Disclaimer: This survey was conducted between 30th November and 4th December, i.e. when a Y20 had been an IIT-K student for about 2 weeks.
Through the twists and turns of 2020, after enduring corona and the almost eternal ordeal of the JEE, the Y20 undergraduates finally joined IIT Kanpur. With students from diverse cultures and backgrounds, the Y20 batch is bound to be vibrant with different tastes and ideologies. Vox Populi conducted the Freshman Survey for the incoming undergraduate students receiving 581 responses (approximately half of the batch strength). Here, we present the other sides of the Y20 batch.
Section I: General Demographics
This section aims at raising awareness and appreciating the diversity of our campus community. From the respondents, about 74% identified themselves as males and approximately 25% as females. To the question on sexual orientation, about 85% of respondents identified themselves as Straight or Heterosexual. 8% preferred not to say, and around 3% identified themselves as homosexuals. The remaining responses (~4%) were distributed between pansexual, asexual, bisexual and queer or questioning.
Upon enquiring of any disabilities, about 95% confirmed that they did not have any disability or learning difficulty. 5% of students marked other options ranging from visual/auditory impairment to physical or mental health disabilities. It is promising to see that students are more aware of such sensitive topics and hold a high acceptance for their preferences and life circumstances.
Section II: Academics
Undergraduate students joining IIT Kanpur always seem to bring forth a sense of optimism and belief in themselves about the institute’s academics. The survey responses showcase this optimism aptly, with more than 50% of the respondents expect that they’re going to a secure a CPI of greater than nine at the end of their freshman year. On similar lines, about 80% of the respondents found themselves relatively better prepared to face the academic curriculum after their transition from the JEE regimen.
One of the most prominent talking points for the freshman is Branch change. Upon being asked if the students were satisfied with their allotted branch, close to 50% students said they were happy but would still want to try and change their branch while about 16% of students were determined to make sure that they got the major altered after the first year.
While some students believe that things get relaxed post-JEE, some believe that the road ahead only gets more challenging. While close to 53% students plan to devote about 20-40 hours a week for academics, 20% of the respondents were confident that they’d be spending north of 40 hours per week in their academic pursuits. With these numbers and the online semester, it seems to be that the laptop screens have taken the place of bicycles as the students’ inanimate friends.
HSS courses are an early surprise to the freshman in their first semester when they expect learning science and engineering. However, the survey highlighted how 80% of students find that the Humanities and Social Sciences courses are quite relevant for IITK students pursuing STEM fields.
After the initial flavour of exams and academics at IITK, it is essential to highlight how about 65% of students responded that they’d never score a 0 in a quiz/exam and close to 80% students said that it’s unlikely that they’d fall asleep in lectures. While 58% of students said they had never cheated on any high school exam or coaching, the other 42% had already had an initial taste of academic misconduct.
*These numbers may change as the semester progresses :P.
The other important aspect of ‘interaction’ at IITK is the interaction with faculty and instructors. Over 85% of students responded that they’d very likely interact with faculty outside of lecture halls and classes.
Section III: Lifestyle and Beliefs
Sleep and screen time are two primary indicators of how the students are spending their days in college. To present a comparison, the survey gauged how these numbers change before and after the JEE period. About 80% of students on an average spent less than 6-8 hours sleeping during their JEE preparation, on the other hand, 70% of students feel that they’d be sleeping more than the 6-8 hours sleeping while on campus. A clear majority of 82% of students said that they are spending north of 6 hours in front of a screen out of which 25% of students were spending more than 10 hours!
An underrated aspect of the online semester has been the household chores absent when the students were on campus. Close to 30% of students said that they were spending more than 2 hours a day managing household duties.
An aspect of life that is not talked about much is the importance of Mental Health. The vast majority of the Y20 batch responded that Mental Health was (if not more) as important as physical health. While 64% of students had never attended any counselling sessions, 91% of students were willing to be counselled in times of stress and anxiety. One of the significant concerns that the survey highlighted was how after the JEE times, the students responded that on an average, about 70% of the students were spending about less than an hour a day on physical exercise.
On a lighter note, the Y20 batch on average had a sanskar quotient of 3.2 out of 5, and while 14% students considered them to be a 5 on 5 on sanskari terms, about 6% were pretty confident that they belonged to the other extreme.
Despite not being on campus, the survey asked how comfortable students would be with a non-heterosexual roommate. While close to 47% of students would have almost no concerns, about 30% responded that they would not be as comfortable as freshmen’s think with the heterosexual roommate.
Section IV: Randoms
After joining an IIT after the grilling years of JEE preparation, students walk into campus with several hopes and dreams they wish to achieve. To gauge these hopes’ fun aspect, we tried to get Y20 to answer some not-so-usual questions.
While 60% of students think it is awkward to brag about the IITK tag in social situations, the other 40% are very determined to flex the IITK tag in every possible way they can.
A fun insight into the fresher’s mind was provided by the question ‘Love vs Arranged Marriage’. Close to 58% voted for Love marriage, but the surprise was that 27% of students believe that marriage is a scam which is more than the 15% who voted for an arranged marriage.
While 83% students responded that they’d find the hostel mess food to be decent, about 13% were very keen on trying the same and answered that they look forward to how amazing it would be. Well, only time can tell how Y20 feels about the food at hostels. A majority of students were most excited to visit the Open Air Theatre (OAT) and the Airstrip on campus, 10% students also responded how they were looking forward to experiencing Cafe Coffee Day(CCD) on campus.
