Chandigarh Group of Colleges Landran BCA Review By Saurabh Mishra

CGC Landran is a good college to pursue a bachelor's degree especially if you don't have any definitive priorities like IIT, NIT, NEET, etc. If you want a graduate degree in a college that has a good curriculum in place suggest you go for it. It has international affiliations with universities and has semester programs that offer international exposure. My batchmate went to Egypt for a semester and there is a student exchange program in place too. The fee of that is a bit high as per the country you will be completing a semester in. The university is affiliated with PTU and provides the curriculum and degree program in accordance with the university.

The admission process is fairly simple but can be a bit exhausting as you have to get a lot of verification done if you have opted for onsite admissions. The online admission process is a bit more convenient but without the original documents, you cannot continue your classes. The college management is very responsive but there is a lot of commotion outside the main building especially if there is any document submission or other issue. The departmental management is good and our Head of the Department was very helpful in guiding us about how to complete the registration process and resolved most of our queries inside the department only. It is a well managed educational institution.

I didn't know what course to enroll in and did not know that a course specifically dedicated to computer programming even existed. I was advised by a cousin that had graduated with the same course about its advantages, the things to learn, and the job opportunities that come with it. I was interested in computers but did not have any flair for programming but decided to go for it. The admissions required us to register ourselves on the portal. There was no entrance exam and I got admission without any difficulty. You have to upload all your documents after registration and pay the fee or a part of it. Then you have to report to the college on joining day with original documents.

The reason to join this course for me was to learn computer programming and it does teach that along with a few subjects related to software planning and development. The subjects focus on computer programming as per the beginner's capability and they teach C and C++ in the first year to build a base in programming. I was interested in programming and if you have a good command of programming languages and know how to work with new languages, it will surely help you to score a job.

Being a beginner course the faculty were very easygoing with the students and tried to teach us very calmly. I sure had a lot of questions and doubts and they were always answered by the teachers. We had a dedicated faculty for each of the subjects taught to us and never had a single faculty teach two subjects. The teachers were proficient in their respective subjects and taught us very well. They conversed in both English and Hindi, apart from Punjabi, and were calm with students from the northern region that struggled with the language.

The faculty is adequate in number and do not take classes in multiple departments apart from a few important ones. Our department had a complete faculty set with no instances of overlap or empty classes. Even the substitute teachers were assigned who could teach that class also. Our teachers had a Ph.D. degree in computer science while the new ones held a master's degree in computer science. The subjects were taught very well and the lab classes helped us to know about real-world programming rather than just jotting down codes on paper. Teachers also asked us to visit for additional queries during their spare time.

CGC Landran has a very good placement program in place that helps a lot of graduates land their first job. There is a training system in place to teach us about aptitude and soft-skills that are required for passing the various screening rounds during placement. The companies that offered the most vacancies were Wipro, Mahindra, Bajaj, Amazon, and a lot of big names that I don't know much about. To sit in those placements you have to fit in the requirement of the company's profile that includes your SGPA, AMCAT score, and marks scored in class 10th and 12th.

The maximum package for a BCA pass-out is not much. The average package is between Rs. 2-3 lakh per annum and the jobs that are offered are mostly for customer relations, testing, and coding. Sadly, you won't get enough opportunities by doing BCA and must complete a master's degree, as advised by my teachers. I will reiterate there isn't much of job profile for BCA graduates unless you have a penchant for new ideas, and are up to date with evolving programming languages. The average number of placements for our BCA batch was not much.

Yes, CGC Landran provides a hostel facility to students. Being a private university, the population of students is much greater than what you would see in a traditional college, and there is a facility of hostel rooms that are of 2 or four beds with differences in other amenities such as washrooms, air-conditioning, geysers, etc. The boys and girls hostel are separate from each other. I opted for a four-bedroom and that cost me around Rs. 75,000 per year at that time which was a bit too high. The prices were raised after a year and I moved out to a PG near the college which is in abundance as it is a college-based town.

The hostel fees could have been nominal considering the course fee but you can't do anything about that. The food served in the mess was regional with a few changes in lunch/dinner when we could have Chinese/south-Indian. The food taste was nothing out of the world and bland as per my palette. Nevertheless, the mess halls maintained good hygiene and there was never a shortage of food or stale food served to us ever. The warden frequently enquired the students about hostel facilities and any queries and maintained friendly contact with the hostel residents. The security guards were always strict about our outside visitations and registered time when we left the premises. Any problems with the ward are directly reported to their parents so be vigilant about that.

CGC Landran has been there for quite some time and there is always construction going on at the end that explains the ginormous size of the campus. It is beautifully constructed with 8 departments as per my knowledge. A few new courses are introduced from time to time so; it can be more than that. It is a big campus and if your hostel is far from your department, you have to get up earlier than usual. The timings are very strict and no entrance is allowed inside the department if you reach after 9:30 without a proper reason. The classrooms are of average sizes in our department and can easily fit in 50-70 students. The seats were of iron and marble and were a bit constrained for people of large stature such as mine. The library facility is available in every department and we have to get a library card in our name. There is an online repository filled with study materials of each department and subject.

The labs are in average condition and have the latest equipment and not the old CRT monitors. There is a huge auditorium right after you enter the premises and all the important events and placement drives are held there. Being in the computer science department a lot of educational workshops on IoT, hacking, and other trending technologies were held frequently and required mandatory participation. The cafeterias are a few placed alongside departments that offer snacks and meals at affordable rates. If you don't have a constrained budget there are also big outlets like Subway, La Pinoz right beside the campus. There is a full facility of medical practitioners in every department and can administer basic medicines. For any grave health issues, you can be taken to the nearby hospital for extra care.

I was fresh out of school and an introvert so I hesitated a bit with my classmates and seniors. But my seniors made me embrace campus life and enjoy it to the fullest. I took part in a few competitions as well, a feat that I was incapable of in school. There were hackathon competitions, counter strike competitions, athletic meets, and many debates and drama competitions as well. There was a mural designing competition once hosted in the college that impressed me the most. But I stuck to the competitions that belonged to my department.

You get to interact a lot with students from diverse ethnicities and belonging to different states so you can expect a jovial campus life if you take admission at CGC Landran. There are strict rules that prohibit any kind of illicit activity and ragging inside the college. I was never harassed by my seniors nor did I ever encounter a bullying one. If you had an incident the authorities took prompt action that strengthened the fear inside the hearts of bullies.