IIT Delhi: A thorough walkthrough

This course, just like all the other courses of IITs, is designed for research purposes, as the motive of the IITs is to push the students towards research as much as they can. This course is not at all designed keeping the final year placements in mind. Particularly I, took this course as I was deeply interested in physics. But later on I realised that if I want to secure a decent placement, then I could not simply reply on my college curriculum. The curriculum is extremely outdated. What was taught in 80s and 90s are still being taught today. Same lecture slides and same professors. That is the reason why most of the students of our department prepare for consult profile or IT profile. There are only a handful of students why focus solely on core subjects. Those students who focus on core sector, could not simply rely on what are taught in classes, as these things have very limited real world applications. There is very limited focus on practical learning in our department, and this is the reason why many students study CS subjects and sit for internship and placement in IT and Data profile.

A B.Tech student can sit for internships for a maximum of 2 times. The internship process is very similar to the placement process. Companies come, they take tests, interviews and then give the offer. A student can sit in multiple domains like SWE, Data analytics, Data Science, Consult, Core and Research. Nearly all famous and big companies, along with big startups visit the campus for hiring interns. The stipends are highly volatile and differ from company to company and from profile to profile. It would be very difficult to mention a specific number for average or median stipend. But, almost all companies offer stipend more than ?40,000 per month. If the student performs well during their internships, he/she might get a good Pre Placement Offer (PPO) from the company.

The placements of our college used to be good, with almost 100% placement rates. But that hasn't been the case lately. There has been a significant drop in placement rates from the past couple of years, mainly because of the lack of job oppertunities and declining job markets. But, the placements are still better as compared to private colleges, NITs and newer IITs. The placements here are conducted in 2 phases. Phase 1 placements start in August- September, with the interviews starting from 1 December. The phase-2 placements start from January and then go on for entire semester. The student becomes eligible for sitting in placements in their 7th semester. While phase 2 placements are still not over for this year, I can share the placements stats of previous year. Around 70% students sitting for placements got placed. Rest students either prepare for civil services, or for higher studies like M.Tech, MBA,PhD, etc., but their percentage is very less. Most students come here only for internships and placements. The average package package for previous year was around ?15-16 LPA, and median package was around ?14 PLA.

The fees for B.Tech depends on the annual family income of the student. If the annual family income is more than ?5 lakhs, then the student is required to pay the full tution fee, that is ?1 lakh per semester. If the annual family income is between ?1 lakh and ? 5 lakhs, the the tution fee is ?33,333 per semester, and if the annual family income is less than ?1 lakh, then there is no tution fee at all. The above is for General, EWS, and OBC-NCL only. The is 0 tution fee for SC and ST students. There are other fees that every student has to pay, regardless of the branch or category. These include hostel fee of ?13,000 per semester, and mess fee of around ?35,000 to ?45,000 per semester. The mess fee in particular is very random and varies from person to person. Every other fees like bus fee, lab fee, hostel gym fee, examination fee, etc. are already included in the hostel fee and tution fee. The fee is more or less constant every year, but also increases in every 3-4 years. There is a security deposit of ?15,000 and a one time fee of ?47,000 was also taken before admission. Also, there are many scholarship opportunities in the college. If your income is less, and you maintain a decent CGPA, you are eligible for merit cum means (MCM) scholarship every semester, that is around ?25,000 every semester. Also, if your GPA is in the top 7% in the college, the also you will get the top 7% scholarship every year. Apart from this, there are several scholarship opportunities for every student in the first year, especially for female students. I believe every second student of our college studies on some scholarship.

The campus life here is 10/10. No doubt about that. There is something for everyone. There are various clubs like Entrepreneurship Development Club, Developer Club, Physics and Astronomy Club, Economics club, Music club, Dance club, Drama Club, etc., which student can be a part of. Apart from this, there are 2 main fests here, one is the cultural fest Rendezvous, which is held in October every year, and another is Tryst, our technical fest, which is held in March every year. Every student wait for these to come. The have footfall in lakhs. Apart from these, SportTech, our sports fest, and Kaizen, our social fest are also organised. Also, there are societies of every department. Apart from the clubs and societies, there are ample sports opportunities like cricket, football, hockey, volleyball, basketball, aquatics, tennis, table tennis, chess, athletics, etc. There is an institute team of every sport, that participate in inter-IIT tournament held every year. We also have one of the largest libraries of North India, wher there are ample books, journals, thesis and research papers to study. The central library also provides a quite place to study. There are also several student run organizations, like SHare, bloodconnect foundation, NSS IIT Delhi, etc., that focusses on social work.

Every student is allotted a hostel. He/She is allowed to be a day scholar only if their home is less than 10 km of the college campus. The hostels are very decent and affordable. Hostel seat rent is very less as compared to the mess. The basic facilities present in a hostel room include a wooden single bed, a chair, a study table, a mirror, and a wardrobe. Rest all essential things like a pillow, bucket, everyday essentials, have to be self arranged by the student. The mess food is very decent and is of good quality. It tastes good in starting few months, but soon we get habituated to the taste it tastes okayish. But, the food quality is never compromised. The only problem is that the mess is a bit expensive. On an average, it costs around ?40,000 per semester. For PG students, if they want to stay outside the campus, there are several cheap places in the proximity like in Jia Sarai and Ber Sarai.

You can get admission here only after clearing JEE Advanced. So, after my JEE result, I was getting a seat in all the IITs across India, but I choose IIT Delhi for multiple reasons. First of all, I was attracted to the entrepreneurship environment of IIT Delhi. More than 25 unicorns have emerged from IIT Delhi. I also wanted to join IITD because of the lucrative placement opportunities that IITD provides. Also, I am deeply inclined towards sports, and sports facilities present here are very good.

I am a student in the mechanical department, so my point of view will be more or less centred about my department, but there is not much difference across departments, so you can consider it as a general review. The student faculty ration is pretty decent, around 10:1. The offices of all professors are in the mechanical department building, and most of them are available during the office hours, so any willing student can approach them for any related work. There are some excellent facilities in our department like Dr. Bolia and Dr. Ajeet Kumar Sir, and students love them for their behaviour and teaching styles. Other professors are also very decent and experienced. Earlier there used to be 2 mid-semester examinations and an end-semester exam, but from the last 2 years there is only 1 mid-semester exam and 1 end-semester exam. This is done to reduce the stress on students. The toughness of these exams vary from course to course and from professor to professor. Normally, the exams are not very tough, and even an average student can clear them after studying for 1 day. Apart from these exams, there are constant labs, quizzes and assignments.

The nightlife in our campus is excellant. There are no hostel timings in any hostel, and students take full advantage of this. There many hangout spots in our campus. Some students prefer going to the gym, in SAC, which has excellant workout facilities. There are other spots like the Mech lawn, Biotech lawn, AMUL, Nescafe, Rajdhani, Delhi-16, etc., where the students love to hangout with their friends. Even outside the campus, there are many happening places. Hauz Khas Village is nearby, which is famous for its clubs. There are 2 main markets nearby, the Jia Sarai and the Ber Sarai market. These are absolutely safe places to visit anytime.