IITian 'backbencher' reveals what he did during college days: 'I did the bare minimum...'

Not all IITians go on to be the class topper, even if they had the best grades in school. An IIT Varanasi alumni recently took to X to reminisce about his ‘back bencher’ days in college. Reflecting on his time at IIT (BHU) Varanasi, alumnus Akash Sampurnanand Pandey admitted that he was never among the most academically driven students and often considered himself a typical backbencher.

In a post on X, Pandey recalled that he attended lectures primarily because the institute required students to maintain a minimum attendance of 75 percent. He described his four-year engineering programme as something he completed mainly to earn the prestigious IIT degree rather than out of genuine enthusiasm for the subject. According to him, academic life often felt restrictive, and he viewed it as the cost of securing the IIT credential.

While professors taught metallurgy and engineering concepts in class, Pandey said his attention was usually focused elsewhere. Instead of concentrating solely on technical coursework, he spent much of his time reading novels and essay collections while also immersing himself in subjects that genuinely fascinated him. His personal reading list included modern Indian history, economics, political science, and international relations.


Pandey revealed that he typically finished between seven and ten books every semester. Many of these belonged to his roommate, who was preparing for the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) examination. He explained that these books helped shape his intellectual interests far more than his engineering textbooks did.

When it came to academics, Pandey admitted that he devoted very little time to his core discipline. He said he usually opened his metallurgy textbooks only about a day before examinations and studied just enough to clear the papers. By putting in the minimum effort required, he maintained a grade point average of around 7.5, which was sufficient to qualify for campus recruitment opportunities. Outside academics, however, he eagerly explored a wide range of interests and considered those experiences to be the most rewarding part of his college years.

After completing his engineering degree, Pandey accepted a consulting position but eventually chose to move away from the field in which he had graduated. Looking back, he encouraged students not to feel bound by the subject they studied in college. In his view, a four-year academic programme should not determine the direction of an entire professional life, and people should feel free to pursue careers that align with their passions rather than their degrees.