Vellore Institute of Technology B.Tech Review By Janhavi Mishra

My overall experience in Vellore VIT has been very good. The college has a good reputation in academics and placements. It has a 4 star rating according to QS world university ranking and comes in the top 450 colleges for Engineering and Technology. And if I remember correctly, it was around two years back that Vellore Institute of Technology also became recognized as an Institute of Eminence by the Government of India. Of course, the rankings don't tell the whole truth and there are some aspects of VIT University Vellore that aren't so great, but overall the college is definitely good. The admission process starts with the VITEE exam. The syllabus of the exam is similar to the CBSE board syllabus for PCM/B. Vellore Institute of Technology Course Admissions counseling happens according to your rank. There are three phases of counseling. I had my counseling in Phase 1, which was from rank 1-20,000. The waiting period for the counseling is long, but the process is fairly simple. You have to keep an eye on the number of available seats for a course. When your turn comes, you have to go to a computer system where they will instruct you to select your favored branch. After that you'll receive all the documents and information that you need to prepare and submit on the orientation day. A word of advice, if you're confused about any procedure, just ask a faculty there.

I am doing by B.Tech in Biotechnology. As I mentioned above, you have to give the VITEE exam to get into VIT. You can choose to give the exam in PCB or PCM. Though, if you give the exam for PCB, you're not restricted to just one subject and are just as much eligible for CS branch. I found the exam pretty easy and straightforward. My reasons to join this course were simple, I like life sciences and I want to be a researcher. And, the reviews for the Biotechnology course in VIT were very good. The course subjects are diverse and you get a certain amount flexibility to choose them. Of course, in the first year you don't have as many options as it would be confusing for you. But as you reach the second year, most of your courses will become focuses on what you want to study. The classes are pretty normal, but the Labs are amazing. Especially for Biotechnology, we have the best equipments and instruments for everything. Most labs are open to students throughout the day, till 7PM and with special permission, till 1AM. Almost all core subjects have projects in them which are what you should really work on.

While I can't give you an exact number of faculty in VIT, they are pretty good. Almost all the core faculty in VIT have a Ph.D degree in their respective fields and have had significant amount of work experience in the industry before teaching in VIT. The subject matter is also research oriented rather than being focused on a set of books. To be honest, in my 3 years of college, I have never had a subject with a certain textbook. While this was annoying at first, over time you'll realize that research is meant to be like that. Our main source of study is through research journals and papers. Now, coming to the topic of if the faculty teaches well or not. That is highly subjective, as it should be. Some faculties are very good and some aren't. Some students like certain professors, while the others don't. It really just depends on how willing you are to learn. But there is a list of Blacklisted faculty that is circulated among the students. Try to stay far away from them.

I might not be the right person to talk about VIT Vellore placements. I've heard that the placements for CS, IT and other computer science based branches are great, it's not very good for Biotechnology. And, I know you would assume that's a bad thing but it's not. Most people don't actually want a job after finishing B.Tech in Biotechnology and prefer to pursue Masters and Ph.D to focus their courses on a particular subject. Those you get placed usually go to the HR department or are very good at coding. As for the other branches, it's pretty much the same. The packages for CS and IT students are very good, dream and super dream packages. But for others, you can either pursue your academics further or focus on the CS companies.

This was a complete shock to me as I had been warned about the terrible condition of hostels in so many colleges, but the hostels in VIT are very good. (I'm talking about the girls hostel here, I've heard the boys hostel isn't that great. Though, it really depends on which block you are.) There are 7 blocks in the girls hostel. While I don't have much information about the A and B blocks, the others are pretty great. The infrastructure is beautiful and airy. All buildings except one have centralized AC. The non-AC building is for those who choose to take it and it's properly ventilated. In fact, the new G block even has apartment style hostels. The bathrooms and corridors are always clean, with 24/7 running water (no showers though). VIT Vellore hostel fees depend on type of room you choose. The food is actually good most of the time. While there is a curfew to enter the hostel premises by 8pm, you can roam around the hostel grounds whenever you want without restrictions. They even have a night mess which is open till midnight. While there are a lot of travel restrictions and curfews, they become more lax in the subsequent years, and they aren't exactly unreasonable. The security is very good and the wardens are friendly. Also, and I think this is very important. There is no ragging in VIT girls hostel and it is in fact looked down upon.

Vellore VIT campus is beautiful. It has all the facilities you need inside the campus, including a hospital, notary, passport office, bank, library of course, food joints, delivery points for major brands, stationery shops, grocery shops etc. Basically everything you want you can find in or around VIT. The buildings are well-made. My favorite is SMV, mainly because it is so beautifully made and is properly ventilated. As I mentioned before, the labs are wonderful with the best equipment and instruments, though you will need permission to use some of them. So don't expect you'll be allowed to fiddle with expensive machines the first time you enter the lab. There are many common grounds for students, where our events take place. The sports facility for boys is pretty great even inside the hostels. For girls, the hostels don't provide so many options.

The campus life here is very good. The relationship between seniors and juniors is pretty friendly, and the best thing for you to do in the first year is to talk to each and every person and attend as many events as you can. There is concert or a performance happening every day in the common ground and all you have to do is be there. We have events for all major festivals and technical and non-technical clubs for most things. The club inductions happen in December, i.e. in the second semester for most students. There are two main fests in VIT, Gravitas which is the technical fest and Rivera which is the cultural fest. These events are internationally acclaimed and happen on a very large scale, so you will not be disappointed. In fact, I was a little overwhelmed the first time. Of course, with the pandemic going on these events haven't been so pronounced.