Ankita Samaddar's Review On Indian Statistical Institute - [ISI], Kolkata

Indian Statistical Institute conducts its own entrance examination followed by interview. It was in the month of May, 2015. There were two papers in the written test. One was on Maths and the other was on Computer Science. Then I was shortlisted for the interview. After clearing the interview, I got admitted to Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata.

The course structure is a bit hectic. We had to attain lots of classes. We had altogether 17 compulsory subjects along with dissertation and internships which are all compulsory part of the program. We get very few hours to focus on our dissertation. But the quality of classes is excellent. Also, all the subjects are taught very well and in depth. There are assignments which we have to do all through the year.

Yes, internship is the compulsory part of our course. I went to Nanyang Technological University, Singapore as summer research intern. In Singapore, they provided me with accommodation, airfare, visa expenses and also 600 SGD per month.

The whole batch who are interested to go for job get placed every year. The average package is around 15-18lpa. The highest package till now is around 24lpa in our batch. Companies like Microsoft, Directi, IBM Research lab, Goldman Sachs, Samsung Research Lab, TCS Innovation lab, ICICI bank, American Express and many others already came. A lot more to come.

We celebrate freshers, farewell in our department as well as in our hostels. We also have some cultural fest in the month of Jan where we have some inter college dance competition in our ISI auditorium. We also have some great artists who visit us during the college fest. We have a three day long fest at ISI.

We do not have any tuition fee at ISI. But the stipend is a bit less. We get 8000 rupees per month and an annual contingency of 5000 rupees. We had to pay 3000 rupees for the library.

The labs are very hectic. But we enjoy it as we were taught in a very different way. We have our midsem as well as end sem exams. We have huge syllabus for the exams. But, since everything is covered in the class, so one will understand everything if one attends class regularly.

In ISI, all faculties are very dedicated with their research work. But, apart from research, they spend a lot of time for the benefit of their students. They are ready to help a student. If anyone is interested to learn more, they are ready to extend their hands. Whenever a student needs their assistance, they are ready to help them. All faculties are from the top institutes all over India.