At a glance
College – National institute of Technology, Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh
Place of work – EURECOM, Nice, France
Process of application – a step by step process given in detail below
Duration of the internship – 2.5 months
Stipend – 600 Euros per month + other perks
Research topic – Data analysis of fraud detection in voice telephony
In detail
InterFeel (IF): Please tell us something about yourself. Where are you studying currently? What are your hobbies and interests?
Shalvi Mahajan (SM): I am Shalvi Mahajan, student of National institute of Technology, Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh. I am currently pursuing B.Tech. in computer science and engineering. I am a person who believes that the only thing that can help you achieve your goal is the way you visualize it! If you have a strong vision nothing is really impossible for you! I got selected for 2 foreign research internships one at EURECOM, Nice, France and the other one was MITACS GLOBALINK RESEARCH INTERNSHIP- 2016. I chose to go with EURECOM because of 2 months internship criteria.
IF: Tell us something about your internship including stipend, duration and place?
SM: My internship was a research internship. I did my internship from EURECOM institute situated at Sophia antipolis in NICE, France. My project was all about the data analysis of fraud detection in Voice Telephony. The main aim of the project was data analysis through Python scripts.
Process of Application:
Basically there are few important steps in this process:
- First prepare a good cover letter and curriculum vitae (CV).
- Attach both of these things in your e-mail and send to the professor who matches with your research interest of different university.
- The timing of the e-mail and the presentation of the e-mail matters a lot and make sure that the e-mail should really depict the fields in which you are really interested in carrying out research.
- Once the professor likes your profile, He/ She might be interested in taking your interview. Give it a shot and it’s really a great learning experience. I also got wonderful feedbacks from my interview and learned a lot from it.
- Once you get selected, you will receive an invitation letter from the French host (Professor) and the details of the project that you will be doing your internship in.
- This letter is sufficient to pursue your dream internship!
- If you get the letter by February, you have chance to get through Charpak scholarship which pays around 300 Euros per month and have extra benefits as well
- Do apply for it as its deadline is in March generally.
- Well, all is done just fly to your destination! Bon Voyage!
That’s all for the process of application.
The stipend that I got was around 600 Euros per month. It was basically on pro-rata basis. In addition to it I was given 17 coupons per month of 8 Euros each which were restaurant and food tickets that can be used anywhere in France at food corners and food shopping as well. Not just this, my transport for the entire network in the city and nearby cities as well, was refunded every month. So I travelled unlimited and lived a lavish life there..haha!
Duration of the internship – 2.5 months
Stipend – 600 Euros per month + other perks
Research Topic – Data analysis of fraud detection in voice telephony
IF: Let’s talk about how competitive the selection process was. Which qualities helped you to have edge in the selection process? According to you, what were the key things that selectors were looking for?
SM: Regarding the answer to this first question, actually many students try to achieve this goal of doing an internship abroad. There is a huge competition and the process is also not that easy. I think patience is a very important requirement in such cases because we don’t often achieve such big goals so easily. Finding a new contact every day of the similar research interests and emailing them your details and then waiting for the reply; is not that easy. Sometimes, I used to get frustrated but my confidence from within used to convince me every time that Don’t quit! Something better awaits me. Be focused, patient, sincere and determined on the goal what you really aspired for! Selectors basically look for the real talent within you and the research topic.
Regarding Charpak scholarship, one must have a very good statement of purpose. That’s the biggest key to achieve the scholarship.
IF: Could you please highlight the work/research you carried out during your internship period?
SM: I have carried out my research internship on the topic: Data analysis of fraud detection in voice telephony. In this I had to detect general frauds in voice telephony on the dataset provided with the help of python scripts and Gephi software. But as you all know that research projects takes quite long time so in two and a half months only some part of it was completed. But I really liked the experience of working with people of different nationalities. It’s really awesome to work on research project with so many brilliant minds.
IF: Can you give us interesting details about your experience – good and bad?
SM: The location of the internship was amazing I must say. I was in NICE. Nice is in south France and it’s really very beautiful. You get to sea blue water of French Reveria around the city. I lived at the most beautiful area of Nice that is Promenade Des Anglais. Wow..what a place it was!
It was an awesome experience to spend 2 months at such a beautiful place. I travelled many places, like Strasbourg, Paris, Lyon, Marseilles, Monaco, Italy, and Germany etc. I spent a great time of summer at EUROPE. I miss it now!
I made many new friends of different nationalities like French, Italian, German, Spanish, Algerian etc. and get to know their culture and the food. A wonderful experience it was!
IF: How do you think this internship has helped you grow?
SM: This internship has helped me a lot to grow. I used to learn a lot of different things at each day of my internship. Not just related to my project but also related to the daily life. I learnt cooking and used to cook my own food every day. I also travelled alone in trains, buses, and flights and gained a lot confidence at the age of 20. I was travelling Europe on my own. These all things gave me the taste of how good an independent life is!
IF: Has this internship had a decision altering impact on your career? Do you now think of a different future path as compared to before doing the internship?
SM: Yes for sure, my internship had made a great impact on my career. I have learnt so many new things in Computer science and this has also changed my way of looking my future aspects.
IF: Lastly, do you have any words of advice or caution for students aspiring for this internship and reading this piece?
SM: Just reach to the aim with patience and focus! Don’t loose confidence because once you lost it, you can’t get the internship of your dreams that you aspired for one day!
We’d like to thank Shalvi for such an in-depth and a heartfelt interview. We wish you all the best for the future!
