Indian Institute of Technology Madras B.Tech Review By Prashant Baranwal

My journey in IIT Madras has been incredible. It offers world class education, research opportunities, excellent alumni network and a vibrant campus life. I chose this institute because of its strong academic reputation, renowned faculty and excellent placements after students graduate. The environment supports innovation, personal growth and exposure to a lot of opportunities for students to excel in any field. It is a perfect place for anyone to learn more and make an impact in their desired field. In spite of all these advantages, the competition is huge and it might make you feel inferior sometimes but trust me, the learning which you get is way more than that.

The academic curriculum at IIT Madras is designed to challenge students to explore more about their course while fostering critical thinking. The academics are not at all easy and because of the fierce competition, you have to give it all to get good grades. I enrolled in the B. Tech in Civil Engineering. For entry in this program, one has to get an All India Rank of around 4000-6000 in prestigious JEE Advanced Exam. My motive of enrolling in this program was to get an essence of the culture of a top IIT of India and to get a chance to learn from the brilliant minds who have already contributed a lot to this nation.

The faculty at IIT Madras is exceptional. It has professors who are expert in their respective fields. All the professors have completed their PhDs from top universities of both India as well as abroad. Many of them have industry experience as well and their style of teaching is a mixture of lectures, live experiments and projects making the learning highly engaging. Almost all the professors are friendly and reachable to students in case there are any issues barring a few. All the professors guide you well on how to make a well settled career out of your selected field.

Yes, IIT Madras has a dedicated placement cell that is highly efficient in connecting students with the top-tier companies. It is run solely by students and calls the companies to campus for placements. They ensure smooth coordination, provides resources such as resume building, interview preparation and case studies. The placement rate is also very high and the average package ranges from 20-25 LPA. The companies also come from various sectors such as Tech, Finance, Consulting, IT, Core, Quant, FMCG and all offer good packages.

Yes, the institute does have its residential facilities. There are total 24 hostels with 18 for male students and 6 for female students. The hostels are located near academic buildings, making it easier to travel to and from. All the hostels have access to basic amenities such as drinking water and clean washrooms. In first year, students usually live in triple-sharing rooms, then in double-sharing rooms in second year and finally to single sharing rooms from third year up to their graduation. Each room has bed, table, chair, cupboard for each student. Almost all the hostels also have dedicated sports grounds inside the hostel where students can play various sports such as cricket, football, volleyball, badminton.

IIT Madras campus has impressive infrastructure with respect to academic blocks. All the blocks are renovated and have all the amenities such as chairs, benches, projectors for slides. However few blocks don't have AC which makes it difficult during peak summer. Apart from that, the laboratories are the best and they have all the modern equipment which are required to perform any kind of experiment. The campus has a Central Library which is a 4 storey building having access to all kinds of academic books of all the departments.

Apart from academics, IIT Madras also has a lot of clubs engaging students to various kinds of activities such as singing, dancing, and photography. It has dedicated cells for cultural, tech and entrepreneurial activities where a student can learn a lot by participating in their events and taking part in competitions organized by them. We have 3 major fests which happen, ‘Saarang’: The cultural fest, ‘Shaastra’: The tech fest and ‘E-Summit’: the Entrepreneurial fest. Also, it has international level sports stadiums for all the sports, giving students a true essence of sports which they play.