Road to Google India Scholar
Hello There! Welcome to my story of becoming a google India scholar from a chemical engineering student. First of all Let me introduce my self : I am Pranav Vyas ,studying B.Tech in Chemical engineering In Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology and I love developing apps and coding.
If you don’t know about What Google India Scholarship is than It is a scholarship program sponsored by Google for India and in this program Google and Udacity gives away 1000 scholarship from India in four categories : (1) 350 for Android Beginner Track (2) 350 for Web beginner Track (3) 150 for android Intermediate track (In which I got selected) (4) 150 for Web Intermediate Track, In this scholarship google sponsors all of expenses to pursue a nanodegree taught by experts at Udacity for these four different tracks For more details click here It contains basically two phases First one Challenge Course and Second being Nanodegree Course
So let’s get Started !
Chapter 1 : Pilot
It was a normal day at the house ,I was playing clash of clans while I received the mail from Udacity India about the scholarship Google is offering to total of 1000 people from India and I did some reading and come to know that only 150 people in android intermediate are going to be given full nano degree and I ,as a normal boy pursuing Chemical Engineering thought that I could not complete (in a completely differently field) but somehow I filled in form and was waiting to see result which was about to declare between 1–8 February 2018…
Chapter 2 : Beginning
So finally It was 1st Febrary and I checked my Gmail couple of times just to see if I got selected for phase 1 or not but No, There was no mail of Udacity but there was stil hope till 8th February so I waited … After 6th Feruary I thought that This was it but on 7th February ,when I was in collage attanding boring lactures of a boring subjects, playing Clash Royale (because I uninstalled COC ;) ), I realized I have got mail of being selected in first phase of scholarhip.. Yeah I am one of 5000 students that were seleceted… and I almost screamed in class when I realized sir was still in Class...! Somehow I controlled that feeling and as soon as I came back to hostel I literally screamed and jumped as this was first step and the journey begins now…
Chapter 3 : 14th February
In the mail that I received It was stated that classes starting from 14th February..I thought that wow this is going to be first Amazing 14th Feb(You know what I mean..14 Feb…) .So the class finally started, all the lactures were available online which we have to complete them at our own pace plus we have to join the the slack community which was created for especially for us and It has limits of storing 10000 messages in free plan and Oh boy That threshold crossed in less than a minute as everyone was introducing themselves and meeting with each other from different age groups — students to adults, from different regions — Kashmir to Kanyakumari … as I was scared and excited at the same time but finally I also started communicating with peers and it was just beginning of what to come next…
Chapter 4 : The Moderator
While the two weeks passed from beginning from the challenge, Channels were created for different regions like #gujarat , #delhi etc. After 20 days There was an announcement from our Experience Lead Akshit Jain saying that they need moderator for different channel in slack app so I thought why don’t I use this chance to interact with my peers and so filled the form and Oh boy another surprise -I got selected as the Moderator of Gujarat Channel .They Created channel especially for us and told our responsibilities like conducting Quizzes ,Meetups etc..
Chapter 5 : MidSem
Almost one month has passed and course was going great while I came to know that I am doing chemical Engineering ;) and I have Midsem coming next week and thus I have to manage both the courses : collage and also google challange scholarship courses but however If I stay inactive for a long time than there are less chances of being selected for full nano degree so I somehow found half an hour daily to contribute to community as it would be my refreshment from the exams but I was worried for midsems.. and fear came too My performance was average in MidSem (And I am sad again…I have to hear from Home that I should focus more on Chemical than Computer Related field)
Chapter 6: Meet Up
After almost one month passed I was made Moderator of Gujarat channel and As part of that I also arranged some quizzes online and also some coding competitions. As It was time to know everyone better so Finally meetup was organized between us(Gujarat People) at Ahmedabad! After long discussion finally the venue was decided to be La Vida Cafe which is amazing place to MeetUp . And I must say this that It was wonderful to talk with everyone and create new friends also we gained some awesome tips and tricks from each other thanks to expert speakers, It was first meet up organized by me and I am proud as well as glad that it was a sucess! But this didn’t lasted for long as The final challange was here already…
Chapter 7 : Final Challange
It was a coincidence that my collage exams and also scholarship phase 1 were completing within first two weeks of May.. first was my end sem exams of course ! It was the most difficult time for me actually as the end was near everyone was becoming more and more active expect me because I have to the prepare for practicals ,completing Journals and Submissions (and also Study of course ,which I didn’t till end). I had to study extra hard to clear the concepts .I was not sure at starting If I am going to pass the exam of B.Tech 2nd Year or not and It is not less than the miracle that I passed! Yeah finally !!
In last days of course I revised lessons completed all the quizzes and It was up to Udacity and Google to decide if I am worthy enough..Part of me was saying that Yeah !You have done enough and more than I could do so You are going to be selected Part of me was saying come on dude be realistic I am not a student of computer engineering nor I am so special that I will be selected in 150 out of whole India and so on arguments with myself went of till the result date which was 24th May..
Chapter 8 : The Results
The results were about to declare on 24th May..So I woke up at 7 A.M. (It was vacation and everyone was surprised already BUT big surprise was on the way!). 8 AM, 9 AM ,…,5 PM. As time passed my hope was also fading away and I was like , Why is mail not received yet? What if I am not selected ? Why Why Why…?? This all came to end by the announcement if delay in result!
The result was now being declared on 25th May ..and I was as excited as yesterday (or More I must say), I checked Gmail every 10 minutes (I also read all the advertisements and boy I was shocked by no. of advertisement they send). by the afternoon I almost believed that I am not selected and now I stopped checking Gmail… By the evening While I was playing Clash Royale(Yeah It is a good game that I play in my almost all spare time) I thought that Let’s check promotions also and There It was ..The Greatest mail of My Life … form Udacity I opened it and I was greeated with GIF of Congratulation I scremed this time literally … Yeah I received the scholarship and I am now enrolled in the full nano degree scholarship and It is great.
I sincerely want to thank Udacity and Google for giving me this opportunity and also moderators like Akshit Jain for creating this memory also big thanks to fellow peers of Gujarat channel for supporting me as Moderator and also everyone who helped me while I was stuck in any problem..You Guys are AWESOME !!! At last I must say that this
Road to become Google Scholar was not easy ,but hey who gets fun in the easy way ?
