Is IISER Bhopal right for you? A Real student's Perspective

The Chemistry Department is the best Department in IISER Bhopal. The curriculum is designed from basic to advanced chemistry for everyone to get a good hold on the subject and pursue a research career. There are very less electives to be taken upon and elective courses become compulsory courses even if you dont want to take the course.

You can apply for foreign internships like Globalink Research Internships(Mitacs), Australian National University(ANU), and many other foreign institutes and national research institutes like IISc Bangalore, IIT Bombay, Kanpur, Kharagpur, and many other research centers like JNCASR and others.

People joining IISER and other research colleges generally go for higher studies like PhD after BS-MS. After 6th semester in BS, people are eligible for campus placements. In BS, the average package is 17 LPA and for BS-MS it is around 7 LPA. Some top recruiters are TCS, Deloitte, SBI, Atotech, REddy's Lab. The percentage of students getting placements in BS is high around 80 percent but in BS-MS it is less because students prefer for higher studies rather than go for placements. My plans after degree will be pursuing for PhD , and if not I will be going for a career in teaching.

The fees is pretty nominal compared to other colleges. It is around 50K per semester excluding mess charges. There's a hike in the fees around 5k in every 4-5 years gap. The complete cost of my education will be around 5 Lacs excluding the mess fees and my personal expenditure. The mess fees is nearly around 3k in every functional mess and availing mess facility is compulsory for everyone. A number of scholarships are KVPY, INSPIRE, Gauri Mukherjee, etc.

As it is a Science college, the largest annual science fest is Singularity generally held in sept-Oct, and Arts and Letters Fest around this time. Also, Mahua was the fest that happened this year 2023 for the first time around March. The Armageddon( Gaming and Data Science Fest) and the annual Cultural Fest Enthuzia are generally in February-March. All the required books are available in the library but the numbers are pretty low and the books that have single or double copies, are generally issued by the Professors. All classrooms have projectors and mics and good seating capacity, and the place is clean every time and is a good learning experience. Every Sport is played on campus and every sport has experienced coaches who train us in the evening time. Sangharsh( Annual Sports) meet also happens generally in August. All the clubs running in campus is run by students with the help of Faculty Advisor. There are various clubs Drama, Movie, Astronomy, Gaming, Music and various others.

The room is a double occupancy small room with 2 Beds. 1 common study table and an almirah. Individual folding study table and a personal cupboard. The mess food is edible and not that good in the matter of taste or hygiene too. The registration will happen when you come to the campus and it is affordable for all. Staying in hostels is mandatory for everyone and one cannot stay outside or rent a room outside unless it is a genuine situation.

Earlier in my time there were three channels through which you can enter into IISER. They were SCB by the IISER Aptitude Test(IAT) exam, JEE Advanced, and KVPY exam. But now the admission is only through the SCB channel. To apply for the test, you need to have a fair knowledge of all the subjects Chemistry, Physics, Maths, and Biology. All the details of the application form, fees, and dates will be available on the official website of iiseradmission, or just search for the IISER Aptitude Test. There are Reservation Benefits, I'm from OBC-NCL but had a good rank too. The IAT happens yearly once and the difficulty level can be compared with slightly above JEE Mains level. If you have a good touch of NCERT books on all subjects, you can crack the exam with ease. In our time(COVID), the admission happened very late but now everything is running fine according to my POV.

The faculty-to-student ratio is pretty good in the Chemistry Department. Every faculty member is fully focused on giving the best education to the students and inspiring them for research careers. The learning experience is good and depends on faculty-to-faculty. They inspire and motivate by narrating their previous experiences. Every Professor is approachable and you can interact with them about the problems/academics, that students face in transition phase.