College Reviews

The Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IITM) is one of the premier institutes in India. Being an IITian is not everyone's cup of tea, since the process of admission to these institutes are one of the most competitive in the country. For enrolling in the stream of engineering, undergraduates have to qualify the JEE (Joint Entrance Examination; Mains and Advanced). Graduates for both M.Tech and PhD can enroll if they manage to qualify the GATE examination. While in basic sciences like Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics, students can get an opportunity to enroll in the Masters level if they get through the JAM exam. For PhD candidates, GATE or CSIR-NET is the equivalent examination, which largely determines the type of fellowship. IITs have a unique and holistic way of academic instruction, which is mostly based on practical hands-on experience and observation rather than being bookish and strictly limited to the classrooms. The cost of tuition is relatively low, as compared to many private institutions throughout India. The laboratories of the institute are one of the best, which fills a student's mind with happiness, vigour, passion and most importantly, the urge to work. Some laboratories contain advanced machinery and equipments, like the NMR, IR, UV and EPR spectrometers (in the Chemistry department), autoclave, cryogenic freezers and so on. The Central Library has a collection of numerous books spanning the fields of science, engineering, history, geography, language & linguistics and many more. The extensive flora, fauna, and the serene natural environment of the campus has what it takes to manifest a wonderful environment typical of an academic setting. The hostels in the campus are one of the best, are well maintained, and have good facilities. In some hostels, students can avail the use of electronic equipments like washing machines and refrigerators. The institute network can also be accessed in the hostel rooms by means of a LAN cable. The mess and the canteen provide good quality and hygienic food, and the health related problems of students (apart from COVID-19) are typically unheard of. Besides all the advantages, the impact due to the already looming COVID-19 pandemic remains one of the major challenges that needs to be addressed. COVID-19 has already had an effect in everyone's daily life, and its impact is strong enough to affect the on-campus education of the future students. Supplementing the quality of offline education into online education is the biggest challenge that IITM faces now, as far as motivating the students is concerned. Any IITM aspirant can certainly get to enjoy many privileges.They can get to work in the highly sophisticated labs, get in touch with the most intellectual minds throughout India, and live in a natural environment conducive to one's academic progress, physical and mental well being. Therefore a lifetime experience of an IIT beckons if one manages to crack the required entrance and gets selected. More...