VIT, Vellore – First impressions!

As she was leaving to join VIT, Vellore my daughter said that I will be starting a VIT, Vellore series of posts and looks like she was not wrong! 🙂

For anybody who is unaware, my daughter has joined VIT, Vellore for B.Tech(EEE) Yes, she has joined EEE or the Electrical and Electronics branch which might be totally unheard of in today’s world!! :)(when most are choosing CS branch)

We chose VIT, Vellore over many other colleges because she did well in the VITEE entrance exam and she got a branch close to what she wanted(CSE or Computer Science and Engineering) We had also heard many good things about the college which was aligned towards our thinking. So, what are some of the characteristics of VIT?

1. VIT or Vellore Institute of Technology is a private University. It has branches in Vellore, Chennai, Amravati, AP and Bhopal. The biggest campus is the Vellore, Tamil Nadu campus.
2. You get to choose which campus you go, based on their own entrance exam(VITEE) We don’t worry about the JEE exams here 🙂
3. The campus is vast and extremely green.
4. Ask anybody about VIT, Vellore and the one thought that first comes to mind is that it is known for its “strictness”. Yes, VIT is strict which is something that my father would have also loved! (He used to like the PSG strictness those days! :))
5. How is VIT strict? Let us see more of this – There are no bikes allowed on campus. You can either use the shuttle bus to go from place to place(which costs about 20 Rs/ride) or use the bicycle or walk.
6. If the student does tend to walk, it does look like most students tend to walk about 5-8 kms/day with classes being spread out across the campus! Classes only have a break of 10 minutes and students manage to sprint from one side of campus to other side of campus within that time.
7. Classes are supposed to go on from 8 a.m. – 7 p.m. (woosh!) (with labs coming during the later part of the day) Update: Classes are not continuous and classes do not go from 8:00 a.m. – 7 p.m. everyday
8. Parents are not allowed inside the hostel at all. Parents are not allowed even in the initial time of move-in. “Akkas” and “annas” will help them in bringing their suitcases and mattresses to their hostel. The kids will learn independence by learning to arrange the things on their own!! 🙂
9. About 10 or 20 kids will be assigned a proctor. This proctor will initially meet the parents and student to know more about them. The proctor is supposed to help the child with their problems if any academically or personally.
10. There are CCTV cameras installed all over to monitor the activities within the campus. In VIT, we are always reminded of a “third eye” watching over you! (nice!)
11. In the ladies hostel, biometric check is done every night between 8:30 p.m. and 9:45 p.m.(to ensure that all the students are safe inside)
12. Ladies hostel has 2,3,4 and 6 AC and non-AC sharing rooms. All rooms are Wi-Fi enabled and they do have washing machines and laundry service. There are 3 types of messes to choose from vegetarian, non-vegetarian and special mess. The food seems to be having a Tamilian tinge(obviously) with Tamil Nadu sambhar, rasam and poriyal taste, though, I am sure North Indian food will be served as well.
13. There is a VTOP parent and child app and all leave submissions are routed through the same. We can also view the child’s Professors, subjects and their grades through the VTOP parent app! 🙂 (this should be fun! :))
14. The Professors all have PhDs in their respective fields and most of them are from Tamil Nadu. Seeing so many Professors from Tamil Nadu, I feel like I have been transported back to my Engineering college days in Coimbatore about 30 years back! It is a warm feeling to study in Tamil Nadu and hear good English! 🙂
15. Drinking, drugs and other offences if caught results in immediate suspension!
16. Apart from the strictness of VIT, there is another thing that VIT stands out for and that is the extreme student population. There are about 30,000 students approximately on a campus which is about 370 acres! This is a huugggge student population and I thought there was hardly any place to walk when parents were also in full flow during the student orientations!! (face palm!)
17. There are queues for everything – from the lifts in the hostel to the mess to doing the biometrics to using the shuttle – everything will be crowded! (face palm!) We just have to adjust our timings and ensure we don’t clash with the crowds.
18. The EEE department and other departments are brand new and look extremely good!
19. The library is fantastic and it has great book, ebook and magazine collections.
20. Stationary shops, cafeteria, coffee shops are spread through out the campus. You can eat anywhere and anytime! 🙂
21. There is no dress code for the boys or the girls but I think the unwritten rule is always “decent clothes”! 🙂 Most girls seem to be attired in jeans and a crop top.
22. There are students from all parts of India and I was suddenly confused about which state I was in, when I heard so much of Hindi inside the campus! 🙂 Gurgaon, Noida, Kolkata, Patna, Madurai, Chennai, Bangalore – you name the city and you will find students from that state in VIT, Vellore.
23. Academics start in full vigor from July 29th and the first test is already scheduled from August 25th! (there is no time to get into any mischief!!)

P.S: Did you know Vellore was the place where my father grew up for about 23 or 24 years? This makes it an extra special place for me! 🙂

These are some things that we have learnt about VIT, Vellore so far…we will learn more as the days go by and you bet I will be blogging about it! 🙂

With love from VIT, Vellore.

Jayanthi