What Students Say
Likes
- The faculty is really experienced and interactive with students. They are there to help you through any and everything, and have even helped some friends of mine get amazing internship opportunities.
- The way the syllabus is structured is quite flexible and adaptive to each student’s strengths. After the first foundation year, students design their own timetables and choose the courses they want to take.
- JSAA in terms of culture is like a big family. Everyone is close to their seniors, juniors, batchmates and even faculty. Infact, our classes are not seperated by year. All classes have a mixture of students from all batches and courses.
Dislikes
- The internship opportunities provided by the Office of Career Services are not always relevant. It is better to find an internship using your own connects.
- JSAA is a bit isolated from the rest of the university, making it a bit difficult to form a social life beyond the school.
- As the syllabus is adaptive to what’s happening in the field of architecture currently, it changes almost every year, making it hard to rely on seniors’ advice as they would mostly have studied something seperate from you.
Course Curriculum Overview
The reason I chose JSAA was the dynamic curriculum they offered. After the first year, students design their own timetable and choose the courses they want to take based on their interests. They can also take courses from other schools such as law, business, etc. and even opt for a minor in those schools. Also, the classes we take have a mixture of students from different years and courses so there is a lot you can learn from each other as well as the faculty. JSAA offers a highly flexible and well-rounded curriculum which prepares us for the real world in a way that all students develop their own unique skillset which helps them find jobs. I can't think of anything which needs improvement in terms of the curriculum. As for exams, JSAA only has exams at the end of the semester and they are not that difficult given that you actually prepare for it.
Internships Opportunities
There is a website called Superset, wherein you have to upload your resume and portfolio and you will see internship opportunities available to you. These may be online or offline and in cities all over India. It is mandatory to fulfill atleast 12 internship credits by the end of your degree. You get 3 credits for 6 week internships and 4 credits for 8 weeks. You do these internships in the semester break. The internships provided by the college arent the best though. You're better off finding your own internships. You can ask the faculty for help. They can get you some amazing opportunities.
Fees and Financial Aid
The yearly tuition fees are 4.5 lakhs and the fees for hostel, mess, laundry services, etc. combined are 2.9 lakhs. It is a residential campus so this secondary fee is also mandatory. Other than this, there are no additional fees. I'm not sure about the admission fees though. Also, stationary for first years costs around 15000. As for scholarships, it is available for students whose family's annual income is below a certain amount, and those whose CGPA is above 6.0 (out of 8). It is given after the first semester on a case to case basis.
Campus Life
Life on campus is amazing. There are multiple fests that keep happening in campus all year round. The biggest ones are Biswamil which happens once every fall semester and Magnus which is a sports fest that happens every spring semester. Other than these also there are multiple fests. Volunteering for fests is a great way to expand your social network on campus. There are also SEVERAL student-run societies you can take part in for all sorts of interests. There's too many to count actually. The campus also provides avenues for all sports and even has yoga and zumba classes. Basically, no matter what your interests are, there's a place for you on campus with your kind of people.
Hostel Facilities
The rooms are triple sharing. In the first year you are alloted random roommates, but second year onwards you can choose your own roommates. There is an app through which you can call for room cleaning and any maintenance issues you have with the room (eg. AC not working, etc). There is a laundry room in each hostel where you can give and collect your clothes. There are 2-3 salons also. Each floor has 2 pantrys which have water dispensers, a sink and a microwave. The hostels are well-maintained and have good facilities. The mess food is okay tbh, it is not that bad. Breakfast is really good. They have several options in the mess, including north indian, south indian and continental food. There is a live counter and jain food also. There is no seperate registration process for hostel as it is a residential campus. The fees for all these services is 2.9 laksh yearly. It includes hostel, mess and laundry.
Admission
To be very honest, I didn't apply to any other college because I knew I wanted to study in JSAA only. No other college in India is as modern as JSAA and as up-to-date with the happenings of the field today. The admission process included 12th board results, NATA results, and an interview round wherein we had to showcase a portfolio. This was 2 years ago though. I don't think NATA is required anymore but the interview round is very important. My overall admission experience was very smooth thanks to the admissions department who assisted us through every step.
Faculty
In atelier courses, the faculty to student ratio is 1:15. In lecture based courses, it is 1:30. All the faculty members are very approachable and have good relationships with their students. Personally, my favourite faculty members include Badri Sir (i learned a lot about design because of his unique style of teaching), Ishita Ma'am (she makes the most boring topics seem interesting), and Abu Sir (his classes are light-hearted and easy to understand as he is very friendly with students). Some of the faculty that didn't suit my way of learning are Hifzur Sir and Alokparna Ma'am, but this varies from person to person. Everyone has different experiences with the faculty and feels differently about them. As for exams, atelier courses has juries, and lecture-based courses has written exams. The exams are easy only. There isn't anything to memorise. You have to understand the material and write your own understanding in the exams. The course curriculum is extremely relevant to the field of architecture today but takes students some time to understand the relevance.
Night Life
There is no curfew inside campus so you can roam around all night, no one will mind. To go outside campus, you need a gatepass approved by your parents but there is no in-time as such for that also. You can stay out for however long provided that you have a valid gatepass. If you enter campus after midnight though, they will breathalyse you. The entire campus is a hangout spot tbh, there's not just one spot. Outside campus, there's 4-5 places you can go to chill with your friends such as Dejour, Yellow Box, Green Square. These places are relatively safe as only Jindal kids go there.
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