years. After completion of the degree, a majority of students go for  PhD, while some of them opt for campus placement.

Admission Process

You have to write any graduate level competitive exam like CAT/XAT/MAT/GATE/GRE/GMAT. Based on your score in any of these exams and your overall academic profile, you will be shortlisted for the next process which includes two rounds of interviews. First round is technical, which is completely based on your proposed research area. In this round you may have to defend your research proposal also, if asked. This is a screening round because a bulk of the candidates are rejected at this stage and very few are shortlisted for the next round which is personal interview. Final result is based on your performance in the interviews. Your academics and score in a competitive exam has no role in the final selection.

After Joining

Once you join, you have to undergo coursework. As per the credit requirement for coursework (16 credits), one has to complete 5 core courses and 3 elective courses, but you are free to take as many courses as you want, if your guide permits. After 2-3 months into the programme, you will have to choose your research supervisor and your supervisor will constitute a general test committee (GTC). By the end of the 1st semester, you have to propose your research problem to the GTC. So you will be parallely doing your research work along with the course work. Here some students continue doing coursework for 1.5 years and put less effort in the research work. As a result they take around 2.5-3 years to complete the degree. It is suggested that instead of taking extra courses, the major focus should be research. Publication in refereed conference proceedings and peer reviewed journals is not mandatory for MS, but almost every student does that. The main reason is that it gives your thesis reviewer an impression that your work is good enough and hence your thesis is accepted easily.

Financial Assistance

If you are admitted in HTRA category (e.g. through GATE exam), you will be given Rs.8000/month. A financial assistance of Rs. 1.5 lakhs is available for attending an international conference and Rs. 10,000/year for attending conferences in India.

Life during MS at DoMS

I will divide the life of an MS at DoMS into two parts: during coursework & after coursework. 

When you are doing coursework, the life is hectic. Usually a day starts with attending lectures with MBAs at 8am. Almost everyday, you will have to be ready for a number of assignments, case studies, surprise quizzes, etc. Some courses which are offered only for research scholars at DoMS and some courses which are offered in other departments of IIT (e.g. Maths or Computer Science Department) are helpful from research point of view, otherwise MBA courses are not of much help. Depending upon your GTC recommendation, you do take those courses also which require very serious effort for getting good grades. You will also be doing some part time work in library and other HTRA duties, if assigned.

Once your coursework is over, life is too easy. You are given complete freedom to do your research work. You will have 24x7 access to the lab. There is no compulsion of 85% attendance. Depending upon your research supervisor, you will be meeting and updating him/her about your research progress once in a week or two weeks. You will also be working towards publishing your work or sending a paper in a conference. If you work as a TA (teaching assistant) with a professor, then sometime you will be taking lectures for MBAs or B.Tech students, correcting quiz papers, conducting tutorials, etc.

Overall, I must say it's a very enriching experience.

Towards the End of the Programme

Once you complete around 1.5-2 years, you have two important things to do - (1) Publish your work. (2) It depends on your career plan after MS. If you want to go for a PhD degree, write GRE/GMAT and start applying to the universities of your choice. If you want to opt for industry job, then prepare yourself for the campus placement. MS has its own merits and demerits for industry job. Placement usually happens with MBAs at the department level and with other PGs at the institute level. At IIT Madras, a regular taught programme like MBA or M.Tech is more preferred by recruiters than a research programme like MS for a generalist profile. However, for a specialized profile some companies give priority to MS students, but the number of such companies visiting the campus is very less. 

After MS

This programme makes you highly competitive in research field. It gives you enough training for a smooth PhD degree ahead. It also equips you with necessary domain skills required for industrial research which an MBA may not have.

Some Suggestions

Entry into the MS programme is said to be easy as compared to MBA. But, getting the final degree is not easy. You have to do research and publish it. Do not join this programme unless you have some interest in research. If your only aim is to get a job in industry, you better try MBA. At IIT Madras, an MS student, if performing well, is given an opportunity to upgrade into PhD. If you want to join for PhD here and since a fresh PhD admission is a little bit difficult, you can first join the MS programme and later upgrade into PhD.

P.S. If you have any further query, write in the comment box below.

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