How a video game addict sneaked into doing CS at India's top college - Conclusion

The dream I had while going through the process was an rank under 1000.

When I gave the exam, my expectation was a rank of 3000.

My final AIR was 5796.

I fall in the general male category (no reservation), for which the CS cutoff was 148 in my year.

Sometimes you shoot for the moon, and end up hitting the stars. It took longer than I thought, but with consistent work and focus, what I ended up was much bigger than I could've imagined.

That wraps up a one and a half year rollercoaster ride.

(Quote by paul graham- There is a conservation law at work here: if you want to make a million dollars, you have to endure a million dollars' worth of pain. You do tend to get a certain bulk discount if you buy the economy-size pain, but you can't evade the fundamental conservation law.)

A note on luck - For every story like mine, you'll find a 1000 others who were equally (or even more) talented and hardworking, but still couldn't make it. Which goes to show you just how much of a role luck plays. I'm very grateful for how lucky I've been.

Still, when I hear people talk about luck, the general opinion seems to be that it is something completely out of your control. In my experience(s), a big portion of what we call luck can be earned.

Every single new day brings some chaos to the ordered world we try to maintain. With consistent focused efforts, you put yourself in a unique position to take advantage of what is chaos for others.

Sure, sometimes things do go your way through pure chance, but so many more opportunities open up for the prepared mind.

TLDR- Was it hard? More than expected. Regrets? I have none. The confidence that a bulletproof work ethic gives you, removes the question "can i do this?" and replaces it with "how much time will this take to get done?"

Whats next? I've started a company, and will be in SF over this summer, hit me up if you're around!