Mother of Two, Cracks GATE 2021 at the age of 52!

When the motivation and determination is firm enough, no matter what your age, dreams, and circumstances are, you can overcome them all and achieve your goals. The COVID-19 pandemic has spared no one, and Varsha Misra Varma, an architect aged 52, had a similar experience when lockdown halted her work at the age of 52. 

When the situation worsened and the source of income stopped, Varsha, who is a mother of two, decided to pursue research. She not only appeared for the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) 2021 but also cracked it. She is one of the eldest candidates to have cleared the engineering aptitude test in 2021.

“Last year, Covid-19 affected my work as constructions were stalled, no new projects were coming which resulted in no income. It was then I thought of appearing for GATE hoping if I cracked it, I would get a stipend," said Varma.

However, this was not her first attempt. After graduating from IIT Roorkee in 1992, she appeared for the GATE entrance exam, and even cleared it at that point but opted for a job instead of pursuing study.

Who says there cannot be a hole in the sky?

After four years of service, Varsha and her husband decided to open an architecture firm. However, since last year, her work got stalled and she decided to pick up studies once again. She started by pursuing MS at IIT-Madras. “My experience with IIT Madras had compulsory course work but GATE is different," said the architect whose next goal is a Ph.D.

Varsha appeared for GATE 2021 for the architecture paper in Feb 2021 and scored 537 with a stellar rank of 441.

She claims to have cracked the entrance exams by preparing for just a month and a half. “I dedicated two hours to my research proposal every day and the rest of the time, I was preparing for GATE. This continued till January end. It was a complete shot in the dark," she said.

When asked about exam preparations, she immediately responded by saying, “I strictly went by the syllabus." She took the help of online classes including YouTube channels to prepare along with previous years’ papers. “The syllabus has changed a lot now since I last appeared for GATE and is it more knowledgeable now," she adds.

Based in Chennai, Varma has a husband, a son who passed the class 10 exam this year, and a daughter, who finished her undergrad a year ago at UCLA and is working from home these days. Juggling with research, preparing for GATE, pandemic stress, and motivating her son to study, things had been very difficult, but she didn’t give up. “Whatever time I would get in the day I would devote to studying."

Although she appeared for the exams in hopes of a stipend, being an already enrolled student, Varma says that even if she is not eligible for the stipend she would continue the research for the love of it.

According to Varsha, "If something gives you happiness, do it.” There will be hurdles and obstacles throughout the way, but your passion and drive to get through it all is what will help you get closer to your dreams and aspirations. And Varsha Varma is a living proof of that!

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