Edited by Meenakshi Rajeev
Note: T5E’s Exit Survey 2022 was conducted in June to study the graduating students’ perspectives on their life in IIT Madras. The survey garnered 341 responses across the entire graduating class of 2022, with nearly 60% of the respondents being UG students (B.Tech + DD + MA) while the rest were PG students (MSc + MTech + MBA + PhD + MS).
The survey explored various aspects of the essence of a student’s life in Insti, such as Lifestyle, Personal Life, Career, Decision Making, Academics, Extracurriculars, and Opinion.
This article talks about the extracurricular activities taken up by the respondents and a brief study of mental health throughout their stay in insti.
Impact of Saathi, MiTr, DOST
Only about 26.6 percent of the respondents reported having had any positive influence from their Saathi/Mitr mentors.
Overall experience in insti
Respondents reported an average rating of 3.9145 out of 5 – Not bad, looks like most of them seemed to have had a content insti life, despite the pandemic.
What would the consensus be if every aspect of your insti lifestyle was known back home?
About 55 percent of respondents reported that back home, their lifestyle is/will be criticized if found out – more than half of insti!.
Sleep routine vs. Mental health
Those who slept before 11 pm and in the interval, 12-3 am, reported almost similar average experience ratings of around 4.
A dip in average ratings is observed among those who slept after 3 am (a minor dip), possibly due to sleep deprivation- Get your sleep right, everyone! However, surprisingly, a drop ( a big one too) is observed among those who slept between 11-12 pm. Insti never sleeps, it seems.
Lifestyle at Home
Contrary to popular belief, people from metropolitan cities had a more challenging time explaining their insti lifestyles at home!
Relationships
The number of relationships one has been in hardly seemed to affect the overall insti experience ratings reported ( except for a minor peak in between). Looks like the data is telling us that you don’t always need a special someone to be happy in insti.
How many of these have you experienced in insti life?
Looks like it would be difficult to find someone who wasn’t attacked by a monkey or spent an entire night sleepless in insti- After all, monkeys and insomnia define insti, don’t they?.
EXTRA-CURRICULARS :
Which of these groups were you part of?
Saarang, Shaastra, and CFI seemed to be the three most popular choices among respondents, while many were not part of any group.
PoRs vs Sleep cycle
CFI, Saarang, TechSoc, T5E, and LitSoc reported having the highest percentage of members who went to bed early – about 40 percent. Placement teams, E-Cell, Shaastra, Insti Contingent and Shaastra reported the highest percentage of members who slept late (or maybe never did) – about 70 percent.
PoRs and it’s impact on CGPA
The majority of the respondents reported that their PORs positively impacted their CGPA- it looks like no more getting away with “Oh, my grades went down because of my PORs”!
Hackathons and external competitions
56% of the respondents haven’t participated in any competition. 22% have participated in 1-2 hackathons.
How would you rate your enthusiasm in these?
The respondents reported the highest enthusiasm ratings for Schroeter, followed by LitSoc and TechSoc. Surprisingly, most respondents reported being significantly less enthusiastic about all three events.
From your experience in PoRs, do you think taking part in extracurriculars help in overall development of a person?
TOP COMMENTS:
“Definitely yes. A PoR which involves interacting with a lot of people and managing a lot of stuff should improve you as a person. But it is more important to know that only the name of PoR will not do anything for you. The stuff that you learn from it, that will reflect in your personality and that will take you forward in life.”
“I think they helped in pursuing my interests at the time and figuring out what I liked/disliked over the years.”
“Not at all I personally feel, PoR is a waste of time, it won’t help you in placements, just for having some good time in insti that’s it”
“Yes Terms and conditions apply”
Mean CGPA
Respondents, who were part of TechSoc reported to have had the highest mean CGPA, followed by CFI; while respondents who were hostel secretaries, reported the lowest mean CGPA.
Time spent on an average in a day on academics/projects
Respondents, who were part of Saarang reported to have spent the least amount of time everyday on academics/projects, followed by Department Fest members.
Impact on the career pursued
Saarang and Shaastra reported then highest percentage of members who took up a job/higher studies in non-core fields. However, unlike other PORs, ones who were part of TechSoc majorly reported to have to stayed in core jobs/higher studies.
What would you do differently if you were given a second chance to begin insti life as a freshie?
Top Comments:
- You know what, double the fun!
- I would have started acting on my dream to start a business
- I’d socialise more by telling myself that it doesn’t matter how different you are. Nothing just enjoy every moment with friends and go through hardships because they made me what I am today
Conclusion:
The final report of T5E’s exit survey produced some interesting insights into the Extracurriculars and Mental Health of the graduating batch of 2022. Here’s a quick summary of the data the team collected and analyzed:
- Respondents reported having an average rating of 3.9145 out of 5, concerning overall experience in Insti.
- About 54.3 percent of respondents reported that their lifestyle is/will be criticized back home.
- It would be difficult to find someone who wasn’t attacked by a monkey or spent an entire night sleepless in insti.
- 11-12pm seems to be the worst time for sleeping in Insti
- The number of relationships one has been in hardly seemed to affect one’s overall insti experience.
- The majority of the respondents reported that their PORs had a positive impact on their CGPA
- Most respondents reported being significantly less enthusiastic about LitSoc, TechSoc, and Schroeter.
- TechSoc reported to have had the highest mean CGPA, with respondents who were part of hostel secretaries reported the lowest mean CGPA
So, as the data suggests, for the complete IITian experience – one must sleep between 1-3 am, should have spent at least one sleepless night, must have been attacked by monkeys, realized dating isn’t necessary for the IITian experience, been part of the most popular student groups (Saarang, Shaastra and CFI), and regretted being an introvert after graduating.
That’s all from this article guys. We wish the graduating students the best in their journeys ahead!
