Why IITK ?
Hi, I am Himanshu Yadav , if you are reading this, you (or one of your smarter relatives) has just cracked the so-called toughest exam in the world. Congratulations. On the not-so-bright side, you have a ton of options now between virtually similar institutes and do not want to end up making a mistake after all the hard work you have put in.
So, in this post, I will try to bring out the salient features of IIT-Kanpur. I do not claim to have knowledge about other IITs. However, I do know a lot about IIT-Kanpur.
Why IIT-Kanpur?
- Liberty :
- Food:
- Clubs:
- Counselling service:
- Academic flexibility:
If there is anything such as a single defining feature of IIT-Kanpur, it is liberty. You don't have LAN bans, download limits, compulsory attendance (except in some courses where it is a small percentage (5-10%) of the overall course weightage), no fixed time by which you should be in the campus etc. There is no dress code (students frequently come to lectures, project demos etc. in tees and shorts). Boys are allowed in girls' hostels and vice-versa until 12AM, and you are free to go to your friend's room in such cases.
you are one of those who has qualified after studying in Kota or some other remote corner of the country, where you had really bad food, your troubles are now over. Having lived in a Kota hostel, the food in my hostel was surprisingly better. What distinguishes IITK, however, is the fact that we have food available 22.5 hours of the day. Yes, there is only a short 1.5 hour period from 4AM to 5:30AM when you wouldn't be able to get any food. Until 2 AM, you would be able to get food in any of the hostel canteens and until 4AM, you would be able to get food at the food court, which serves fast food ranging from burgers, chats etc. to south indian food. We also have a CCD in our campus, right besides the library. You are completely spoilt for choice.
Interested in something? There will be a club for it. If there isn't one, you can open your own. (assuming, of course, that you get enough people interested in the same activity) More importantly, you don't have to approach a professor for opening a club, you just put up a proposal in front of the "Students' Gymkhana"(composed almost entirely of students in executive positions). If the Gymkhana approves it, you are done.
Believe me, it is a comforting feeling to know that, if something goes wrong, there is support mechanism which you can rely on. The counselling service is, in my humble opinion, the most important organization at IITK, and organizes everything from the orientation to remedial classes for tougher courses.
Starting from the 2012 batch, the branch change rules were liberalized with the removal of the CGPA restriction of 8.0 for branch change. Branch changes are now allowed if there is a vacancy in the department you wish to move to. Starting from my batch(2011 batch), students also have the flexibility to do a dual-major(which is equivalent to two B.Tech degrees, eg. B.Tech, EE with a major in CSE), a minor in another department as well as the traditional conversion to a dual-degree M.Tech/M.Sc course. You can play with your course template to a large extent and have the luxury of as many as 6 open electives(in CSE, atleast), which could be courses from any department you like(even MBA courses). Thus, if you want to go for an MBA, you would have a better knowledge of what would be taught and so on.