My experience at BITS Pilani

I appeared in JEE Main and Advanced, and BITSAT exams. After the results were out, I was offered provisional admission in MSc Mathematics in BITS, which changed to MSc Economics, my higher preference, after some rounds. Since I was satisfied with the offer, I did not apply for JOSAA, i.e counseling for admission in NITs and IITs. Also, my rank in JEE advanced was not good enough to get any old IIT. In BITS Pilani, for admission, one needs to have a minimum 75% aggregate score in PCM or PCB in Class 12th, besides scoring at least 60% in each subject individually. Moreover, Board Toppers are offered direct admission in BITS in any branch of their choice. In my batch, 12 students have got admission through the board topper route. On the admission day, all the students have to reach the college where they have to submit an anti-ragging affidavit, post which they are allotted hostels, and after verifying the mark sheets of 10th and 12th, their admission process is complete in BITS Pilani.

I chose MSc Economics for two reasons. Firstly it's a very popular course in BITS with great career prospects. Secondly, taking one of the MSc courses made me eligible to apply for the Dual Degree program. Thus it was a way by which I could get BE Computer Science ad my second degree, since my BITSAT score wasn't sufficient for that. Combining the students of all years, there are about 400 students in Economics and 9 professors in the Department of Economics and Finance. Thus, the student-faculty ratio is 36:1 which is not fantastic, but it is not a hindrance, since, in one batch, there are around 80 students only. All the faculty members have a Ph.D. and are highly qualified. Most of them have vast experience. The evaluation system is done in a continuous manner, with regular quizzes and assignments conducted through the semester besides mid-sem and end-sem. If one is regular with their studies, one can easily score a good grade in the exams, as relative grading is done.

BITS has a unique internship system called the Practice School system. Under this system students after 2nd year get to intern in their summer vacation under the PS-1 system while in their last semester, they work in a company for 6 months with a good stipend under the PS-2 system. Besides, that summer internships are also offered to prefinal year students. In PS-1, students don't receive any stipend but they get good experience at an early stage. In summer internships and PS-2, students earn stipends upto Rs 1.5 lakh a month for which the selection process is much more rigorous. I am currently in my PS-1 and will be sitting for the summer internship and PS-2 in the future semesters. The companies coming for internships are similar to the ones coming for placements and offer similar roles. It depends on the domain of work essentially. The projects in internships are tailored to not only provide a learning experience but also to evaluate students with good chances of pre-placement offers.

Students in the final year are eligible to sit for placements, i.e, the single degree students in the 4th year and dual degree students in the fifth year. A large number of companies like Amazon, Samsung, Microsoft, etc. in IT, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, etc in Finance, PSUs like BHEL, etc in the core and many other companies come for placements. The highest package is usually around 40 lakhs with the average package being 11 lakhs. The average is much higher in the IT sector, going up to 27 lakhs. The profiles offered are SDE, Products manager, Consultant, etc. depending on the field (IT, Finance, Consultancy, Core engineering). Around 75% of students sit for placements since many students opt for higher studies or other avenues. Of these most of the students get placed. After completing my degree, I plan to work in the corporate sector for at least 2-3 years and cover up my educational loan. After that, I have decided to evaluate based on my interests and the options available.

The fee structure consists of tuition fees, hostel fees, mess, and electricity advance, and other expenses. The fees are paid before every semester. Of late, the tuition fee in BITS had crossed Rs 2 lakh per semester, due to which many students have to rely on loans and scholarships. BITS offers merit and merit-cum-need scholarships to its students. The merit scholarship is given to the top 3 % of students, with the top 1% getting a 100% scholarship while the next 2% get a 40% scholarship. For merit-cum-need scholarship, only those students whose parent's annual income is under 11 lakh, are eligible. Besides these, some more scholarships like Aditya Birla Scholarship and some alumni scholarships are given to certain meritorious students. I myself am a recipient of merit-cum-need scholarship, with scholarship amounts varying from 40% to 80% of tuition fees. Overall, due to the fee hike policy, the cost to study can be very high in BITS, but a meritorious student can complete their studies at a much lower cost.

Life at the campus is very lively, with some or other events taking place at any given point in time. The annual cultural fest of BITS Pilani is the Oasis, which ranks among the top fests in India, and takes place in October. The tech fest, Apogee, takes place in March and sees a huge participation every year. BITS has a vast library with books on every subject and category available. There is a research section consisting of all major journals and papers. The classrooms have proper seating arrangements and facilities like ACs and projectors. There are both indoor and outdoor sports facilities for sports like Tennis, Cricket, Football, Badminton, Basketball, Hockey, etc. BOSM is the annual sports fest in BITS Various extracurricular activities like debates are regularly conducted. A large number of clubs and assocs, run fully by students, organize all the events on campus. They include the Department of Visual Media, Coding Club, Film Making Club, Alumni Relations Cell, etc

There are 12 boys hostel and one big girl's hostel in BITS. Every hostel consists of both single and double-capacity rooms. Each room consists of a bed, cupboard, and study table per student living in it. Besides, a fan and two windows are also present. There is a common room in each hostel consisting of a TT table and TV. The mess food is of decent quality and taste. A diverse menu is offered to the students consisting of vegetables, chapati, fruits, and even deserts. The best food is served on Grubs and Weekends. The hostel charges are less than 35000 a year, and adding mess fees, it becomes about Rs 60000 a year. The rooms are allotted according to the seniority and preference of students. First-year students are mostly allotted double occupancy rooms, while single rooms are allotted to all the prefinal and final year students. I personally have lived in a hostel named Krishna Bhavan. I have had a great time on campus and loved playing badminton in the hostel grounds with my friends.