A Glance of PIT

I had secured 90 percentile in my XII grade and had decided to pursue Engineering with a specialization in Mechanical as many suggested it has a wider scope and lots of job opportunities at the time. Though I had determined the course of study but didn't have any specific college in mind. Admission: Engineering College Admission was centrally carried out by Anna University by means of counseling for the students based on their marks secured in their 12th examination. The cut-off scores were used to determine the ranking of students which in turn decides the day of the counseling. The counseling was conducted and seats were availed based on availability as per student's caste/category for every college. Since I had attended the counseling on 6th-day seats in most of the government colleges were unavailable so I had to opt for Panimalar Institute of Technology, Chennai as it was fairly popular among the Engineering Colleges for its Amenities and placements.

I solely chose this course on the suggestions that I received from my relatives and well-wishers as they said it had "Broader scope and good job opportunities". Mechanical Department in Panimalar Institute of Technology constituted 250 students in total during my batch(2015-2019). There were four classes in total which had around 70 students each including the lateral entry students from Year II. Our College had well-qualified teaching faculties categorized as Associate Professor and Assistant Professor who were managed by our H.O.D (Ph.D.) and there were few other Ph.D. holders and well-accomplished professors during our III-Year of study. Their teaching methods were not the best in class per se but still moderate compared to surrounding engineering colleges. Exams had a semester pattern and 3 sets of internal assessments were conducted each semester but internal assessment marks were mostly graded based on the student's overall performance.

Placement Training was provided but not no specialized event-based placement drive was conducted, They would intimate via mail if any company going to visit a couple of days before and students have to be prepared for placements. Typical Companies in Placement prefers students without any backlog, but some students with few backlogs(<10000) were recruited by companies for lower than average salary(<10000 - 12000). There were few companies with around 2.25L package and above but they recruited only fewer students(without backlogs) as their expectations were not met by many students. Although the placements for CS/IT branches were fairly good compared to mechanical. As I had a few backlogs and wanted to pursue higher studies at that time was not much interested in placements.

I had Availed Hostel for Accommodation as no bus facilities were available up to Vellore then. Fees for students who got admitted through counseling had a standard fee of Rs. 1,15,000 / year and an additional fee of Rs. 25000 during the first year which included Bus fees (to all nearby areas in Chennai) and Mess(Breakfast + Lunch every working day). Hostel fees include an additional 40000+ /year common for all students which include room to stay + extra amenities and dinner. Although government category based Scholarship was provided, College had Cash rewards for the department toppers(top three) for every semester.

The events and celebration were rare to address on our campus, but were allowed to mostly attend other college events by providing OD(On-duty) from Year-III. Classrooms were typical but were occasionally been taken to the AV rooms where conceptual animations were played and explained. Apart from the curriculum, there were hardly any extra-curricular activites on the campus. Unless an individual holds any state-level or district level certificates or admitted by sports quota students were not allowed to indulge in any sports. There were a couple of clubs like CAE(a club for design enthusiasts), Aeronautical, Automobile, etc but aside from workshops, there weren't any exciting club activities or events. Although there were a group of enthusiasts who formed groups and participated in the BAJA competition conducted by SAE India(but had to invest around 30000).