IIT Guwahati has 10 Boys' & 3 Girls' Hostels

My life at IIT Guwahati has been nothing but learning something new every day. The campus - its energy, hostel, and the events happening make the life so much energetic. During my Joint Seat Allocation Authority, i.e. JOSAA counseling, I got this Institution in my 2nd round and it stayed the same until the last round when I was hoping for a change because it was very far from my place (Uttar Pradesh).

I have chosen the course Biosciences and Bioengineering branch. This department was established in 2002 in order to advance the area of Biological Sciences. This branch integrates Biology with Technology and problem solving to create products useful in the real world relating to healthcare, medicines, agriculture, pharmaceuticals etc. For getting into this National Institution, one must first have 75% (for General) and 65% for (SC/ST) aggregate marks in PCM in their class 12th. Along with this, you need to be in the top 20 percentile of their respective boards then qualify JEE Main by being in the top 2,50,000 candidates then qualify JEE Advanced, get a rank which then decides which branch and it’s a person can get into based on previous year opening closing rank. The quizzes are taken as per professor's choices along with students agreeing on the dates for the quizzes.

I am a General category candidate so the fees I paid in my 1st semester were around Rs. 1,41,000/- (this high only for the 1st semester). Every semester fees is around Rs. 1,20,000/-. The caste reserved categories and those falling in Economically Weaker Section have to pay some charges but they do not have to pay tuition fee.

The faculty members teaching in my department are incredibly amazing and so knowledgeable. Some of them are quite strict but their lectures are very interesting to keep us engaged throughout the lectures. While others are more lenient and polite along with engaging lectures, some professors even go beyond our course to teach us things when we ask some out of the course questions. Most of our lectures involve discussions between students and professors. They understand our doubts quite quickly most of the times are able to resolve our doubts, also they encourage us to first try to think of them on our own by giving hints rather than giving direct answers helping us enhance our problem solving skills.

The Placement Cell in our institute is Centre for Career Development (CCD), which comprises of both the students and professors handling all aspects of campus placements. They arrange for pre-placement talks, written tests, group discussions, etc for the graduating batch of students. From this year, they introduced for training sessions for the first year students so that they have an early exposure to workplace experience.

The Institute offers residential facilities to all the students studying in the institute i.e. it is a fully residential campus. The students live in hostels. There are separate hostels for boys and girls. There is 10 boy’s hostels and 3 girl’s hostel. Additional to these hostels, there is a married scholar’s hostel as well. All the hostels are well equipped with all facilities required like library room for studying, gym room for gumming, dance room for practicing dancing, music room equipped with the music instruments, canteens, juice centers and for late night munching the food vending machines are available, TV room for watching matches, etc. The food is served thrice during a day i.e. breakfast, lunch, dinner. There are days when we have special dinners. Also on celebrations, we have a gala dinner, which is luscious. For the first three months, we are to return to the hostels by 10 PM along with our attendance being marked by the hostel security officials by coming to each of our rooms ensuring safely of the students residing in hostels. My personal experience is good, my seniors and neighbors are really friendly and helpful. We do talk a lot whenever we encounter someone in hallway. All facilities in my hostel are quite good.

The campus of IIT Guwahati is on the northern bank of Brahmaputra river and abuts to town of Amingaon. The campus is spread in around 700 acres with Brahmaputra river on one side and hills on the other side. Our campus is one of the most beautiful campuses in India with a perfect blend of nature and architecture making it an ideal setting for studying. The academic complex is divided into 4 core branches with each core having all the basic facilities such as washroom, canteen, etc. In each department, there is a seminar hall for various meetings held within a department. Other than the academic complex, there is a lecture hall complex where in exams, classes, and guest -talks by alumni are held. For bigger events, Dr. Bhupen Hazarika Auditorium is used. The Central Library is open from 8 AM to 2 AM usually. There is a sports complex, gym, swimming pool along with athletic ground, football ground and hockey ground. There is a 24x7 hospital facility available free of cost for the students. For the extracurricular activities there is an activity centre called the NEW SAC.

My overall campus life is so fun. Every day we have some workshops related to tech, non-tech etc, club orientations, some club display etc. I have been participating in the various debate competitions and have become part of the debate society. The Institute crowd is amazing. Everyone is so friendly with each other. There are many clubs and some of them are tech, cultural, sports, etc. These fests are tech fest-Techniche, cultural fest- Alcheringa, entrepreneurial summit ‘Udgam’. I am so happy being part of IIT Guwahati and hope to get the best of it until the end of my 4-year journey with it.