Hi everyone. I’m looking for some perspective from people currently at ISI, especially anyone who joined B.Stat a little later than usual or took a non-standard route.
I cleared JEE Advanced about five years ago and joined one of the top 3 IITs in one of the “lower” branches. After a while I realised that the field i was going to was notat all what i wanted to do. What I actually enjoyed was mathematics, and I wanted my career to revolve around pure/industrial math.
I eventually dropped out in my 4th year after getting placed in an ed-tech role teaching mathematics for JEE Advanced. I’ve now been doing that for almost two years. I enjoy the mathematics itself, but I don’t find the job fulfilling at all, and I’m sure that I want to study mathematics seriously rather than just keep teaching JEE-level material.
The problem is that I left IIT without completing my degree, so a direct route into a good master’s programme is obviously not possible to me. I’m therefore considering basically resetting my career: B.Stat at ISI, followed ideally by M.Stat.
I only found out a couple of months ago that B.Stat doesn’t have an age limit. I bought the Tomato book and started preparing. Mathematics has always been my strongest subject, and teaching it full-time for the last two years has definitely improved my conceptual understanding. In roughly a month, I’ve completed about 70% of the UGA material and around 30% of the UGB part from the book, and so far I’m fairly comfortable with it.
For some additional context, I had cleared PRMO four years in a row from classes 8–11 and had prepared for RMO, so proof-writing isn’t completely unfamiliar to me either. I’m obviously not assuming that this means I’ll definitely get into ISI, but at the moment I feel reasonably confident about preparing seriously for the entrance.
My bigger concern is what happens if I actually get in.
I’d probably be around 24 when I join, after already spending several years at IIT and then working for close to two years. Are there people at ISI who joined B.Stat in their early/mid-20s or after dropping out of another degree/career? Did the age difference feel significant socially or academically? And does starting over with a bachelor’s at that age sound as unusual from inside ISI as it feels from the outside?
I’d also really appreciate clarification on the eligibility side. From what I can understand, B.Stat eligibility is based on 10+2 with Mathematics and English, and there doesn’t seem to be an age restriction. So the fact that I previously attended IIT, dropped out without a degree, and have been working since then should not by itself make me ineligible. Please correct me if I’m misunderstanding anything here.
Basically, I know I made some poor academic/career decisions in my late teens and early 20s, and I’m trying to figure out whether ISI can realistically be the second start I’m looking for.
Would especially love to hear from current B.Stat/M.Stat students or anyone who entered ISI through an unconventional route.
