0
0
SRM University is one of the most popular engineering colleges for engineering aspirants. It boasts of rank 28 in the NIRF ratings of 2023. If you are an engineering aspirant writing JEE mains/advanced, I am sure you would have back up plans, in case your JEE results are not as per expectations. SRM is usually one of these ‘back up plans’ of engineering aspirants.
I have interacted with quite a few students of SRM in the past and here is the feedback I received from them. These points will help you decide if you should apply for admission at SRM.
SRM Campuses and Locations
SRM University has 8 campuses.
- Chennai – 3 Campuses – Kattankulathur (KTR), Ramapuram, Vadapalani
- Tiruchirappalli
- Delhi-NCR (Ghaziabad)
Please note that the above 5 are mentioned under the main SRM University of Science and Technology website.
The other 3 campuses are mentioned as ‘group institutions’ and as separate entities. These are:
- SRM University, Andhra Pradesh (Guntur)
- SRM University, Haryana (Sonepat)
- Shri Ramasamy Memorial University, Sikkim (Gangtok) – does not offer B.Tech, only offers BCA/MCA, therefore engineering aspirants may look at this as a last resort.
The nomenclature and registration of these campuses depend on local rules and regulations. Please check which the college as to which university will be awarding the degree for the campus you are applying to.
SRM University Entrance Exams (SRMJEE)
Admission to the above campuses are done based on the SRM Joint Entrance Exam (SRMJEE), that’s held in remote proctored mode.
The SRM AP Campus holds its own entrance exam – the SRMAPET as mentioned in the eligibility page
The SRM Sonepat Campus brochure mentions JEE Main score as being accepted for admission.
The Ramapuram campus website mentions that you can get admitted to SRM with JEE Mains/SAT score even if you don’t appear for SRMJEE.
Therefore, there are variations in the admission process for each campus. While SRMJEE will be applicable across all campuses, a few campuses also have other admission channels.
SRM University Review
Now, we come to the most important part of the discussion. The review of the college and whether an engineering aspirant should consider joining here. 😀
The SRM KTR Campus is the main campus and it could be a decent option as a plan B. However, it is not in the same league as Manipal or VIT in terms of reputation. But if you have to choose between a CSE in SRM Vs a Mechanical in Manipal, you may choose the CSE in SRM (unless you are passionate about Mechanical).
To be very honest, it is not that difficult to get a seat into the non-KTR campuses of SRM. For example, an average student will be able to secure a computer science seat in SRM-AP because it is not a ‘dream college’ like the IITs, NITs, BITS etc. The demand is much less and it’s more about the perception of the college, than the quality.
Students from other parts of India normally prefer the KTR campus, the main branch of SRM, Chennai. The Sonepat and AP campuses are mostly preferred by local students who are not too keen on travelling far from their home towns.
SRM College Overview
The main campus is pretty large and has good infrastructure, especially for the computer science students. Non CSE branches are just about ok, but most of the placements are IT-based, therefore be prepared to learn a bit of coding, irrespective of the branch.
As per the data submitted to NIRF, the approved intake for UG is 4740, but unofficial reports say that the actual number of students admitted is much higher. The SRM regulatory approval section mentions the approved intake as 10500 for E&T (Engineering and Technology).
It’s safe to assume that at least 50% of these seats will be in the computer science department, therefore you can expect about 5000 CSE students. So, it is going to be a highly competitive and crowded space.
The general student opinion about the college is that it is not as strict as VIT and some freedom is available to students. Staying in the hostel is not compulsory and a lot of students do stay at PGs. Since Chennai is a metropolitan city and the college (KTR campus) is well connected via local trains (walkable from Potheri station), students find it more convenient to commute to college every day. Chennai central railway station and Chennai international airport are also reachable by the local train. If you are living in the hostel, connectivity is not a problem at all.
On the other hand, VIT (Vellore campus) is located in a smaller town that doesn’t have an airport and students don’t have too many options. (I am comparing the main campuses of both these colleges for a fair comparison).
Hostels and Mess
SRM KTR campus has a number of hostels with various facilities and layouts. For example, you may choose between a twin-sharing AC room with attached washroom to a 6-bedder non AC with common washrooms. There is a stiff competition to choose the hostel room while taking admissions. Many students have mentioned issues with the portal and the preferred hostel getting filled because of technical glitches. You get to choose your hostel room in the first year but after that it all depends on your academic performance.