While 83% students responded that they’d find the hostel mess food to be decent, about 13% were very keen on trying the same and answered that they look forward to how amazing it would be. Well, only time can tell how Y20 feels about the food at hostels. A majority of students were most excited to visit the Open Air Theatre (OAT) and the Airstrip on campus, 10% students also responded how they were looking forward to experiencing Cafe Coffee Day(CCD) on campus.
Section V: Extracurriculars:
The fresher batch almost unanimously plans to be involved in extracurricular activities through their stay at IITK. Many people were actively engaged in MUN, arts, sports, and debating, among others through their school days. 2 out of 3 students were also involved in math and science competitions at school.
The batch showed immense interest in giving back and serving the society. A significant part of the respondents (63.3%) claimed that they are very likely to do community service through their stay at IITK, possibly through the various cells under Students’ Gymkhana that work actively to address social issues.
The response to the question about the student’s comfortability level in public speaking or addressing a large crowd on a stage resembled a standard distribution bell curve. The most marked option (⅗) could simply be because many students have not yet had such opportunities.
On being asked about any non-existent clubs that the Y20s would want on campus, numerous fun responses came up—ranging from students wishing to have a Spacecrafts and Weapon designing club to have hobby groups that are into music production. Some students also wanted to set up a Sudoku solving hobby group. A few responses also came forward by students who wanted to have a dedicated cell to impart sex education to the campus community.
While the freshers have shown immense enthusiasm in extracurricular activities, they also feel that academics should undoubtedly be given more time and importance than anything else through college.
Section VI: Expectations
This section of the survey aims to discover the average initial expectations of a fresher at IITK. We received reasonably exciting responses, as expected.
Approximately 50% of respondents are confident of being in a romantic relationship through their stay at IITK. A surprising 41% feel that they might sleep through a quiz or an exam. Only time will tell how these statistics pan out.
About 30% of Y20 students plan to enter the corporate world upon graduation while about 21% and 9% want to pursue academia or consider doing an MBA. A relatively large pool of students also intends to take up services in the Indian government (17%) and startups (14%). 3% of students hope to pursue their creative hobbies professionally, and one enthusiastic respondent plans to make an arc reactor post IITK. The question that followed also suggested that while students have a rough idea in their heads about their career choices, they’re still quite open to explore and identify a career that suits them the most.
Making big money is on the bucket list of most students that enter the institute every year. About 50% of students expect a package north of 20 Lakhs per annum, and 27% students among them aim for a paycheck of more than 30 Lakhs. Approximately 2 out of 3 freshers plan to stay back and work in India rather than settling abroad.
About 43% of respondents say they would want to live with their parents after they graduate, and 30% of students plan to stay alone until they start a family. This statistic might shift after the independent hostel life.
The batch also set a high standard of financial management wherein 70% of students claim they would manage their finances quite well while on campus, resisting canteens’ temptations.
Section VII: Social Life
The initial days of the orientation and the family time spent with your wingmates are the first ways the students improve their social life and interact with diverse people and make new friends. The online semester has undoubtedly impacted this aspect of the undergraduate journey, and the survey brought some of these crucial concerns forwards.
More than 50% of the students responded about how the online semester would severely negatively impact the freshmen’s social interaction. Another shocking inference was that 90% of the students were not aware of all of their wingies at the time of the survey, out of which 17% were not even aware of all of their bhais/behens.
A common talking point with first-year students is their confidence and their social skills. Y20 on average responded that they would be about a 3 out of 5 in terms of being extroverted and socially confident and that out of 5, they were about 2.7 in terms of how likely they are to start a conversation with someone of a different gender. At the same time, about 26% of the students had already been involved in a romantic relationship while it might be that the remaining 74% have come to campus with hopes of changing this status. This is because about 66% of respondents agreed to have slid into someone’s DM on social media apart from their wingies/SGs.
More than 58% of students responded that they spend about 0-2 hours with their friends. In terms of social media, while about 7% said that they didn’t want to be on social media, about 35% responded to spending north of 2 hours on social media daily.
Section VIII: Myth and Facts
Most myth and fact questions were relatively trivial, but we did throw in some open-ended questions to see what this batch thinks about IITK. A common understanding among the students through JEE and evident from responses in the survey is that IITK academics are the toughest among the IITs.
About 40% of students think that college life is less stressful than school life. “Life is set after getting into IIT” still seems to be one of the popular opinions as of now. We genuinely hope that it comes true for those who believe it. Before addressing the article’s final question, some clarifications are: There is an app called ‘Puppylove’ (It is active during Valentine’s Week). There are gender-neutral washrooms on campus (About 80% freshers thought otherwise).
To conclude the article, we pick the most crucial question in this vertical, will campus open in 2021 or not? 70% of the Y20 batch is quite optimistic about the ongoing conditions and is confident of entering the campus this year. The remaining 30% think that they’ll welcome their juniors in the online mode.
2020 was a year of its kind, and the Y20 batch too it seems, is following suit. We hope you can look back at this survey by the time you graduate and look back at your initial and final responses to some of the questions.
Credits: Aryan Pandeya, Akshat Goyal, Devansh Parmar, Raj Varshit Moora, Ankur Banga
More from Vox Populi
