As a graduating 8th semester student with a great offer and zero regrets, here is the master checklist I wish someone handed me on Day 1:
1. Maintain a CGPA above 8.0. It keeps 95% of company and MS shortlist gates open without needing you to be a bookworm.
2. Pick ONE deep engineering stack in 2nd year (Cloud, Backend, ML, Mobile, or Systems) and build 2 non-trivial production systems.
3. Make friends across different departments. Your circle of designers, finance people, and civil engineers will be your future startup cofounders.
4. Travel with your hostel friends on long weekends. Work will always be there, but your college youth won't.
5. Don't be afraid to fail early. The best projects emerge from crashed prototypes.