Jadavpur University Kolkata is a Leading State University in India

It has been less than a year that I joined this university. Till now, my experience is one of mixed feelings. The placement stats of Information Technology (my branch), very less fees compared to 99.9% of engineering colleges in India, language (Bengali), and good academic culture and to be honest familiarity with the city of Kolkata were the main reasons that compelled me to join this university out of the options that I had at that time. I had a JEE Mains percentile of 98.1 but I didn't manage to clear the cutoff score during my JEE Advanced examination. After this I decided to go for JU (Jadavpur University) to pursue IT. Meanwhile I have to tell that JU is a state university so the infrastructure is limited. there are some excellent faculties out there especially in the Jadavpur campus, research opportunities, a dynamic and hardworking peer group, very deep connection with the seniors out there placed in different tech companies encompassing FAANG, Fintech, HFTs, PSUs, startups, and premier research institutions across the world. If you are a WB resident or even a person that is thorough with Bengali culture and language and not getting circuital branches or CSE in IITs or NITs ,but getting the same in JU, you should very well think of the latter option and perhaps you are already aware of this statement. A Kolkata boy or girl always prefers JU above most colleges available to him or her.

I am fascinated by the software world and therefore I always looked out for courses regarding the same. I am fortunate enough to get IT at Jadavpur University. You need to give WBJEE and do well enough in that in order to get this university. A rank under 1000 opens up your options for circuital branches and chemical if you are domicile student, the ranks is even lower for SC/ST /TWF students. For non domicile students the bar of ranks is much higher. For CSE aim lesser than 150 for domicile and under 100 or 50 for non domicile. Curriculum is AICTE approved and is at par with most premium colleges in India. Exams also follow the same trend. Like most Indian premium colleges as such of IITs, the academics forms your basics but you certainly need to do a lot of other courses, practice and everything from online at your own end to keep up with the pace. For the top 3 or 4 branches aim for a rank under 400 or 500 if you are domicile. If you are non-domicile just like me, fastens your seatbelts because you need to get fewer than 300 and fewer than 100 for CSE.

My branch costs me around 1, 10,000 for 4 years except the hostel. Hostel fee is even much less than 50,000 in 4 years. If you come from economically weaker backgrounds you can study here for free if you meet all the criteria’s and apply accordingly. Scholarships are also readily available. From fees and subsequent ROI point of view, little to no colleges in India comes even close to Jadavpur University.

Teachers follow the traditional way of teaching like the chalk blackboard, the white board marker style, often they incorporate Bengali as their medium of teaching so that can be a issue for some students but that is not the case every time. Most of the faculties are very humble, approachable and ready to help. Many of the faculties have their experience of teaching at IITs and other research institutions. Teacher student ratio is better than most Indian colleges. Projectors are available in case there is a necessity to visually understand something.

Placement at my university is heavily dependent on the senior student connections. Although companies that are out there with their offices in Kolkata do visit the campus every year. The placement cell is run by students only. All IT and CSE students are open to sit for software companies that visit on campus. Other branches are also allowed to some degree and once they clear a basic coding round they are also allowed for almost all tech firms. Consultancy firms are also present there recruiting and there are a plethora of core companies that come here to recruit. Big players like FAANG however do not visit every year and when they visit the competition is cutthroat within campus obviously. Wells Fargo, DE Shaw, etc. are some of the big companies that come here every year. You can check out for the detailed information at the placement page of our university on LinkedIn.

Hostel facilities are decent. But I cannot tell in detail since I am not a hosteller.

Campus is of basic structure, it can be compared with that of any decent small or private college. Our university has two campuses -Jadavpur and Salt lake. Jadavpur is one of the oldest in the country and consists of about 66 acres, salt lake one is considerably newer being built in the 90s. Library is there with a good collection of books, playground in Salt Lake campus is really big and good, being used by CAB, a number of really good canteens are there on and outside of the Jadavpur campus --MilanDar canteen and Ahar canteen are some very popular names. Transport facility is excellent as is throughout most of Kolkata if you know the right route. Inter campus bus facility is also there. Medical facilities are there, security is decent, various indoor and outdoor game facilities are there however the expectations regarding infrastructure and other facilities must be set bearing in mind the fact that JU is a state university and has been facing a shortage of funds since a long time. For me in my campus, My favorite spot is the lush green CAB ground.

Overall campus life is just above average at least for me. However if you are into things like drama, singing, dancing, debates, the campus welcomes you with all its strength, the culture is very encouraging towards these and our university perform really well in those areas. The fact that interdisciplinary studies are followed here and streams like Arts, Basic Sciences, Commerce, Pharmacy and Film Studies are also present besides engineering in the Jadavpur University; it is one of the sole reasons for such a multifaceted, vibrant and colorful culture at least for Jadavpur campus. The history of some great directors, musicians, economists, actors, actresses, politicians, etc. from our own university just adds the ultimate touch this lineage and university atmosphere. Several active clubs are there, presently for your interests; I am in Coding and finance clubs. But clubs like photography, Mechatronics, Film Studies, music; Debating, dancing, Singing, etc. also exist and are very active. Sanskriti and Srijan are two biggest fests out of several other fests that take place are in of their kind in entire eastern India. Academic pressure is comparatively less. The politics and ragging are not as much as the media hypes about regarding the same but we cannot completely ignore that thing though. After all, entering into university one needs to be mature enough regarding what one wants to do with their life, what should be spoken when and where and what circle they want to choose.