Mahima Rana's Review On Visvesvaraya National Institute Of Technology - [VNIT], Nagpur

Over the years I have made a new family with whom I have shared my best 4 years. My memories will not only include my friends but also some of the most amazing teachers I have met here whom I shall never forget. Our college management is supportive and strict at the same time, both of which are important to make our life better.

I had appeared for my IIT-JEE mains exam in the academic year of 2013. Th answer to why I chose this college over many others is not so hard for a teenage to comprehend. With every new city comes a new experience where there is a confluence of different people and cultures and where you get to begin afresh. I could have taken a college in the city I had been staying for quite a few years i.e. Chandigarh but I opted out because I wanted to learn and to come in contact with new people. VNIT is one of the most reputed colleges in the country and it was a better option than many other available to me at that point. Moreover, it was pretty easy to convince my parents to let me continue my education here and give me an opportunity to nurture my interests and talent. As far as my course is concerned, I had been very clear since the day I took up non-medical subjects as to what course I wanted to go for, so there was never a doubt in my mind.

The course curriculum is quite good and a lot of thought is put into it. It is all very systematic and if there are any changes done, we are informed before hand regarding the same. There are a lot of students who are much more inclined towards research and they are given equal opportunity and guidance. Students can take up research products from second year onwards under the professor who has a specialisation in the fields they are interested in. This research project may also include PhD. students or M.Tech students. Research project is mandatory for final year students who can choose their own mentors and work under them. Final year students are then judged based on their results.

Every year various companies come to our college to pick interns from the third year batch. These are mostly Core companies which provide monthly stipend. We have companies such as HUL, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs coming to our campus in search of new interns. The overall experience is highly informative and most importantly it gives the students a peek into the corporate world. They get a hint of how things work and what they should aim for in their future. Various students realise their actual inclination once they complete their internships be it positive or negative. The general stipend is 10- 20k per month with HUL paying 35k per month as the stipend.

The college provides plenty of job opportunities. This year almost half of our strong 700 batch has already been placed in good companies. Almost everyone barring one or two have been placed in the computer science department and the figures are strong for mechanical and electrical engineering as well where almost 60 people have already been placed respectively. Companies such as HUL, Morgan Stanley, Amazon, Godrej, Reliance, Delloite, FIAT frequent our campus. The highest package has been given by Amazon for approximately 22 lacs per annum. Average computer science placements are worth 10-20 lacs per annum. Core Companies such as SUN Pharma, Ashok Leyland, FIAT, Bajaj give a package of approximately 4-6 lacs per annum with an annual appreciation. On the other hand management companies such as Fractal Analytics, Delloite and ZS associates give a package of approx 5-9 lacs per annum.

We have 3 festivals held in our college every year. The first is the Technical festival, AXIS which is held either in September or October. There are participants from within and outside the city. The participation for this year was approximately 30 thousand. It is chiefly divided into four parts- inaugural where we have famous personalities such as Dr. Kalam, Dinesh Keskar and Ashish Saraf visiting us, second are the events (there are almost 25+ events with proze money as high as 45k), third is guest lectures (this year Amish Tripathi came to our college and previous year we had a Quora Meetup) and last is Pro-shows such as Tron Dance etc. Our management festival is Consortium which is held in the month of January. Consortium has events such as swadesh, EPL etc. The start-up conclave held under Consortium is one of the best platforms for young entrepreneurs to interact with investors and start a full fledged business our Cultural festival is AAROHI, held in the month of February. AAROHI is also divided into 3 parts - Cultural night (famous singers perform in the campus and the money collected from selling the tickets is given for charity), Second is events such as A LA DANSE, PURPLE HAZE etc and the third is pro-show where we have famous bands performing or edm. The average participation must be around 20k.

The fee structure is very feasible. Our hostel fees is approximately 18k per semester and our academic fees is approximately 22k per semester. No other charges are taken from the students and everything is included in this. With the recent hike in fees in 2014, the fees for our junior batches is approximately 1.5 lac per annum compared to 80k per annum.

We have two bank branches in our campus which do provide loans but as far as the college is concerned I don not have the knowledge if any loan is provided. As far as scholarships are concerned, students from backward communities are given scholarships but again as I have availed none, I do not have much knowledge about it.

The campus life is amazing. We have a 215 acre campus with lots of greenery. The gender ratio has been improving over the years and now there are almost 200 girls in a batch of 700. Most of the students here are from Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Maharashtra but you can also find plenty of students from Kerala, Arab countries and many more. There are plenty of extra-curricular activities held such as departmental gathering and institutional gathering. In departmental gathering, the students of one department interact whereas institutional gathering brings the departments together to compete in cultural activities and sports. There are robotics workshops on one hand and on the other you can find people thronging to go for the Salsa workshop. IEEE which is one of the clubs in the college focus solely on robotics and organize various workshops on the same through out the year. We have clubs such as GROOVES (dance), Octaves (music), Halla Bol (dramatics), IEEE (Robotics), IICHE (chemical engineers), Astronomy Club, MAG.COM (magazine) and many more. Debates are held all over the year and the faculty of the college is as enthusiastic about it as the students. The students are very friendly and tolerant. Considering that I am from North India, I can proudly say that I did not find it difficult at all to adjust here and to make friends.

The hostel facilities are good for both boys and the girls. There are hardly any situations where students have to live outside the campus unless they have been rusticated or according their own wishes. The first year boys and girls share a 4 seater room respectively. The second year boys share a 3seater whereas second year girls share a 2-seater room. Third year and final years boys as well as girls have the privilege of single rooms. We have internet connection through out the day. The girls have an intime of 9 p.m. whereas the guys have none. The mess food is neither better nor worse than what you would get in any other college but home is certainly missed.

There is a strong alumni network in the college. We have an alumni association which works to bring the students of all the batches together every year by organizing a reunion where the current students get to meet their alumni. Our seniors and the alumni are extremely helpful and they would never hesitate to help in whatever way it is possible. I have met Dinesh Keskar in the technical festival of 2015 and I got an opportunity to speak to him as I was a member of the Core Committee. He is a pass out student of Mechanical engineering and today is the Vice President of Boeing Sales. He really had a deep impact on me because he made me realise that I have to make the best out of this college life in terms of both my education and my personality.

We have 3 exams per semester i.e. first and second sessional and end semester exams with a gap of one to one and a half month. Before the end semester exams we have various project evaluations and lab examinations. During sessionals, we have 2 exams a day and during end semester exams we have one exam per day. The exam schedule is based on the slot system. First year students have their exam from 9 a.m.-12 noon whereas everyone has it from 2p.m. - 5p.m. It is pretty chilled out and usually the students can be seen studying only a week or even lesser before that.

The admission process was quite a complicated one. Well, we had CSAB which used to determine which college we would go to according to our score. So basically we had to go to our nearest NIT and get ourself registered. I had gone to NIT-Kurukshetra for the same. We had an option of choosing colleges and courses according to our preferences. There were 5 rounds of upgradation and each round could either get you the same college as the previous round or upgrade you to a college of higher preference. So by July we were unsure as to which college we would get. I had been given NIT-Durgapur in the first round and NIT-Rourkela in the second. I got VNIT in the third round. We did have an option to go ahead with the fourth and the fifth round but we decided not to as it had already become quite hectic running from one city to another. By July end the third round results were out and we finally booked the tickets to the right place.

The faculty is one of the best attributes of this college. Every department has professors who have completed their education from the best institutes in the country and many from outside India as well. Not just this, the professors are very empathetic and understanding. They do not turn us down and never discourage us from taking up our interests and passion. When it comes to academics, they are very fair and very knowledgeable.