How to survive in GCT

A Must Read for the newbies

Hi there. Welcome to GCT. Without further ado, I will tell you everything you need to know about the place.
GCT is a wonderful place to be, in terms of nature. I assure you this place has no artifical tress of any sort and doesn't bother even a little about decor. So, if you are expecting to study in a high-tech environment with glass doors and high buildings, better transfer to some other college or win Super Singer and get an Arun Excello flat.

You must be toppers, to state the fact. You must be those 1100+ mark students, and know a lot. But,let me assure you, your marks are going to help you only on your first day. By the end of the first semester, you would have forgotten everything about Benzene or Bragg's spectrometer. Despite learning the two Physics textbooks in your higher secondary, Physics here will be different and all new. The second thing is the medium you must have studied in. There will a class where they ask you that question and despite the answer, you are treated the same. So, don't worry. You won't be ignored by the crowd.

Now I will give you tips on how to survive here.

1. At first, you will be homesick.

People from GCT are rarely from the place. It is a diverse mix of people, and because of that people don't usually start to mingle on the very first day. This usually happens in every college. And if you are a hosteller,take my word for it. The best thing about Coimbatore is travel around the city is cheap. You get buses to any place, any time. Going to your hometown is not as difficult as you may feel, except if you are from those far-away cities(like Rameshwaram, Tirunelveli,Hosur and all). Homesick is a phase. At first, I have seen friends who go home every week. These Tirupur and Erode people will make you feel jealous as going to home for them is way too easy. They'll be like, "Na veetuku poren di" and by the time you reach Singanallur busstand, they'll be at their home eating dinner. So you have to cope up with that. It would be great to go with your friends. You chit chat and then you fall asleep. But,on the contrary the best part about going alone is hearing songs. Never forget your headset unless you are ready to listen to 90's songs in the bus.

Girls out there. One important thing is that going home is easy, but the process behind it is actually difficult. There should be a card sent from your hometown which has details of your name,time of stay and the place. The worst part is waiting for it to come. It would be better if we had our own owls, just like Harry did. But that aint gonna happen. So make sure you remind your forgetful parents that you live far away and they have to send a card each time. Parents usually forget because they got rid of the only nuisance in the house. Kidding.

2. Hostel teaches you a lot.

I am not going to disappoint you by telling that it is difficult to survive in a government hostel. Just think this as a demo, a precap of how difficult life is going to be hereafter. Trust me, you will see worse places when you go for a job later, you'll see dungeons but you will survive because GCT hostels will teach you. A pleasant thing to the newbies(the girls) is that your hostel is brand-new and neat. It will be the best. You have geysers, neat washrooms, spacious corridors and most importantly more plug points. There is 6 per room rule for girls and a 3 per room for boys. As far as I know, boys hostel is a bit worse compared to the girls hostel. But guys usually figure out a way and they survive. No matter how the rooms are, it can be neat if you keep it neat. And I learnt that late. Another thing you have to take Youtube classes is on "Dress washing". This is not a great three letter university, so there is no laundry and you have to wash your own dresses. And there will be always someone else who starts washing just before you step in. So save your place and wash regularly. Again, what I learnt the hard way was if you pile up clothes, you need one whole day of rest after washing it. So do it in regular intervals.

Roll Call

This is a ladies section. Roll call is just a fancy name for attendance. It happens at 6, give or take 10 mins. Don't forget to be present. There are worse consequences. And in this part, please believe me.

Entry and Outing Hours

A hosteller is allowed for only 4 hours of outing till 6 pm. You won't be able to sense the darkness of Coimbatore at all. Initially, it seems unfair since there aren't much restrictions imposed for the boys. But both girls and boys have their equal share of advantages and disadvantages. If girls have restrictions, boys have poor hostels. So we got to bear with it. When ever you leave the hostel, you will have to put an entry with your name,room number and the time you leave. The hostels are strict about the 'four hour rule'. To maintain a good name in the hostel and not suffer from punishment or any another stress, it is better you try to the max to stick to the rules. After some days, you will feel 4 hours is a lot of time and all you would want to do is sleep and watch movies.

The Hostel Food

Yes, you won't get Murugal Dosas or Fluffy Puris. No food is not up to the level you imagine it to be. I won't comment on dinners because I don't like it at all there. But, lunch is good. The food is hot and the sambhar is good. Dinner is good if you either go very early or if you go very late. Because food is hot only at those times. The mess closes around 8:40 so be sure to make it on time. If nothing is edible, there is always curd rice to the rescue! Breakfast is good if you don't skip it. Coffee, Milk and Tea is okay as long as you want something hot to go down your throat. If you want creamy chai, there are always coffee shops outside to serve you the best.

Fun

Apart from all this, hostel is really fun once you get the best set of people. Make new friends, talk to everyone. A kind request is to not lose yourself in the process of meeting new people. Be careful about what you speak and talk. It sometimes gets pretty bad and you don't want yourself in such a mess! Never lose your self respect too. There are always friendship problems, but at the end of the day, you will know not everything will last. Only memories do. So even if the people you talk to are temporary, just focus on having fun with them. When you take every relationship seriously, you will lose them all. Remember that you will cry and laugh all these four years. Every bad event is just a small phase. You will get over it.

3. Teachers can't teach you everything.

This is an important point. Teachers will not feed you every time. Sometimes you will be never feeded at all. It is such times that you should make use and prove your potential. Just remember:

Study stuff apart from your syllabus. Explore your course.

Know what engineers of your stream do in the real world. All those local author books won't teach you that.

Talk to Seniors. These are people who have a little experience and can teach you a lot.

Attend every event you hear of, which is related to self developement(curriculur or extra curriculur)

Be attentive in classes, because the teacher can know things you don't.

Use your practical classes in the best way possible. In a technology perspective, copying code from website slow you down and your aim to study. Don't do that for every lab.

Participate in technical fests, competitions and try to win or put in your best effort. The college always encourages that.

Internships, Implant training and Workshops are your mentors too.

Participate in clubs in the college, they give you so much self confidence and you ace the art of communication.

Use the seminar opportunities.Talk to the class as a whole. If you can do that, you are confident enough to attend any company.