Journey of 'Being ISI-an'

ISI life is definitely a colourful one. You will have your study pressure, but besides that it will offer you to live independently. You can participate in various sports and cultural activity. And I can surely tell you, no other institute offer such low investment in education with big returns, be it grabbing a handsome package in a big corporate or reputed university in USA or Europe.

I appeared for M.Stat entrance examination, 2011 and secured a place in the list of selected 15 students for Indian Statistical Institute-Delhi (ISI-Delhi). Indian Statistical Institute is one of the most premier institute in Statistics in India. It is like almost every students goal to do their masters from ISI, post completing their graduation. I have done my B.Sc in Statistics, so opt for M.Stat entrance. The exam procedure is in two folds. First you have to appear for two written exams, happen on the same day. The first exam is Multiple Choice Type and it's based on mathematics completely. The second exam is based on descriptive type and based on statistics. If a student gets higher mark than the cut-off (which is decided by the panel only), he/she will be eligible for a face to face interview. Post that, a student gets selected.

The course offers advance coverage on various statistics topics. All semesters have five courses compulsorily, where as, a student can opt for additional course for their study. First an Second Semester have fixed topics, whereas, in third and forth, you can choose any five courses out of 10-12 course, including few courses, offered by Economics Dept. of ISI. Courses are as follow (my courses):-First Semester:- Real Analysis I, Inference, Design of Experiment, Linear Algebra and Probability I. Second Semester:- Real Analysis II, Probability II, Inference II, Regression, Multivariate AnalysisThird Semester:- Game Theory, Numerical Analysis, Time Series, Statistical Computing, Theory of Finance IForth Semester:- Project, Probability III, Pattern Recognition, Advance Regression, Theory of Finance IIOther M.Stat, ISI-Delhi also offers Master of Science in Quantitative Economics (MSQE) and P.Hd as Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) and Senior Research Fellowship (SRF) in Statistics, Mathematics and Economics.

ISI offers summer project with Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI), which does not provide any stipends. We appear for a 5 days training session in National Academy of Statistical Administration, under MOSPI in Greater Noida. Post training session, we have been assigned a guide who is a senior ISS officer. For each project group, the guide decides a topic on which we have do analysis and have to present with Powerpoint and Document. Total time given for the project is 15 days. Other than MOSPI project, in 2011, Genpact and CITI Bank came for summer internship and offered a stipend of INR 15, 000 per month. Overall, it was 2 month long project.

So in 2010-11 session, placement session started around end of November, post the end semester exam. First company came was Opera Solution, a consultancy firm and they offered a package of 11 Lacs per annum. On Day 1, ICICI Bank came and they offered 9 lacs per annum, which later increased to 12 lacs per annum, before the joining. Next company was EXL Service which offered 7 lacs per annum CTC. Post than Goldman Sachs came, which also offered a CTC of 12 lacs per annum. Then there were companies like HP, NSE, IBM, Cognizant, IKM Investors, which offered around 6-7 lacs per annum package.

As discussed earlier, ISI offers a training programme for M.Stat students with MOSPI. Other than this, on regular intervals, some senior professors visit ISI for talks on various topics. The Economic Dept. have a winter conference during December, where senior Economist from various universities from India or outside India make a visit to give lecture on various topics. ISI-Delhi has their own cultural programme, named 'Anuranan' which is completely sponsored by ISI. Participants are students, faculties, non-teaching staffs and their family members. Since no. of students is not huge, participation are limited to ISI people only.

ISI offers a monthly stipend of INR 5, 000. Hostel room rent is INR 75 per month, also during admission, a student have to pay a security deposit of INR 650 and INR 3000 for hostel and library respectively, which is completely refunded after completion of the course. There is no fee for education, it being a Govt Institute. Mess was governed by the students, a student has to pay monthly INR 2, 000 for all meals.

A monthly stipend of INR 5,000 is provided to all masters students. A Ph.D scholar gets a monthly scholarship around INR 28,000.

We have big well maintained ground for students. Other than that, we have carroms, badminton court, table tennis, volley ball court etc. There is a good gender ratio in the campus. Students are almost from all over India. Overall no. of students including all courses are 50-60, hence everyone knows each other. Everyone are helpful to each other and there is no incidents of intolerance in terms of Religion, Economic Status, Caste, Gender etc.

Each of the students is provided a single room with attached bathroom. Two rooms share one bathroom. Hostel quality is very good. The non-AC hostel room has a bed, almirah, table, chair and a book rack. Since students govern the mess, they select three mess manager each month who has the responsibility of collecting money from each of the students, buying all cooking materials and instruct the cooks what to prepare for the day. I will rate both hostel and mess as 9 out of 10.

Seniors are always helpful and guide a lot during the placement seasons. They are more than helpful when contacted for placement activity. Most of the seniors who are in corporate companies, are working as Business Analyst, Consultant, Data Scientist etc. A lot of students also go to top universities for P.Hd purpose. They also guide the students who want to P.Hd in future. Last year, current students have organized an Alumni meet along with the Cultural programme. Senior students also help during the course time. If we face any difficulty with any course they always ready to help.

The marks structure is well distributed between written exams, assignments, quiz and class tests. Assignment includes both practical and theoretical. Well, ISI being a premier institute and it is not easy to crack, hence study pressure will be always there. But actually, these well distributed pattern helps one not be dependent on a single exam only. Few faculties allow open book exams in end semester exams. Also, some times faculties extend the exam duration also, if requested by students.

All faculties are P.Hd in Stats, Maths or Economics. They have also completed their post doctorate. Most of them have done their Ph.D or post- doctorate from reputed universities from USA or Europe. Teachers are more than helpful, very much approachable and can be reached even after classes also.