Ever wanted to be an engineer in your life ? As a child, had the passion to understand the ways to create machines ? Always wondered how the creation is and how you are connected to the creation ? Are you a good problem solver ? Have you always been comfortable with Maths ? Do you have a profound dream of entering into IIT’s/ NIT’s ? Are you preparing consistently for that dream to Materialize ? How will it be to study in IIT’s/ NIT’s ? What are some Advantages, Disadvantages, Challenges !? Explore here. I graduated from NIT Allahabad, so all of the content of this blog is experienced by me directly.
Some Advantages
If you are studying in IIT/ NIT, you are studying with the best brains of the country. Toppers from various states and union territories of this country will be your peers and you will have a good time with them. There will be immense knowledge sharing with the batchmates and late night discussions will yield solutions to most of the problems of this world. Hostel life is something which you will cherish. There will be round the clock activity in the hostels, healthy food at the students’ mess, wi-fi facilities, indoor games, xerox, stationery shop, cultural centre with many musical instruments, reading room where many magazines, newspapers will be there, gym and a swimming pool – all these and more inside the premises.
The teaching faculty at IIT/ NIT will be highly qualified, highly knowledgeable, highly experienced in the subjects and will be conducting lot of research activities. If you are interested in a particular subject, you can get intimate with the professors and help them in their research activities and gain lot of technical knowledge and experience. While doing Engineering, I had a special interest in Computer networking and one of my professors, Dr. Paulson Samuel gave a final year project during my 2nd year. It helped me gain knowledge in the subject and under his guidance, I successfully finished that project within the stipulated time. During placements, this helped me. The corporates who went through my resume were happy to note my special interest in Computer networking and appreciated me for finishing a final year project in the 2nd year itself. I eventually got 3 jobs from campus without much questioning in the interviews.
Placements at IIT/ NIT are world-class. A student is eligible for multiple placement offers and so the student gets a chance to pick from a list of jobs. Salaries are the highest of the country. The students are eligible for shares of the organization and this is given as a joining bonus to them. Some students get place of posting within the country, some get an onsite opportunity within a year of joining. You will have a great time with your batchmates in preparing for a career, or higher studies – there will be teams or interest groups focusing on M.Tech studies or MBA studies and students will prepare together for exams like GATE, CAT, etc. Students aspiring to do civil services prepare for UPSC and attend mock- tests, group discussions, interviews to hone up their skills. Such kind of personality development activities keep happening throughout under the guidance of faculties.
Post engineering, you will still be connected with your batchmates. Few of your contacts or your circle of friends could be your engineering batchmates who would now be scattered all over the world working for different organizations in high designations. Your contacts are one of your key strengths. When you are stuck in a problem looking for solutions, you could contact your batchmates explaining your problem to them. In no time, you will have multiple solutions to your problems. Another aspect of batchmates scattered around the world is the ability to connect and relive your Engineering college days’ memories, say you plan a holiday to London and you come to know that a few of your batchmates are based out of London. You could plan a get-together with them and spend an evening with them. The bond that was once created during the Engineering days will forever be strong and fresh throughout your life.
Opportunities that exist being an IITian is plenty. The libraries, laboratories that are there in each department contain exhaustive materials, sufficient to increase your knowledge and experience. Innovative experiments can be performed in the laboratories – lot of research happens round the clock. New technical papers are written by the students with the guidance of the faculties. Some students start earning as they study by doing projects as free lancers. Learning methodology at IIT’s/ NIT’s is well-researched. Theory and practical papers will be there in all the semesters. Video libraries help students learn with the help of watching videos. Most of the learning happens in the laboratories by way of practicals with the latest scientific equipments. There are class tests, model tests before the final end-semester exams. Students get objective/ subjective type questions to answer. When they perform really well in the end-semester exams, they get a lot of self-satisfaction and an assurance of a good job at the end of their studies.
Hostel life is the best part of IIT/ NIT life. There are many ways by which a student can engage himself, at hostels. Night life is an attraction. Students stay awake the whole night studying, debating, playing around, celebrating birthdays, etc. Party hard and Work harder is the way of life of IITians/ NITians. Many students stay awake till 4 A.M. or 5 A.M. and sleep from 5 A.M. till 9 A.M. They discuss the various news and events happening in the college and outside. Topics of current affairs are discussed at length, thereby increasing the general knowledge of the students. I thoroughly enjoyed my stay at the hostels, I am sure you will enjoy as well.
Disadvantages
There are not many disadvantages of studying at IIT’s/ NIT‘s. The culture is free and open and the students will have lot of freedom about what they think, speak and do. A very few students will indulge in addictive habits, which is a cause of worry for the parents especially. There was ragging in these institutions in the old past but now, due to the intervention of the Government, the courts and the heads of these institutes, and a strict ban on ragging, such incidents don’t happen in the present years. A few students get home sickness in their 1st year and will go to a mild depression resulting in poor scores and low moods. They automatically overcome this when they reach their second years and thereafter it is all positives. Barring these points, there are not much of disadvantages of studying in IIT’s and NIT’s.
Challenges
The biggest challenge of a student at IIT‘s/NIT’s is the survival. Only the fittest will survive and the competition inside is very tough. The students are all top-class, national level toppers and rankers and quick graspers of concepts. In the race for the top ranks, the students forget the date and time, they won’t know whether it is day or night – such will be the rigour with which they will be studying, 24 hours a day, 365 days an year. They will be continuously preparing for the exams and competitions – some toppers don’t even talk to poor performers thinking that if they do so, their dignity and status will go. Such is the intense ego of a few toppers. We will get a chance to see all kinds of personalities inside the campus, from hard-hearted people to kind-hearted ones. Inter college cultural events and technical events will further boost the energy levels of the already charged students. Other challenges in IIT’s/NIT’s is to adjust to the hostel life, standing in queues to use the common bathrooms, food availability in the hostel mess only at specific timings, adjustments in the usage of the facilities [like reading room, gym, culture centre, etc.] of hostels.
The great Warren Buffett says “Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.” Today’s good deeds become tomorrow’s success ! If you ever want to get into institutes of national repute like IIT/ NIT, you need to begin the hard work today, now. GURUJEE is an organization that trains students to crack national level competitive exams like IIT-JEE/ NEET/ ICAR, etc. Our faculties understand the weaknesses of students quickly and convert the weaknesses into strengths. As an example, if a student is weak in “Polynomials” in Math, he/ she is given special care by way of additional hours of lecturing, worksheets, assignments, etc. and the student’s confidence in the topic is built. Over a period of time, the student would say “Polynomials” is one of his strengths. I am sure, by now, you would have got a glimpse of life at IIT/ NIT ? If we clearly analyze, the advantages of studying at IIT/ NIT are more than the disadvantages. With mentors like GURUJEE, the burden of cracking the IIT-JEE/ NEET/ ICAR is lessened and the student stands a great chance to crack these exams. Materializing the dreams of students is one of GURUJEE‘s missions and I am sure you will start dreaming now, if you have not already done that till now, for that perfect seat in that perfect IIT/ NIT, after your 12th. Good luck and God bless to enter into IIT/ NIT !
By – C K Chandrasekar, B.Tech [NIT Allahabad] MBA [The University of Toledo, USA]