Endnotes: An Insider's Look
Beyond grades and CGPAs lies the real soul of IISc. From midnight relativity sessions to radioactive rocks in the Main Building, this is how learning actually feels.
Endnotes: An Insider’s Look
As of 2026, IISc Admin announces not one, not TWO but THREE new B.Tech programs! In Aerospace Engineering, Mechanics and Computing, and Material Sciences and Engineering, which will be open to students with an eligible JEE Advanced score.
Now, I’ve heard a ton of comments about this - both along the lines of an “IIT-fication of the Institute” to “These courses sound so cool, I wish they offered them when I applied”. Here’s my two cents on the topic.
Walking through the leaf-laden Gulmohar Marg, my chest thumped with possibility - the idea of being at the pinnacle of science in the country. That was almost a year ago - today I sit on my bunk bed thinking about how I’ll scrape a decent grade on my end semesters. How did that happen? Did I just cycle back into the “mug-vomit-score” system?
I ask myself these questions, and strangely - I’ll kill the suspense - the answer is no. Throughout this year, worth two semesters, I’ve hardly found myself NOT busy. But oh, not with study load, a learning load.
I’ve, against my will, been roped into a system where seniors sneak you into classrooms post midnight to teach you special relativity or quantum mechanics. I find myself sitting in a room full of friends, studying how water pours out from a strange orifice to write a scientific report. I’m dissecting a paper from the 1900s with a brother snoring away - a copy of Shankar lay on his chest. I’m running across the gothic Main Building, a radioactive rock in my hand. None of it, a part of my course. And guess what? This is only for physics; the same was done for biology, chemistry, math - you name it.
The beauty of this Institute is that it transforms you. In fact, unlike the “all streams grind LeetCode” idea in IITs (no shade). I’ve seen multiple B.Tech friends, who are genuinely interested in biology (even taking part in iGEM), taking part in paper presentations and enjoying Earth Sciences. I realise that “interdisciplinary” is thrown around like a buzzword nowadays, but if you can find it anywhere, it’s here.