That’s pretty much me. Here’s my story…
Part 1: BITS Pilani After JEE 2018, I was really confused between choosing a lower branch at an old IIT or taking CSE in BITS Pilani. My interest had always lied in research though. It was my dream to study EP in IIT Bombay, but the cutoff was around 950 rank in JEE Adv (and I had a 4 digit rank). Also, I had no prior experience of coding. So I couldn’t tell if I liked CSE or not. However, due to lack of exploring all options properly, I just “went with the flow” and took CSE in BITS Pilani Goa Campus. But as I progressed through my first year, I realized that I wasn’t made for CSE. I did like the subjects, but I kind of made up my mind that I don’t want a career in Computer/IT. Moreover, the craze for Competitive Coding was massive in BITS Goa. This further made me realize that I really didn’t want to do something which everyone else did.
Part 2: JEE 2019 So I made my decision to give JEE again in late Feb of 2019. I started prep in mid-March (after my college midsems), and JEE Adv was scheduled on 27th May. I prepared like mad for 2 months (had to cover 2 years syllabus in less than 60 days) along with managing college stuff (just in case I failed JEE, I still needed a decent GPA to continue in BITS). My aim that time was to just get any branch in the top 3 IITs (Bombay/Delhi/Madras) and then change to the branch of my choice (Chem/EP). Fortunately, I cleared JEE Adv and got Chem in IIT Bombay. I was really happy with chem, but doing EP (Engineering Physics) was always my first preference.
Part 3: IIT Bombay 1st year There was an option of branch change available at the end of first year, but I wasn’t really adamant on it because, (i) More than half of the batch aim for Branch change, and there are only a limit number of seats (~10%), (ii) and it really requires consistent and exemplary academic performance throughout 1st year and (iii) I was already pretty happy in chem.
In a surprising turn of events, my first year did go pretty well and I managed to change my branch to Engg Physics. Apparently, IITB is one of the best for EP in the country. So YaY, I got my dream fulfilled!
Coming to CS… Although I left CSE, I still continued to learn and do it by myself in IIT as it is a very useful skill to have whichever field you may be in. There is a plethora of online resources available to learn Computer science.
Although I left BITS, I still don’t regret having spent 1 year there. I made wonderful friends and experiences, which will always remain. Nevertheless, I love IIT Bombay way more and I feel that coming here has been the best decision of my life!
NOTE – To those readers who aren’t very familiar with EP… BTech Engineering Physics deals with more of an engineering aspect of Physics. It is a culmination of physics and electronics. Hence, it is not exactly equivalent to BSc Physics. EP gives a mixed flavor of Science and Engineering.