Its worth it.

Life in IIT Kharagpur is beyond documentation and has its own charm. Kharagpur in itself does not have many amenities in terms of recreation and we have embraced it with love and warmth. The green campus with orange streetlights in night provides a vintage 1960s movie look and is beautiful. Overall, I would say despite every stressful situation, life at IIT Kharagpur campus is worth it.

GATE 2014 (BT) scored an AIR 719 and wanted to pursue a career in academics so I applied for the Ph.D. program in April 2014. My application got shortlisted and was called for an interview in May 2014. The interview was tougher than I had anticipated but I got through and was selected.

The course curriculum was exhaustive as per a students' previous academic degree, one has to fulfill a certain minimum number of credits i.e. a student with M.Tech has to fulfill a minimum of 10 credits while a B.Tech/M.Sc has to fulfill a minimum of 20 credits. A subject can be 3 credit or 4 credit courses depending on the number of hours allotted per week I had to complete a minimum of 20 credits since I was from an M.Sc background. The electives taken by me have applied to Multivariate Statistical Modelling (4 credits)2. Secondary Metabolism in plants (3 credits) 3. Environmental Microbiology and Biopollution Control (4 credits) 4. English for Technical Writing (4 credits) 5. Research Methodology (4 credits) 6. Solid Waste Management (3 credits).

As for Ph.D, we have internship programs both within and outside the country but mostly involving research/academic organizations. Several Ph.D. fellowships are awarded to students.

Placements are sincerely good for Ph.D. students-mostly being hired as faculty in educational institutions. As of now, 100% placement has been observed for both Ph.D. and MS students and the salary package can be as high as INR 10,00,000/annum. However, for Btech degree students the case is a little different who are mostly hired by high-end companies such as Google, Facebook, etc and the salary package offered can go as high as 30 lakhs. Not 100% placement is seen in recent years.

Kshitij, the technical fest is mostly about robotics and attracts students all over the country. More than 1000 students from other colleges participate in several events whose registration opens up 2 months earlier. Spring fest, the cultural fest, on the other hand, is all fun. Several events on music, dance, drama, painting, literary competitions are held. Spring Fest is organized mostly in the last weekend of January every year and Kshitij a week later. Major sponsors include Flipkart, CEAT, Larsen & Toubro, Bengal Energy, Boeing, etc.

Ph.D., MS, and M.Tech programs are scholarships based so paying fees becomes feasible which is around INR 14,000/sem for Ph.D./MS. As for Btech programs, the fee structure (INR 50,000/sem) is somewhat feasible since it is subsidized by MHRD, India. Also, there are several scholarships available for students, a few of which completely provide a fee waiver. The above fees include tuition fees, hostel rent, etc and do not include mess fess.

State bank of India and syndicate bank within the college premises provides study loans and Scholar loans up to INR 20,00,000 for B.Tech and M.Tech students respectively. MCM (Merit Cum Means), INSPIRE scholarships are available for Undergraduate (B.Tech) students based on merit.

Campus life is awesome and sometimes overwhelming despite the hectic and stressful schedule. Extracurricular activities are organized around the year and are managed by respective committees. An annual Inter IIT meet is organized every year in December which is hosted in any IIT. Several inter-departmental sports competition are held which mostly includes cricket, football, basketball, volleyball, tennis, etc. Also, inter-hall (hostels) competitions are organized. Gender ratio is about 1:2 (female:male). Campus life is very tolerant regarding sexual orientation, race, religion, politics and economic status.

Hostel facilities and mess food are standard only Ph.D. students are provided with single rooms and every other student stays in the sharing basis of two or three. Mess food is provided by private contractors and a sum of INR 11000 is paid every semester (4 months). Holidays after the semester exams are a real mess since messes close during this time and one has to arrange their own means of food and cooking isn't allowed sometimes, a private arrangement is made.

Alumnus data is maintained by the Alumni Cell. Annual alumni meet is organized every year mostly in January to help connect the present students with the passed out ones. The event last year as very warm and welcoming and was indeed joyful to get to know many esteemed seniors.

Exam structure in IIT Kharagpur is very organized in terms of marks and also time span. The total 100 marks of a subject are very well distributed- 50 for end semester exams, 30 for mid-semester and 20 is an internal assessment which includes attendance, assignments, quizzes, surprise tests, presentations, seminars, etc. Despite having a semester of only 4 months and several subjects which is indeed hectic and exhaustive it helps us transform into efficient time managers.

Faculty members are good and well educated they have a deep understanding of the concepts and engage students in various informative assignments to help enhance their skills.