Remember, when Aamir Khan in 3 Idiots said to R. Madhavan, “Haath mein tha, cab door par thi… thodi si Himmat aur kar leta, to Poori zindagi kuch aur hoti.” This struck a chord with many aspirants. What you choose to study in your bachelor’s degree doesn’t always determine who you end up becoming.However, when we talk about an IIT degree, it is not something that anyone can easily obtain. It is earned through years of hard work and unwavering persistence. For millions of students, getting a seat at India’s prestigious Indian Institute of Technology represents the ultimate academic dream. But what happens when achieving your dreams feels like a prison rather than a privilege? The issue has sparked a heated debate online after a graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology (BHU) Varanasi candidly described his four years at the institute as “prison time” for his brain. Akash Sampurnanand Pandey, who now lives in New York, looks back on his college days not with nostalgia but with startling honesty, describing himself as “the last MP”, a “waste”, someone who spent more time reading books on history, economics and politics than engineering textbooks. His confession divided social media, with some praising his decision to forge his own path, while others questioned whether he had squandered an opportunity that thousands of aspirants would cherish.
a degree he endured rather than enjoyed
Looking back on his time at the Indian Institute of Technology (BHU) Varanasi in 2012, Pandey paints a picture that contrasts with the popular image of IIT students immersed in labs, lectures and relentless problem-solving.According to him, classroom learning has little appeal. He attended lectures mainly because of the institute’s enforced 75% attendance policy and described the four-year engineering course as something he had to “serve” to get the coveted IIT tag.Pandey said his curiosity was not focused on metallurgy, the subject for which he was enrolled, but elsewhere. While professors taught engineering concepts, he found himself immersed in novels, essays, and books covering modern Indian history, economics, politics, and international affairs.Most of this reading material came from his roommate, who was preparing for the UPSC Civil Services exam.
Minimum, but enough to graduate
Pandey admits that engineering textbooks rarely caught his attention. He claimed that he would often pick up a metallurgical textbook the day before an exam and learn enough to ensure he passed the exam. He said keeping his GPA around 7.5 is not about academic ambition but to remain eligible for on-campus internships.Outside academia, however, he describes himself as someone eager to explore different interests, suggesting that his university education extended well beyond the prescribed curriculum.
Leave the project behind
Graduation marks a turning point. Pandey entered the corporate world through consulting roles but eventually gave up on engineering altogether. Summing up his career, he said that once he completed his degree, he stayed “as far away as possible” from his major.The central message of his post is as simple as it is provocative: “Don’t let a four-year degree define a forty-year career.”This statement resonates with many professionals changing careers after graduation, especially in an era where careers are increasingly shaped by transferable skills rather than undergraduate majors.
Social media divides over privilege, passion and responsibility
While many readers can identify with the hardships of studying a subject they dislike, others believe the story raises larger moral questions.Some users criticized Pandey for taking up a highly competitive IIT seat despite his lack of interest in metallurgy. They feel that another aspirant with a genuine passion for the subject might benefit more from the opportunities and subsidized education offered by India’s top engineering colleges.Some commentators went further, saying the confession reflected a conscious waste of public resources and personal opportunity.
Others, however, find his journey deeply relatable.
One user shared a similar experience of completing a medical degree before switching to medical informatics and data science, stating that the new career provided greater intellectual satisfaction and a healthier work-life balance. Another student admitted that he regretted choosing metallurgy as a major in college and wished he had chosen a different engineering major. These responses reveal a larger conversation that goes far beyond one person’s story.
Reflection on changes in career ideals
Pandey’s position comes at a time when career trajectories are becoming increasingly non-linear. Engineers become writers, enter technology fields, become lawyers, launch startups, and cross-disciplinary graduates reinvent themselves many times over their working lives.For many young professionals, the story resonates not because it celebrates academic disengagement but because it highlights the tension experienced by countless students who earn a prestigious degree only to discover that their true interests lie elsewhere.However, these criticisms also highlight another reality of India’s education system: Admission to elite institutions is fiercely competitive, with each seat representing the aspirations of thousands of candidates over the years.So the discussion is not just about the career options of an IIT graduate. It deals with the changing relationship between education, opportunity and personal fulfillment.Ultimately, Pandey’s reflections are more than just a personal confession. It sparks a wider debate about whether higher education should be viewed as a lifelong identity or simply the starting point of a longer and often unpredictable career journey.
