MIT Mechanical Rocks.

The college management did their best to provide us with the facilities to excel in our studies. The positioning in the study hierarchy meant that we didn't get the best students, but those that did study at MIT got the best facilities.

CET - 166. Rank 366 in Pune 1800 in Maharashtra. I was interested in Mechanical Engg. I had the choice of instrumentation in COEP and Mech in MIT and decided to go for mechanical engg.

The course was based on the Pune University syllabus which is recognized worldwide as one of the most comprehensive syllabi prepared. This helped several people later who got through ivy league colleges in the US for their MS due to the reputation of the Pune University.

They don't provide internship, but were very rigorous in the evaluation of the projects. We had to reach industry designer levels of precision to get a good internal grade.

We had a nearly 100% placement record with the bulk of the companies being taken by the IT mass recruiters. But there were several companies which offered niche profiles in petroleum - Shell - 11lks. for petro and mech branches. Thoughtworks for IT and CS - around 8lks.

Curlturally we were part of the Firodiya Karandak, the annual cultural program of the city. But we used to lose out to the Arts/Science colleges in the city. Technically we were unique in the way each branch had their own Technical festival. The Mechanical tech fest - Axlerate was very popular and the experience gained there helped the college teams do well in other competitions. MIT was also a regular host of ROBOCON the premier robotics competition in the country and their teams always performed very well.

At the time the fees were 50k/ year which was very reasonable for a private college. Stationary was charged separately due to the differing requirements of the different branches. The fees were collected at the beginning of the year.

I didn't avail of any loan facility. However most of the banks offered loans to cover the tution fees for those that required assistance.

The Gender ratio was pathetic as should be expected of any good quality engineering college. It was especially bleak in the mechanical branch, 10 girls in a class of 120. The dorms were divided, but there were strong groups formed within the collegians. There was a prevalence of marathi as means of communication - probably through the influence of the college founder - Vishwanath Karad. College politics were non existent but the cultural society was dominated by a small group with a very good network as I'm sure would be the case everywhere.

I didn't live in the hostel but from visiting the hostel accomodation of my college mates- the hostel left a lot to be desired. A large part of the college goers used to live in rented accomodation around the college- the college is centrally located. The mess food was good but had the typical mess flavor which meant that very few of us utilized that facility.

Alumni network is non existent, but the senior students are very helpful. They take the role of unofficial guide during all submissions, assignments and placements.

The days were relatively chilled out, but it used to get very frantic during lab submission time. Each and every reading was verified during the Oral Viva's and we had to be well versed to pass those. The exams were conducted very strictly and the papers were subjected to a very detailed checking. It was next to impossible to score more than 60% in any subject. The University topper(also from my college) scored 78% and did his masters from MIT, Boston(the original MIT.

We had to apply online to the colleges and courses of our choice. MIT Mechanical was my ninth choice and according to my rank it was the course that I was allocated. I had the choice to be allocated COEP Instrumentation but chose this course instead.

Our college had very good faculty for the mechanical branch. These were people who had pursued Mechanical Engg when CS and EnTC were no where in the horizon, which made Engineering a job generator. They were passionate about their subjects and the lab facilities provided by the college was one of the best in India. We had Rapid Prototyping(which has since come to be known as 3D printing) as an elective in our final year, which was offered as a subject at the time only for Masters students of IIT Kharagpur.