M.Sc Data Science at CMI (Chennai Mathematical Institute) : The days of our lives!
Disclaimer : This article is based on the author’s personal experience and the content hereby produced is for informational purposes only. Any views or opinions presented in this article is not intended to malign any individual(s) or institution(s). Moreover the author does not guarantees the level of accuracy of the information provided and strongly recommend the reader to go through other similar reviews. The reader should never hesitate to report any inconsistencies found in the article, to the author at first.
It was summer ‘18, a lazy afternoon when I was solving past year papers of UoH entrance exam, bearing the misfortune of an unsuccessful rank in JAM-MS. All of a sudden I received a mail saying..
Congratulations. You have been selected for admission to the MSc Data Science programme at CMI based on your performance in the entrance examination…
At that time I did not realize that the mail was going to change my life for ever and could not even imagine that my next summer is going to be the so exciting after all! However seeing the mail, I stopped solving sums and started googling about CMI, more precisely I just typed M.Sc Data Science at Chennai Mathematical Institute <enter>. Since it was the first year of the inception of that course, there were almost no information available apart from a general overview of the course on the CMI website. So, eventually with a bit of hesitation and almost no clue on how I’m going to end up after completing this course, I took admission in the very first batch (2018–20) of M.Sc Data Science at CMI.
And then … Life happened!
Since then, me and almost all my batch mates have received numerous queries about this course. So I decided to write this article to share my experience and try to answer all possible FAQs for the M.Sc DS aspirants. Lets start with a short review about the course.
About the course M.Sc Data Science
CMI conducts a national level entrance examination for Msc DS admission, held across multiple cities during the month of April each year with no interviews afterwards. Check the official CMI website for the exact dates & other relevant information. Here I have answered some popular FAQs :
Preparing for the entrance
The entrance syllabus & the study materials : find it here
Solving the past year papers is strongly recommend : find it here
I solved almost all available past year papers of JAM-MS (Mathematical Statistics) and ISI-MSQMS (Quality Management Science), and those were really helpful.
Selection criterion/cut off
CMI does not publish any cut off marks and your selection is completely based on your entrance exam performance. Usually they select around 50 students all total.
I attempted the full paper except 4 sums which I left completely due to time constraints and I was quite confident on the sums I attended.
Fees and waivers
The semester fees is as mentioned on the website and there is NO stipend like other M.Sc courses. However there is a chance of getting a tuition fee waiver of 75k per semester , only if your family’s IT returns are under certain bounds.
On campus Hostel accommodation
Unfortunately the on campus stay for the DS students is not compulsory (I still do not understand why? 😢 ), unlike other B.Sc and M.Sc students at CMI. However you can get hostel accommodation if there are rooms available, after accommodating other students.
For other stay options you can consider the followings:
— Zolo stays (Unisex PG chain, find link here)
— Renting an apartment nearby (usually they charge a one time refundable security deposit of around 50k for a 3BHK. This will be the cheapest option if you are in a group)
— Local PG (there are a lot of local PGs in SIPCOT, Navallur and Padur area)
Our batch was lucky enough since all of us got hostel accommodation in the first year but in the second year we moved out to Zolo Homestel, when our juniors came.
Scope of research/PhD after this course
This is a very frequently asked question and to answer this, IMHO you can go for anything (a job or a PhD) after completing this course, after all it is your career decision . But one thing I must add here, this course is indeed a job oriented course. As described in the CMI Data Science webpage,
The main objective of this program is to prepare the students for intensive data analytics jobs in the industry, both in India and abroad.
So, in case you wish to go for research choose your electives wisely and more importantly get in touch with CMI faculty advisors regarding your interests. If you look carefully a big proportion of the ML/AI research works comes from the industry these days (for e.g. just check the ICML ’20 papers!), so I think there is a significant scope of research in the industry as well.
Internship opportunities
Industrial Internships during the summer break are compulsory for DS students. The CMI placement cell organizes per-placement talks and on-campus interviews for the students. The selections are based on hackathons, assignments or interviews conducted on-campus either by VC, phone call or directly by company representatives. In some cases you may have to visit the respective company offices for those are based in Chennai. The internship placement statistics for our batch can be found here.
