VIT- A Place to grow.

I chose the course BTECH-CSE (Specialization in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning) as I truly believe that it is the future, and that the next 20-30 years would be ruled by Data Science and Machine Learning branches. In VIT, in my chosen subject, the faculty-student ratio is quite moderate- There are several teachers teaching the exact same subject to students, and students can also choose their own faculty if they have a high enough GPA at the end of their semesters. These teachers are often IIT and NIT professors, and are extremely witty and know everything about their subjects. Their educational prowess is also extremely commendable and students can easily grasp their subjects. The term exams occur once in 4 months, with one year having 2 terms, and each term having 2 mid-term examinations. These exams are moderately easy if you know your subjects. However, the first semester is always difficult if you are unable to keep up with the classes.

Students are eligible for campus placements from the Third year of college. Last year, a whopping 844 companies visited VIT-AP, with a total of 2186 dream offers, and an average CTC of 7.3LPA. 5800 students were placed last year from in-campus placements. Internships are available from the third year of college, after attaining which students must move to the states where the companies that they have been placed in are based. The highest package last year was 63LPA. Every single student in VIT-AP has gotten a placement so far. Personally, my plan post attainment of degree would be to work as an intern/full time employee in whichever company I've been placed in, and after a few years, attempt for a masters degree in the same course.

The fees are divided into three sections- Hostel accommodation, Tuition fees, and a caution deposit. Hostel accommodation is always optional, and students can opt to stay outside the hostel in the nearing city as well. Hostel fees depend on the number of beds you wish for in your room(2 or 4), or if you want a dormitory, and if you need an AC or a non-AC room. It also depends on whether you want a vegetarian, non vegetarian or a special mess(non vegetarian with juices, fruits and sweets.) Tuition fees entirely depends on the course you have opted for, and also the category you have attained based on the competitive examination that you have written in order to get into the college. For instance, for BTECH-CSE core, a student will have to pay 1.5 lakhs per annum over a period of 4 years in college through category 1, 2.5 lakhs for category 2, 3.5 lakhs for cat 3 and so on. There is a finance manager in the campus itself, and he takes care of any queries regarding finances.

Life at VIT is good. The campus infrastructure is great, and there are a lot of good people in-campus as well. VIT hosts an annual fest called VITOPIA, which usually takes place in the month of April, and a tech fest called VTAPP, which takes place around November-December. They're usually very huge fests and fetch a lot of attention. The libraries are vast, with loads of on-topic and out of topic books available to rent and return. All classrooms are equipped with projectors and whiteboards, and almost all classrooms seat 70-80 students, other than the gallery classrooms, which seat 150 students. There are a lot of extra curricular activites on the campus. Besides a massive football court and cricket field, there are two basketball courts, a tennis court, a volleyball court, a badminton court, and a squash room. Coaches come regularly to teach arts like karate and boxing too. There are several clubs in here as well, and opting for a technical club (like CSI or ACM) gives you credits.

There are a total of 4 men's hostels (and a 5th one being built) and 2 women's hostels (3rd being built) at present. Each hostel has 14 floors and houses around 2-3000 students. The rooms can either be 2 bedded, 4 bedded, or a dormitory, and have AC and NON AC variants too. Each room is equipped with a chair and table for each person living in the room, and a bed with no mattresses available. There is an overhead compartment to store your stuff, and a cupboard with a shoerack underneath it, and a mirror right beside the cupboard. The hostel messes serve good food, although sometimes it is mediocre. (For non veg mess) Chicken is available 4 times a week, and biryani is available to be served on all sunday afternoons. If you don't prefer mess food, there is the Rock Plaza(a food plaza) where you can opt to buy other food, i.e. fried rice, noodles, etc. But the choices are limited. The registration for hostels can be done after registering for the college itself, on the VIT website.

The admission process was moderately complicated, but VIT is quite a prestigious college to get into in the first place. The eligibility for a student to get in VIT is to get more than 75% in 10th grade and 12th grade, and also to get a respectable score in the VITEEE exam. Alternatively, students can also opt to get into VIT based on their scores in the EAMCET, EAPCET and JEE examinations. Now, rank plays a very important role here. Based on your rank in the VITEEE examination, you'll be placed into categories. Category 1 holds students between 1-20000, Cat 2 is 20000-40000, 3 being 40000-60000, 4 is 60000-100000, and lastly, category 5 is 100000 to the total examinee count. Based on your category, you will have to pay an increased fees if your category is higher. The application form can be found in their website, https://vit.ac.in , and details of the application fees and dates are also regularly updated on the aforementioned website. A 10% concession is provided to SC/ST students.