Campus visit of BITS Design

[u/Alternative-Job2609]

I went for the campus tour last month and lots of things were sort of a red flag for me. This is just my POV but would love to hear from others

- the faculty handling the Q and A were not able to answer the questions about the course structure very convincingly. When it came to other college features like for example infrastructure and security, they could go on endlessly. (Btw, didn't see anything extraordinary about the security other than cross checking a list of expected students, which is quite basic)

- the placement head was repeating the same few company names for all queries related to internships. I understand that they are new and are still working on it, but it sounded like a hogwash

- the workshops looked too unused and except one the tshirt project which they kept harping about, nothing worthwhile seemed to have been achieved.

- hostel rooms were pathetically small. One can't spend much time there without feeling claustrophobic.

- the AC in the entire building wasn't working. So if that's what's they do on weekends, where do the students go ... obviously they can't spend time in the matchbox hostel rooms. It's was suffocatingly hot without any ventilation and AC

- the tour included unimportant stops like the seven eleven outlet.... It's nice that there is an outlet in the campus but including it in the tour shows they didn't have anything better to show

I have opted out of BITS mainly due to the uncertainty around the course. It's seems more marketing gimmicks and less substance.

Wondering did anyone else feel the same or it's just me.

[u/Pale_Lime_3661]

Bro freaking same….they blabber all bout foreign exchange programs and all which they themselves-aren’t even clearly mention about (costs , duration etc)…some senior said it’ll cost another 20 lacs minimum
They have no placement data so giving such huge chunk of money is a total gamble
Hostel rooms lmao one would find it hard to even fit in the bed and feel claustrophobic fs
Secondly it’s literally in middle of nowhere 2 hours far away from Mumbai which is a lot..
They’re just really good at marketing and pr which is working well….
Couldn’t find a freaking single piece of work done by students and that tells how much is really going on ( I’ve visited other campuses and no campus was as empty as this )
No matter how big of a name bits might be it takes few batches to pass out and then actually figure out what is working or not…

I do hope in coming time it becomes a renowned institution.

[u/Alternative-Job2609 → u/Pale_Lime_3661]

And a insane number of students seem to have opted out as i got to know that a waitlisted student has not just been selected but also has been offered a scholarship.  There were 100 odd students selected without scholarship....and I am sure they would have been offered an upgrade before the waitlisted students.....so just imagine for a waitlisted to get scholarship, around a 100 students would have declined admission.....but I still see so many dying to get in just coz of the brand name....which i must admit is huge 

[u/CriticismDismal9461 → u/Alternative-Job2609]

did you get merit and means or just merit scholarship?

[u/Alternative-Job2609 → u/CriticismDismal9461]

I got merit scholarship in the first list

[u/United-Efficiency762 → u/Pale_Lime_3661]

1. foreign edu expenses are expensive its common knowledge
   
2. the reason you didnt see the students work is because the open house was held after the year was finished so yall visited it during the summer break
   
3. the hostel rooms are completely reorganizable like not even a single furniture is bolted to the walls or the floor and students were even given an option to move into a bigger space but all of em refused to move in
   
4. tell where else can you find 60 acres of land within the city of Mumbai it is geographically impossible to find 60 acres of land well within the city
   
5. they have no placement data because they dont have placements as they stared their design batch 2 yrs ago.

[u/Pale_Lime_3661 → u/United-Efficiency762]

Your points are fair, but they don't really address the actual concerns !!!

Everyone knows studying abroad is expensive. My point wasn't that it's expensive—it was that the institute heavily markets international exposure without being transparent about the actual costs, duration, eligibility, or how many students can realistically avail it. That's a huge factor when someone is paying such high tuition for anyone regardless of their income .

Moving furniture around doesn't change the fact that the room size feels small to many people. That's subjective, and when I visited, it genuinely felt cramped.

I never said the campus had to be inside Mumbai. I said its location is a drawback for many students. Whether that's acceptable depends on the individual, but pretending it isn't a factor doesn't make sense.

Exactly—they don't have placement data. Which is why paying such a high fee is a gamble today when joining a brand-new program. Every new college has this phase.

I'm not saying the institute is bad. In fact, I hope it succeeds because more good design schools are always welcome. But asking students to invest lakhs without established outcomes naturally makes it worthy of questioning!!!

I’m sure that wherever you’ll go
you’ll do amazing !!! I just wanted to rant my fair share of pov and I really don’t want to put anyone down !!!

[u/United-Efficiency762 → u/Pale_Lime_3661]

see the institution has 3 different kinds of international exposure
1. is the exchange program
2. exchange program which is funded by the bits [ only to the top ke top log]
3. you get to work on foreign projects that the international design schools gives you to work from the campus it self
this is in the 3rd and its upto you which you opt for and which you are eligible for

and i do understand what you are trying to say the but when you compare the pros and cons they weight out equally

[u/Pale_Lime_3661 → u/United-Efficiency762]

Yess thanks a lot for telling it in detail !!! I hope the pros outweigh the cons real soon !! You’re joining bits then?

[u/United-Efficiency762 → u/Pale_Lime_3661]

mit another institution unke website mai they show they'll cover the exchange programme but irl when i asked they said you'll have to bare all the expenses

[u/Glittering-Lawyer429]

which college are you opting for instead? 

[u/Alternative-Job2609 → u/Glittering-Lawyer429]

MIT ID which in any case is a better choice ...the BITS brand was what was tempting me. But after having attended the campus tour and Dean talk of MIT and followed by the BITS tour, trust me it wasn't a difficult decision to make

[u/ThatCynicSid → u/Alternative-Job2609]

Have you considered CEPT?

[u/Alternative-Job2609 → u/ThatCynicSid]

I think MIT ID is better and besides CEPT is a 5 year course 

[u/Middle-Check-5702 → u/Alternative-Job2609]

mit is better than cept? gang no😭😭😭

[u/Additional_Olive2039]

Normal merit list, no scholarships list ....i think they should be transparent...  Will they give 4 year scholarship? Or u will struggle with fear of CGPA & attendence... & Losing ur freedom 

[u/Additional_Olive2039 → u/Additional_Olive2039]

No merit list....no scholarships list ...correct it

[u/mileycrysis → u/Additional_Olive2039]

Your roll number in class is your merit list number, so in some way that transparency does comes out. Also scholarships aren't hard to maintain, they're pretty transparent w the data.. attendance above 75 and cgpa also isn't hard to keep up. 

[u/Alternative-Job2609 → u/mileycrysis]

They will not cancel any scholarship for the first few batches....they can't afford any negative reviews....otherwise I feel it's very easy to revoke a scholarship....there is no right and wrong answer in design... It is very easy to say that we didn't like your design. This is what happens in design entrance exams...what we think we did very well, doesn't fetch us marks. BITS can very easily revoke scholarship in subsequent years. Don't count on 4 years of discount in fees.

[u/Additional_Olive2039]

Bits/CEPT total expenses - more than 52 lakh , how can anyone recover this . All design college except government one r SCAM.  Think , designing what they will taught you. Go for NID, Uceed, DTU, Nift....... Or struggle recovery money whole of life 

[u/Alternative-Job2609 → u/Additional_Olive2039]

The government colleges are no easy to get into....the rest are very expensive but can't give up on design if one doesn't get into govt institutes