Goa Campus

The first few weeks on campus are some of the most terrifying weeks for any ‘firstie’, second only to the two weeks of compre. So many apprehensions and fears in their mind – will they be able to adjust to hostel life? Will there be a line for the bathroom stalls? Will they be able to get the coveted verti to CS? And just as many questions in their parents’ minds as well – will their child be able to wake up in time? Will their child resort to drinking and drugs? (Yes, we’re in Goa, of course we get this question a lot) But most importantly, will their child like the mess food?

To quell all these fears that bog down the minds of parents and students alike, there are the beloved seniors. The very first people parents and students meet after entering campus are members of the FBI. Yes, the Department of Tours – Facilitating BITS Introductions. The members of this department arrive on campus 5 days prior to their registration so that they can help out the fresh meat err… freshers with their admission, hostel allotment and registration. The FBI organizes Campus Tours for the eager students and parents where they show them around the campus and give them a brief glimpse of campus life, additionally answering any questions that the parents or students may have about college. This is the first time that the juniors get to interact with their seniors and this generally happens on the very day that they arrive.

Within the first week however, each firstie is allotted a mentor as per the Peer Mentorship Program. Each mentor roughly has 5 mentees. The mentors, who are generally in their second or third year, organize meetings of their mentor group and ideally inform the firsties of the intricacies of campus life and everything that they will need to navigate it. The mentor is available to help the student with any problem that they have in their first few weeks.
Of course, a majority of senior-junior interaction happens inside clubs and departments. However as a result of the UGC ruling against this, inductions and club activities only happen a month or so after the firsties set foot on campus.

While this pretty much covers most of the senior junior interaction that occurs in the first fortnight, there is still one major method that we forgot to mention.
“Selling all first year books + lab coat. Pm for price”

Hyderabad Campus

Senior-junior interactions have been a part and parcel of college life since time immemorial. At BITS Hyderabad, this tradition has been embraced in the spirit of some well intended fun.

It all begins on the day before registration, when clueless juniors are confronted with the “flexible” timetable. In search of guidance, said juniors end up at the doorsteps of wise and suspiciously welcoming seniors. It is said that nothing that is worth it comes for free – the seniors adhere to this by offering legitimate help in return for some entertainment which may or may not include doing quirky tasks.

Besides the times when juniors dare to step out of their rooms, the buying and selling of course books and mess registrations prove to be brilliant avenues for further interaction. The question of what exactly goes on under the name of interaction is one that comes to mind. From introducing oneself, to dancing in the middle of the road to the beat of unconventional songs, the word covers a wide range of activities.

The waiting before you get your photo clicked for the ID card (which always ends up awful despite being clicked by incredibly expensive equipment, the value of which is conveyed to you through repeated warnings to not go within 5 metres of the camera, lest you break it.) presents itself as a chance for the overworked and high strung SWD peeps to have fun. They may ask you to sing, speak, dance or act on whatever other clever idea that may hit the seniors at the moment, while your batch mates snigger at the humiliation but not too loudly, so as not to draw undue attention.

Then come the branch wise gatherings, regional association gatherings, and Fervour (the campus freshers’ party) – setups for mass interactions. By the end of this, you would have at least sung a song, spurted out the same dialogues over and over (because you didn’t say it with “feel” the first time), asked out batchmates, asked out seniors, rejected batchmates whose task was to ask you out, attempted to convince a random senior why you would make an amazing partner, and played badminton with an invisible shuttle.

When you finally get tired of being herded from one group of seniors to the next and head back to your room, you have with you a myriad of hilarious stories that you share and laugh about with your new friends, knowing that at the end of the whole ordeal you had done many things that you didn’t ever dream of doing and the world didn’t end for it.