Chennai has a warm and humid climate throughout the year and students from North India may find the weather too uncomfortable without AC and hence many students prefer to find a PG that has an AC to survive the Chennai summer.
The mess food is decent, but a lot of North Indian students do feel the North Indian menu could be better. If you wish for a change, the campus has a lot of eateries plus Zomato/Swiggy facilities.
Placements
The placement page of SRM showed a surprising statistic – the batch size was around 8000 in 2020, which has decreased to around 6000 in 2022.
The number of students placed was 5530 in 2020, which reduced to 4545 in 2021 and then increased to 5469 in 2022, which is less than the number in 2020. It’s not clear why the batch size is reducing every year.
We can also see that the gap between the batch size and the number of students placed is reducing. One reason could be that the college isn’t allowing everyone to sit for placements and have a higher CGPA cutoff to be eligible for placements. This could be an attempt to show close to a 100% placement number on their website. It is very unlikely that the batch size at SRM has actually reduced. If the batch size has, in fact reduced, it is also something to be concerned about, because most good colleges are increasing their intake every year.
While looking at the package stats, the highest CTC and average CTC can be misleading. The highest CTC could be as high as 1Cr which only 1 student out of a batch of 6000 may get and this may also cause the average CTC to be skewed. Therefore the median CTC gives a clearer picture of the packages.
As shown above, the median CTC is about ₹6 LPA as per the SRM website and ₹4.5 LPA as per the NIRF data.
It is safe to assume that getting into SRM will not guarantee that you’ll get placed, from the ‘batch size’ number that has been steadily reducing. You need to work hard and have a decent CGPA to even sit for placements. ₹6LPA is not something to boast about, but these days most freshers in IT companies get paid in that range. A lot of students in SRM get offers from mass recruiters like TCS, Cognizant, Infosys etc.
Gone are the days where freshers used to get highly paid right out of college. Freshers’ salaries have been stagnant for almost a decade now and it is an industry-wide problem. Nothing to do with the colleges. Companies like TCS, Cognizant and Infosys are good places to start your career and learn on the job. And most of these companies have off-campus recruitment as well, therefore you can apply to these companies irrespective of your college.
SRM Fee slabs
The yearly tuition fee for B.Tech is in the range of ₹2.5L to ₹3.6L as per the SRM AP website. The SRM KTR website doesn’t mention the fee clearly at the time of writing this article. The hostel fee is not included in the tuition fee. It can range from ₹2.75 LPA for a twin sharing AC room with attached washroom to ₹1.25 LPA for a 6-sharing non AC room with common washrooms. The college also charges separately for exams, laundry and so on.
Based on the feedback from students, the fees also depend on the rank scored in SRMJEE. Those below a certain rank get a full waiver of tuition fee and some get a 50% tuition fee waiver and so on.
I am not a supporter of difference in fee for the same course for different students, but this system of giving fee discount based on ranks is definitely better than the slab system that VIT follows, where a student with lower rank can get a better branch by opting for higher category fee.
You also need to note that SRM follows an early admission policy where people block seats before JEE counselling and withdraw them later when they get seats in IITs and NITs and these seats fall vacant. What happens to these seats is not clearly revealed as SRM, like VIT has no system of sliding up your preferences. These seats are probably filled under management quota, which no one openly talks about.
Should you consider applying to SRM for B.Tech?
SRM can be on your radar if you are not confident about getting into VIT or Manipal. In terms of the quality of education, Manipal and VIT score better, more because of the peer group. People who join SRM are the ones who didn’t make it into the top colleges and also missed Manipal, VIT with its humungous intake.
It is relatively easier to get a seat in SRM. If you are an engineering aspirant who finds the grind of JEE stressful, you can put in a lesser effort and get into SRM. Once you are in college, it is entirely up to you. You may work hard, crack coding tests and get placed in dream companies from SRM as well.
If you are planning to go abroad for higher studies, and you just need a degree, you can very well go for SRM. You can have it lower on your preference list. If you are to choose between the same branch in VIT, SRM and Manipal, choose Manipal first, VIT second and then SRM.
You may read our other college reviews here:
Manipal Institute of Technology Review
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham Review
