It is the time of the year, the much coveted dream of over 1.5 lakh teens to enter IITs will soon enter the next phase. For those who qualify for JEE Advanced, it will set a new life ahead towards being an IITian.
The online application for the seats at the IITs will start soon. However, before going for that process, the students need to make their mind regarding what they are aspiring.
Being an IITian is not just a career in technology or consulting or finance, but it opens a whole new world of opportunities even to the extent of liberal arts, media, social entrepreneurship and budding entrepreneurs and many more. Such aspirations of the young people are shaped while at IITs in addition to academic excellence and placement success.
So what do the IIT aspirants look for when applying for their desired IIT seatsIJ Students of IIT Kharagpur have come up with such tips. Many students are coming up with queries on the informational website of IITKGP for JEE Advanced qualifiers, why.iitkgp.ac.in, “My rank is 2**, should I join Electronics or Maths & Computing to ensure better placementIJ” “My rank is 1000+, I am applying in Agriculture & Food Engineering, what is the prospect of Placement in this DeptIJ”
The faculty team in-charge of Career Development Centre have replied that “Based on the past records, it’s evident that those who have maintained a good academic CGPA in any of the disciplines, most of them students have been successful in getting the placement of their choice.”
Atal Ashutosh Agarwal, a senior student from IIT Kharagpur says, “The placement trend at IIT Kharagpur has shown that the flexibility in curriculum through Interdisciplinary programmes, minor courses, co-curricular activities make our students fit into any sector such as Core Engineering, IT, Finance, Analytics, Consulting et al. It does not matter which discipline you study, you may make a successful inroad to placement.
To increase this flexibility in curricula, last year IITKGP introduced Micro Specializations wherein students can study 34 subjects from other disciplines thus improving their employability in those fields. Also they can enroll for Dual Degree program thus opting for M.Tech. in interdisciplinary subjects like Financial Engineering, Engineering Entrepreneurship, Energy Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Quality Branding and relations cell, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur Engineering Design & Manufacturing or MBA.
The entrepreneurial frame of mind of the students of IIT Kharagpur has also received appreciation from the recruiters. The corporate preparedness of the students is indicated by the significantly large number of students hired by the recruiters as compared to other institutes. The Institute also offers mentoring, grooming programme and psychometric tests to help students perform better in placement interviews.
“The project Know your Department, which was created to assist the queries similar to the ones mentioned above, has turned out to be a great success. Vyom Shrivastava, the student coordinator of the project says “We also received queries on the campus of IIT Kharagpur. The queries were related to the facilities inside the campus and the aesthetics. To address these, we launched a campus tour video for our potential juniors.” The video displayed the whole campus and the amenities inside it to make people more informed about the beautiful campus of IIT Kharagpur. The video became viral and was viewed by more than 15,000 people.
(The writer is a Student Member, Branding and Relations Cell, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur)