Ab overview of life at NIFT Bangalore

I chose this course because NIFT is the best option in the country when it comes to studying Fashion Design. The curriculum is very well structured to tackle all the design problems. There are no textbooks everything is a experience based or hands on learning which is the best part. The frequency and timing of exams is also quite well. We have 2 major assignments at an interval of 3 months and one final assignment which is the jury assignment at the end of every semester. The constructive criticism and harsh feedbacks are what pushes us to keep improving our work which is an essential skill needed in the real world.

I am only in the foundation year so I don't have a lot of idea or information on the companies that come for the placements. I got some information from my seniors and they told you need to build a good portfolio and you can ask your faculty members to forward your portfolio to companies to bag good jobs.

Students become eligible for placements after their graduation project in the 8th semester which is the 4th year. A good number of companies around 8-10 come for the campus placements. The minimum package starts from 6 lakhs and can go up to 20 lakhs per annum. Almost 70% of the students get an on campus placement. Some get an off campus placement as well. My plans after getting the degree is to pursue masters in my field.

The tuition fees for each semester are roughly 2 lakh rupees. But as a design student we need to buy a lots of stationery and extra items which add to the expense. The course itself can be a little expensive for people. The total cost comes around 18-20 lakhs for the 4 years. There are scholarships available for financially weaker students. They are mostly the government scholarships and have a particular criteria for applying based on the income of the student's family. I have not taken any campus employment. There aren't any roles available as such.

All the major festivals including Holi, diwali, Pongal, onam, lohri, dussehra, etc are celebrated with full enthusiasm. Students participate with great interest and the entire campus gets decorated beautifully during the festivities. The library is well equipped with books for every field we need as design students. I have never had to face the disappointment of not finding the right book I was looking for. The library stays open till 8 pm giving students enough time to cater their needs. Sports are also given importance in our college. The campus has a basketball court and volleyball court of its own. There are a lot of interesting student clubs like the photography club, literature club, social service club, cultural club, etc led by an elected student council. Overall the campus life is pretty well balanced.

I took the college hostel facility available on campus. The hostels are available only for the girls. Boys have to look for accomodation outside campus. The meals are available in the college mess which stays open till 9:30 pm. The quality is pretty decent but could definitely be improved. The hostel forms get out after the counselling process ends for the admission and can be filled through the separate hostel websites for each campus. There are five floors in the hostel. The upper floors have a double sharing while the floors from 2nd to ground floor have triple or four sharing rooms. The rooms are allocated on the basis of who filled the form and paid first.

You become eligible after giving your 12th exams after which you can find the application form on the official website of NIFT when the new admission year begins. The application fees was 2000 rupees. The forms come out around December. I scored 140 rank under OBC category and 700 under the open category. There are reservation benefits for those who qualify under the categories of OBC, GEN-EWS, SC/ST. The exams take place sometime in February. The structure of the exam is pretty simple with 60% CAT (drawing) and 40% GAT (theory) portion.

The faculty to student ratio is sufficient to tackle the needs of every student. The faculty is quite friendly and approachable. They can be a little strict when it comes to reviewing your work but they will always provide a helpful feedback to help you improve your work. I personally have very good relations with all of my teachers.