IISER Thiruvananthapuram at a glance

The Integrated BS-MS course provides the first two years of Foundation course where the student is supposed to study all the four science subjects, Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Biology, along with Computer science and interdisciplinary courses. It can be difficult for people without a strong maths background to study Mathematics in the first two years. This course basically introduces us to the interdisciplinary side of science, the side which lets us explore rather than the applicative side of science. Integrated BS-MS is good if a student wants to pursue research in any field.

The semester wise fees for this course is approximately 44000, but for the SC/ST students the tuition fee is waived, which makes them pay 7000. This is not inclusive of the mess (food) fees. The ness fee is approximately 15000, which I would say is a little expensive compared to the quality of food served. As for scholarships, only the INSPIRE scholarship is available, that too only for selected students. IISER does not provide any scholarship of their own. The campus has it's own placement cell, with is developing with the years, but not very functional.

Campus Life is amazing. It's situated in the hills, even though there's no winter here. The scenery is perfect and you would feel like you're living in your dreams. There are different clubs, dance, drama, music, etc. which can be an amazing opportunity to portray talents and hobbies. There's a football turf, cricket nets, an indoor stadium for basketball and tennis, table tennis, indoor games like chess and carrom, a dance room and a music room. There's also a well functioning pride club. Different festivals from around the country are also celebrated here. The library is well equipped with the essential books and magazines available both offline and online. The mess is also student run.

IISER is a residential campus, with it's own hostel facility. The rooms are on a sharing basis. One room can accomodate two students. There are two single beds and tables, along with a wardrobe. One window opens to the corridor/road and the other opens to the mess/turf. The mess food is not very good. They keep changing tenders and hence the food quality keeps changing.

The complete eligibility criteria can be obtained from the official website of the IISER Admission Test. The application can be found at the website, around April-May of each year. After filling in the application form you have to appear for IAT, the IISER Aptitude Test. Based on the ranks, one can get various IISERs during counselling. There is also a channel for KVPY and JEE advanced but the functionality of those channels from this year is questionable. The difficulty of the exam is moderate, any entrance examination preparation would suffice. The reservation of the various categories are the same as any other institution.

The faculty-student ratio for the first two years of the Integrated BS-MS course is quite high. There can be 250-300 students in a class, addressed by one faculty. The faculty are highly educated and experienced and are always open for helping students and any type of discussion in and out of the classroom and class hours. Tutorial sessions are provided where the doubts are cleared. These tutorial sessions are generally hosted by PhD students, addressing maximum 30 students at a time. Faculty members have their own labs where research work is done.