1. The scope of MMST at present; MMST Vs MS/MD

2. Placement after MMST: place and currency

3. Preparing for MMST

My take at these queries:

1. MMST is basically about biomedical research: the field in which the graduates can aim of working is immensely vast. It can range from immunology or biotechnology/genetic stuff to biomechanics, robotic surgery, or bioelectronics; from medical imaging or telemedicine to nanotechnology and tissue engineering, from advanced drug delivery system to neurophysiology.

 

This course is basically for those interested in research, as it won’t do anything to better your clinical skills. One must realize that the vast potential hold by MMST also means that the risks involved might be high. The MMST career-path is literally a path not trodden before (..though some of us have already been in the journey, trying out different paths).

 

IIT -KGP can potentially equip a MMST graduate with the best (that can be given) knowledge of engineering and technology. As a result, MMST grads have a distinct advantage of understanding problems of medicine from an engineering point of view and would be able to apply technology to solve these problems. Most pure docs or engineers shy away when they come across something beyond their realm. It is never so for an MMSTian!

2. The comparison: All the guys (and girls) who are selected into MMST are quite smart; almost all of them come there, leaving some MD/MS seats somewhere...I did it too, and till this date, I think I made a right decision joining MMST. MMST gives an extra choice to only 10-15 doctors in India: a choice of not going into the conventional MD/MS, but to try out a more challenging path..it gives them an opportunity to try out their intelligence or innovativeness.

 

The prospects have been quite good, so far. The three years at IIT are quiet comfortable: not much work, every day u learn something new, One gets opportunities to go abroad (till now, MMST students have joined research groups in Italy, Switzerland, Singapore, Japan, Taiwan, USA, UK, Germany..and the list keeps on increasing) during their coursework and thereafter. The opportunities are much better abroad than in India, but in a few years, India might hold better promises too, and most of us plan to come back after a few years around the globe.

 

As of now, in most places, serious research needs a PhD tag. So, most of us are in PhD programs, many pursuing their PhD in the labs in which they did their final year’s research project. However, some MMST graduates have joined as Postdoctoral Fellow, or Foreign Visiting Scientist or as academic staff.

 

3. How I cracked the MMST entrance?

About the preparations, they ask questions strictly from the syllabus that is mentioned in the prospectus. The questions are of quite a good standard, the engineering ones very much like the IIT-JEE type; I had studied the theory from some of my higher secondary books and then went through the MCQs in the IIT-JEE guides (OP Khanna, etc). That really helped me ... to get the idea what the answers might be, so as to make some intelligent guesswork!