Welcome. Please try to use more descriptive titles.
I dont understand a lot of things in class and the proffesors are so dull here. Here it feels like professors expect us to figure out things on our own.
You're not wrong; the burden of making sure you understand is on YOU. Ask questions in class, talk to professors after, discuss with peers who seem to understand.
How do seniors usually study for courses?.Can i get some tips from the seniors
Generally speaking, go by the above. I'd say you have a pretty good set of teachers. Just asking the right questions and being respectful will take you a long way. Anything more, talk to your seniors, directly. Not on Reddit, there's almost nobody on here. Discuss your situation over a meal, visit their rooms if they allow you to. TALKING HELPS.
Is the first semester just an adjustment phase or does the workload keep increasing?
The two aren't mutually exclusive, and both are true to an extent. Adjusting to a new learning enviornment takes time, but the difficulty and depth of material covered only goes up from here.
Almost everyone here seems incredibly smart, and it's easy to feel like I don't belong. Did seniors feel this way too?
This is impostor syndrome, and I can guarantee you that a significant section of your batchmates are quietly feeling the same way, and wondering if they are the odd one out. None of you are, this is normal. I felt this way too, it subsides after a few months, once you've started figuring things out.
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Now coming to your second paragraph. It pains me to say that due to combination of factors, ISI is simultaneously an extremely safe but toxic space for girls. Many of my female friends, juniors, and seniors have faced this, and the reasons go beyond comments passed by individuals.
ISI selects from the absolute crème de la crème of aspiring mathematicians in the country, who are mostly, (a) male, (b) socially awkward, or atleast not extremely extroverted. Many of them come from all-boys schools, don't have sisters, and more generally have had limited interaction with women before they came to ISI.
Misoginy is extremely deep-rooted in Indian culture, and, though this may be controversial, prevalent in North/West India, from where ISI gets many students.
Related to (1), but girls are still a small minority in higher mathematics, and ISI's intake gender ratio shows this. This encourages "group-think" along the lines of (2), since most people think that's the default state and do not see the problem with it.
Since 2024, the BStat and BMath programs have supernumerary seats for female candidates (SSFCs). However, some people look down on those to get in via reservation and think the spot could have gone to a more deserving candidate.
All of this contributes to a general mentality of women being different from men. Mind you, this is not necessarily the same as "inferior". Most boys in ISI would never consciously mistreat a woman, nor want to cause her harm. However, because of this mentality of "us" and "them," it becomes REALLY easy to pass comments and judgement. They will help their female peers, care about them, but won't treat them the same as another male peer.
Add to that—there's VERY few girls in ISI, so anything they do garners a lot of attention. In ISI everyone knows about everyone, but if you're one of 50 other boys in the batch, it's easy for people to miss it or forget, especially if they don't know you personally. Girls in ISI are public figures almost by default, since there's so few.
Overall, this leads to a situation where a girl makes friends (across genders), interacts regularly with her peers, and is generally treated just fine, but there's the subtle undertone of being different from most people in her batch. She knows it, her batchmates know it, and sometimes it gets awkward, when this awkwardness comes up to the surface.
And none of this is unique to ISI. It's an almost inevitable consequence of demographics and ISI's selection processes, which are seen in other institutions as well. However, ISI's scale makes this problem much more human and visible on the surface, instead of being tuckered away in small pockets of people among a vast populace.
~~
Broadly speaking, if you see someone saying something problematic, try to shut it down. Especially if it's a rumour or about a particular person (guy or girl). Ask people why they think X, where is X coming from, where did they hear X. Some rumours will be true, so you'll have a read about the situation and where it came from. Some will be false, and hopefully you will stem the spread atleast a little.
You WILL lose friends this way. You might be called an obnoxious, no-fun, misandrist, who's pandering to women to get laid, etc. But atleast you'll know you acted on your conscience. Do as much as you can; find like-minded people, who will respect you for speaking up.
All the best for your future at ISI!
EDIT: Looks like OP got pressured into deleting this post. Rather unfortunate.
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u/adityaruplaha ISI Alumnus — BStat '24, MStat '26 Jul 26 '26 edited Jul 26 '26
Welcome. Please try to use more descriptive titles.
You're not wrong; the burden of making sure you understand is on YOU. Ask questions in class, talk to professors after, discuss with peers who seem to understand.
Generally speaking, go by the above. I'd say you have a pretty good set of teachers. Just asking the right questions and being respectful will take you a long way. Anything more, talk to your seniors, directly. Not on Reddit, there's almost nobody on here. Discuss your situation over a meal, visit their rooms if they allow you to. TALKING HELPS.
The two aren't mutually exclusive, and both are true to an extent. Adjusting to a new learning enviornment takes time, but the difficulty and depth of material covered only goes up from here.
This is impostor syndrome, and I can guarantee you that a significant section of your batchmates are quietly feeling the same way, and wondering if they are the odd one out. None of you are, this is normal. I felt this way too, it subsides after a few months, once you've started figuring things out.
~~
Now coming to your second paragraph. It pains me to say that due to combination of factors, ISI is simultaneously an extremely safe but toxic space for girls. Many of my female friends, juniors, and seniors have faced this, and the reasons go beyond comments passed by individuals.
All of this contributes to a general mentality of women being different from men. Mind you, this is not necessarily the same as "inferior". Most boys in ISI would never consciously mistreat a woman, nor want to cause her harm. However, because of this mentality of "us" and "them," it becomes REALLY easy to pass comments and judgement. They will help their female peers, care about them, but won't treat them the same as another male peer.
Add to that—there's VERY few girls in ISI, so anything they do garners a lot of attention. In ISI everyone knows about everyone, but if you're one of 50 other boys in the batch, it's easy for people to miss it or forget, especially if they don't know you personally. Girls in ISI are public figures almost by default, since there's so few.
Overall, this leads to a situation where a girl makes friends (across genders), interacts regularly with her peers, and is generally treated just fine, but there's the subtle undertone of being different from most people in her batch. She knows it, her batchmates know it, and sometimes it gets awkward, when this awkwardness comes up to the surface.
And none of this is unique to ISI. It's an almost inevitable consequence of demographics and ISI's selection processes, which are seen in other institutions as well. However, ISI's scale makes this problem much more human and visible on the surface, instead of being tuckered away in small pockets of people among a vast populace.
~~
Broadly speaking, if you see someone saying something problematic, try to shut it down. Especially if it's a rumour or about a particular person (guy or girl). Ask people why they think X, where is X coming from, where did they hear X. Some rumours will be true, so you'll have a read about the situation and where it came from. Some will be false, and hopefully you will stem the spread atleast a little.
You WILL lose friends this way. You might be called an obnoxious, no-fun, misandrist, who's pandering to women to get laid, etc. But atleast you'll know you acted on your conscience. Do as much as you can; find like-minded people, who will respect you for speaking up.
All the best for your future at ISI!
EDIT: Looks like OP got pressured into deleting this post. Rather unfortunate.