After School to College (ASTC)

My College introduced me to the Outside World. I used to be an introvert during my school days but during the College period, I was well exposed to the outer world. The College Management was doing well in maintaining the College as the College used to have a Reputation / Name on the Campus.

The Course Curriculum and the Exam Structure was designed in such a way so as to cover a large volume of the syllabus which is required during Graduation. It was quite fair but nor research-oriented as this was not a professional course. It was simply a Graduation course. As far as the exam structure is concerned, there were 3 main exams in the first year besides there were 2 subsidiary subjects (which a student has to qualify through the marks scored in these subjects are not counted for the result purpose), during the second year, there were 4 main exams besides 2 subsidiary subjects and during the final year, there were 6 main examinations. Apart from this, there were practical examinations during each year of the Course.

As far as I remember, 2-3 companies visited the campus during my final year of the Course for placement. I remember Tata and HCL Company visited our campus for the Placement. They have their own criteria/ method for the Selection of the Students which included many steps like a short Written test, Group Discussion, Personal Interview. The tentative percentage of the students who got Campus placement was 2-3% every year. The Institution as such did not take any special steps to prepare the Students for the placement season but provided a quite healthy atmosphere during the time of the visit of the Companies on the Campus.

At this point in time, I do not exactly remember the total number of events celebrated in my college, but one event which I remember today also was the Foundation Day of Our College which was celebrated on 1st February every year. On this day, the College used to be well decorated and some cultural programs were used to be organized in the College Auditorium. Besides, refreshments were also offered to all the students. Apart from this, once we had a rock show in our College which was an Inter College event. We used to celebrate the Flag Hoisting Ceremony on the occasion of Independence day every year. Majority of the students used to participate in the events organized by the College.

The fee charged by the College for the particular course which I did was quite feasible. I do not remember, what was the fee structure but for sure, it was not expensive. Since I passed out in the year 1993, the mode of payment was Cash only which we used to deposit in the Bank inside the college itself. There were no additional fees/ charges for securing admission in my course. Only the charges/ fee which was decided by the Government/ University were paid by me for the Admission. As far as, the transparency in the fee breakdown is concerned, the fee structure was quite transparent and all the details were made available to all the students and each student was provided the receipt for the fee which he/she had paid in the College.

I did not opt for any scholarship or educational loan as I was an average student. I was neither a weak (in studies) / poor student nor a brilliant student who was offered any scholarship for the studies and I did not opt for the educational loan as the fee structure of the Course which I studied was quite feasible. Yes, the College offered scholarships to the students. I do not know the average sum for which the scholarship was provided but the eligibility criteria for availing the scholarship were to be Economically Weaker and/or Exceptionally brilliant in academics.

The campus life was very lively, full of freedom. The boys and girls were perhaps in the ratio 60:40 and all used to equally participate in the extracurricular activities, in the laboratory works, in the sports events and workshops whenever these were organized by the College. There was no such differentiation of the Caste, Religion, Sexual orientation, Politics, or economic status amongst the students. All were treated equally by the College Authorities.

I did not opt for the hostel as I was living in the same city in which my College was located and I sue to travel to the college by University Special (U-Spl) bus. However, I used to visit the college hostel as a few friends/classmates of mine were in the College hostel. The hostel rooms were quite spacious, neat, and tidy, and well maintained. The quality of food offered to the students in the Hostel Mess was also very good because sometimes I used to have lunch in the hostel mess. As far as the PG’s average rental is concerned, I really do not have any idea because I really never tried to know about that.

As far as the Alumni network and senior students are concerned, my experience was neither very good nor very bad. The Seniors were helpful whenever I approached them for any help or any kind of guidance. We used to interact with the Seniors during the breaks between the lectures. One of my alumni was an Ideal for me and I am connected with him to date.

I got the admission in the College on the basis of marks scored in my Class-XII examination. My Class-XII exams were over in the month of April and the result was declared in the month of May. During the month of June, the process for admission in the college started. I applied on the basis of Class XII result and got my name in the first cut off list. At that time in most of the Courses, the criteria for admission were marks scored in Class-XII. Only a few courses have an entrance exam for admission. I opted for this course as I was a student of the Science stream during the school and my College, Kirori Mal College was one of the best Institutions in the North Campus of Delhi University.

The faculty of my College was quite impressive. The tentative number of lecturers were about 15-20, one lecturer per subject as per their specialization. The average age of the lecturers was about 40-45 years. Most of them were well qualified. All were at least Post Graduate with M.Phil or other higher qualifications. A few of them were Doctorate and accordingly, they were designated as Lecturer, Professor. All the Lecturers/Professors were Masters of their subject with deep knowledge of the subject matter and were quite impressive in clarifying the subject.