Report on Chennai Operations – 2010-11 · Avanti Fellows Selection Report - Chennai 2010-11 The selection process was conducted in 2 phases. 1. Phase 1 – Tests conducted at respective

4th Floor, Candelar Building, 26 St John Baptist Road, Bandra (W), Mumbai 400 050 Ph: +91 981 920 7397 [email protected]

www.avantifellows.org

Report on Chennai Operations – 2010-11

For Sharath Rao

June 3, 2011 For any queries and clarifications please contact Krishna Ramkumar, Co-founder and CEO, Avanti Fellows at [email protected] or +91 981 920 7397

2


Introduction to Avanti Fellows Program

The Avanti Fellows Program aims to be the largest mentoring program for underprivileged students in India. The organization is currently focused on helping students from poor homes gain admission to prestigious engineering colleges across India and ensuring that they are able to perform well academically and assimilate socially during their time at engineering school. In due course, the organization will expand operations to other disciplines including medicine, law and commerce.

Each year Avanti selects students in Class XI for its six year fellowship program. These students are paired with a mentor (a current student at an IIT). The mentor has a weekly conversation with the student, tracks his/her academic performance and provides emotional support, and helps coordinate tutoring for the student while in school. In addition to mentorship, Avanti provides its students access to best-in-class preparatory material and tutoring for engineering entrance exams.

Avanti Fellows that gain admission to engineering schools continue to receive the full support of the program. They are provided with financial aid, English training and access to a dedicated training and placement cell in addition to Avanti’s mentorship program.

We have established chapters at five Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) - IIT Bombay, IIT Kanpur, IIT Delhi, IIT Madras and IIT Roorkee. Over 150 current students and IIT alumni have already signed up for the program. We aim to expand to all 15 IITs by 2012 with over 500 mentors and 500 students in the program.

Avanti is a Pan-IIT alumni Initiative, an UnLtd India investee and winner of the Stanford BASES Social Entrepreneurship Challenge, 2010 - among the most prestigious business plan competitions in the world. Avanti Fellows Selection Methodology

The Avanti Fellows selection process entails a 2 stage process involving a written pre-selection test followed by a home interview of the student and the parents.

1. Stage I – Aptitude Test Purpose: To test the students on Mental Ability, Mathematics, Physics & Chemistry. Marks scored in this test are a critical indicator of the students’ aptitude for engineering and potential to score well in the IIT Joint Entrance Examination (JEE).

2. Stage II – Home Interview Purpose: This stage has a three-fold purpose. First, it enables us to conduct a background check to make sure that the household falls under the low income bracket (annual income less than Rs. 2.5 Lakhs). Second, it enables us to explain the program in depth to both the student and his/her parents and ensure that he/she has a career aspiration of pursuing engineering. Third, it enables us to check the possibility of

3


copying/ cheating by the student in Stage I via a small written test conducted during the interview.

Avanti Fellows Selection Report - Chennai 2010-11

The selection process was conducted in 2 phases.

1. Phase 1 – Tests conducted at respective schools (Nov 2010 – Feb 2011): Individual tests were conducted in 10 schools (municipal corporation schools and Kendriya Vidyalayas). Test details are given below in the table. In total, 773 students appeared for these tests out of which 47 students were shortlisted for interview and 8 fellows were selected.

2. Phase II – Centralized test conducted at IIT Madras (14 Apr 2011): The Avanti Fellows student team at IIT Madras reached out to 32 matriculation schools in Chennai to publicize the selection test. Toppers from these schools were encouraged to apply for the test. Also, a few waitlisted candidates from Phase 1 also appeared in this test. In total, 71 students appeared for the test out of which 10 were interviewed and 6 fellows were selected.

Phase 1: Tests conducted at respective schools

Sl. No. Date School Students

Appeared

Shortlisted for

Interview Selected

1 02-11-2010 Chennai Corporation School, Thiruvanmiyur

68 3 1

2 18-11-2010 Govt. Higher Secondary School, Velachery

73 8 0

3 08-01-2011 Chennai Corporation School, Taramani

156 1 0

4 11-01-2011 Govt. Model School, Saidapet 70 0 0

5 14-01-2011 Govt. Girls Higher Secondary School, Saidapet

48 0 0

6 15-01-2011 Chennai Corporation School, Saidapet

54 0 0

7 07-02-2011 Kendriya Vidyalaya, Meenambakkam

96 12 3

8 14-02-2011 Kendriya Vidyalaya, CLRI 35 3 1

4


9 19-02-2011 Kendriya Vidyalaya, IIT Campus

80 14 1

10 26-02-2011 Kendriya Vidyalaya, DGQA 93 6 2

Phase 2: Centralized Test conducted at IIT Madras 11 14-04-2011 Toppers from 32 matriculation

schools appeared for the test as well as few students from Phase 1 re-appeared

71 10 6

Details of Avanti Fellows Chennai Cohort 2011

Sl. No. Name School Avanti

Test Score Father's Profession

1 Mr. P Naveen Kumar CHSS Thiruvanmiyur 52 Fisherman 2 Ms. R Srinidhi KV Meenambakkam 58 Father no more

3 Mr. Ashish Kumar Dwivedi KV Meenambakkam 50 CISF jawan

4 Ms. Ria James KV Meenambakkam 49 Junior level worker 5 Ms. S Sindhu KV IIT Campus 58 Father no more

6 Mr. K Roopesh KV DGQA 49 Junior assistant in construction company

7 Mr. R Mohan Kumar KV DGQA 48 Father no more 8 Mr. R Abilash KV CLRI 56 Clerk in govt. office

9 Mr. T K Akash KV CLRI 55 Floor manager in printing company

10 Mr. Vinod Matriculation School 54 Book seller 11 Ms. S A Vasuki Matriculation School 63 Junior level accountant

12 Mr. C Yashwanth Kumar

Guru Nanak Matriculation School 55 Waste paper mart (raddi

wallah) 13 Ms. M Sasirekamakshi Matriculation School 55 Mechanic 14 Ms. T Neha Kauser Matriculation School 55 Travel agency employee

From the above list of 14 students, 5 students will be enrolled in TRS Classes and 9 will be enrolled in Brilliant Tutorials, Madras. Additionally, each student has already been provided a mentor who is a current student at IIT Madras.

List of Books Purchased

The list of books purchased is as follows:

5


Name of book Subject No. of copies Cost (Rs.)

NCERT - Chemistry for Class XI - Part 1 Chemistry 15 Rs. 1,425 NCERT - Physics for Class XI - Part 1 Physics 15 Rs. 1,200 NCERT - Physics for Class XI - Part 2 Physics 15 Rs. 975 H.C. Verma - Concepts of Physics - Part 1 Physics 15 Rs. 2,958 S.L. Loney - Plane Trigonometry Mathematics 15 Rs. 960 S.L. Loney - Co-ordinate Geometry Mathematics 15 Rs. 720 Tata McGraw Hill - Course in Mathematics Mathematics 14 Rs. 7,000 Total 104 Rs. 15,238

Appendix 1 – Photos of Bills

6


7


Appendix 2 – Photos of Books

8


9


Documents

Report on Chennai Operations – 2010-11 · Avanti Fellows Selection Report - Chennai 2010-11 The selection process was conducted in 2 phases. 1. Phase 1 – Tests conducted at respective