Insight into COEP

Academics: Being autonomous, it has a good curriculum and a thought out syllabus. Although COEP has good faculties in some departments, in general, there is a lack of teachers who have sound knowledge of the subject they are teaching. In some cases, even if the faculties have knowledge, they are not willing to share it with the students. Well, that can be a boon in the hiding as it compels students to explore various topics on their own!. Students are not taught what is trending in today's world & what might be useful to them in the long run.

No i did not opt for an internship through college just because I got a better offer from else where. But in general if you have a good enough GPA and you are in one of the in demand branches like CS/IT/Electrical/ENTC you are most likely to get a good internship opportunity from an MNC.

If you do fairly well, you have a very good chance of landing one of the best jobs available in your area of expertise/engineering. Even though the placement is good, it could very easily be improved by taking a few managerial clever decisions. In my 4 years here, I have seen that the faculty in charge of the placements is often too careless which costs people their whole career paths! But they didn't seem to care.

Fests: COEP has 3 fests every year. MindSpark (technical fest) Zest (sports fest) and Regatta (Boat Club fest). Just as the clubs there is an incredible amount of effort that goes into putting together these events. Having been part of the Mindspark team and a Regatta participant, I can say that all though these activities ate a lot into my academic and personal life, I would do them again in a heartbeat. You get exposure to many things that others haven't even thought of and get to meet incredible people. COEP also has a 'Social Gathering' yearly although, it's only for COEP students.

Being a govt. college is an added advantage.The college fees is 70,000 per year and the hostel fees is 50,000 per year.( for general category). In case of reserved categories the fees is almost half or less than half of the general category. For NRI candidates the fees is in dollars which very hefty for the quality. So, overall it is very affordable.

There are a wide range of scholarships provided for high achieving students, girls, reserved categories, research based etc. Although I personally have not opted for one lot of my peers have availed them during their tenure in the college.

Clubs: These are what give COEP most of it's fame on the technical front. The satellite team, Octane Racing, Robot Study Circle, Velociracers (many more, 36, I think) are all amazing clubs that have won awards even in international competitions and have gone beyond expectations. They provide experiences of their own. Almost entirely student managed and the dedication of it's members is incomparable. P.S. The AnC (Arts and Crafts Club) of our college deserves a special mention for their incredibly talented members and beautiful exhibitions, and live performances in cultural events!

Hostels are well maintained except the problem of Bed bugs,the hostel is good as compared to other govt. colleges. The mess food is eatable. In first year mess, you will get bored of the same taste of food after 2 -3 months,but except that the 2nd,3rd and 4th year mess are good.

Since most almuni are from Maharashtra, not many people out of state know about the college let alone overseas. Even the auto wallahs don’t know what COEP is. How ironic is it when you have to say “Engineering college” or “College near Sancheti” or some other variation of this for them to understand. Creating and marketing COEP as a brand will go a long way in building a great support system for COEP alumni and ease of recognition of the COEP talent everywhere. Even though it is one of the oldest colleges in India, it’s potential has been underutilized. COEP started out as a training center for British military officers to help build bridges and dams. And it did pretty well too. Within 40 years of its establishment, the likes of Sir M Visverraya graduated and brought laurels to this country. However, it was caught in a bureaucratic rut for a few decades post independence due to lack of central funding and the importance given to the IITs.

There are 3 tests in one semester which are: Test 1 (T1)- 20 marks Test 2 (T1)- 20 marks End Sem - 60 marks The overall grading is relative so if the exam was hard for then all will get relative pointers.

Being one of the most sought after colleges in Maharashtra after IIT-B, one has to score really well in the CET to get in. This has both positive and negative aspects. It’s good in a way that all the cream from CET makes their way to COEP so there’s a guarantee of having an excellent peer group. However, many top scorers in CET also score well in JEE and only students who are domicile of Maharashtra are allowed to take admission, so it misses out on catching the best students from Maharashtra and other parts of India. There’s also a provision of joining in 2nd year from a diploma course, but since these students join late, they may have trouble catching up initially. In my opinion, if a college can attract good talent, it can mould them into being even better. Since the reputation of the college mostly hinges on its students, even with the current infrastructure the college can do much better with with a more competitive bunch.

As far as the teaching goes, I have had an 50–50 experience. I am sure it is the same in many other colleges. Some faculty are really great and know their subject well, others not so much. However, it is generally not possible to work on a research project with a faculty as COEP is primarily a teaching institute. Moreover, some faculty (and students) not understanding the concept of relative grading bothered me a little bit. However, most faculty care deeply for their students and want them to succeed. In majority of the cases, if you have a great idea they’ll do what they can to provide you with the right resources. This is why I guess COEP could launch a satellite even without having an Aerospace Engineering Department and is constantly succeeding at BAJA and Robocon (with minimal technical guidance but maximum resourcefulness from the faculty).