Disclaimer - This is not meant to be a guide. It is the personal experience of a singular individual and by going through it you may get an idea of the process involved. The contents of this article are not the universal truth, please make an informed decision based on your own reasoning.
I am Vardhan Mahajan, a Civil Engineering undergraduate at BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus. Coming into college, I wanted to use my time to work on things that felt meaningful and had real-world impact. That intent guided the projects I chose, the professors I worked with, and eventually led me toward research. Over time, this culminated in my undergraduate thesis in geotechnical engineering at UC Berkeley, where I worked on earthquake engineering related problems and experienced a different research culture firsthand.
None of the things I mention below were done alone. Every project was shaped by fantastic teammates, mentors, and friends, and supported by my family, without whom none of this would have been possible. College was never a solo journey for me, it was very much a shared one.
Over the course of college, I ended up doing a wide range of things, mostly driven by curiosity and a desire to work on problems that felt meaningful. On the technical side, I worked on projects like ArnoAI (w/ Swayam Shree), an AI platform for professionals like lawyers and CAs/CSs, and Slowcialize (w/ Siddharth Ceri), a social app designed to encourage slower, more intentional interactions. I also focused on civil engineering projects, including a rigid pavement design software (w/ Prof. Sridhar Raju) currently under review for possible government adoption, and research on non-destructive seepage detection in concrete (w/ Sriyaan Kodeboyena and Prof. Arkamitra Kar), which resulted in review papers and a filed patent. Along the way, I hosted a podcast, contributed to the SWD tech team, and wrote The Unofficial College Playbook, my attempt to capture lessons about college life that I learned too late.
Alongside this, I stayed invested in academics and campus life. I focused seriously on my studies and currently have a CGPA of 9.15, won SEEP 2023, and was recognized as Innovator of the Year (2024-25). Sports were a constant throughout college, I played ultimate frisbee for 12-20 hours a week every semester, a decision that shaped my routine, discipline, and friendships more than I expected and was single handedly the best decision of my college life. Our team placed 2nd at NCUC 2024 and 5th in 2025, and I also stayed active through the run club, squash, gym and swimming. Not everything worked, many ideas failed, experiments broke, and some efforts never went beyond drafts, but while the projects mattered, what I treasure most from college are the people and friendships that made all of it meaningful.
In my first year, I did not do much formal research. I mostly explored different topics, tried to understand what interested me, and slowly figured out where I might want to invest serious time. In 2-1, I started actively reaching out to professors. Seniors had told me that Prof. Chandu Pirimi was very supportive of student research, so I went to speak to him. He told me I was a little early and suggested I come back after midsems. Around the same time, Prof. Arkamitra asked me to meet him. He already knew me from Engineering Graphics, where I had done well, and when I told him about the kind of work I wanted to do, we just started working. At first, it was informal and mostly involved reading papers, doing background research, and understanding the space. From 2-2 onwards, I formally took projects with him every semester through SOP, DOP, and LOP. I would strongly recommend this approach to anyone who wants to do serious research. Find one professor who is a good mentor and work with them over a long period. Deep research needs continuity.
With Prof. Arkamitra, I worked on a seepage detection device for concrete. The idea was to detect internal water pathways non destructively and in a cost effective way using electromagnetic sensing. In 2-2, we laid the foundations and did a lot of literature review and conceptual work. In 3-1, we started running experiments. In 3-2, we refined the system, wrote review papers, and filed for a patent. Arka Sir is an excellent person to work with. He gives you a lot of freedom to try things your own way, but he is also always available when you are stuck. He was a huge part of how I ended up getting my thesis opportunity at Berkeley.
In parallel, I also worked with Prof. Sridhar Raju on a rigid pavement design software. This was a more informal project that I mainly worked on between 2-2 and 3-1, with some parts extending into 3-2. In India, rigid pavement design is usually done using large Excel sheets with complex calculations. I converted this into a proper software tool that was much easier to use and also added overlay design functionality. That software is currently under review by the Government of India for possible national adoption. Prof. Sridhar Raju was a fantastic guide. He has very deep knowledge of the field and also shares a lot of life lessons when you talk to him. These two were the main civil engineering projects I did, though I have worked on many other things that are listed on my website (https://vardhanmahajan.com/projects). From these projects, I realized that civil engineering has a lot of room for innovation, especially at the intersection of civil with other fields like electronics and software. Because the field is so large, even small improvements can have a huge real world impact. I also realized that I genuinely enjoyed working in civil engineering. Before going to Berkeley, I did not have a specific inclination toward geotechnical engineering, but after working with Prof. Kayen there, I now find it to be very fascinating. BITS as an institution gives you almost everything you need if you ask for it. Prof. Harish Dixit helped us get access to the Lambda Lab. Arka Sir helped us get access to materials. We have access to almost all major journals through our BITS email. The SOP, DOP, and LOP system is extremely powerful because it lets you convert serious research into academic credit. All the civil engineering courses are also very well designed. If you pay attention and put in the effort, the intuition you build through these courses ends up being very important when you do real research later.
A big part of it, honestly, was not doing anything fancy. For academics, I mostly just went to classes. If I was on campus and not sick, I probably attended around 97-98% of my lectures. I missed a few here and there when something genuinely important came up, but not otherwise. That alone removes a lot of academic stress, you don’t spend time catching up or firefighting before exams.