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Top Tips and Model Questions Recommended by Ex-IIT interns to Help You Secure an IIT internship!
Most engineering students spend endless sleepless nights preparing for IIT, but only a few crack the difficult exam. Internships at IIT open the window for the engineering students who aspired to be a part of the IITs, and it is through this opportunity that a student achieves his or her dream of getting an IIT exposure. They get a golden opportunity to work under the best educators of the country and at the same time get to know about the learning methods in the IITs.The internship experience will not only highlight your resume but also hone your skills in the subject you wish to follow your career.
What kinds of internships are available at IITs? What is the eligibility criterion?
Students pursuing graduate and master’s degrees in maths, physics, engineering, social science, and humanities can apply for internships at IITs in numerous fields in management, research, and engineering fields such as mobile app development, product management, and virtual reality. The span of internships is for 6 to 8 weeks from May to July. It is a paid internship as the interns earn a stipend around Rs 5,000 to Rs 15,000. Let us look through the types of internships available in the IITs and the eligibility criteria: IIT Bombay: They offer summer internships to students who are completing their 3rd year by April/May or are still pursuing 2nd year and are exceptionally excellent in academics. The candidates are shortlisted based on their academic performance and their technical skills. The shortlisted students must sit for an online programming test in C. IITB Research Awards are available for specific research projects. Students who are in the final year of their postgraduate degree and students who are in the 3rd or 4th year of the graduate degree are eligible to apply for the research internships. The selected candidates will have to work full time for six months on the research projects and will be given a stipend of Rs 10,000 per month. The applications begin in August and selected candidates work from December to June with the mentors of IIT Bombay. IIT Delhi: There are two types of internships programs available in IIT Delhi. These are the Global Internship Program in Engineering Design and Innovation in the Electrical Sciences (GIPEDI) and Summer Research Fellowship (SRF). GIPEDI is a program for postgraduate and undergraduate students in Electrical Sciences and qualified engineering professionals. It runs throughout the year in four batches: Jan-May/May-July/July-Dec/Dec- Jan. While in SRF, the graduate students who have completed at least two years of study can help the faculty in IIT Delhi in various research associated projects. This is an 8 to 12 weeks internship program and around 20 students are selected. They are also offered a fellowship of Rs 500/per week. IIT Roorkee: They have a summer internship program, SPARK, where students in 2nd year or the pre-final year can apply for internships. The online registration program starts in mid-January where students can fill in their academic details along with a transcript, a resume, and a research statement describing their motivation and areas of research interest. The span of the internship is around 6 to 8 weeks and is provided with a fellowship of Rs 2,500 per week. IIT Gandhinagar: They have started a summer internship program known as the Summer Research Internship Program (SRIP). Here the students are selected from all over the country and the faculty of the IITs join together and work on the designated research projects. 1st, 2nd or 3rd-year graduate students and 1st-year master’s degree program can apply for the 8-week internship program at IIT Gandhinagar. IIT Guwahati: 3rd year engineering students are eligible to apply for an internship at IIT Guwahati. The candidates will have to visit the websites of the respective departments and fill in the application forms. IIT Ropar: Graduate and postgraduate students in engineering, biomedical, computer science, physics, chemistry, math, humanity, social science can apply for internships in IIT Ropar. It is an internship program spread over 5 to 8 weeks. IIT Hyderabad: Various engineering departments in IIT Hyderabad offer an 8-week long internship program to 3rd year B.E./B.Tech students. The program lasts from May to July. Even the 2nd year students who excelled in academic backgrounds can apply for these internships. The online application for internships begins from mid-Feb, and one can check the websites of the individual departments in IIT Hyderabad.How can you apply for IIT internships?
The procedures for applying for an internship at IIT are given below:
- Online applications: You can check the various departmental websites in an IIT and apply them there. You can also follow the above-mentioned internships program.
- Directly reach the professors: You can directly email all your credentials to the faculty members, who share the same research interests like yours, and request them to hire you as an intern. You can mention your research interest, and explain to them why you want to work on a project, and how your skills can help in the project. The email ids of the professors can be found on the websites of the departments.
- Through the national academy of sciences: You can apply for a 2 months internship program at various IITs through the Indian Academy of Science, Indian National Science Academy, and National Academy of Sciences. The applications start in November and you can submit your academic results along with a cover letter.
- Through various online platforms: There are various online portals where the IITs post their intern requirements. You can apply to these internships by just answering ‘Why they should hire you?’
What happens after you send your applications for an IIT internship program?
After you apply, the IIT begins its selection procedure. The institution goes through your cover letters and statement of purpose. If you are applying for research internships you are evaluated based on your academic performance, your research interests, and your project alignment. The selected students are called for a telephonic/ skype/ face to face interview with the concerned professor. Usually, the interview questions are asked based on your research skills, and your interests. The common types of questions which they ask are:
- Why do you want to work on a particular project?
- How would an internship help you in your career growth?
- What will be your contributions to this project?
- If you been a part of any such project, tell me about it.
Apart from this, the concerned professors also check a student’s technical knowledge in the concerned project. For example, if you have applied in a project on artificial intelligence you will be asked questions on C++, numerical methods, interpolation, extrapolation, Matlab, probability, etc.
A few of the technical questions which are asked in the field of mobile and app development are:
- What are the algorithms for sorting and binary tree implementation?
- Explain recursion.
- What do you mean by a palindrome? Jot down the program for palindrome by means of recursion.
- Find the number of sub-arrays in the permutation of first N natural numbers such that their median is M.
- What is the procedure to implement a stack using a queue?
- What is the best approach to convert a doubly-linked list to a binary tree?
What to anticipate when your internship starts in IIT?
IIT involves a typical case of having fun while learning, which includes long working hours pursued by longer hours of LAN gaming, scrabble, etc. For the research internships program, a research scholar will be appointed as a guide. In the initial days of your internships, you will have to study the research work to understand the intricacies of the project work. When your internship comes to an end, you will have to present the project work in the form of a poster or a presentation.
A list of tips from ex-interns at IIT
- A good CGPA, more than 8.5 will increase your chance of passing through the initial screening.
- Your statement of purpose must include your experiences in previous projects. Your research interest must be mentioned and the reason behind such an interest.
- Before applying for an IIT internship hone your skills and build knowledge on your area of interest.
- For applying for a development role, you can register at Codzilla, and practice similar sorts of problems on coding.
- Study the internship program you are willing to enrol yourself in.
Thus, if you are ready, don’t wait but apply for the program on time.