Apart from summer internships, DS students can also persue industrial projects/internships during the semesters as well.
Placements
The placement drive usually begins in the middle of 3rd semester. At our time during the 1st week of placements (more specifically during the 1st round of placement), almost 90% of the students got placed with a minimum offer of 13.5 lpa for freshers. CMI uses a platform called Reculta for all its placement related activity and detailed instructions are provided at each step from the placement cell, hence IMO it is a very well organized and hassle free process, so there is nothing to worry! The detailed placement statistics for our batch can be found here.
The Campus
The CMI campus is located inside the SIPCOT IT Park which is around 30 km outside Chennai city center. Typically an Uber ride from the airport costs around 500. In short the campus is completely isolated and its residents enjoy a really peaceful life there. The locals do not speak Hindi, and somehow manage to understand English, so there is a language barrier. Personally me and my friends from Kolkata never had a problem with this, thanks to Aishwarya R a.k.a Aishu, our beloved Tamil-speaking friend. Also for daily essentials & shopping, there are 2 malls nearby (Vivira mall at Navalur & Marina Mall near SIPCOT bus stop) and plenty of fast food restaurants.
CMI has a very very small student community, like at our time there were not more than 150 student combining all undergrads, post-grads & PhD s, but at the same time it is the home to one of the best brains in the country. From IMO, IOI medalists to ICPC world finalists, you’ll be sharing your hostel rooms with geniuses like these!
The campus is well maintained and exceptionally clean, in other words you’ll see more house-keeping staffs than students (trust me, seriously!). The calm and peaceful ambience is just perfect for studying. Moreover the campus is equipped with ….
smart classrooms, an automated library, a computer lab with linux machines, football/cricket ground, basketball court, volley ball court, in house badminton court, a gym, a common room with TV, refrigerator, microwave & other utilities, coffee lounges, in house water treatment plant, solar energy plant, an open air auditorium, in house auditorium and even a dedicated smoking zone.
Well that’s pretty much everything you can imagine to have a great lifestyle!
A day in life of a CMI student
Congratulations!! so suppose finally you have made it to Chennai Mathematical Institute, here is a quick snap-shot of how your post graduation life is gonna be, for the next 2 years.
Morning : Waking up at CMI
You don’t really need an alarm to wake up at CMI, there are a couple roosters in the campus which will never let you over-sleep, and even if you get away with them, its the heat in Chennai which will definitely wake you up. Usually I used wake up at 9 a.m. since I never wanted to miss the breakfast, even though I have seen people at CMI going to bed at that time! Anyway, the morning kick starts with wide variety of great South Indian breakfast served at the CMI mess (unlimited buffet priced at just Rs. 50! OMG). I am not exaggerating, but it is the best breakfast (both in terms of quality and taste) I have had till date. CMI-ites feel free to disagree but deep down we all know that “breakfast” is the only thing or perhaps the best thing that the CMI mess can ever serve. So lets have a look at the menu (ordered as per my choice):
Idli + Vada + Tomato chutney + Coconut chutney (Cc)
Poha + Aloo sabzi + Cc
Masala Dosa / Podi Dosa+ Sambar + Cc
Uttapam + Sambar + Cc
Poori + Aloo sabzi + Cc
Aloo paratha + curd/butter + ketchup/achaar
Cheese Sandwich + ketchup
Tea/Coffee/milk(cold/hot) (complementary as usual)
If you are not a big fan of South Indian food, you will become one (trust me!). If not, there are some other options available:
Bread + omelette/boiled/poached/sunny-side-up/scrambled eggs
Kellogg's Chocos/Corn flakes + milk(cold/hot)
Well that’s a quite detailed breakfast menu I’ve provided (simply because I really used to enjoy it a lot). But we can’t just eat & sleep, since there are work/studies as well 😝. So lets assume breakfast is done and after getting fueled up for the day — Now its around 9:30 am and the classes are about to begin. Don’t worry about getting ready, with the slippers on, shorts/joggers, round neck tees and a coffee mug you are all set up! Just grab a seat in the lecture hall and enjoy!
