Worthy of being called a National Institute.

The campus is huge, and a lot of freedom is given to the students. However, since there's no existing student body, the involvement of students in decision-making is less.

Pursuing mathematics in +2 naturally ended up me appearing for JEE Mains (2014), which is a nation-wide phenomenon each year, for admissions to B.Tech. courses in NIT's and some other institutes. Not being a very high ranker, I was allotted NIT Rourkela in the second round of the counselling process.

The B.Tech program in metallurgical engineering is academically quite good here. All necessary research equipment are present and accessible here. Rourkela being the "Steel City", a lot of material and metallurgical research is carried on here. Elective subjects are made available to students post-first year. These subjects are from every department, except your own one.

This college has a compulsory internship program at the end of 6th semester. Some companies recruit for internships, while others are arranged by students themselves. However, if some students fail to get internships for themselves, the college provides them one based on their interests and availability. Not all of the students get stipend. Those who get, it varies from a few thousands to even 45 thousands per month.

Almost all the students get placed in some or the other company, including core and non-core companies such as analytics and IT-firms. Major companies include Microsoft, Amazon, Qualcomm, TATA Steel, Capgemini, PwC, Delloitte and many more. Average package varies from department to department, from 6LPA for Metallurgy, Ceramic, Biotechnology, etc to 12LPA for CS, EC, etc.

Four mega fests are held each year. Multi-Ethnic Fest and TechFest in autumn semester and Springfest and Sports fest in the spring semester. Apart from these, many small fests continue to occur around the year including departmental fests. A few thousand students from around India attend these fests.

Fees in NIT's are centrally subsidised. However, in NIT Rourkela, its around 130,000 INR per annum for our batch. This amount has seen an increment in current years for further admissions.

College doesn't provide any scholarship. One can get central government and state scholarships. Also there are many other scholarship opportunities given by the college, such as OP Jindal scholarship, Swami Dayanand Scholarship, etc. Loans are provided to needy students immediately during admissions.

NIT Rourkela is the hub of extracurricular activities. Lush club culture exists, with a club existing for each activity you can think of. Be it music, dance, sports, arts, technology, etc. Inductions are held around the year for different clubs to be a part of them.

Hostels here in NIT Rourkela are the best part in any students life. They are spacious, have many canteens and all facilities, including gym, music room, all sports, etc. First and second year students have to share rooms with a partner, while third and final year students have the option of living alone. Each hostel has its own mess and caterer. a few hostels have really good food, but the others are not that bad!

NIT Rourkela has a very strong alumni network. Though the numbers are less than what is expected, but the support is sufficient. Regular interaction with alumni takes place, who in turn contribute to the improvisations in the course curricula and facilities.

You are expected to work hard in most of the labs, while the rest are easy-going. Lab assistants can help you if you ask for them. Exams are held twice a semester - mid-sems and end-sems, of 2 hours each and 3 hours each respectively. Its like any other normal exam, unless a teacher with notoriety steps in.

Professors here are highly trained and well-qualified. A lot of high-end research goes on and that sees an involvement of faculties and students alike. Except a few teachers in every department, most of them are nice. However, spoken English is a major problem for most of the teachers here.