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CRYYYYYY (Joking - not joking)
This wasn't a page initially in our plans, but as we built up this repo, we came to realize that many of the things we suggest would be so much more useful if done before you reach campus. Not like you need to do all this, but it'd definitely make your first few days/weeks easier.
For most of these, you will be sent a mail from IITKGP, but do check their site & other official resources every so often too.
ERP Registration : ERP is the college portal, and everything from subject selection, to Fees Payment to Library Info, and more is available here. You will be sent a mail informing you how to register for it.
Subject Registration : Basically just confirming what subjects you will have the first semester, you don't have a choice. It Should open by 16th July on ERP. I believe the last date is 28th, but I might be wrong, so please do it ASAP
Hall registration : You will receive a mail in regards to this.
Contact Mentor : You will receive a mail in regards to this, with the contact info of your mentor. Your mentor will be a 3rd year student from your dept, and will also mentor 2-5 other students
Check & join TSG groups & such : This will also be sent via email (links for wp/google groups), and you can join them for official announcements.
Pay part of the fees : This might be needed, but as far as I know, if you have paid the seat acceptance fee, you have some time to pay the remaining fees.
These aren't technically required, but you'd be a fool not to do them
Finish online Subject Registration.
Book accommodation for parents weeks before (See Accommodations for Fam section below).
Book your tickets as soon as you know you are going to IITKGP for sure (See Travel Section below).
Ensure you have packed all you need beforehand (see Items Guide for reference).
Know or learn basic hindi. This is needed for communicating with most non-academic staff, and is also pretty essential for you to not be scammed. There's minimal teasing if you don't know Hindi, though it depends mostly on your community. Barring some bad apples, most people I know are happy to help me learn to speak better Hindi.
{NEW} Have your health check ups done, and any issues you have treated. The hospital in campus isn't spectacular, like most college hospitals. Even Kolkata is extremely crowded & overworked (Especially if you come from doctor-heavy places like South), so managing your health issues will be hard if you're not used to it. Plus having your family with you for health stuff just makes things easier.
Pay the fees lol, you can pay it later from what I know(about 2 months time, but check the schedule), but if you have the funds, do it earlier (should be about 1L tutions, 50-60K hostel & other stuff if you're Gen Male). Unless you're not sure about IITKGP.
Get into a studying mindset. See studying mindset section below.
Visit your close friends and/or school and/or relatives on whom you can depend. College is fun, but it's hectic & hard, and those people will be your cornerstone when you start this new phase of your life.
Pick up a hobby or something you can continue doing to relax/for fun in college. Will help you a lot in relaxing, and making friends.
Read these fresher guides, and the rest of the pages when they release; of course.
So something many people forget is that IITKGP is secluded: 3 hrs from Kolkata, 45 mins from the closest city (Midnapore), 15 mins from Kharagpur itself. This becomes a major issue when the campus doesn't have enough rooms to accomodate the 2000-odd families of the incoming freshers.
What are you're options then?
The primary guest house of the campus is the Technology Guest House, and is the largest guest house in-campus. It has an in-depth booking process usually, but as freshers, the staff might consider booking you in directly. Unfortunately, it has only about 100-200 rooms, and thus gets filled up really fast. Your options are either to have a relative in campus who can book you in as family (a 20+ year advance plan!), or to come early enough (Before first day, or early first day) to have rooms available. If you come late enough, you might also get rooms (like I did lol), but that's far more upto chance. Anyways, cost is about 2k/day.
There's also a secondary guest house, SAM guest house, and is usually more free and cheaper (500-800 Rs). There's no AC and the facilities aren't as great, but it's still one of the best in KGP. However, it will also get filled up fast during fresher arrivals. Do note part of it's converted to a PhD hall if I remember correctly, so it's a bit more inside (Feel free to ask the guard for directions).
Any other Campus Guest Houses mentioned online (including in the IITKGP/HMC website, and g-maps) are defunct and DO NOT EXIST, and have been converted to Student Accommodations.
Given the lack of accommodations within campus (even for institute guests), this has led to a pretty large of collection of hotels springing up nearby the campus, and in the nearest city, Midnapore.
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Most of the ones near the campus are pretty mediocre 1 or 2 star hotels, but also not too costly (1-1.5K). The cleanliness is okay, and the food is questionable IMO though some say otherwise.
Almost of all them will be booked out by the first day of fresher arrivals, so I would recommend Booking a week or so in advance (if not more).
Here's an incomplete list of acceptable hotels nearby the campus (Within 15 mins). THIS LIST IS A PLACEHOLDER, ETA: 20th June.
New Hotel Park: Bigger rooms, Mid Prices (1-2K). Within 5 mins/walkable to campus.
Kumar Guest House: Small rooms, Variable food, Not bad prices (1-1.5K on off season). Within 5 mins/walkable to campus.
Hotel Swagat: No info.
