IACS: A review of the hidden jewel of Indian science

Iacs gives early access to hands on research for students right from day 1, thats what inspired me to join this uni. the curriculum as i said is at par with other renowned basic sciences colleges in india, so it is pretty modern and relevant. exams might seem a bit overwhelming at the beginning, but it will ease out eventually

Most students here pursue internships in top colleges like iisers,iisc,niser etc. they usually start off in some college in kolkata to gain experience and eventually they do go for phd abroad(most of them). the students who are under inspire scholarship receive 20k for summer internships, and various other internships and projects like those organised by barc, etc also provide stipends.

In Iacs, for bsms, the first year fees(taken during admission) is 31k. for second and third years, the fees is much lesser around 12k each. and overall for the 5 year course it is approximately 1 lakh. for reserved categories it will be considerably lesser(around 50k for 5 years). stipend is provided for ms students(4th year onwards) which is 12k per month. besides this, scholarships like jbnsts, inspire, svmcm are also availed by students.

The annual fest is named Cultvision. apart from that the various societies(cine, music,photography, astronomy, literature, drama) host their own events periodically. the library has a great collection of books and is totally air conditioned, it has study rooms and online book reading areas. the classrooms are top notch, equipped with smartboards, centrally air conditioned, and comfortable seating. there is a indoor games complex, a swimming pool, and a cricket field. so there is adequate opportunities for extra curricular activites.

I had applied and got into st.stephens, delhi(bsc chem), jadavpur uni(be,mme), nit durgapur(bs chem), iiser tpt and bpr(bsms). left stephens because the course at iacs or iisers were more relevant to research. didnt join jadavpur cause didnt wanna do btech. didnt join nit since its expensive, and i believe iacs or iisers are a better option for bs, left iiser because its expensive and i got into iacs before i did to iiser,and they are pretty much similar as ive heard from professors and seniors

for bsms(1st year), the student to faculty ratio is around 1:3 , which makes professors extremely approachable. Among notable faculty is Deb shankar ray(chemistry) who happens to be a Bhatnagar awardee, Alok goswami(ex isi professor), Soumitra sengupta(amal kumar raychowdhuri chair professor,physics) and many more. There are 2 exams per semester(mid sem and end sem), since grading is done on relative basis, the difficulty level isnt siginifant really. the course curriculum is pretty relevant and at par with iisers and even iisc.

Since i dont stay in hostel, i cannot say much about the campus life, but since it is located in the main city of Kolkata, it is always buzzing with activity in and around till midnight. there are cafes, shops, restaurants around. the library is open till late night, and the main gate usually remains open till 12am. otherwise students are free to roam about the campus till as long they wish.