Remarks :
There are three channels to get admissions from- IAT, KVPY, and JEE Advanced, with 25% seats for KVPY and JEE and the rest for IAT. Eligibility to appear in these exams (JEE, IAT): Fresh 12th graduate or dropper for 1 year. One can find the application form, fees, and dates by checking the official IISER admissions website. The portal opens around April each year. This year (2023), the application portal will open on 15th April and the entrance examination (IAT) is scheduled to be on 17 June. You can check the NTA website for JEE dates and the KVPY website for the KVPY exam. I suggest going for IAT as it's the easiest exam among these three and also reserves the highest number of seats. Reservation benefits: If you belong to SC/ST, you have to pay no tuition fees. But the rest of the fees will be applicable. The admission process is quite smooth and I don't have any demands for it now.
Course Curriculum Overview :
I chose this college without planning as I couldn't get a desired seat in IIT. But I think it was for good. The course is a wonderful primer on the path of becoming a scientist. Compared to other colleges, IISER Berhampur has a quite good faculty: student ratio. But most of them are pretty good as people and as teachers. We manage to conduct all classes without fail. But I'd like to see an increase in the number so that the research area can be broadened. The faculty here have all completed their Ph.D. and postdoc and all have some good prior experience in research and teaching. I like most of the instructors that have taught me except for a few one or two. The exam schedule is given right with the calendar release of each semester before the semester starts. Sometimes there might be changes in the schedule but we are informed around 2-3 weeks earlier in that case. Exams are not hard to pass if you attend classes and study sincerely. Questions are not asked beyond the concepts being taught.
Internships Opportunities :
There are summer and winter research internship opportunities for the students of the college and students from other colleges. There is generally no stipend and you have to spend on your accommodation. But you will get research exposure. There are no company roles except for a few collaborations with tech/science organizations for talks, presentations, etc. Generally, one has to work in a professor's lab that they are working under. They will be guided by the professor. Generally one has to directly contact a professor through email for internships under him/her. You can find the faculty details on the college website. Just look up Google, "IISER Berhampur physics faculty", "IISER Berhampur biology faculty" etc., and go to the first link that shows up.
Loan/ Scholarship Provisions :
For each new batch, there is a fee hike of 10% from the previous batch, which is fine as per national standards. But when we see it in numbers, It feels very high. When this continues, people will feel extreme difficulties affording the fees in the next 10 years. Being Lower middle class financially, It's difficult for us too. There are scholarships and fee waivers but most people won't be able to avail of them. The tuition fee waiver is only for those belongings to SC/ST. KVPY provides a monthly stipend for its scholars which is around 5-7000 per month but I don't think there are any KVPY scholars in my class. There is another scholarship scheme by DST called INSPIRE that provides 5000 per month to very few students. The cutoff for INSPIRE goes around 96-97% for the CBSE board and similar for other boards. Also, you won't be eligible for INSPIRE if you are a dropper. Of the 200 students in my class, there are around 10-11 INSPIRE scholars. There is no Fee waiver for economically weak people.
Campus Life :
Annual cultural fest and even science fest has been banned giving silly and illogical reasons. (But the course fee includes 1000/- cultural fees per semester). The library is huge. I live on a permanent campus and there are not enough books as there are students. We somehow manage with pdfs. In the permanent campus, the academic block will probably be functional from April 2023. Till then, we are having our classes on the 1st floor of the dining hall, in the health center, and in the guest house, which is not bad. The ambiance in these buildings is quite awesome, to be honest. There are sports facilities inside and outside the hostel. The basketball court, badminton court, and gym are inside the hostel, and football and lawn tennis is done outside. A cricket stadium is under construction. There are a good number of cultural and scientific clubs run by students, for example, astronomy club, physics club, music club, etc.
Hostel Facilities :
Most rooms are single rooms and there are a few double rooms. I have a single room. Each room is provided with a bed, almirah, table, and chair. There are two lights fitted in a single room (probably 4 in double) and a fan (2 in double). There are three bathroom compounds on each floor, each having 3 bathrooms and 3 toilets. Meal quality is becoming worse day by day, with no fruitful complaints. The menu is quite good but they prepare different items altogether that are not on the menu. We have been told that the contractor will be changed in a month, I'm hoping for something better. The hostel is compulsory. There is no separate hostel registration. Everything is done during the admission process. The hostel fee is included in the semester fee. The mess fee is separate and is paid monthly, which is 120/- per day. Around the 15th-29th of each month, the mess fee for the upcoming month has to be paid. (At least that's what it is for now, there might be changes in the system when there is a different contractor.)
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