False information gets spread around everywhere, and college is not an exception. Anything you hear, please take a second or third or even fourth opinion on it and then apply your own brain to decide if it is right. You would be surprised at how much wrong information floats around, not for a malicious reason but only because of the Chinese whisper. Take this advice, or you will inevitably regret it sometime in the future.
I heard Manipal is for rich people. And that people use drugs!!! What about ragging!!!
It isn’t true that there are only rich people in Manipal. In fact, most people I have met are perpetually going around asking ‘Bro 20 rupees de, paisa nahin hai, puff lena hai, bhook lagi hai’. I mean ofc there will be rich people, but where do you not find some rich people? Even if it is true, the culture is robust – you will not find yourselves not at home no matter what family background you come from.
As for the drugs, tell me one college campus in India where no one uses drugs, and I’ll rest my case. This is a problem in every single college campus. But the assumption that its too rampant in Manipal is just false. I can assure one thing – you will face absolutely no peer pressure to try some. As long as you know you don’t want to do it, you will never end up doing it.
Ragging in the campus is virtually nonexistent. And just in case it does happen, the authorities have a total no tolerance policy towards the same. To facilitate this, there is also an interaction ban between the first years and the seniors till the second semester.
Can I just pick a branch and then change later?
The likely answer is yes, but the possible answer is NO. Branch changes are always only available based on seat vacancies. What this means is no matter what marks you get in the first year, you might not get the branch of your choice. There have been years where even if you got a perfect 10 CGPA, you couldn’t get the CSE branch only because it didn’t have a vacancy at that time. So if you do take admission thinking you can change branch later, be prepared to stick with that branch for the entirety of the 4 years that you will spend in college and graduate with a degree in it.
Umbrellas in Manipal are a collective resource.
You may have brought them, but they do not belong to you. No one owns them – they just pass around from one person to the other. Leave your umbrella unattended in any place public, and it is bound to disappear in under half a second. People have blinked and found their umbrellas to have gone. And especially, DO NOT put your umbrellas in the umbrella stand. No matter how useful they look and how much its raining and your umbrellas are dumping water on the floor, if you keep the umbrella on the umbrella stand, someone is going to steal it. You will find some seniors merely sitting there and eyeing the umbrella stand just to get a chance to steal an umbrella from the umbrella stand from an ignorant junior.
Hostels for first years and seniors are separate
Hostels for first years and seniors are different, and seniors are not allowed to enter the hostel blocks of the first year students. So if on your first few days someone knocks on the door claiming they are seniors and they are here to rag you, they are probably just fellow first years trying to pull your leg. This happens every single year, and every year, people fall for it.
Do not buy books as soon as you get to the campus.
Wait a month. Don’t kid yourselves – you ain’t gonna study anything in the first few weeks. You will be surprised that most people (like me) don’t use even a single physical book in the entire 4 years of college. College gives you the most study material you need in an electronic format.
Always find this one friend who writes amazing notes and keeps them close for your entire 4 years in college. You will be surprised how much this will help you.
Vehicles are not allowed inside the campus. So please be ready for a substantial amount of walking every day. You can buy bicycles, but do remember the campus is on a slope.
Umbrellas are essential in Manipal. It could be sunny one second and a downpour the next. Also, if you do not have a fetish of rain falling sideways on your face, get a big umbrella because the winds that accompany the rains are powerful and weaker ones are gonna simply break easy.
About the Author: Arvind Sasikumar is an alumnus of Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal. I am a 2018 Computer and Communication Engineering (CCE) graduate from Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal. I passed out with a CGPA of 8.7 at the end of the 4 years, currently work as a Software Engineer for Microsoft (Hyderabad) [Campus placed through 3rd year internship], worked as an IT Auditor at Deutsche Post, Bonn, Germany for 6 months, worked with 4 tech startups during my college years, founded a private limited company, played the guitar and the drums for various rock bands in college and was the President of the Movie Goers Club here. So I can safely say I have experienced a large part of what Manipal has to offer. Also, been around working intensely on fresher groups for the last 3 years.
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