Are you planning to take admission in an Engineering College?

We all know about the sudden boom of private engineering colleges in India. Years back, good engineering colleges meant the IITs and the Regional Government Colleges but in the past few years we have seen thousands of private institutes coming up due to the literacy scheme of our Government. They promise top notch facilities and education standards. All of them claim to have excellent infrastructure and the best placements. But is an engineering degree from a private college really worth it?

With the counseling session on, they will be high on their advertising and marketing schemes. They’ll say that they have faculties from IITs and NITs but it is you who has to be careful before you plan to take up admission in one of the thousands of engineering colleges in India. I am saying this because I have been through all this and it is not necessary that they may actually mean by what they promise.

Not everybody is lucky enough to lay their hand on the best ranking college but being wise can help you. The only thing that is required is a little effort and research. Once your results are out, check out the colleges that suit your rank. You can do this by checking out previous year’s counseling results on the official website of the University that conducts the exam.

Decide which discipline you want to go in for. Don’t just go for some branch because it has more value in the market or your distant cousin took it. Opt for a branch that really interests you. Always give priority to your branch than the college. This is because if you have interest in a particular field you’ll always be able to do well in it even if you are unable to get the best catch. Also decide as to which place you would like to study, whether you want to shift to some other place or you would like to continue or studies from your hometown itself. My experience says that metropolitan cities provide better exposure until and unless you are getting admission in some highly reputed college.

Make a list of all the colleges that provide admission for your rank. Along with that also write the disciplines in which they give admission at the particular rank. For example if you are looking for Mechanical Branch, note if they give admission at your rank as it may be possible that Mechanical may not be available your rank.

Now that you have made the list of the colleges that can fetch you an engineering degree, check out the official website of the college. Look for the facilities, faculty members and the education standards they claim. Don’t forget to have information about their hostels if you plan to live away from home.

Now is the time when you need to communicate. Gather information about the colleges you find proper enough to take admission. Ask friends and acquaintances, pass outs from the college as well as the people presently studying there. Thanks to the web world, you can contact many people through social networking arena like Facebook, MySpace, etc.

Tick out the colleges you find suitable for yourself. Go and have look at the address of the college because it often happens that what they say on their websites may not be certainly true. They may show a big campus but when you reach there, you may find a small structure and a lot of construction going on. Try to meet the faculty there who generally teach most of the classes. Obviously the HOD who has been an IIT faculty earlier won’t teach a first year or most probably second year student. It may often happen that they may quite be a guest faculty on their list but under their advertising scheme they put him/her as a regular faculty member.

Learn about their placements schemes. There is a difference between “100% Placements” and “100% Placement Assistance”. Many private engineering colleges only claim to have placements but they actually do not even have 50% of the total strength’s placements. Sometimes they say that big companies come for selection but it may not be the case in reality. Do remember to get information on the packages claimed by the colleges are actually true or not. Confirm this from the pass outs of the college. They may well be able to clear your doubts regarding the same.

Have a look at the fee structure. Is the investment really worth it? Many colleges divide the fee structure as tuition fee, book bank, uniform, personality development program, hostel charges, security, etc. But it often happens that the books they give through book bank are of older edition or in tattered state. And yes a book bank only means they will provide you the books for a semester and they will take it back after the semester ends. Coming to the PDP or the Personality Development Programs, most the colleges never actually have PDP classes so the PDP charge normally goes into waste. The PDP charges begin from 8000 INR to 15000 INR so you can very well calculate that around 50,000 of your invested amount goes into waste. And for the uniform charges, you can’t do anything about it because they never pay attention to the fabric quality, size and fittings even though they take measurement of every individual student.

One thing that you should always keep in the mind is your living. If you aren’t a localite then you are certainly going to either live in a hostel or some rented PGs. This point is for those people who would be staying away from home. Look through the rooms and the fee they charge. As for the mess food, it is generally not good enough. Private colleges charge high amounts for hostels. If it doesn’t suit your pocket, better stay in a PG. Gather info onto whether there is public transport available to your college and if the place is secure enough.

And one more tip before you sit for the counseling session, be alert while you fill in the choice of your college. Many people commit the mistake of entering the wrong colleges or fill in the incorrect order of preferences. Watch out for the code of the college as there are many colleges with different branches in different cities.

These are a few points that you must work out on if you plan to take up admission in a private engineering college. It’s all about your future.

Good Luck and Take Care

P.S: Accept my apologies readers for being away for so long. I had been suffering from health problems due to which I was unavailable. But now you’ll find me regularly here 🙂