Out and out experience at my Alma Mater

Admission to MIT Manipal is through MUOET (now MET) which is held in the months of May & June. A student can sit for the entrance test for up to 3 times and the best marks are taken into consideration while deciding your stream based on the rank achieved in that particular test. This is followed by a counselling process tentatively in the month of June. The counselling taken place successively on 5 days and students are invited according to their ranks & accordingly they can select their streams based on the available number of seats in that branch. Finally, you will have an orientation 2-3 days before the joining which will be in the last week of July. I selected this college in particular as my elder had already been studying here and she had given good feedback about the infrastructural facilities & the advanced curriculum which I found to be mostly true. However, the college charges a hefty fee for all this. The staffs, both teaching & non - teaching are very polite and helpful.

The course structure is well designed and is regularly updated, incorporating new technologies & software. That was one of the main reasons I chose this course. The electrical part, however, is quite outdated. Even the lab equipment is mostly work - out. The electronics section is interesting & advanced. The labs are well-equipped with advanced components & software tools. However, the faculties are not worth it. Although most of them have either a PhD degree or are enrolled in a PhD program, they are not able to explain the concepts properly and/or lucidly. The department offers electives and minor specialisations in a lot of emerging & advanced technologies/streams. The faculty-student ratio is better than most other colleges with a total of 69 students in one class. We have a total of 4 open book assignments per subject per semester, each carrying 5 marks. Besides, we do have 2 sessional of 15 marks each. Finally, the end semester exams are worth 50 marks.

Students are eligible to sit for placements right from the fifth semester (internship only) while seventh & eighth-semester students can sit for both placement & internship. TCS, Wipro, Sabre, Impact Analytics, Amadeus Labs, Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft, L&T and most other companies visit our campus and most of the students get placed by the end of 8th semester. The college does not disclose the average or highest package. I have been placed at Wipro with an annual package of 6.5 lacs per annum. More than 90 per cent of the students do get a placement at MIT.

Both the tuition & hostel fees are very high and even if one plans to take an education loan, the EMIs would be too high (nearly 13k per month for a period of 60 months). There's a hike in the fee amount for every successive batch of around 30-40k. Also, the fee depends upon the branch you opt for. Circuit branches have a total course fee around 13 lacs while non - circuit branches have a total course fee of around 11 lacs. You can avail an AICTE scholarship if both your parents' total annual income does not exceed 8 lacs. Other forms of financial assistance like performance-based scholarships are minimal. Besides, the lifestyle at Manipal is too expensive and one should think carefully before joining. I got a job of Project Engineer at Wipro and the good thing is most of the students get placed by the end of 4 years.

There are a plethora of technical & non-technical clubs at MIT, with the total count being somewhere around 85. There are great chances of self - development and self-improvement at Manipal. The weather is cool for most of the months of the year, except March & April which are scorching hot. There's an annual tech - fest called TechTatva and a non - technical fest called Revels in the odd & even semesters respectively. The library is stocked with hundreds of books not just technical but even general books & competitive exam books. Many science & engineering journals of repute are regularly brought to the library. Besides, the library portal provides free subscription to IEEE, Springer and many other reputed international journals. The classrooms are well equipped with boards, projectors and comfortable chairs & desks and of course, AC.

The hostels have 24-hour power & water supply, both hot & cold. Every floor has a water cooler connected to a water purifier. The rooms are cleaned on every alternate day or as & when requested by the tenants. There are both single & double bedrooms, AC and non - AC. Besides, you can even opt for a three-seater room with a common bath. The institute has 2 states of the art food courts which can accommodate hundreds of students at a time, besides several small messes attached to the hostels. The quality, quantity & hygiene level of food is great. However, the taste is not that good. As already stated, hostels are quite expensive depending upon the type of hostel opted for. Besides, the regular meal served at the food court, students can also buy items of their choice by paying for it.