Pune Institute of Computer Technology B.Tech Review By Miral Keralia

PICT is one of the best engineering colleges in Pune affiliated with Pune University. The college perhaps ranks lesser than VIT, D. Y. Patil, or COEP, but if one wants to pursue IT, EEE, or CSE, PICT is arguably one of the best. Along with MH-CET, the college also accepts JEE scores. The college standards are as high as anything, and intake is less. Even with a good score, getting admissions at PICT can be tricky because an interview also has to be passed. Located in the outskirts of Pune city, the college is serene and offers an atmosphere conducive to an environment that is not just suited for studies but is equally healthy to learn new things in life. Coming far from home, and if life weren't worth would have thought twice before looking back. Today though, as I write, I am only finding a lot of green grass behind me because PICT has played an immense role in making me a better and more successful person.

The course of PU is even richer and more advanced than that of DU. Many students who wanted to be serious engineers have travelled from Delhi to Pune to study at PICT. Being a close-knitted college with just a few courses, PICT has made sure that students who do engineering from here always had those technical brains churning. I don't think education could have been any better as it was a little cruel at times because submissions and internals and mains were back-to-back. In between, though, we used to get enough time to celebrate the young life of Pune city and crack jokes with our mates at the campus.

PICT faculty was more advanced than the course as the faculty was a mix of youth and experience. Many young faculty members who had a couple of years of experience in the relevant industries have started teaching and made PICT the best place to pursue engineering. However, because I am a human, I have some questions about why there was partiality among the locals and the outsiders. Most of the faculty were from Pune, so the local students had a slight edge over the outsiders. I may be horribly wrong, but I could sense that we were given more challenging things to do and used to get somewhat lesser marks and appreciation from them. Sorry for being a little harsh, but I will write what I felt since I am here to pour my heart out.

Placements depend upon the desires or the benchmarks you have laid for yourself. I thought I would make my parents proud by saying that I got a job in India's best software company with a package of 4 lakhs. However, my parents were not happy with that and strictly warned me to come back or study further. I also believe that four lakhs average placements don't justify the elite companies that came to the college for placements. Students have given every ounce of their energy to be in the final leg of engineering, and getting a job worth 4-5 lakhs lost me from engineering.

Hostels were the ones where I had maximum fun. The capacity of the hostel was quite less, and I think me and my friend were lucky enough that we got the admission as somebody discontinued. The hostel was around 100 meters from the main campus, so travelling from hostel to campus was never an issue. Yes, the college and hostel area drainage was quite poor, so puddles till knees were formed during monsoon. The food was lovable as many of Marathi dishes like Misal Pav and Kaande Pohe, I had at the hostels for the first time in my life and while coming back home, I have introduced the same dishes at my home, and my family too have started loving it. These were breakfast items, but the lunch and dinner food were just about manageable.

PICT campus is relatively small and full of buildings as even in this small area, a huge library building has been developed. The library building also had a Xerox shop and a huge reading hall. The canteen was small, and therefore, it was always overcrowded. Even the auditorium was quite small as rather than expanding so many buildings and making the roads leaner than ever, the college could have gone away with one of the buildings. Just one basketball in the name of sporting facilities.

Firstly, the crowd was great as everyone knew each other personally, be it juniors or seniors. I had to run the hard yard to make it count at the campus as fests participation were in the hands of committees, who always gave their favorites the first chance. I couldn't be their favorites. Still, I was able to play an integral part in the technical and cultural fests of the college.