Growing into an Engineering Course in Calcutta.

It's been a bumpy ride so far, but I'm fairly satisfied with my college. The management is strict, but approachable. Discipline is taken very seriously, and reprimands are handed out to violators. We do have a mandatory 80% attendance rule for appearing for the examinations. I'm learning about different people, and new things, and it's taken me a while to settle in and find a group of friends, but now that that's done and dusted, I'm ready to face the coming semesters with more vigour and make the most of it.

I appeared for JEE Mains, and WBJEE.I didn't fare too well in Mains, with an average-ish score which didn't qualify for Advanced.WBJEE was fairly decent. I ranked somewhere around 25k in a pool of 2.5 lakh or so examinees, of which 95k were awarded ranks.I was given the choice of several top colleges in the city. I was adamant that I wanted to study CSE. I didn't want to compromise with my stream, even if it meant having to give up one of the better colleges.Luckily, I didn't have to. My college is a new campus, under the IEM Group (Institute of Engineering and Management) It is considered to be among the top 3 colleges in the city, and one of the top in the east zone. A major issue with most colleges here is the fact that they are casual when it comes to the academic aspect. Which is why I wanted to shift to a college which is serious about that. Haven't been disappointed so far.

The curriculum is pretty standard. First year follows a standard template for all streams, namely English, Math, Computers, Physics, Electrical & Electronics Engineering, Engineering Mechanics, Thermodynamics and Fluid Mechanics spread across two semesters. Practicals for CS, EE, ECE, and Mechanical Workshop for first sem and Engineering Drawing in the second semester. Also something called Language Lab, which basically preps us for interviews, GDs, presentations and stuff.The next few years are well-balanced, with Computer Science, Computer Architecture and Electronics related subjects. For soft skills, we have Professional Ethics, Economics for Engineers, Formal Language and Automata Theory, Technical Report writing, and Principles of Management.I'm still in the first year, so I haven't been given an opportunity to pick out electives but I've had a good look at the syllabus.Fifth semester electives:Circuit Theory and NetworksData CommunicationDigital Signal ProcessingObject Oriented ProgrammingSixth sem electivesInformation Theory and CodingComputer GraphicsERPOperation ResearchHuman Resource ManagementMultimedia TechnologySeventh and Eight sem hold a number of courses on Cloud computing, data mining, sensor networks, VLSI, modelling, simulations, control systems, soft computing, artificial intelligence, image processing and many more.While some subjects in the first year seem like they are irrelevant to what we might do in the future, every engineering college offers a similar first year curriculum, which implies that they must indeed be important for what lies forward. The rest of the course is multi-faceted and dynamic.

Still in first year, so I have no idea about internships.This is also the first batch for this particular campus, so only time will tell. The general internship scene for the IEM group is quite good, I hear, but I have no specifics to offer you.

The placements for the IEM group are fairly impressive, and they have maintained the 100% placement record year after year. TCS, Wipro, Infosys, Capgemini, Ericsson, Tech Mahindra Bharti and Sankalp Semiconductor are among the top recruiters. The average package is around 3.5 lakhs or so, while the highest package offered was 15.5 lpa this year.

The fee structure is fairly feasible compared to other private colleges.It works out to around 3.2-3.5 lakhs for the entire 4 year B.Tech course, which is quite standard.

Merit-based scholarships (from 25% to 100%) are provided by the university based on scores attained in the 12th grade qualifying board examination.

I'm a day scholar, so haven't availed the hostel facilities. Have heard no complaints from batchmates about the facilities as such.The college canteen food is good, and affordable. A plate of say, fried rice and chilli chicken would be around 35 rupees, and six kachoris with aloo sabzi around 20 rupees. Soft drinks, confectioneries, biscuits and stuff are available too.We also have an on-campus stationery and book store, which offers decent discounts on course books and stuff. Most of us prefer the library or second-hand books, though.

We're in the first batch for this particular campus, so there is no question of seniors.The seniors over at IEM seem nice, although we haven't had much opportunity to interact with them. The technical workshop on embedded systems mentioned earlier was organized in association with a firm called Distronix India, which has been founded by two IEM alumni, both of whom conducted the workshop as well. They were approachable and quite helpful. The alumni network has an official facebook group, and organizes several events.

Two sets of 50-mark, 1.5 hour unit tests for each subject before the main end semester, 70 mark, 3 hour exams. Besides that, practical exams and viva-voce are also held every semester.The pressure was on in the time before the exams, but it wasn't unbearable.

The faculty is good.Most of the classes are taught in English, using presentations and other visual aids.They seem helpful and approachable, for the most part. Students are allowed to go to the faculty room to clear doubts, and extra classes are provided on request. The professors email assignments and study material to the class representatives, who then forward it to everyone else.