My IIT Mandi Experience: Competitive Coding, Hackathons and More

JEE Preparation

I still recall my Class 10, when I was given the choice to choose from a variety of streams, including Science, Business, and Arts. I was a little perplexed at the time, and I ultimately decided to study Science. Furthermore, I began studying for the JEE Main in Allen Kota after my Class 10 board exams. I took the JEE Main exam as the initial phase of admission, which occurred four times that year. Out of 12 Lakh students, I scored 99.38 percentile with an AIR6469. My JEE Main results got me accepted into IIT Mandi for the BTech in Electrical Engineering course. 

Campus Visit

Due to the Indian Government’s COVID-19 requirements, I had to complete my first semester online, which was a little dull. Additionally, the new process of checking emails for updates seemed overly difficult. The much-anticipated reopening of the college occurs in the middle of the second semester. With mountains and a river running beside, the campus was too lovely. It currently spreads over 700 acres. This place has far more sophisticated equipment, teachers, and infrastructure compared to other similar institutes. 

Campus Rules & Regulations

The only somewhat surprising aspect was the administration's excessive strictness, which included mandatory seminars that were overly dull, and also the fact that students who have less than 80% attendance will fail. This is made worse by the fact that Electrical Engineering is one of the hardest fields. Despite the relatively difficult courses and grading guidelines, I got good scores.  

Journey towards Software Engineering

During my time in college, I started becoming aware of other Engineering and Computer Science subjects and elements. Perhaps, because of its analytical approach or potential for advancement, I found Computer Science to be appealing. Even though branch switching was a possibility at the time, I missed the cutoff by 0.04. But, my drive persisted, and I began studying Competitive Programming on YouTube. 

College Events

Eventually, I became proficient in these areas and was chosen for both the Google Developers Students Club and the Kamand Prompt (a programming club). I held a number of events here, including Hackathons, practice, and lecture sessions. Frost Hack was our college's hallmark Hackathon, and Krack Hack was one of the most successful Hackathons organised. Additionally, I was promoted to the head of publicity for our yearly technical festival Xpecto, which was an amazing experience. After a year, I was elected as the chairman of IIT Mandi’s ACM Student Chapter. 

In addition to the technical festival, there were activities centered around various topics such as sports or culture. I also coordinated the chess tournament during our sports festival called Ranneeti. All these experiences were incredible; I have never witnessed anything like this in my life. This is the most fun I have ever had. Even if I try, I will never be able to forget my college journey.

About the author: Adarsh Santoria is currently a final-year BTech student in Electrical Engineering at IIT Mandi. He is passionate about Open Source AI and competitive coding. He is also an active member of the Kamand Prompt and Google Developers Students Club in his college.

Note: The views expressed in this article are solely the author’s own and do not reflect/represent those of Shiksha.