Incoming freshman? Here's the guide for you! (hostel, mess, ragging, all of it)
Hey Batch 36 (or whichever batch is reading this in a panic three days before arrival)
Saw a bunch of "what should I expect at GIKI" posts this week so figured I'd just dump everything useful in one place instead of everyone DMing seniors individually. Fair warning, this is long, but it's the stuff that actually matters.
🎒 Packing
Bring more warm clothes than you think you need if you're arriving anytime close to winter. Extension board, universal adapter, and a good lock for your cupboard. Don't overpack, hostel rooms are smaller than you're imagining. (And yeah its dynamic, you can tailor it to your needs and store the progress as well!)
🍽️ Mess
You'll complain about it within the first week, everyone does, it's basically a rite of passage. Figure out your mess timings early so you're not that guy sprinting across campus at 8:59.
🏠 Hostel life
You will not have privacy for a while and that's fine, everyone's in the same boat. Keep your door locked when you're not around, not because GIKI is unsafe, just basic hostel sense. Your roommate is a gamble, you'll either end up best friends or learn to coexist peacefully, both are fine outcomes.
🎭 Societies and inductions
Actually do these, don't skip them out of nerves. It's genuinely how you find your people. Just a heads up, some societies run "informal interviews" that are basically just ragging with a name change, you'll figure out pretty fast which ones are legit and which ones are just messing with freshmen for fun.
😅 Ragging, since everyone asks
It's honestly not the horror story people online make it out to be, most of us went through first year without any real incident. We actually wrote a whole thing on this since so many freshmen ask, worth a read before you stress about it: https://www.gikichronicles.com/posts/QtrMl2M2wzyaYcjwd4wi
TLDR from that post: banter is fine, bullying isn't, know the difference, and save your Warden's number just in case ☎️
📚 General advice
Go to office hours even if you feel dumb doing it. Don't isolate in your room for the first two weeks, force yourself out even when it's awkward. Your GPA in first semester will probably not be what you're used to from FSc/A Levels, that's normal, don't spiral over it 🙏
Also shameless plug but we started a whole blog for GIKI stuff, admission guides, campus life, all of it, if you want more of this kind of content: https://www.gikichronicles.com/
Good luck🫡