From Stage Fright to 45 LPA: How Pranshu Kumar Used the T&P Cell, IIT Madras, and an 80-Drive Placement Season to Clear a 90-Minute US based MNC Interview at Parul University

Not every placement story begins with a prodigy. Pranshu Kumar‘s begins with a student who was terrified of standing in front of people. By his own account, he could barely speak to someone new when he first arrived on campus. What changed was not a single moment but a deliberate accumulation of habits, responsibilities, and a refusal to stay comfortable.

Today, Pranshu is a sixth-semester B.Tech Computer Science and Engineering student at Parul University, simultaneously pursuing a BS in Data Science and Applications from IIT Madras. He has secured an internship at US based MNC with a package of up to 45 LPA, contingent on a performance review. Head here to read Placement Day at Parul University: 3,500+ Offers.

While simultaneously managing both the degrees, his third semester schedule, wake at 6:30 AM, attend college from 7:00 to 14:00, manage the Training and Placement Cell until 17:00, then split evenings between Parul University coursework and IIT Madras assignments until 2:00 AM.

Sundays were exam days. Four to five Sundays a month, two to three of them at an exam centre. Through this, he maintained approximately 8.5 CGPA. If you’re equally passionate about artificial intelligence, software development and want to develop a fruitful career in engineering, explore Engineering Programs after 12th, right at Parul University.

Pranshu joined the Parul University Training and Placement Cell in his second semester as a student coordinator. By the third semester, he had been promoted to T&P Lead, managing over 100 student coordinators and taking direct responsibility for senior manager interactions during every company visit. Over his college career, he coordinated more than 80 to 90 placement drives. He represented the institution at board-level industry meetings and helped design the placement process for his graduating batch.

The transformation in his communication was concrete. A student who once had severe stage fright went on to address orientation sessions for 3,000 incoming students across five separate sessions. When asked what the T&P Cell actually taught him, Pranshu is specific: when you speak to a company on behalf of the cell, you are not speaking as yourself. You are speaking as Parul University brand ambassador. That distinction forced him to build confidence, professional attire, and the ability to operate under pressure with real consequences. Head here to watch how Placement Day looked at Parul University!

Pranshu’s coding journey began with curiosity, not curriculum. GitHub came through a friend in the second semester. Python became his primary language, full-stack development his core area. He built projects including a facial recognition system, a local events discovery platform developed at a hackathon, and BrainWise, an AI assistant that lives on a local machine, scans and indexes files, and enables retrieval through natural language conversation. BrainWise integrates computer vision, NLP, and file system interaction.

The real technical turning point came through Smart Interviews, a specialised DSA training programme offered to a selected group of students. He passed the screening test and completed the intensive 40-day training. He credits this programme directly for what followed in the placement season. At the time of his placement, his LeetCode count was 396, competing against candidates with over 1,100. His argument: numbers are an entry gate, but they do not decide who wins once you are inside the room. If you too want to master how to crack interviews for big giants such as Microsoft & Capgemini, head here to read the entire story of how Pranshu Kumar Cracked Interviews with 3 Diff Rounds

Pranshu’s first on-campus interview was with Microsoft. He cleared the DSA round in under thirty minutes but was rejected in the final round. The hiring manager asked for research papers and testing reports documenting his AI project’s performance. These were personal learning projects, built to grow, not to ship. He had not prepared formal documentation. The rejection taught him two things: how to present work with professional-grade evidence, and how to redirect conversations when the ground shifts. Ever wondered how? Read here to know how Two Colleges, One Student, 80 Placement Drives  have created 45 LPA Candidates and 3500+ Placements.

US based MNC came next, the interview lasted between 80 and 90 minutes, the longest on-campus interview in the entire drive. Three rounds: a BFS tree traversal cleared in 30 minutes, a 60-minute live code walkthrough of his facial recognition project (conducted entirely in Python after redirecting a Java-focused interviewer), and a surprise Low Level Design round where he built an HR management system live while the hiring manager attended phone calls. The hiring manager’s closing feedback: you can do wonders in your life.

When the HR called to confirm selection, Pranshu’s first response: “Ma’am, I’m sorry, is this my fault or someone else’s?” The official mail arrived the next morning.

A few days after selection, the Director of Training and Placement, Mr. Gurcharan Singh, told Pranshu there would be something big for him. Pranshu joked back: “Sir, kya Dhoni se milva doge kya?” The next day, MS Dhoni came to the Parul University campus. Pranshu stood on stage with him for two minutes. They spoke about their hometowns, both from the same region. Two people from nearby towns, meeting on a stage neither could have imagined years earlier.

Pranshu tells this story under a simple framing: “Parul ne toh bohot gifts diye hain.” The internship was one. The campus, the T&P Cell, the orientation stages, the industry interactions, and an impromptu conversation with MS Dhoni were others. Besides this, he shared his experience on Linkedin on how placement cell and professors of Parul University helped him crack this offer.

Head here to read Pranshu Kumar’s Placement Experience at Parul University.

Pranshu’s 45 LPA adds to a placement season that has redefined what a single Gujarat university can achieve in one cycle:

• 3,500+ placements (Gujarat’s largest single-season figure)
• 60 LPA: Tanish Patel and Suraj at Microsoft (2027 batch early placement)
• 45 LPA: Pranshu Kumar at US based MNC (current batch)
• 43 LPA: Soumya Dhakad at MNC (current batch highest confirmed)
• 23 marquee offers at 20 LPA and above
• 459 students with two or more offers, 27 with four or more
• Package progression: 22.5 LPA (2023) to 43-45 LPA (current) to 60 LPA (2027)
• 2,200+ recruiters across engineering, management, law, hospitality, social work, and healthcare
• 254 startups incubated by PIERC, Parul University – From ideation to shark tank level funding, they help you with global exposure at all the levels.
• Rs 25 Cr+ Funding championed by Research Cell of Parul University. Head here to read in detail – Research at Parul University: Rs 25 Cr+ Funding.