The IIT Kharagpur Experience

It's a good course as it is a Circuital Branch in one of the topmost IIT's of the country. The course is a bit on the tougher side as compared to other departments as it falls under the Electrical Engineering department but it's manageable if you know how to manage your time well. The faculty:student ratio is okayish and you do get to interact with the professors, however, the professors might come out as a bit strict. The exams are a little bit difficult, but by putting consistent efforts, it is easily manageable. You have two exams in a semester, The Mid-Sems, carrying about 30% weightage and the End-Sems, carrying about 50% weightage. The rest 20% is the proffesor's assesment.

The internship opportunities are great, with internships generally happening in the second last year of the course. There are on-campus and off-campus opportunities, with great pay scale. Some stipends even go upto lakhs. Many tudents get PPO's (Pre-placement offers) from the company's they interened at, and hence don't have to worry a lot about the placement season as they already have a job as a backup.

First round of placements happen in generally the start of December, which is the second last semester for final year students. The overall average package is generally high, with a lot of companies offering and even more so for circuital branches. The highest packages can go upto many crores, most of which are generally international. More than 90% of the students get placed easily.

The fee cost has been increasing recently, but is still way lower than private engineering colleges. The total fees comes out to be around 10-12 lakhs for 4 years. However, if u come from SC/ST or your family income is less than 5 lakhs, then there is a drastic reduction in tution fees. For being from SC/ST, your entire tution cost is neglected, which is 1 lakh per semester for 8 semesters. For your family income less than 5 lakhs, you only need to pay a tution fee of 33k per semester. Apart from that, there are also numerous scholarships available by the government which can be availed. Since this is a circuital branch in one of the topmost IIT's of the country, a decent package is secured if u do sufficiently well enough throughout the course.

The life in campus at IIT KGP is great. We have our socio-cultural fest, Spring Fest and our techno-management fest, Kshitij, both in the month of January. We have the largest library in Asia with plenty of books and journals. There are dozens of clubs and societies for people of all interests in the campus, and if u still want to, you can open one yourself. The sports amenities are great. We have various stadiums, a Gymkhana especially designed for co-curricular activities of the students, with platforms for all kinds of sports and facilities for them. The infrastructure is great as well with a vibrant atmosphere in campus for academics as well as enjoying college life.

Some of the hostels are spacious, while some are not so much. We are randomly assigned a hostel at the start of every academic year. The mess food is above average and not as bad as the media potrays. The menu keeps rotating every month with different menu for each day of the week. We are provided with beds, cupboards, tables and chairs, and generally a common bathroom. The hostels are shared for freshers, but seniors are alotted single sharing rooms.

The admission happens on the basis of your rank in JEE Advanced. You're eligible to give JEE Advanced if you gave your 12th boards in the same or previous year AND if you qualify JEE Mains, which is conducted twice a year, generally in January and April. For General Male category, the approximate rank to get selected for B.Tech. in Instrumentation Engineering, Department of Electrical Engineering (4 yr.) is around 2000-2300.