A classic lecture usually with a small discussion section later, lasts around 75 minutes, and starts exactly when they’re scheduled to start. You’ll get to learn from professors who are at the top of their fields, among fellow students who are talented, motivated, and representative of a whole world of future potential.
Early Afternoon : Coursework
After your morning class, let’s say that you have a free period. That’s a perfect time to fit in some studying or start on assignments. Not everyday we used to have classes early morning, in that case we just go to 7th floor discussion area. Yes, one of the best things I’ve seen in CMI, is open discussion areas located at different parts of the campus, equipped with a dedicated green board, water dispensers, WiFi hot-spots and most importantly seal packed non rust Apsara white/colored chalks! (that’s a true level of sophistication).
Not only the discussion areas, if the weather is hot (most of the time it is in Chennai) you can settle up in the library or in the Computer lab ,both are literally 24x7 open and are fully air-conditioned. I particularly found the library ideally best for self-studies but when it comes to ML/deep learning assignments you can’t just do them alone, so just gather at the discussion areas with your buddies.
Learning is definitely not always inside the lecture hall and more specifically when it comes to applied topics you learn the most from your peers. At CMI you are assigned TAs for almost every major course, if not just feel free to approach anyone who has taken the course earlier. CMI follows a credit system under which one has to complete a total of 64 credits of coursework to get awarded the degree of M.Sc Data Science. Here is a link containing the coursework & materials from all my 4 semesters. For digitizing the class notes on penultimate and their distribution, I thank my friends Trina De & Aritra Banerjee a.k.a Arolive for their cool gadgets.
Feel free to browse through the assignments, class notes & lectures and don’t hesitate to share them. All hosted with ❤️ in my GitHub page.
Late Afternoon : Colloquiums and Coffee
I really do not consider the lunch menu worth mentioning (simply because I did not like it). You can buy non veg dishes at extra cost to add some spice in your food and life 😜. One thing I must add here is the hygiene they maintain at the mess & kitchen, is truly appreciable, thanks to Sajju, Barun Da et al. So after lunch, it’s time for class again, but not everyday of course.Usually there are 2- 3 lectures a day and that’s also 5 days a week, so its a pretty relaxed schedule.
There is a Data Science Colloquium series every Friday afternoon followed by a discussion session with coffee. CMI invites experienced speakers who are either working in the industry or engaged in academic research work, in the field of AI/ML/Analytics. I found some of the sessions very productive and interestingly relevant.
There are also MINI courses organized at CMI (courses anyone can attend with not evaluations and grading). At our time we had a MINI course on “Application of SAS in Data Science” conducted by faculties from UNC Chapel Hill.
Evening : Leisure walk and Campus Culture
In usual days we used to enjoy a walk till the SIPCOT gate for a quick evening snack and tea, or just simply go to the evening canteen. The CMI mess turns into a canteen during the evening, and there is no dedicated canteen in particular. I strongly recommend to try local South Indian delicacies which are cheap and delicious. Some of the hidden gems of Chennai that we discovered, again thanks to Aishu 😊 :
Kalan : 4/5
A typical mushroom curry topped with corn flakes, available at SIPCOT gate on roadside food vans, extremely cheap (Rs. 30) and filling.
Kalakki : 4/5
Simply a poached egg, with the semi-cooked yolk covered with the white, priced at 10.
Kotthu paratha & Chilli paratha : 5/5
A deconstructed version of traditional kerala paratha(parotta), available at any local food joint, priced at 100–200 (depending on veg/non-veg).
Paneer soda : 5/5
Rose flavored soda water (don’t know why it is called “paneer”), available at local food joints, priced at 10.
Jigar-thanda : 3/5
A semi-thick extremely sweet milkshake, famous among the locals, price accordingly the place you are buying from.
Okay okay I am not writing a food blog, but what’s life without food 🙈😋. Lets come back to CMI.
CMI has a bunch of clubs for extra-curricular activities some of them are super active during the commencement of the semester. Some of the clubs that I was aware of :
The literature club
The movie club
Coding club
Sports club & many more..
