Smart enough to get in, smart enough to get out well

College management was mostly political appointments during my days there. Definitely leaves a lot to be desired. Its a good college which remain on top purely because of the quality of the student intake rather than its own efforts.

Took engineering entrance examination and along with HSC scores, qualified to enter this college. Only IIT and ECG were the premier colleges in the state. IIT generally requires CBSE syllabus and extensive coaching to succeed. I studied matriculation and can't afford private tuitions. So scored the best I can and tried to enter CEG. Lucky enough, I was able to as the fees are low in govt colleges. Mostly image of the college as the no.1 govt college, the social status it would provide my parents, low tuition fees (Rs.7000 a year in 1998 when I joined) and being in the same city of residence Chennai, it was a no brainer decision for me. But I was seriously underwhelmed by the quality of the faculty for the most part, though there were a few bright spots.

The course structure and curriculum left a lot to be desired. The first six months were wasted in studying outdated items like FOXTRAN, BASIC programming. Surprisingly, English syllabus was very good. Automotive engineering and Mechatronics were an absolute drab. You could learn more from auto-magazines. Few other like Thermodynamics and Fluid Mechanics were interesting.

Yes, the college provides internship but only for the masters programs. There was nothing at the bachelor's degree level. However, there was scholarships for SC/ST students. One of my class mates, got all his tuition fees waived and he got money for all the books as well.

Inspite of all the other drawbacks, placement is one thing that this college excels in. Mostly you will get placed through campus. But the year I passed out - 2002 - was particularly bad. IT Companies like TCS, Infosys, CTS were the top recruiters. Normally they would select around 30-40 people from Mechanical Engineering stream, but during out batch, they selected only 3 people. I was not one of the top scorers, so didn't get a job. After 1.5 years of doing all odd jobs, finally got a break in IT.

We had one major techno-cultural event - Techofest. The level of participation from across the state is just amazing. Its organized mostly by they student body using sponsorship money with a little help from management. The whole campus will come to life during that period. There will be white paper presentations, debates, drama, dance shows, quiz and other fun competitions. Apart from that, Mechanical Engineering department also conducts its own symposium, but that's low key compared to Techofest.

The fee structure is extremely cheap. I paid only Rs.7000 a year in tuition plus books. So four years of education completed with Rs. 35,000 including books. There were limited private quota seats where they paid a few lakhs each year. At the same time, they also provide scholarships to SC/ST caste students or if you can prove that you are economically disadvantaged.

Yes, as I mentioned, they provided scholarships to the economically disadvantaged. The whole tuition fees was waived off, they provide money for the books and then something more to partly cover your cost of food and travel.

Gender ratio is mostly 60-40 but Mechanical Engineering is almost fully boys only. There were some compulsory extra-curricular activities. You have an option to join NCC Army, NCC Navy or Sport Activity Group. Sports Activity Group is generally restricted to people who excel in certain sports and can represent the college. Other than that, not much happening except during Techofest.

I was a day scholar, so I don't have first hand experience with the hostel food. But the rooms were pretty basic, shared toilets, cheap beds. You get what you pay for and you know the level of maintenance in govt institutions. Not appalling, but not good as well. Once or twice I did eat in the mess and it was alright.

They were definitely helpful in providing practical advise. Most of them also pass on their books to juniors for free. During that period, ragging was prevalent in most colleges, but CEG was an exception where senior-junior relationship was really good. They did both the good things and bad things together.

I think they were very reasonably scheduled. It was not too hectic. With a little bit of planning, you can accomplish everything you can. The labs can be a bit tricky. Most of these exercises were done in groups, so not all may get a chance to practically perform the tests before the exam.

There was an admission counselling process where the top 600-700 people go to CEG campus in Guindy, Chennai. They will call out the names as per your ranking, which is determined by HSC score and Engineering Entrance exam score. I think I was ranked 430 or something. I wanted to get Computer Science, but normally only the top 100 will have that option. I was not very keen on Electronics and Communication or Electrical Engineering. So choice was between Computer Engineering in top tier private college like Venkateshwara Engineering college or Mechanical Engineering in CEG. I chose it mainly because of lower fees. Once my name is called, I go in and tell them my first preference. If it was available, they will give. If not, they will give other options. So it was a straight forward choice for me.

Most of the faculty were aged and stuck with their one way delivery of course syllabus. There were only a few classes where interaction was consciously included during lecture. There were some faculty who would flatly say, save all your questions to the end of the class. As college students, most of us were a bit callous. So expecting us to note down our doubts along with the context and then spend more time at the end in try to make him recall the context, was a bit too much for us. We ended up just discussing amount ourselves when we got a chance.