Many students asked me this question, whether they can join PhD right after B.Tech or not. If they can what are the minimum qualifications and how does it impact their future. In this post I will discuss all the required things one need to understand after B.Tech specially when you are targeting PhD from IITs.

The answer to the question is, YES you can do phd right after B.Tech. In IITs for sure you can apply and join PhD right after B.Tech. For non-engineering disciplines one must have M.Phil or would have cleared some research grant exams conducted at national level.

For getting into IITs for PhD right after B.Tech you must have a valid GATE score higher is better. Apart from that the applicants are shortlisted for interview based on their performance in previous exams like 10th, 12th and B.Tech percentages. The selection committee needs a good reason to consider your candidature, like you topped in your school, or great in math or have shown some inclination towards research and published some papers (in reasonably good conferences or journals).

PhD can be very stressful and difficult, therefore professors usually prefer students from M.Tech because they have learned the subject more than B.Techs as they repeat many subjects in M.Tech and y they sustain higher mental stress than B.Tech students. Also, they have higher understanding of what they are looking out of PhD. On the same time, B.Tech students  also perform great if they have enough knowledge of the subject and willing to put effort to understand and apply the techniques they learn.

In IITs one needs to complete the designated credits to start PhD. There are 8 credits (2 or more subjects) for M.Tech passed students, and 16 or 24 (4 or more courses) for B.Tech passed students to start research. I took more 10 courses from different departments, because I felt the need to learn different methods to solves problems at hand. Most of my courses were from Mathematics department.

For first two years you get stipend little higher than M.Tech students, but after completing course work and starting research you will be treated as full time PhD student and stipend will be increased. You will have to pay tuition fee and hostel fee every semester. That was around Rs. 10000/-  when I was student a decade before.

Usually PhD after B.Tech would take around 5 yrs, but this time depends on your supervisor. Do refer to How to select a good guide for PhD for more details on how can guide effect your life. Some professors are cool and let students go right after their work is complete, sometime in just three years or four years.

If you are going to industry for job, not having a master degree is not an issue. But if you are considering academic opportunities, issues can raised and effect your position. For job it also depends from where you are doing PhD and what kind of work you have been doing. For more on this please refer How to choose a best place for doing PhD.

I hope this gave you an idea about how things move ahead in PhD after B.Tech. There are many things one must consider before taking a decision on PhD. I am making a complete guide on PhD in coming days. To get updates on subscribe to InI MS and PhD, like us on FB and follow on google plus.