Different clubs have different activities and their members have regular meetings. CMI also hosts an annual fest named Tessellate, definitely not something like Xavotsav (the annual college fest of St. Xavier's College, Kolkata), but its a 3 day long celebration and full of fun 😄.
At CMI you can celebrate any festival if you have your pals ready for it. At our time I witnessed celebration of Saraswati pujo, Holi, Diwali, Mahalaya and a lot others.
The sleepless nights
Yes that’s true, the night life at hostel is really happening. After a busy day (sometimes there are too many assignments and quizzes !), the nights are perfect to find some chill.
CS nights :
The computer lab is used for this purpose for multi-player Counter Strike game sessions. We used to play the old version of CS-Go but the excitement is never faded.
Movie screening :
If you are too lazy to go to a theater just turn a lecture hall into one (obviously permissions required, but easily granted every time). Almost every fortnight we used to watch movies in the seminar hall. With the HITACHI projectors and BOSE speakers, it’s almost PVR at home. Thanks to the movie club and more specifically our dear friend Ashwani Anand 😆
Mafia night :
Haven’t you heard about “Mafia” — the game 😲. Well, in that case just have a loot at this. It’s a crazy game and we used to play it a lot, its damn interesting. Just gather in someone’s room or if you have a very big group the Auditorium foyer is the perfect place.
Some other games : Avalon, literature, (thanks to our junior Swaraj Bose 😛 ), 29, Monopoly and not forgetting PSYCH PSYCH PSYCH!
Night drives :
If you are one of those adventure loving people (like us back then), this is something you’ll get addicted to (again, like us back then 🙌). Firstly you can rent the car from Revv or Zoom or in case you are too lucky to have a friend with a car (once again! like us back then and thanks to Aishu, again 😜 ). The best places to visit are the beaches, like the ones we used to visit :
ECR beach — Sholinganallur — for a magnificent sunrise view
Marina beach — Chennai central — best for evening ride & snacks
Kovalam beach — nearest to CMI — just for a casual night ride
Weekends : long drives with ❤️ loved ones
By now, I guess this article has completely turned into a food/travel blog, but who cares! At the end, its your life, make it worth living! For me weekends are meant for fun! There are numerous weekend destinations from Chennai. Some of the best trips which made memories last forever:
Pondicherry — September 2019
Needs no introduction. Its the most popular weekend destination from Chennai and a paradise for booze lovers. A straight 120 kms drive through the East Coast Road (NH-49) from CMI, which is probably the best cruising experience you can get in India. You will pass many stunning landscapes and scenic routes and enjoy the view of the sea, as you cruise down the ECR.
Check out my travel blog here.
Gingee —January 2020
Not a popular one but truly a hidden gem of Tamil Nadu. Its a small town located 135 kms away from CMI, famous for its ancient Forts. Perfect for a one day road trip and a must visit for adventure lovers. We visited Gingee along with our Pondicherry trip (miss those awesome days 😢).
Check this out for more.
Mahabalipuram — February 2020
This a small town on the ECR, best known for the UNESCO World Heritage Site of 13,500 BCE monuments (see wikipedia) and just 30 kms away from CMI. Apart from the ancient temples and structures, it also has great beaches and beach side cafes, aah just heaven ❤️ !
This one you can’t skip!
And then … Corona happened !
The whole world’s plans got cancelled, life came to an unending pause, the quarantine gave me the time & opportunity to write this article and cherish the memories of the best two years of my life. Unfortunately we were graduated online with degrees through courier and without a convocation 😢. Something that nobody ever imagined, but life had other plans!
Contact & quick links
With that its time to say Au revoir. For more information regarding the course and anything related to Statistics, ML, Data science et cetera, don’t hesitate to contact me, I am always happy to discuss. Apart from fun stuffs, road tripping and traveling, I am also sincerely dedicated to my work and studies.
Find the projects I’ve worked at my GitHub page.
Find more about my academic & professional experiences here.
Find out the course materials, lecture notes for M.Sc Data Science here.
