Best 4 Years.

Most of the Staff both teaching and non teaching are really hardworking. The college Campus is very CLEAN. The Lab assistants have great knowledge. The workshop staff and the workshops are really good. The Students of this college are greater than anything else on campus. In the past 4 years of my Engineering life, the memories I formed at SJCET with my friends and fellow student, sharing our experiences will always be with me and will always be cherished by me. There are certain rules that are implied on the students, that are strict, such as you cannot leave the campus during college hours, but given that SJCET is located far away from the city you can understand why they would impose such rules.

To secure a seat in St.John College of Engineering & Technology also known as SJCET I had to give the Common Entrance Test (CET) along with HSC board examination in science. I wanted to be admitted in a college that had the course of Mechanical Engineering. SJCET has 5 different branches of engineering, viz. IT Engineering, Computer Science, EXTC Engineering, Civil Engineering and Mechanical Engineering (as mentioned earlier). There are no Interviews taken by the college for admission, your seat depends on your marks.

If I had to give one word to describe the course structure, it would be 'WIDESPREAD' . My course covered such a vast area of Engineering. SJCET conducts a Science Exhibition every year. Depending on one's field of interest, a student could present an idea for the Exhibition to their faculty. With the guidance of a faculty member assigned to the a group of students or an individual student, they could create a model of something that was once just on paper. "Imagination Rules The World" and SJCET did not put a limit to it. The best part about the Science Exhibition is the college pays you back a certain amount that is spent by the student to create the project.

Since B.E. is a full time course the time available for an internship was only during the vacation after every Semester Exams. Internship is voluntary and if anyone was interested, they could give their applications to the TPO (Training And Placements Office) on the ground floor of the SJCET building. The staff of the TPO are very enthusiastic and have a bunch of options regarding internships. I had the opportunity to intern at Carrier Air-conditioners for a month which was one of the best Engineering experience I have had up till now. Since the Internship period is short most companies do not offer a stipend.

As far as placements go, the TPO arranges quite a lot of aptitude tests, to secure a place for the interview rounds for different companies. Certain Club members (eg. ISHRAE) also have the opportunity to give interviews for companies related to the field of the club.

January is a very busy month in terms of extracurricular activities. We have the sports week and the theme week in Jan.We also have the inter college football match, which is the most fun to watch. Apart from that we have an annual day conducted by the college with various performances, and the most awaited Jam Session. The Science Exhibition is also conducted in January. In the month of February/March the BE students have their Farewell. From June to October our college participates in different competitions such as SAE Supra, BAJA, etc. Industrial Visits are conducted by clubs and sometimes the faculty of a particular subject. We were able to visit 4 industries via the college and 4 industries via clubs.

Compared to other Engineering colleges the Tuition fees are less. There is some Gymkhana fees charged, but I never bothered to find out the benefits of it, I guess that covered the usage of the football ground(I am not sure about it). You have to compulsorily purchase stationary and book a locker per year from the college. These fees are a bit on the higher side compared to other colleges.

I do not have much idea on the loan facilities provided by the college, of they do any, but I know if you plan to take up your studies using an education loan SJCET is very cooperative in regards with giving necessary receipts. The First Rank holders of BE from each branch are awarded some scholarship amount.

During the Science Fest and Sports week there are a variety of competitions including Robo-wars, Robo-Race, etc. There are multiple indoor games such as chess, CS, etc. The gender ratio throughout the college is almost the same. Obviously, streams like Mechanical & Civil Engg have a majority of boys while CS & IT Engg have a large no. of girls.

There are limited seats for the hostel on campus. I can speak only for the girls hostel. The rooms are pretty good with good beds and cupboards. There are windows in every room and my room had the most amazing view. The hostels on Campus are quite expensive and a local accommodation would be cheaper. For the academic year 2012-2013 I paid around INR 20,000 that included the rent, electricity charges, cleaning once a week, and we were provided with a water filter. I left the hostel when local trains started from Churchgate to Dahanu.

Our college is relatively new, compared to the other Catholic colleges. They are planning to form an Alumni Network this year. As far as the seniors go, they were really helpful and very interactive.

The Exams are spread evenly through out the year. Hence, everyone has a calm mindset about it. We were informed much in advance about any test that would be conducted which gave us the opportunity to prepare for it thoroughly. Lab Experiments and Exams in the labs were always fun. The vivas, not so much. Doing something practically was joyful but talking about it and answering questions about anything in a particular subject would leave us anxious, but that is true for every engineer.

I am Catholic, and SJCET has reserved seats for Catholic minority. I got a seat through the minority rounds. You are still competing with a bunch of aspiring students in the minority rounds too. For these rounds according to the CET score we were divided into batches and given a rank. The higher score holders could select their choice of college (along with SJCET there are other Catholic Colleges that give the minorities a chance to gain admission in their college), and their preferred subject. I wanted to take up Mechanical Engineering, as a science student I loved solving maths and really enjoyed the practicality of Physics, so I knew that this field would be perfect for me. When I had to take admission, there were only 2 colleges among the given Catholic colleges that had the subject of my choice, and although I had never heard of SJCET in the year 2012, to study mechanical engineering I was ready to get into SJCET as my score was higher than their set cut off.

The Faculty of SJCET, is like a packet of Gems Chocolate (it's a silly metaphor, but let me explain it a little bit more).Like the different colors of Gems every teacher has a different approach of teaching, and just like the core of Gems is the same, every faculty member worked towards the betterment of the students. My BE faculty was the best. Everyone had vast knowledge and they did not refrain from giving you advise regarding your project, your approach to studies or any upcoming technology, they think we should look into.