As soon as you get your CET rank, most of the you are in total dilemma and confusion over which college and branch to choose for your rank. If you are one of them, this post is just for YOU. The question arises – how to decide to choose a college when there are hundreds of engineering colleges in Karnataka.
• What will be the Cut off percentage of different colleges ?
• What are the different courses available in different colleges ?
• Which branch should I take ?
• Which college I will get for my rank ?
First things first, shortlist the colleges and the places that you like (keeping your rank in mind : having rank over 10k and expecting to get E&C in RVCE, that’s height of craziness). This is where the previous year cutoff ranks and college ranking list come in handy. You’ll get a very rough picture about which college and branch you can expect. You can talk to your elder brother,sister,cousin,relative or anybody who is doing engineering. That’s the best reliable source that you count upon.
Location : Ask yourself, do you mind moving to far places to do engineering. Those of you have stayed in hostel or as paying guest before, this shouldn’t be a problem at all. It’s a good thing opting for a college located in Bangalore (or even Mysore) because you’ll have good exposure there and bright career opportunities even if you by chance end up in a college that is not quite good. Besides, the weather is also good in B’lore and Mysore
Infrastructure and facilities : Infrastructure does NOT mean attractive buildings and gardens. Check whether the college has sufficient amount of infrastructure according to it’s intake capacity. It includes classrooms, administrative building, workshop, computer labs, various laboratories etc. You can include playgrounds too. A friend of mine(Federer fan) had got Mech @ PESIT and he was complaining that there was no lawn tennis court there. lol
Faculty : Okay, here’s the truth. There’s no way to know how the teaching there will be unless you are in touch with a student who studies there. I believe engineering is all about self study. So don’t give a damn about how the faculty is. But, do look for colleges that have good teacher to student ratio and experienced teachers. How to identify experienced teachers ? Look at their hair ? Are they bald yet ? I was just kidding
Placements : I believe this is the most important factor of all. Consider you’ve completed 4 years of engineering. Now what ? How can you manage to get a job ? Check the placement record of the college in previous years branch wise as well as company wise. Suppose you join a college which has a very good placement record , it does not mean you get placed easily. It depends on your talent, personality and how your interview goes.
Extra curricular activities: “All work and no play make Jack a dull boy”. To survive in competitive environment and to have a good personality, extra curricular activities play a very important role. So have a look about extra activities provided by college like, annual fest, technical fest, sports function, students club, seminars and workshops, industrial training, social activities etc.
Parent’s Choice : I don’t want to give any comment here. Parents can guide you by their experience. But some times,students know more than their parents about the education field. It’s you who makes the final call and choose the college.
Autonomous or VTU ? Those of you who don’t know what an autonomous engineering college is, start here. In most of the autonomous colleges : they have their own updated and optimized syllabus(with no nonsense and irrelevant topics like VTU syllabus). They have their own grading system (sometimes it’s an advantage as well as disadvantage) and you get around 3 months holiday between even semesters !!! On the other hand, in VTU colleges, the syllabus and grading system is same throughout Karnataka and hence there’s a common exam for all colleges at the end of each semester. VTU question papers have choice : answer any five out of eight questions with each question coming from each individual units. So you can study 5 units throughly and become topper (highly not recommended idea). Besides, in VTU colleges, you get around one month holiday between even semesters Above all, VTU really sucks, students often curse VTU.
Do you really want to know how a college is ? Then ask someone who is in that college. They’ll be knowing the college better than any outsider.
