Coming to your question. It has three parts :-
Step 1 – The motivation:
I am assuming you are a fresher for this answer. So you have just started your professional journey and still have a long way to go. You also mostly don’t have any clue about your interests and what would you like to pursue as your career. Let me further assume you have the clarity about your career choice (i.e. you want to pursue a career in academic research that to in engineering and from MIT).
You still have to decide on a certain area of interest. This is something which will take time. As you are in your first semester it is impossible to decide the same without some exposure to the variety of subjects out there. If you are in say Computer science – do you like machine learning, data science, algorithms , complier theory, etc. You should ideally have this clarity by your 5th semester – till that explore. Take advantage to your elective courses and take up that subject and see if you like it from a academic point of view.
I can tell from my personal experience – it is hard to find what you like but very easy to find what you don’t. Try exploring non engineering disciplines like Design, Finance, Economics etc. I say this because there is a very high chance that you will shift fields at the end of these four years because most of us chose our branches with very little thought and moreover many did not have a choice and chose what ever branch you were getting. Say you carry out this exercise and have a domain you are very interested and are keen to pursue research. Congrats you have come 20% of the way.
Step 2 – The Process
You have now decided your field of interest. It is now time to work on your application. It starts with getting a first hand experience of the domain of your choice. Take classes in that field and approach professors for being a part of their labs( one advantage of being in VIT as many professors work in the same field). Learn some skills and tools for your domain(For electronics – PCB fabrication, for signal processing – MATLAB, For machine learning- R and Python).
Now it is time to use your JEE skills and prepare for the GRE and TOEFEL. Simultaneously start researching about some other schools than MIT which you would be interested in. It is also important to think about how you would be financing your education.
You will also need to start working on other aspects of your profile because schools don’t want nerds but people with all rounded personality. Try volunteering for some cause, take up blogging. Maybe join the debating society or the student formula team. You can also look for research internships in your 2nd years and 3rd years summer break. through programs like MITACS, DAAC, Charpak , etc. But ensure that you don’t drop your academics and GPA in the process as these are cherry on the cake and your GPA the cake itself.
Step3: The Finishing:
Congrats that you have made it to here it is almost the end of your 3rd year. You have a clear idea of your interest, an all rounded personality and decent research credentials. Now get down to writing your Statement of Purpose. It must seem that all your lives decision lead to this particular course from MIT. It will take and you will fail definitely but again you have time to fine tune your sop. It would be a good idea to get it reviewed from your alums studying at Ivy League colleges. Remember that professor from 2nd year in whose lab you worked and that research internship. Time to contact these folks again asking for a Letter of Recommendation. Mostly they will ask you to draft one and send them which they will just sign. After doing all this it is now to time to crack your GRE and TOEFEL.
You have cracked your GRE and TOEFEL and have a well drafted SOP and splendid LORs from your professors. Now it is time to apply to all of your target schools. Using a tool like notion will make this step easier. Now it is time to wait.
Step 4: The Result
You are waiting for your result finger crossed and you see a mail from MIT’s admissions committee. Either you make it or you don’t. There are some chances you won’t even after doing all this because sadly MIT is very selective school and the best in the world. But remember your other applications, you will have definitely made it to one of these world class universities. Congrats! You are a champ and you deserve this.