BS (Data Science)
Picture the Cafe Coffee Day on the IIT Madras campus. Throughout the day, the tables constantly shift. Groups of students, working professionals, and visitors cycle in and out, bringing with them different cultures and conversations. But amidst this revolving door of faces, there was one constant: Tanu. “I would spend hours at the CCD,” she recalls. Sitting at those tables, she met people from all walks of life, turning fleeting coffee breaks into lifelong friendships.
When the 2020 lockdown paused her typical college life at NIT Goa, Tanu decided to upskill.
She enrolled in the first-ever batch of the IIT Madras BS Degree in Data Science and Applications, hoping to eventually integrate data science with her mechanical engineering background.
What started off as a side quest, eventually turned into a vibrant community experience, giving Tanu the opportunity to explore a small, cozy community with people from different walks of life, “In most degrees, you have peers who are your age… but in this degree, you have peers who come from such varied backgrounds… working professionals, and students from top institutes among others.” Tanu firmly believes that the BS Degree is perfect for introverts, “This degree is the best transition you can have if you are an introvert.”
Connections start low-pressure on WhatsApp, then transition to Google Meets, and eventually lead to real-life meetups (like the ones at CCD).
However, balancing a full time engineering degree with the BS Degree was no easy task. When asked about whether she struggled with it, she replied, “The question should be the other way round, did you ever not struggle with the degree?” Coming from a mechanical engineering background with no experience in coding was a struggle in itself. The AppDev project proved to be a major hurdle, as the complexities of error detection and backend coding were completely new to her. But she didn’t have to figure it out alone; a combination of clarifying doubts during weekly live sessions, re-watching lectures, and getting patient guidance from her classmates helped her push through.
Beyond the study groups and coding rescues, the extracurricular activities were Tanu’s favorite part of the degree. As a founding member and Secretary of the drama society, Ayaam, and an active participant in Pravaha and Sahityika, the dance and literary societies respectively, Tanu brought the bustling energy of a college campus right into her own home—often late into the night. Organizing major college fests like Paradox meant endless late-night Google Meets. “I did not sleep, because we would have meets all night,” she laughs, recalling the lighthearted scoldings from her family over her chaotic schedule. But for Tanu, every sleepless night was worth it when she finally stepped onto the NIRF-1 campus, organizing street plays and sharing the stage with friends she had previously only known through a screen.
Today, Tanu hopes to put her data science skills to good use by tackling data mismanagement within the mechanical engineering industry.
But for all her technical achievements, her parting wisdom for new students is entirely human: “Make friends.” She encourages incoming freshers-especially the introverts-to embrace the flexibility of the program, try out internships, and not be afraid to unmute on a Google Meet.
“What’s the worst that can happen?” she jokes. “You can just leave the call.” Tanu proved that a virtual degree doesn’t have to be a lonely, isolated journey. You just have to be willing to log on, say hello, and save a seat at CCD for whoever comes along next.
– written by Nikita Nanduri
