It's that time of the year......

When the hot shot magazines (who don't understand squat) start to rank colleges. In the last two years I've tried to analyze these "rankings" and make sense (or the lack of it) of them. This year seeing IIIT Hyderabad ranked 16th is rather disappointing and I feel that these rankings are doing prospective students a great disservice by advising them to join places like BHU or some of the NIT's or even VIT ahead of IIIT (Rofl. How can you take a ranking that has VIT as 10th seriously ??)

This post is for those prospective students, wondering why they should join IIIT.

Firstly, from a purely academic point of view, Only the 5 main IIT's i.e. Bombay, Delhi, Kanpur, Kharagpur and Madras can compete with IIIT in CS. I don't think any faculty member from any institute mentioned in that India Today list would argue with that. IIIT has about 55 full time faculty members and about 20 more visiting + adjunct + Emeritus + blah blah blah faculty members. Each one of these people has a PhD and has significant research contributions even before coming to IIIT. Basically they are bloody damn good. Almost all non-CS/Electronics faculty (Humanities) are borrowed from the Hyderabad Central University (HCU), located just next door. They too are really really good.

Secondly, the quality and amount of research being done at IIIT is simply spectacular( Why would a undergrad bother ?? read on..). In the last academic year, papers from IIIT have been accepted to almost all top venues in CS. These are not some crappy local conferences that I am talking about. I refer to conferences and journals where the history of subjects is being made, the big league, where all the top notch people in the field publish. For those who understand I'm talking about A+ and A level conferences. But that's not the impressive part. Almost 90% of these papers have Undergraduate and Masters students as the prime contributors!! IIIT gives an extraordinary scope to Undergrads to publish at the highest level. I am confident that nobody in India comes anywhere close to IIIT in this regard. In my experience, if you have a quality publication(s), you can pretty much go wherever you want for a MS/PhD. IIIT students getting regular admits to all the top 10 US universities (except Berkley ... somehow nobody applies there) is proof of this being true.

Third, the future prospects after graduating from IIIT are pretty cool. For those interested in placements, IIIT averaged about 7.2 LpA for the 2008 batch (about 140 people. Includes B.Tech, M.Tech and MS) and 5.3 LpA for the 2009 Batch (about 160 people) All IT companies that visited the IIT's came here too. Not bad considering whats going on with the job market right now. As for MS/PhD admits abroad, IIIT has the faculty that a) Will help you do enough work to get noticed b) Give you a recommendation that will seal the deal. The reach of IIIT faculty members extends to cover all universities of any significance. Basically IIIT will give you all the tools to work and the faculty to push you to your "dream" admit.

Fourth, the Alumni network. You know your college alumni is doing well when you step into any google/microsoft/amazon/adobe/yahoo/cisco/(endless list) office and cant walk 5 steps without meeting an alumni. You know your alumni is doing well when half the people coming to conduct campus intervies on behalf of these companies are alumni themselves. You know your alumni is doing well when you know that there will be some IIIT student in the university where you are going to join a graduate program. Keep in mind that only 8 batches have graduated from IIIT thus far. Imagine what things would be 15..20...25 years from now.

And now what can you expect to find at IIIT by the way of facilities ? Well this isn't a glitzy glamorous college. IIIT as an institute, has a philosophy of simple living. And that's just how the campus culture is too. Facilities are a mixed bag. Basic facilities like hostels are very good and are much better compared to most of the IIT's. Don't expect any VIT/Manipal style AC hostels. Messes are decent. The canteen is rather average, but that has more to do with the subways and dominos and the likes that surround the college. Recreation facilities are rather limited. A Swimming pool, a gym, a basketball court, volleyball, TT and a Football ground is pretty much all you have. I personally find it rather lame.
Computing resources are again a mixed bag. Large portions of the hostels have WiFi as the only network. It's good for browsing but not really good for movies and LAN gaming. But once you are on a wired network, it's smooth sailing. IIIT is unique in that there is unrestricted internet/LAN access. The labs are pretty cool. They stock some of the nicest hardware around. In that respect IIIT is pretty good.

To summarize IIIT: If you want to study and learn, come to IIIT. There is no equal in India period. If you are more interested in other pursuits, especially extra curricular activities you might end up disappointed here. IIIT is yet to evolve beyond academics. I personally don't see a student having to make any significant concessions by being at IIIT. The only limiting factor for a student here is his/her motivation.

