Strategy to secure an International Thesis/Exchange opportunity

Who is this article for?

• Undergraduate and Graduate students that are about to graduate in 2021 or after AND their universities offer them the ability to write their dissertation in any recognized university abroad.
• Studying engineering OR sciences

I pursued a Dual degree at BITS-Pilani (Physics and Electronics engineering). During my final year of college, I wrote my Masters thesis in the area of Quantum Cryptography at the University of Geneva, Group of Applied Physics. Going from Pilani to Geneva allowed me to expand my professional and personal horizons tremendously.

Why should you think of doing an international thesis in a top research group?

Go deeper into your area of research by picking a Research Group that is doing cutting edge work in your area of focus. Improve your knowledge about the subject matter.

Develop a deeper sense of the ecosystem of research in a different country.

Observe researchers at various levels of seniority and understand the academic and administrative side of research life

Test out for yourself if research (practical or theoretical) is a potential career path. The best way to ascertain if a certain career is for you is to immerse yourself in that milieu by doing the activities of that career path. Remember, if you enjoy the process more than the outcomes (eg. publishing a paper) then you are more likely to be happy in that path. The daily tasks of showing up at the lab, setting up the experiment, patiently collecting data, analyzing it to prove or disprove your hypotheses is what you want to experience and check if it's your cup of tea!

This check will save you a lot of time and effort later down the line. If you follow the herd and apply for a Research Masters/PhD without having tested the waters even a bit then you may not be HAPPY even if you make it to your dream University. eg. GRE, Essays, Recommendation Letters, Networking with College admissions committee and Department, Lab work, Lifestyle of a research student, Expenses, Loans, Pressure for jobs in your area etc.

International exposure: Pushing yourself outside the comfort zone during college is a fantastic way to learn about yourself. I went from Pilani to Geneva in my fourth year of college and it was nothing less than a wonderful cultural experience. Learning French, finding a place to live, making friends from the World over, joining AIESEC to find English speakers and meeting research students from the World over was a wonderful experience that showed me how the World thinks. How does a fellow exchange student from the US/Germany think about their career and test out their hypotheses about professional life?

Diversified network: You will meet new people that you would NOT have access to in your University. Some excellent cross-pollination of ideas can occur when very different worlds come together

Travel opportunities: If you use your time well you can see the World as a student and expand your world view. Travelling through Europe on a train by staying at hostels is one of the highlights of my undergrad life. You will create numerous memories for a lifetime.

Earning and savings habit: I did my thesis on a scholarship from the University of Geneva and managed to save some money that I was able to put towards expenses for my Masters at Cambridge a couple of years later. It was not a lot of money but it started my habit of budgeting, saving, and investing.

How will it help you in your career?

Strengthen your stories for all future endeavors. At the end of the day, life is a series of stories and experiences. Early on in your life is a good time to give yourself the clay to make bricks later on. Your experiences are the clay that you want to accumulate now so that you can make the type of bricks you want in the future and hopefully lay a strong foundation for your home (i.e career).

eg. If you are applying for a PhD or Masters later on, you will certainly be able to articulate your interest in pursuing higher education in your field based on field-tested experience. Your stories will be authentic based on evidence and not 'interest'. An international thesis in a good research group can also give you a massive edge. For example, if you manage to contribute to a PhD student's conference presentation or if you are lucky to end up with a co-authorship research paper (or if you are really really lucky then your own first-author paper) that stands you out from the hordes of applications into a research program anywhere in the world.

Even if you decide to take a break and work for a year or two, your CV will still be differentiated and give you 'stories' to tell in your interview. One of the reasons that i got shortlisted for my Bain job was my thesis in Switzerland.

What are the disadvantages of doing an international thesis?

Doing one thing means to NOT do something else. Some of the risks of venturing out in your final or penultimate year are:

1. Not being able to sit for placements. You should be able to time your thesis semester to mitigate this risk. BITS allows you to do a thesis in either your first or second semester of college. So that you can recruit in the other semester. Even if you want to do a double thesis for a whole year, you can visit the campus for a couple of weeks to sit for placements.
2. Writing a dissertation is a lot of work. You may NOT get the time to prepare for GRE and get it out of the way in time to apply for Masters/PhD in your final year to get admitted immediately after you finish your undergrad. This can also be mitigated by working backward from your timelines and appointing internal deadlines for yourself.
3. GPA risks: How does the thesis affect your GPA and is the new university's grading system transferable to your college? If so, what are the parity levels between the two? This is very subjective and you need to do your homework to understand how hard you need to work to maintain or increase your GPA

Part 2 of this article will address how to create opportunities for an International thesis. For example, I wrote to nearly 400 Groups from my 3rd year onwards to land my dream opportunity in my fourth year.

• What kind of pre-planning is needed?
• How do you approach professors and research groups constructively?
• How to network and persuade them to get interviews?
• How to arrange the logistics with your home school to tie the loose ends?

For more information on Career Planning, please check out https://www.lifeclass.io/learn/plan-your-career