Gaya Engineering College B.Tech Review By Avinash Kumar

Gaya as we all know is famous for ‘Land of Buddha’. Getting admission there didn’t go down well with my parents initially but soon they agreed. The best part about Gaya Engineering College accepts IIT JEE score and that is how I got the admission. After missing out on incumbent IITs getting admission in this college was indeed a sigh of relief for me. The college was known as Magadh College of Engineering from 1981 to 1994 and was renamed as Gaya Engineering College in 1994. Yes there were quite a few questions that will it have all the facilities and will this college make me the engineer I always wanted do and so on. However, I must say that all my questions were answered and I am glad that because many avoided this college I got the admission here. As my score was less and looking at the trends of past years I thought I won’t be able to make it. Fortunately though I got the admission and spent some of the best time of my life at the college.

The college is 4 decades old and has produced over 20k engineers in this time. Many people are not aware of the fact but it’s true that Bihar has produced the maximum engineers. Academic wise the college is excellent as the classes and exams were always on time. The professors built self confidence in the students and were quite helpful. Studies were given the top priority but students are also encouraged to play sports and participate in other cultural activities as well. Students from our college were invited to participate in IIT Delhi’s fest. The campus is being renovated and hence some of the buildings will be built soon that will have all the latest facilities. The routine was 10 to 4 classes, 5 to 7 on sports field, 8pm hostel and 9pm dinner. The life at Gaya Engineering College is quite normal but at the end of the day it will make you an engineer who can contribute.

In addition to IIT entrance score the college also accepts BCECEB (Bihar Combined Entrance Competitive Examination Board) score as well. The admission process was purely on merit as I didn’t see any student getting admission in the college through backdoors. The teaching method at the college is ancient but the teachers were great. The labs were equipped and have all the facilities required.

The college is affiliated to Aryabhatta Knowledge University, Patna and hence the syllabus is same that is there in all the university colleges. The course though was quite lengthy but still manageable. The college helped student in preparations but will still say you will have to rely mostly on yourself. If you are not self-dependent then better don’t join this college.

Quality teachers and quality teaching has made this college to long for among the students seeking engineering. The college staff was exceptional when it came to student and teacher interactions. You can communicate with them ever so easy and that made the life at Gaya Engineering College easy. The faculty was arguably the best as they never showed attitude and were always up for help. Even though the syllabus was lengthy the professors somehow found a way to finish it on time. Since the classes used to get over by 4pm, extra classes were a common practice for students having doubts.

Anjani Sinha who was our HOD made sure that students don’t lag behind and therefore monitored the students and teachers performances himself. I was fortunate that I was never called in his cabin but students often seen entering his cabin. He used to as the students about the less scores and if there’s problem with any professor, he was the medium. These things made me like the college even more as many of friends from other colleges often had this problem that there’s no room for lodging a complaint against their professors.

The placement record is good and the students who had no back coming into the last semester were placed. Therefore the placement ratio was down to some 60% but one must say if you have taken care of studies the placement cell of the college took care of the students. The companies like Adani Gas and L&T were the top recruiters. Many power companies in Bihar too came at the campus and the biggest surprise was Indian Railways.

As many as 40 students from our batch were recruited by the railways. Most of the alumni were placed in government sector companies and power sector during our time was the top recruiter. The average package offered was around Rs. 5 lakhs while the highest was Rs. 9 lakhs. Alumni network is active when it comes to placement and therefore you won’t find any problem with getting placed at GCE.

Staying in hostel is indeed a compulsion. The college is located at some 15kms from the main town of Gaya and therefore having enough rooms in hostel was the only way to attract students at GCE. There are in all 3 hostel buildings 1 is reserved for 3rd year students and 1 for girls. Hence we were left with no choice but to accommodate in the hostel that had over 100 rooms and that too with triple sharing. The room size was enough but cleaning has to be done by us. Hence we made the turn and cleaned accordingly. The hostel building was of 3 floors and all the floors had a common TV room and water filters.

Ragging was seen in hostel which was something that the management should take a note of. The hostel had a common mess and the food served was eatable. With eatable I mean just eatable as we had no choice. It was hard to study at the hostels as we just kept wandering from one room to the other and were engaged in chat session. Also many students used to keep induction cookers in their room and used to cook food in the rooms itself. The management had no issues with that. In all the life at hostel was something which will be hard to forget.

The college is just 70 miles from the capital city of Patna and therefore the connectivity is fine. The college campus is spread across a whopping 87 acres. Now that’s not just huge but colossal and that has what made this college a preferred choice among students. The college is situated on the highway and has 2 academic blocks. The campus is lush green and pollution free. You can breathe a fresh air inside the campus. The college campus has a computer center and a central library that has over 100k books for sure. Daily newspapers and journals are also available at the library and 3-4 large study rooms are also there. The library is opened till 10pm and hence after college students usually used to go there and study. The college campus has 3 hostels, 2 boys and 1 for girls.

The college campus also has a branch of the bank called Madhya Bihar Gramin Bank. All the teachers encouraged health and therefore the college has built different playgrounds for respective sports such as Volleyball, Cricket, Football, and Basketball. The campus also has a club house and indoor games like Badminton and Table tennis tables can be found there. A special mention to the guest house at the campus. There were some 20 rooms at the guest house and if somebody’s parents visited the campus they were allowed to stay at the guest house and the charges were just 300 for one night. The campus was completely Wi-Fi but some sites were restricted. Also how can I forget the tea shop that is there in the campus. The tea shop was the hotspot for the students as after college hours almost all the students used to gather there. There are 2 canteens that serve delicious food at a very affordable price. I can go on and on till my lungs can suck air as the college infra is something that is hard to find.

A campus that is spread across 87 acres was hard to travel. Still, I have left no corner of the campus where we friends didn’t gather. From class rooms to teachers everyone in the campus was well-behaved. The seniors yes used to rag in the hostel but in campus nothing of that sort was entertained. This was the best part as they feared the teachers. The security at the campus was tight and if you go out you have to return by 10pm. The campus had all the facilities and therefore I hardly travelled out. The sports ground were occupied during evening and the tea store was occupied in mornings and within the blink of an eye my 4 years at this beautiful campus were gone by.

I loved every bit of my time at the campus and don’t think in this lifetime would be able to thank enough. There was some positivity about the campus that made students eager for more. If you have lived in the campus for 4 years I bet if you have respiratory problems it will automatically get healed. There was also a mini hospital at the campus and if you had minor health issues you can visit the doctor as the fees was included in college fees itself. Words galore to describe how beautiful the life at campus was.