And as far as the rankings go, I don't consider IIIT to be an "Engineering college" per se. IIIT has a specific focus on Computer Science and IT and offers no other dimensions as of now. As far as computer science is concerned IIIT is a unique center of excellence. IIIT has 24 research centers that work on core computing and it's applications. If somebody were to rank CS courses in India, IIIT would be far ahead of the rest (including the IIT's) by a mile. But CS alone doesn't constitute an Engineering college. The diversity on offer at the IIT's is truly wonderful. Perhaps IIIT would catch up in a decade or two. Rankings take a lot of stuff into account. An institute that offers only CS and Electronics as courses can't and shouldn't compete for rankings with other places that offer courses ranging from electrical to mechanical to aerospace to marine engineering. That said, I am of the opinion that you should give up a seat at IIIT Hyderabad only for a seat in CS/ECE/Mech/Chem in the 5 Main IIT's. You are likely to regret any other choice you make. Not now, but perhaps while in your 4th year or after you graduate. That doesn't mean other options are bad or anything. It is always ultimately down to the individual. All I'm saying is that IIIT would give you a most competent platform to excel.

PS: Please don't write any hate comments.

80 Million Pounds

The first Champions league final I watched was in 2000 when Real Madrid played Valencia. It was a classy performance by madrid. My then favorite player McManaman scored a goal and Redondo made what was the best move in a CL final till Zidane struck the sweetest of volley two years later. I watched madrid win again with their "Galacticos" in 2002. Both these teams had good attacking players but even better defenses. Madrid had Hierro and Helguera at center half and Roberto Carlos and Salgado as full backs. Makelele used to sit in front of them like a rock. Fast forward to 2009. Madrid have the worlds best central midfielder Kaka (zidane then) and winger Ronaldo (figo then). But at the back they have Cannavaro, Pepe and Metzelder all of whom can be described as bullshit. The only really quality players that madrid have at the back are Casillas and Sergio Ramos (for whom defending is an afterthought).

Looks like Senor Perez has learned nothing in his years out. The Galacticos were quite good for a few years. Then one fine night they sold both Hierro and Makelele. And that was the end of that. Madrid have still not recovered from that sale. In hindsight the sale of Makelele to Chelsea was one of the defining moments of World football in this decade, much like Fergie talking Keane into joining ManUre.

As for Ronaldo, he will be a big miss at ManUre. I think Ronaldo's greatest contribution to ManU was to be able to absolutely demolish mid table and lower teams. Don't get me wrong, Ronaldo is a fantastic player, but he was most effective in "taking out the trash". I can remember him winning at least 4 matches this term (Villa, Blackburn,Porto and some other game i don't remember), where ManU were drifting, with just one brilliant swing of his boot. ManU will miss him next season and that is just the start of their problems. ManU look to be losing Tevez as well. Hargreaves looks to be done and dusted and Giggs, Scholes and Neville are not 25 anymore. ManU have 4 world class players. Rooney, Ronaldo, Ferdinand and Vidic. Without Ronaldo that's a pretty lightweight midfield. A midfield of Fletchers and Carricks and Parks and 35 year old Giggs and Scholes is not going to threaten the likes of Gerrard-Masch-Alonso or Lampard-Essien-Ballack. Up front Berbatov seems to have his issues and wants to leave (Will he be allowed?) Fergie has his task cut out.

Onto Liverpool and Rafa Benitez is in a spot of bother. He has assembled the best Liverpool team since the days of King Kenny, and he cant spend a pound because to utterly incompetent Yanks have screwed up. What a pity. I think he might get to sign a player but not more than that. Actually Liverpool really only need one player and that is somebody to partner Torres. Rafa missed great chance to fill that void when he failed to sign Arshavin(apparently Liverpool's interest was what took Arsenal so long to finish a deal with Zenit). He has come to regret that 4 times in 90 mins already last season. If I were Rafa I'd be closely looking at a certain Ruud Van Nistelrooy's situation at Madrid. He might be a good bargain. So might Michael Owen or Trezeguet and even perhaps a look at Saviola. What's clear is that there will be no Torres like signings this year. It'll have to be bargain shopping. I'm also happy Liverpool didn't sign Gareth Barry. He's crap and nowhere near as good as the pass-master Alonso.

PS. A post after a long time. Feels good to write about football.