Anusua Guest House (Spot on 65024) : No info, but costly (5K)
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The last option is Midnapore, which is a pretty small city about 30-45 mins (20km) north of IITKGP. There are certain hotels here that are higher in quality, but cheaper (1 or 2 star) is the norm here too. The costs are usually a bit more cheaper than anything near campus for obvious reasons.
The hotels here are also usually booked out by the 2nd day, and sometimes earlier, but if you're lucky enough, you might find one in some really suspicious alley in the 3rd day of fresher arrivals.
But seriously though, the fact that Midnapore is a city has its advantages, and your parents will be able to get a bunch of things they want nearby. Most days would prolly be spent half-half: parents in the first, and exploring in the second, so Midnapore being 45 mins away isn't that much of an issue.
As always, Book a week or so in advance. Also book a cab for ease of travel.
Here's an incomplete list of acceptable hotels in Midnapore. THIS LIST IS A PLACEHOLDER, ETA : 20th June.
Jack Paul Residency: Reasonably Reviewed & Not too costly (2K).
Hotel International: Same as Jack Paul Residency.
Orbit Hotel: Well reviewed, cheap (1.5K)
Hotel Light House: Well reviewed, extremely cheap (1K)
Kolkata might be a hail mary (final) option if you get no hotels nearby, and/or if you're independent & don't really want/need your fam in the first few days.
So what would be the game plan here? Reach IITKGP in the morning, finish all your necessary work (First Day Timeline), and send your fam back to Kolkata. Your first week here in IITKGP is purely induction, so you won't have much work in your first week(-end).
So you can go back to Kolkata for the weekend, stay with family, explore the city, taste expensive shitty food (Can you guess who was disappointed by Kolkata Food last time?), and come back on Sunday Night or Monday morning (27/28) for your first classes.
And while staying for induction is highly recommended (I didn't know some obvious thinga people learnt about till Sem-2 because I missed part of it), it's not needed, so you can stay longer with your fam in Kolkata.
And of course, Kolkata won't run out of hotels, so no list for you!
Like I have said so many different times, IITKGP is in a pretty isolated location, so you will be travelling a lot, whether to visit fam & friends, or to just buy stuff, or to explore with your new friends mehehe.
So, this is just copy-pasted from the IITKGP website because I'm lazy, and because the website finally has something correct:
By Air
The nearest airport to Kharagpur is the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport (CCU), Kolkata. You can get a flight to Kolkata airport on regular basis. It is widely connected to almost all the major destinations of the country. From Kolkata Airport you can take a cab from the Airport taxi stand to Kharagpur. The distance is almost 140KM. The travel time is approximately 2.30 hrs. It costs roughly Rs. 4000/- (depending on the taxi type).
[Me butting in, you can also prebook a cab with union services, and should cost around 2.5K only]
Alternatively, after the flight, You can take a cab and reach Howrah railway station. Take a taxi to Howrah Station (UBER and OLA is available). The cost is approximately Rs. 300 (400 now). It takes around 1.30 Hrs (if you get Traffic Jam) to reach Howrah station. There is regular Express and Local (choice is yours) trains to Kharagpur. It takes 2 hrs by an express train - Fare - Rs 60/- to 150/- depending on class and train type. The Institute is 5 km from Kharagpur railway station. (Totos are about 300, rickshaws cheaper, and cabs costlier)
By train
Kharagpur is well connected to most major cities of India by rail (Even small cities in South & West). There are frequent trains to Kharagpur. Alternatively, you can reach the Howrah Railway station and take a local or express train to Kharagpur.
After reaching KGP station, The Institute is 5 km from Kharagpur railway station. (Totos are about 300, rickshaws cheaper, and cabs costlier)
So most people after JEE relax the hell out. Nothing wrong with that, but when you come back to college, it will be much harder to get into that groove of studying, and by the time you lock in, your midsems will be screwed (I had the opposite issue of screwing up EndSems, but similar reasons).
Definitely relax during your break, and definitely don't spend all day studying college courses, they are manageable in college & please don't waste away your days just studying. If you do, the college fairy will come and break your shin bones. Maybe.
But have that disciple of studying: the part of you that can sit down & finish learning X for 2 hours everyday. So how do you maintain it? My recommendations:
Do something that requires discipline to continue doing : Going to gym/walks, waking up early (By 2nd Sem, you will lose the concept of Early), Praying, etc.
Keep actively learning for a few hours a day : Basically any form of learning in which you have to pay attention continuously to understand. Think excellent video essays, vids about sciences, etc. Something like 3blue1brown would be ideal for this. Preferably do it continuously (~2hrs), but in bites should be fine too. Do not memorize!
If studying isn't natural, do something else that doesn't feel natural/requires effort: Study a language (coding or speaking either), learn about stuff that's usually hard for you to, learning to play an instrument, etc. Similar to the first point.
Do note, Understanding stuff is far more important in college (at least to the point of applying it to new things), compared to remembering stuff. So the blind memorization you prolly did in JEE, while still helpful, isn't what's tested for.
JEE mains for sure doesn't test you for college, and even JEE advanced doesn't teach you how to think in college. Amazing system we have, isn't it?
Anyways, G'luck!