Rendevous with Rocket Science

College is good, infact really good academically speaking and if you plan to work your head off, study, understand, innovate and work on some really interesting projects, this is the place for you. Negatives would be the lack of facilities for sports. However that appears to be getting better with a well functioning sports committee.

I took JEE mains and advanced and secured a rank of 4611 to get into Physical Sciences of IIST. I opted for this college because its interesting, the subjects and the fact thats its India's only University dedicated to Space Science. We're learning things from Astronomy to Geology to Remote Sensing. It doesn't get more varied and interesting than that.

The curriculum is really good. We learn a variety of subjects from Earth Sciences dealing with things like Planetary Geosciences (it is as cool as it sounds), Atmospheric Sciences and Numerical Weather Prediction, Oceanology. We have a bunch of Astronomy and Astrophysics subjects and Physics hardcores like Quantum Mechanics, Statistical Mechanics among others. We also have a section on GIS and Remote Sensing Applications where we learn really important and interesting techniques of classification. There was also a course which was introductory to Machine Learning called Pattern Recognition.

Lots of folks end up interning at Department of Space as thats where there is most scope for core-subject internships. There are possibilities of interning within campus under professors as well and there have been some great research work coming out from the undergraduate side. The stipend is either complete arrangement of food, travel and accommodation or 500 Rs per day.

Placements and job opportunities are just picking up. There is an affiliation to Dept of Space where most are absorbed. They pay packages are those offered to scientist SC at the Deptartment of Space as given by the Pay Commission. The coming years will tell us how other placements go. There is a dedicated Placement and Training Cell that helps toward this.

There are three major events taking place every eyar:1. Dhanak our Cultural Fest with a great footfall of around 2000 from across the nation. We've had some great pro-shows such as Cold Night for Alligators and the like.2. Conscientia is our technical and astornomy fest and it has a footfall again of 2000. Lots of great events and grand prize money.3. IISTMUN: Huge prize-money. Great debates. Nothing more to be said.There are Spic Macay sessions once in while with greats such as HariPrasad Chaurasia who have performed.

We are funded if we have a CGPa > 7.5. If less than that, we pay 46000 per semester and there are cases where that is reduced if you aren't well to do and so on. There are gradients depending upon the central governmetn guidelines. But its not as expensive as private institutes but costlier than state govt led institutes.

We are funded if we have a CGPa 7.5. If less than that, we pay 46000 per semester and there are cases where that is reduced if you aren't well to do and so on.

Labs are great. Equipment are tip-top and there are some super cool experiments. Coming to extracurriculars, they are more or less good. There are meaningful debates every once i awhile, and we have the IIST MUN which is an amazing debating platform. Sports is an issue with not well maintained grounds, but things are improving. There are a bunch of active clubs managed by students dealing with lots of interesting things. There is the Aeroclub, Quiz club and Astro club which are very regular in its activities and function very well. Gender ratio used to be anissue. Now its better with a ratio of 2:1 boys to girls. Parties are no problem at all. Lots of culturals that college permits. Its a lot of fun that way. Students too are largely open minded and accepting of other cultures and practices.

The mess provides the best food they are capable of and it is better than most colleges across the nation. The hostels are good. Rooms are spacious, there is a regular room cleaning service and hot water to drink and bathe, cold as well. All facilities are available. The cafeteria can do better as we are away from the city and need access to food of a little more variety.

Senior Students are wonderful. The tips and the hacks they provide for surviving, they are amazing. Also there are a lot of inter-batch friendships which is defiitely an amazing thing I don't see in most other colleges. People are more or less friendly or at least open minded and liberal souls which is great.

This depends upon the semester. There were hectic semester with a lot to do and there were some really chilled out semesters where you have absolutely nothing to do. This depends largely upon the professors in charge of the lab. So keep your fingers crossed. We also have this really cool Astronomy lab which is quite self explanatory really. We use the telescope and observe the Universe and trust me, its worth the late nights.

The faculty are brilliant. I've seen the work they do and the way that they teach. My department especially, i.e Earth and Space Sciences, Physics, Math etc, they are extremely brilliant scientists and some of the nations best in their respective fields.