Cornucopia of Awesomeness

The student community that comes here is the cream from the entire state. Only the best of the best get admissions here and hence, there are people who inspire us to push our limits. The college management is also decent. As usual, one can expect some delays in getting the administrative work to get done. But I believe that it hardly makes any difference to the student community.

Entrance exams: I took the JEE-Mains in the year 2013 and scored 214 out of 360, securing an AIR of 1535 and state rank 57. Also, I took the standard board examinations held by Gujarat State Education Board (GSEB) and secured a rank of 67 in Gujarat. I got the admission on the basis of my ranking in the board examination. Why did I opt this college: DA-IICT is the best college to pursue information and communication technology in the state of Gujarat. Furthermore, my elder brother also studied from the same college and had a wonderful experience as well. The placements are also phenomenal!

The course curriculum is excellent as it covers all the courses that one needs to be in a skilled ICT engineer. The courses are classified into these 5 categories: 1) IT (Information Technology):It has courses related to programming and software development in general. For eg. System software, computer organization, operating systems, Object oriented programming , Databases, etc. 2) SC (Science): It has courses that cover the essential scientific and mathematical background to supplement all the other subjects. For eg. calculus, discrete mathematics, algebra, probability and statistics, etc.3) EL (Electronics): The courses on electronics are covered here. For eg. Digital logic design, analog circuits, embedded hardware, etc. 4) CT (Communication): As the name suggests it covers courses on communication systems. For eg. Signals and systems, analog communication, computer networks, etc.5) HM (Humanities): It has courses on social sciences like Approaches to Indian Society, Science and society, environmental studies, etc.Furthermore, a rich variety of electives that cover advannced topics are also offered 5th semester onwards. For eg. Introduction to Algorithms, Data mining, Digital Signal Processing, etc.

The professors don't provide internships to external students. However, companies from the IT industry do visit our campus. The three big companies that arrive come for providing internships are Amazon, Morgan Stanley, Sprinklr. The process for the interviews is almost similar to that of full time job placements. Apart from these big names MAQ software and other local startups also come for hiring interns. The stipend is 40000 rupees per month for the big companies and for the other local startups the stipend is quite variable.

The placement opportunities are absolutely great. From our batch of 280 students, at least 220 of them were placed by the end of the placement season. Amazon, Morgan Stanley, Direct i, Sprinklr, Works applications, Oracle, Deloitte, etc are the huge companies that visited. Thes companies all provide a base pay of 12 lakh rupees per anum. However, the additional benefits vary from company to company. For eg, Amazon provides free pick-ups and home drops which other companies don't provide. Similarly, Sprinklr provides free food to all the employees, anytime in the day.

The biggest cultural fest that we celebrate each year is called SYNAPSE. Students from all over Gujarat, come to participate in the dancing, singing, fashion competitions of various types. The passes are even quite expensive. The sponsors for the event are brought by the students themselves. Also, on the last night of the fest, there is a concert where huge singing stars come and rock the atmosphere. Apart from this, we have our technical fest called i fest, which includes technical competitions like coding, hackathon, robo racing, etc. Apart from this, every festival is celebrated with equal enthusiasm by the student community!

The fee structure can be categorized as expensive. The tuition fee for 1 semester in Btech is 67500 rupees. The hostel fees is 10000 per semetser, excluding food. We have a cafeteria where a variety of items are served and the average cost per month is around 5 thousand rupees. The semester is roughly of 4 months, hence the food costs 20000 per semester. Thus, total fees per semester is 67500+10000+20000 = 97500 rupees

There are 2 kinds of scholarships available: 1)Merit scholarship and merit-cum means scholarship. 1) is offered to at most five students of a batch that have the top JEE-mains AIR, under 5000. 2) requires a certificate of father's income to be submitted in order to be considered for eligibility. In both of these scholarships, the tuition fees are waived. I received 1) throughout the 4 years of my study.

The lab facilities are excellent with air condition in the day time. Every student is provided with his own private space on a common server so that they can save their data and use that when they sit in some other lab as well. The extracurriculars like debating, painting, dancing etc. is also taken up by the student community with great zeal.The hostel life is quite convivial as well. People play games like DOTA and CS all night long on LAN!!

The hostel rooms are twin sharing. The facilities are decent. We are provided with bed, cupboard, study table, chairs and most importantly, internet of 4 GB/day. The toilets are common for students of the same wing, which are washed every day. The cafeteria food is quite awesome. We have gujarati, south indian, and punjabi food available every day. There is also a la carte food available. The full thali costs around 50 rs. Furthermore, during the festivals, the respective sweets are served free of cost on that day

The seniors are utmost helpful whenever we need them. Even in the clubs and the student body government, the seniors train the juniors in terms of administrative work as well. To make the first year students comfortable in the hostel we have some designated members who make sure that they aren't ragged. We have zero tolerance against ragging. The alumni are available on Alma-connect and even they are quite helpful in discussions on further studies , startups, etc.

We had 3 exams per semester. The syllabus was decided by the professors of the respective subjects. Similarly, the exam papers were also set by the professors only. The teaching assistants check the papers. During the first 2 in-semester exams, we take 2 tests per day. However, for the final exams, there is only one test on each day. So, the in-semester exams feel quite hectic. Furthermore, I believe that the exams hardly ever consists of any theory based questions. All the questions are of numerical type where the students are expected to exhibit their understanding of the concepts rather than rote-learning

As mentioned earlier, I got the admission through my boards marks. There are two ways of getting admission in DA-IICT. 1. Through ACPC: ACPC is the Admission Commitee for Professional Courses, which is controlled by the GSEB, that serves as the intermediary for admission in all the engineering colleges in Gujarat. After the board results and JEE results are out, a merit list assigning ranks every student in Gujarat, is prepared. Then, there are online choice filling rounds where students fill in the colleges that they want to have admission in. The students get admission on the basis of the rank. The students that are selected have to go to the campus and pay the token fee to confirm the admission.2. Through AIR of JEE mains: The admission forms for this, are available on the website of our institute. The students that have filled the forms, are similarly selected based upon the ranks.

The quality of faculty is quite non-uniform in my opinion. I believe that the faculty for computer science and communication systems are quite excellent in terms of their teaching ability, experience and ability to solve the students' doubts on the spot. However, the faculty for electronics seems to be on the weaker end in terms of their experience. The professors have a habit of stopping after explaining every concept to make sure that every student has grasped to the fullest. Furthermore, they don't discriminate among students in terms of their pointers. Lastly, most of the professor have their own on-going research activities which keep them sharp.