GASICS Part 11

We had seen my sister suffer through a drop year, so that idea was very quickly discarded.

All was not lost however. Going to IITM meant that I got another shot on target if I was up for it, because of the college giving you the option of a branch change.

The way it went was, based off the GPA of your first semester, you got to change your branch (which translated into a better rank), if you did better than the 500 kids who had the same idea.

By now I was quite tired and disillusioned, and unsure of if I would go after it seriously or not.

Funnily enough, my new friends made that choice for me.

The first, who I met in a restroom checking for hot water, turned out to be from CS.

The second, over a game of basketball, told me he was in Electrical, and had picked coming here over IIT Bombay specifically for a shot at a branch change to CS, with a very similar story to mine.

The third, who I met at a pop culture quiz club event, was would you believe it, also in CS.

I hadn't had friends for about 3 years now and I really liked these guys. The chances of being left out (again), as the only kid in Meta in an otherwise CS friendgroup were high, unless I got back into gear( it seems like a childish line of reasoning now, but it served its purpose)

The odds were insane, there are exactly 8 spots into CS, with the main competition being the 150 kids from the electrical engineering department.

These are some of the most talented, hardworking guys I've known. Advanced is a punishing exam, you do one question wrong, you drop 400 ranks, and end up in Elec instead of CS.

Not exactly comforting to know that there were hungry, hardworking people sweating days and nights for the same target I had set for myself.

On the other hand, being an underdog was a familiar situation by now. The upside was huge, and what did I have to lose?