Life at IIT Dharwad - What to expect

I chose CSE at IIT Dharwad because its curriculum is similar to IIT Bombay's so it's well structured. We have core subjects like DSA, OS, Computer Architecture etc. which are important from both interviews and real industry problems perspectives. We also have options to choose electives, minors which help us explore different domains and fields. The curriculum prepares us for the real world problems if taken seriously, the core courses build strong basics which is necessary if someone wants to pursue research internships or work on research projects. We have 2 quizzes, 1 mid-sem and 1 end-sem and lab exams. which means we have exams every month, so frequency might feel high but once you adjust, it becomes normal for you. The only area which I feel scope of improvement is required is that there should be more practical knowledge given apart from theory, which would train student better for the real industry .

At IIT Dharwad, internships usually start from 3rd year(6th semester) but some students get 2nd-year, internships too if they're proactive. Companies like Adobe, Amazon, Texas and a few startups also hire interns from the campus. Common roles are Software Developer Intern, Data Analyst Intern, Research Intern etc. All the Internships on Campus are paid.

At IIT Dharwad, students become eligible for campus placements right after their 7th semester(i.e. after the start of 4th year) and during their 3rd year, students also have opportunities to sit for internships which can later convert to PPOs. The companies that have visited our campus are Adobe, Amazon, Texas, TCS, wipro etc. The highest CTC offered was 55LPA and average package for CSE is 18-20LPA, and for the core branches is around 10-15LPA. In CSE more than 93% of the students got placed and many of other students opted for higher studies . In the core branches the placement percentage was around 85-88%. After My degree, I plan to go for a Software Engineer role.

Fee is same for all the B.tech courses. For General, EWS, and OBC students, the tuition fee is 1 lakh per semester, and hostel, mess fees, and other charges sum up to around 40,000. However, if your family income is than 1 LPA, then tuition fee is waived off and you only pay for hostel, mess, and other charges. If your family income is between 1-5 LPA, you get a 2/3rd fee waiver in the tution fees and the hostel, mess and other charges remain the same. For SC/ST students tution fee is completely waived off regardless of family income and they only pay for hostel and mess and other charges. The Merit-Cum-Means Scholarship is given to students who are in the top 25% of their batch academically and have a family income less than 4.5 lakhs, and in this full tution fee is waived off.

Campus life is chill and friendly. Because the batch size is small, you know everyone by their face. Our campus is completely ragging free campus with no toxic seniors around and everybody in the campus is supportive. The name of the Tech Fest of IIT Dharwad is PARSEC, and name of cultural fest is Harshtaal. Parsec usually happens in january. and Harshtaal happens around march. The Central Library is really good, and we have a wide range of text books, both physical and digital copies, journals related to all branches The classrooms are modern with projectors, whiteboards, good seating, ACs and wifi facilites. Sport facilites are consistently improving, there's a, sports ground,2 volleyball and basketball courts, 2 international standard badminton courts and 2 indoor gyms. There are many clubs in the campus ranging from technical clubs like- coding club, robotics club, A.I club, space and datascience club to sports clubs like - cricket club, football club, hockey club, badminton club, chess club etc. to cultural clubs like - music and singing club, dance club, photography and films club etc. These clubs keep student life active, they organise events competitions, workshops, and help students build skills outside academics.

Campus is fully residential, and if you don't want to reside in hostels you need special permission. Each room is shared among 4 people, room is big and spacious, it has beds, almirahs, tables, chairs for each member. rooms are non AC. Food here is quite okay, not too good, and not too bad, each day has a different menu, which is kept on revising based on feedback of students.

I applied for CSE and MnC branches of all the 1st and 2nd gen IITs along with the 3rd gen IITs, my rank was about 4.8k so I knew I could get CSE only in the 3rd gen IITs out of which I felt IIT Dharwad was the best. My main reason for choosing IIT Dharwad was CSE, also that it was mentored by IIT Bombay, so the syllabus is quite tried and tested, also Dharwad is near to the tech hubs of the country like bengaluru, pune, mumbai, hyderabad which is good for someone who is really passionate about CSE. The admission process here is same as all other IITs, clear JEE Advanced exam and apply for JoSAA counseling to be admitted to this Institute.

The faculty to student ratio is pretty good roughly around 20-25 students for 1 professor. Batch size is small so it's easy to interact with the professors and most of them are easily approachable, you can ask for their time via email or also meet them during their office hours. My personal favourite faculties are Mr. Vijeth J. kotagi from CSE and Mr. Shivaprasad S.M. because they don't just read the content from their slides instead they explain topic really from the grassroot level. There are no faculties whom I hate, but there are few profs who stick too much to the slides and don't go much in depth which i don't like personally. Each Semester has quizzes, mid-sems, end-sems and labs which are mostly of moderate level, with some of the courses going above moderate level. The course curriculum is mostly updated and practical, and it is similar to IIT Bombay's style so it is industry relevent too.

There's not much night life in Dharwad city as it doesnot have pubs or clubs nearby, chilling during night mostly means roaming around the campus, chilling in hostels or going to late night dinner in canteens. Hostels are open 24x7 with no enter/exit timings. Overall, its calm but fun. Late night talks in the hostels corridors and rooms are where the best memories are made.