Review of BITS Pilani - Hyderabad from a 2021 passout

I applied for BITS Pilani - Hyderabad by writing the BITSAT exam. This exam is common for admission to all B.E., B.Pharm., and MSc programs across all 3 campuses viz. Pilani, Goa, and Hyderabad. The minimum qualification for admission to any of the BITS campuses is 75% in class 12 and PCM (for B.E. and MSc) or PCB (for B.Pharm.). The cutoffs for the different programs at different campuses are available on the BITSAT website. After writing the exam, we are asked to order our program and campus choice based on our preference. Post that, we are allotted a program and campus temporarily which we can either freeze or wait for a chance to upgrade it further.

I chose Mechanical Engineering because I had an interest in that field, or at least more interest in that field than others (like Electrical or Chemical Engineering). The faculty to student ratio for this program (to the best of my knowledge) is 1:10. Most of the faculty are exceptionally talented and successful in their fields with multiple papers and patents to their name. Lecture-based teaching was employed by all the teachers, with a few courses having lab components as well. All the laboratories were state of the art. We had a mid-semester and an end-semester exam, with two of either of tests / assignments / projects (depending on the subject and faculty). The questions were quite difficult and challenging but that was expected, considering it's a tier-1 college.

Summer internship (at the end of year 2)- Pharmalab India Pvt Ltd, Ahmedabad - no stipend - general management Semester internship (in the 8th semester) - MatDev Investment Advisors, Bangalore - 15,000 - Mutual Funds and other investments

Good placement results from the college every year. The placement unit works around the clock to ensure maximum employment for the registered students. Compensation packages are generally high, and definitely above average compared to other colleges across the country. ~100 companies visit the campus every semester for placements, and >95% of the students get placed via campus placements. The unregistered students go for higher studies for MS/MBA/M.E.

The fee for a semester is usually 2-2.2 Lakh Rupees. There is usually a fee hike every academic year. Scholarships are available for students based on merit-cum-need basis. Apart from this, the college provides students with a summer internship (at the end of year 2) and a semester-long internship (in year 4). The stipend is offered only for the semester-long internship which is above average amount compared to other colleges across the country. The placement unit works around the year to provide employment to as many students as possible. The average and median CTC offered to students is above average compared to other colleges across the country. I received a job as an Associate Product Manager at Collegedunia.

There are several clubs on campus for both technical and cultural activities, as well as several sports teams. There are several grounds and arenas for each sport. The annual technical fest is called ATMOS (October), the annual sports fest is called Arena (January), the annual cultural fest is called Pearl (March). Apart from this, we have a literary fest called Verba Maximus (January). We have a state-of-the-art library with several books on a wide range of topics, as well as several research papers and journals, and a comprehensive database for the physical and digital copies of the same. The library has several subscriptions to various software and journals. All classrooms are airconditioned and have an amazing audio-video component in each. All clubs and departments on campus are run by students, and all fests are handled by them only.

Single and double sharing occupancy, depending on which year the student belongs to. 8 hostels for boys, 3 hostels for girls. 2 different messes - 1 each near the boys and girls hostels. Mess food is neither great nor terrible. The registration process is very smooth, hostels and rooms are allotted on the first day itself and we can choose our preferred rooms and wings from the 2nd year onwards. Decent hostel fees of around 35,000 rupees a year.