How is IIT Mandi CS in terms of campus, placement and college life?

You will probably not have the best college life at IIT Mandi. The area around the campus is mainly a village-like area so you will not find any malls and theatres around. Additionally, while CSE is good, it is not comparable to IIT Jodhpur or Indore for mechanical or electrical.

Talking strictly about the campus, here are some points that might help you out:

• There are 2 campuses, one is the North campus and the other is the South. While the North campus is mainly unplanned and illogical, the South campus’ design and infrastructure is mainly temporary.
• You will see a lot of construction in the south campus with poor built. Towards the main playground, you will find a slew of washrooms.
• The canteen at the South campus serves the most unhygienic food. Students have found pests there quite often and the cooks are known to reside and wash clothes in the same place.
• There aren’t many canteens available on the north campus. The ones available have very limited options and the quality is very poor. You will not find any quality furniture in the labs, hostels, and libraries either.
• The main CSE lab has old equipment and components that have not been upgraded for ages.

In my opinion, this campus is not built to provide the best opportunities to its students.

• Placements: The plus point to IIT Mandi would be the placements for the CSE department. Most of the highest placement offers are made to the CSE stream. You will see that companies like Cognizant, Amazon, Capgemini, BPCL, etc. hire students every year. They are also quite competitive. The highest package offered is INR 40 LPA with an average package of INR 13.50 LPA.
• College Life: There is a big lack of hang-out spots inside and outside the campus. Plus, the area around is quite remote. You can join clubs and societies but after a while, you will get bored and feel trapped due to the limited campus opportunities. If you are a researcher looking for a quaint place, this campus life is for you.

Overall, if you are looking to have a very good college life, IIT Mandi might not be able to offer that to you. You should look at other options as well.