My experience in IIT Kharagpur

I applied for the Indian Institute of Science Bangalore but didn't get selected there. I didn't avail any quota for admission. For admission to PhD in IIT Kharagpur, I had to compulsorily qualify Gate exam and had to have a CGPA above 8 (since I applied for a direct PhD after B.Tech). The admission process was smooth. We were told to report to Kalidas auditorium where our documents were verified. After that, we were told to go to our allotted Department to confirm our admission.

I always dreamt of becoming a professor and thus I joined the PhD course. In our department, we have 20 faculty and about 400 students including Undergraduates, Postgraduates and Research scholars and thus a faculty: student ratio of about 1:20. All the faculties are PhD holders and the teaching method is a mixture of conventional and modern techniques. The exams are held timely and require an above par level of knowledge to pass.

There are a number of companies that offer internship opportunities to students with a decent stipend. The companies include Reddy Laboratories, TATA Steel, American Express etc. I have not applied for any Internships as of now.

The students are eligible for campus placements in the pre-final year of their course. A large number of companies visit our campus which includes Google, Microsoft, Samsung etc. The highest package offered was that of 1 crore while the average package is about 7-8 lakhs per annum. The placement is close to 100%. After getting a degree, I will sit for campus placements as well will apply offline to Academic Institutions.

The cost to study vary across courses. For my course, the cost is about 65000 Rs per year. I get a stipend of 35000 per month. Apart from this, I also received full financial assistance for attending an International Conference in Poland.

The annual fest is called the SPRING FEST while the tech fest is known by the name KSHITIJ. Both the fests are held in the Winters in the month of January. We have one of the largest Central Libraries where almost evry book and journal are available either online or offline. The classrooms have projectors for presentations. There is a lot of scope for sports and extracurricular activities on campus. Some of the groups run by students include PRAVAH (Hindi Dramatic Society), ENCORE (English Dramatic Society), Business Club (to harbour entrepreneurial activities) etc.

Our hostel room has decent facilities which include a table, fan, chair, light and a bed. The mess food is below par. The registration process for Hostel was smooth as we were already alloted a hostel room before our final admission. I rented a hotel room just outside the campus near Hijli Railway Station when I came for admission.