Kshitij Agarwal (BB1)
Interned at Vetmeduni, Vienna
Domain: Research - Computational Biology
Mode: Offline
Interviewed by: Rayna Maheshwari
MOTIVATION
I had done two internships in my first year in IIT Delhi. The first one was in summers of the first year under Prof. Aditya Mittal’s lab SCFBio at IIT Delhi. The second intern was during 4th semester which was a remote one in Business from University of Cambridge. After my first internship I was quite interested in academia and especially in biotechnology. Hence I decided to go ahead with a research intern in biotechnology. I especially wanted it to be a foreign intern so that I could get cultural exposure.
APPLICATION PROCEDURE
I went and searched for the World QS ranking. Then I found the faculty of the university and read about their projects. Finally, I started emailing them my CV and cover letter. I introduced many informal things in my cover letter to make it sound friendly to the professors to show them that I'm eagerly interested in working with them. I also wrote personalized mails to every Professor whom I was approaching.
PREPARATION
There was a certain approach which I went with while applying for foreign internship.
I had gotten an LOR for my summer project, as well as from an IIT professor,which I think boosted my profile.I made a very neat and clean CV and personalized my cover letter for every single professor. I think what worked out for me was having a lab experience beforehand. In the mails I used to talk about the professor’s research project and their research papers whichI believe stood out to the professors.
WORK EXPERIENCE
The work experience was amazing.I had to report to the office by 9:30-10 am and I was working there till 5 pm. I had Friday meetings with my professor and the rest of the time I was in my lab particularly. I was working with around four to five people in totality. Though the work environment was quite intriguing but weekly journal hours and academic paper discussion were something which I looked out for. We had snacks in our lab. It was like a house. At 12:30 we had our lunch in a common kitchen. There was a kitchen with all the supplies and we used to prepare our own meals together. Post our lunch we used to go for a relaxing walk for 10-15 minutes and then come back again and work for three or four more hours. At approximately 5-6 PM people started leaving the office. After that I used to explore the city in the first month. In the second month I was preparing for my OCS internship.
CHALLENGES
I lived in Vienna alone for two months and worked on a project. And even though it was a group project, the task I was assigned was something which I had to do alone without seeking help. In fact living alone, cooking alone, managing everything was definitely taxing. Moreover, while exploring few major cities of Europe during my internship for the two months. I found out a lot about myself too. I realized that there are a lot of things which I thought I would like but ended up not liking and vice-versa.
LEARNINGS AND INSIGHTS
My biggest takeaway is probably the foreign lab environment as it's something which could be experienced only on site. Moreover working with some like-minded people from all over the world was definitely an impressive experience.The exposure which I got was worth the efforts which I had put into getting the internship. I would say on the professional front, I had a Foreign intern on my CV which helped me get a shortlist and finally secure my third year intern.
TIPS TO JUNIORS
I would suggest starting the process early. Make a good and clean CV. Take help from your seniors and make sure you try to get an LOR from a professor as it adds brownie points to your CV. Finally try to be passionate while writing your emails as professors get many emails from students so there should be something to differentiate you from the crowd.
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