Maulik Goyal's Review On IIT Kharagpur - Indian Institute Of Technology - [IITKGP], Kharagpur

I had given JEE Advanced and BITSAT. I got an AIR of 1069 in JEE Advanced and in BITSAT I got a score of 342. I chose IIT over BITS because the fees in IITs in much less as compared to BITS and also being government institute I believe you have much more opportunities.

The course structure for Mechanical Engineering is quite good if you focus on research. The subjects are such that build your profile for research. Also, there are ample opportunities to develop your interest in research. Though I feel from the industry point to view some modifications need to be made in the curriculum.

The companies do visit the college for internships in 3rd yr for B.tech students and in 4th yr for Dual Degree students. The stipend varies from 1.25 Lac per month to 10000 per month. The number of companies paying high stipends are quite less i.e. 2-3. The average stipend is less than 30000 per month. Also the number of students getting internships through campus is high for branches like Computer Science and Electronics & Communications Engineering and less for other branches.

We have ample opportunities for placements. Companies from different fields visit the institute like Analytics, Consulting, Core Engineering, PSUs, Software. The packages vary quite a lot depending on the branch. Some of the big names that come for recruitment include : Microsoft, Parthenon-EY, Goldman Sachs, Schlumberger, Abbott India, Deloitte, EY, BlackRock, JP Morgan, American Express, Tower Research.

There are a large number of fests that happen throughout the year in college. The main fests include Spring Fest which is the social and cultural fest of IIT Kharagpur and Kshitij, which is the technical fest of the institute. Both of them happen during the month of January. Other than these, there are also other fests like Global Entrepreneurship Summit, National Students Space Challenge and many more departmental fests.

The fees structure in my case was 45000 tuition fee, including other hostel and mess charges the total fees amounted to around 70k-75k per semester. The fees has been increased from this year to around 1 Lac tuition fee per semester. However there are provisions for financial assistance depending on your caste and annual income of the family.

The government of India has a provision of interest-free loans to the students of IIT though there are some additional conditions that need to be fulfilled. Other than that there is scholarship scheme called MCM(Merit Cum Means ) . Under this scheme a student having family income less than 6 LPA gets his entire tuition fees refunded.

Gender ratio is not that good in IITs. The gender ratio in my batch was around 1:12. Coming to the extracurricular activities, I believe the number of opportunities you get at IIT Kharagpur, you won't get in any other institute. There are a number of societies which one can join according to his/her interests. The main societies include Robotics, Dramatics, Dance, Music, Entrepreneurship cell.

We have two exams in one semester and there are two semesters in a year. So overall we have 4 exams in a year. In between these the class tests and other things are also there. The classes get over at 6 and one has time to pursue his/her interests. Also the break between the semesters is quite long so you get two long vacations, more than what we got in school.

There is 2 step process for gaining admission in IITs. You need to clear JEE Mains as well as JEE Advanced. You first need to apply for JEE Mains whose registration normally starts in December. The exam is held in April first week in both pen and paper as well as offline mode. You need to be in the top 150000 in the ranking of JEE Mains to be eligible for JEE Advanced. Then JEE Advanced usually takes place in the May end or June first week. The final admission to IIT is solely based on JEE Advanced performance.

The faculty in IIT Kharagpur is extremely qualified. All the professors are well experienced and knowledgeable in their fields. Also there are a number of professors who have left their jobs in industries to become professors for the sole reason that they love teaching. Thus there a number of professors whose class you would enjoy attending and wouldn't feel like missing a class.