My Bittersweet Journey

The college though being in a remote location is one of the best colleges in the country. Especially it's CSE branch and all the alumni and present seniors who have uphold the reputation of the college. The infrastructure is one of the saddening factors as there is scope for improvement the college featuring a 650 acres campus with the highest number of lakes in any Indian college. Ultimately, All I can say from the 7 month journey in my college is that it is one of the best things I have been a part of. It was hard to cope up at the beginning having higher aspirations and dreams, but the people is what make a college, gives it the life and NITs offers the best of people from around the country

The course curriculum is basically a aicte approved course. In the 1st year which I am in, we are offered courses in physics, chemistry, electrical, electronics etc irrespective of branches and just basics of C programming related to the branch which is absolutely unfair. As I have heard from seniors, even in the further years half of the courses are non departmental, the labs don't function properly, 75% attendance is mandatory. Overall, it's the students own individual efforts which help them in their career. The courses are neither industry specific nor groom students for securing on campus placements. The efforts put in by the seniors are commendable though as they have uphold the integrity and popularity of the college giving it such a fruitful placement status.

The placement scenario is quite good in our college. For the last 3 years, the CSE branch has been securing 100% placements. Being in the 1st year I don't have much knowledge about the placement but IT companies such as Amazon, Goldman Sachs offer jobs and internships. The average LPA for CSE lies at around 12 Lacs.

There are various events being celebrated in our college. Almost everyday, there are different activities ranging from quizzes, jams, sports activities, literary activities, eco club activities, coding classes etc. going on (which naturally clash with each other all the time) but these aside there are 2 most grand events in the college, one being Tecnoesis, the techno-management fest and other the cultural fest, Incandescence. Generally the Tecnoesis is held at the year end in the odd semester and Incand in the even semester. There were some changes last year and both Tecno Incand were held at a closer interval. Tecnoesis has much activites to offer ranging from hackathons, coding contest participated by students from around the world; there are workshops; other robotic events; events under ASME and the guest lecture module. It finally ends with the Spark Night which can be said to be the closing ceremony. Tecnoesis being such hectic, Incandescence on the other hand is relaxing. All we have to do is sit back, relax and enjoy all the events going on. It is the grandest fest in the entire Northeastern India. Many celebrated guests, artists, rappers, metal bands, indie bands are a part of this event. It varies each year but Glitterati, Thundermarch and Carpe Diem are the most prominent events within Incandescence. It also offers prom nights for couples, is the stage for acoustic jam, voice of incand and many more. Apart from these, there is another event called Posua celebrated as a pre-Bihu event. It can be said to be the Spring fest of NIT Silchar. A one day full packed event showcasing talents from nooks and corners of Assam.

The fee structure is divided into 3 categories one below 1LPA and all the ST/SC candidates (absolutely free), second with family income ranging from 1LPA-5LPA (some compensation provided), and third being above 5LPA. The fee structure is broken down into various sections providing transparency. The hostel and mess advance are paid separately and this is mandatory for all the students. Anyone who opts to not be a hostetler is later refunded this money. According to me, the fee is quite high but the government also provides student loans for this purpose. Fee can be paid online or through demand drafts.

I haven't opted for any scholarships or loans so far. I haven't met all the eligibility criteria for scholarships.

The college offers a wide range of extracurricular activities. There are various clubs namely the dance club, music club, the literary and fine arts club, various sports clubs. As mentioned earlier, there are many events organized everyday so the college is never still but always in motion at the evening times. There are marathons to commemorate some special days and other events too. The college also has an NCC section which is very active and a leader in all the parades. The technical clubs such as the coding club, Machine Learning club, Developer students club and Robotics club are the part of the Technical Society of the college. They organise various classes for the benefit of the students. The members also participate in various other activities and are source of pride for the college. The gender ratio is quite disappointing as it is almost 1:9.

Hostels are alloted by the college. I have a room in the second floor of the GH1 hostel that I share with 2 of my batchmates cum branchmates. Hostels are quite clean and safe except the mess food which we all have to complain about. The fee for college is included in the admission fee. The other complaints about hostel would be in-time which is very strictly implemented considering our college to be an open campus but this strictness is not shown in case of boys' hostel as they unofficially have no in-time at all.

The seniors are very helpful, they guide us most of the times but ultimately it comes down to the individual to have good interaction with them and this is the one criterion of the individual which ultimately helps in the 4 long years. Having said that, generally all the seniors are friendly to everyone from the very beginning. Club activities bring us even closer and this is the best part of the college.

NITs are one of the most reputed colleges in India just behind IITs, some NITs even at par with IITs. Being an engineering aspirant and getting into this institute is almost a dream come true. The process of admission in quite simple - as it has been metioned. An entrance examination called the JEE Mains which tests our knowledge in PCM(Phy,Chem,Maths) is conducted for all of students at 10+2 level of the country (The foreign admission process is different and I don't have much idea about it). On the basis of our ranks (now, the rank was earlier given on the basis of marks but from last year onwards that is 2019 it is percentile based) we get into different NITs into different branches. CSE (Computer Science) being the most sought after branch is always filled in by the top rankers. On the basis of placements, infrastructure and other attributes all the NITs are ranked and some branches in some specific NITs are most sough after in India. (JEE Main score is also checked for some other colleges and there's a minimum percentile in JEE Main which is required to be qualified for appearing in JEE Advanced. The rank in JEE Adv is used for admission into IITs and some more colleges in India. JEE Adv is a must for all Indians and foreigners to get admitted into IIT). Having given all the general information, I will go specific for my college NIT Silchar or NITS. NITS offer 6 courses in BTech. It takes in 50% students from Home State and 50% from other states with horizontal reservation for different categories and within that another horizontal reservation for girls and PWD candidates. After the results of JEE Mains is out, we need to wait for the JoSsa online counseling that allocates seat on the basis of our ranks and our preferred choices taking into consideration all the reservations. It has 7 rounds of seat allocation (with 2 mock rounds) where our choice might improve in the further rounds. There's an entire process of float,slide and freeze. Anyways, after getting the 1st seat in any of the rounds, for instance I was allocated CSE in NITS in the 1st round itself we have to report physically at one of the listed reporting centers and float, slide or freeze our choice. In any case, if and when our final college is allocated at the end of the 7th round we have to physically take admission after paying the requisite fee for hostel and tuition thereby occupying our seat. The dates for allocation are around mid June and the admission dates for different colleges vary as for NITS, it lies in the end July. Last year it lasted from 19th july to 24th. The factors that made me choose this curriculum are the popularity of course, my ambition of following engineering, the placement scenario and the overall development of personality the collegee offers.

The faculty numbers and emails are provided in the official website and they have their cabins where we can contact them. Having said that most of the communication is made through the CRs (Class Representatives) me being one of the CRs. Most subjects have just one professor assigned for lecture, another for tutorial and some others for the lab classes. But that varries as there are courses which have teachers alloted unit wise. They are quite expert in their fields as they have been doing their job for years. Most of them hold PHd degrees and are quite knowledgeable, but the course curriculum restricts them.