This is as far as my journey at Imperial College goes. It has ended *sigh*. A huge relief as soon as I submitted the burden of dissertation. And a realization of not being a student any more (almost). Both these feelings were contradictory. I am sure not many will disagree that student life is perhaps one of the best times of life, and being at Imperial just adds to this fun.

Looking back at myself at this time in year 2008, when I came to Imperial, and comparing to what I am now going out of it, I see a world of change. I came in with the basic knowledge of electronics engineering stumbling to get a grasp of it. I am leaving now with an advanced understanding of all the fundamental concepts coupled with the knowledge of recent advances and future trends in the field.

If I am to quantify the amount of knowledge I have gained per year in life, the past year at Imperial will rank much higher than any previously. The level of confidence instilled in me, the authority I have over the moduled I have been taught and the thirst for more are all gifts of Imperial.

In these tough times of recession, I am fortunate enough to have a job offer that closely matches my course contents. I had a long interview at the company’s turf, and the way in which I managed it - answering *most* of what was thrown at me - with confidence, took ME by surprise. This, again, is accredited to Imperial College and my tutors here.

I am indebted to all my tutors, my project supervisor and my family for making this past year of my life special. I must also be thankful to Amy and Pamela for giving me a chance to express myself on this blog. I must also express gratitude to the great friends that I made here who have made my time here most memorable.

A week later, new faces will walk in those rooms where we spent some of the best times. Late nights of study to meet a deadline, preparation for exam and just sitting idly for a chat, all those will be part of the cherished memories. At about the same time, this blog will perhaps go in to archive and form part of the history. I don’t know how long it remains there. Knowing very well that I haven’t done justice to this blog by being erratic and irregular, I still hope that I have entertained at least some of the readers. I also hope that some of my posts have given prospective students a taste of what life at Imperial is like and what it demands from you as a student.

As I sign off this blog, dear reader, if you still need to contact me to get an advise on this MSc course - tips on which modules to take and which instructors to avoid - I will be glad to dispense my words of wisdom. I maintain a personal blog at http://www.anasimtiaz.com and my e-mail address is: anasimtiaz[at]gmail.com

I wish you all good luck!

*After publishing I found that my post title coincided with another fellow blogger’s post, which forced me to do this change*

In one of the interviews that I recently gave for finding a job in the ever-shrinking job market of UK, I was asked what is my greatest weakness. I was not prepared for such a question (nor was I prepared for several others). I thought for a second or two and discarded the overwhelming urge of lying in favour of speaking the truth. A few more seconds and I answered “This is a tough question…but I think my greatest weakness is getting lazy when I have plenty of time to finish some task.” It sounded good and served two purposes. First, and the one which I intended, was honesty. Second was revealed in a follow-up question which goes something like this: “Does this mean you work better under pressure?” Hell yeah, I do…and I whine too!

That was couple of weeks ago. Now, that I finished the practical part of my project and had plenty of time to write a beautiful dissertation I ended up squandering the luxury of excess time. I have my excuses of getting insufficient caffeine due to the month of Fasting, and that is valid to some extent. But just because things weren’t so tight, I decided to take a 10-day break to visit Pakistan, for Eid festival, and return just 2 days before the submission deadline. Now, this is called creating pressure. Was this necessary?

At least, this has prompted me to work 3 times more than I had been doing. I have written about 5k words in my dissertation, but the word count isn’t important and we have no limits. Its the content that matters. Oh, and just to add a cherry on top, I decided to learn LaTeX first, and then use it for the dissertation!

When I think back about that interview, it turns out that the follow-up question from the HR manager quite nicely pinpointed by strength from something that I apparently consider a weakness.

PS. The comments in the earlier posts related to admission criteria should be forwarded to the admission tutor for the subject of interest. I did forward a couple of comments to relevant personnel earlier but I cannot guarantee a reply from them. Its best to contact them directly.