Sandhya Shenoy U is the first student of NITK to score 10 on 10 grade points, not achieved by any other student in the institution. To be precise, Sandhya has scored cent per cent marks in all subjects in each semester.

“I knew that I had scored cent per cent grading points but I was unaware that I was the first one to get that magic number. It feels great,” Sandhya told Deccan Herald.

Sandhya has her roots in Kundapur but was born in Bangalore. She did her schooling in Udupi, completed her PU and BSc in MGM College, Udupi. She was a university gold medalist in BSc.

What was her study strategy?

“I listened to the lectures attentively and made notes. It is just the classroom notes that I depended on even during examination,” she says

Sandhya is presently doing her PhD in nanochemistry at NITK. She has received the Institution fellowship for her research with a monthly stipend of Rs 12,000. While most of her teachers feel that she is cut out to be a researcher, Sandhya says that after completing her PhD she wants to take up teaching.

“Initially I thought I will become a researcher because I had doubts about me being a teacher. But recently when I was asked to take classes for I MSc students I felt that I can be a teacher,” says Sandhya, leaving it to her students to grade her as a teacher.

NITK Head of Department of Chemistry, Prof A Vasudeva Adhikari said: “Sandhya scoring 10 grade points is not a surprise because a dedicated and hard working girl like her deserves nothing less. With 100 per cent attendance in each semester, she is always well prepared for surprise tests. When students like Sandhya achieve something great all superlatives fall short to describe her,” he says.

She did her summer research project at Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advance Research, Bangalore, one of the rare opportunities that students get. NITK Director Prof Sandeep Sancheti confirms  that even under marking system no student had scored cent per cent mark in any  course because it is ‘virtually impossible’ to do so especially in professional courses.

“It is difficult to score cent per cent marks in marking system but it does not mean that it is easier under relative grading system. A student has to be brilliant to achieve this rare accomplishment and Sandhya has made history, which students in years to come will remember,” says Prof Sancheti.  Sandhya humbly gives the credit of her achievement to her parents in Bangalore, and to her teachers.