A good college overall.

The college is well managed as it falls directly under the heath department of Government of Gujarat. Overall, it is one of the better medical colleges in Gujarat. Its strength are good infrastructure and regularity of classroom sessions. However, there are some lacunae as well for eg. lack of any inter-college cultural event. Also the college is no well represented in university level fests. Sometimes, some of the key faculty posts remain vacant for long period which creates some pressure on academic schedule.

I entered the college through Gujarat Higher Secondary Board Examination (Class 12th) and Gujarat Common Entrance Test (GCET) examination in 2006. My score in Gujarat Board examination was 281/300 and in GCET, 109/120.

The curriculum for the MBBS course is drawn up by Medical Council of India (MCI) for all the medical colleges - government as well as private - operating throughout India. It is structured year-wise into 4 years, followed by an year of compulsory internship. It is well balanced between theoretical as well as practical aspects. Practical aspects are taken care of by clinical sessions which takes places in an attached hospital. However, in terms of Research opportunities, the college is not very promising like most of the other colleges in India. However, some of the departments, like Pharmacology and Physiology do provide decent recent opportunities for post-graduate students. Dept. of Pharmacology of the college has got many research articles published in renowned national and international journals.

Internship is compulsory part of MBBS course. It has to be completed under recognized government hospitals. So, internship was arranged by the college itself, either in the hospital attached with the college, or in some other recognized hospital.

Being a government college in discipline of Medicine, a bond is demanded by the government from every student entering the college. As per the terms of the bond, every student is required to serve under government health set up for certain number of years. So, after completion of MBBS course, job is offered by Health department of the state government itself.

The college celebrates its annual cultural festival every year in months of April-May. However, participation is restricted to the students of the college only. Apart from that, college regularly holds Continuing Medical Education (CME) programmes as well, in which outsiders from the field of medicine are allowed on the basis of payment of registration fees.

Being a government college, fee structure is very feasible. During my time there, academic fees for a year was Rs.6000. Hostel accommodation was provided to every student, for which Rs.1200 was the charge for the whole year. Compared to fees charged by many private medical colleges, ranging from Rs. 3-5 L per annum, the fee structure is very affordable here.

Being a government college, no separate loan or scholarship facility was offered by the college, apart from those loans/scholarships offered by the government to needy students.

A good thing about the hostel is its proximity to both college and the attached hospital. One not so good thing was unavailability of a proper sports ground. There are a badminton court, a gym and a table tennis room in the college building. And there is a volleyball court in front of hostel. Apart from these, not many sports facilities exist in the campus. A good tradition of the college is an annual tour, which is organized by the students themselves and informally supported by the college. My batch toured to Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Odisha during our 4 years there. The college is particularly active in National Medicos Organizations (NMO).

The hostel facilities are one of the best among all the medical colleges in Gujarat. A new 9-storey hostel building for undergraduate student was inaugurated in year 2012. Regarding mess facilities, kitchens run by groups of student themselves on a co-operative basis, are in vogue. Food quality and hygiene standards in these co-operative kitchens are particularly good. Apart rom that, canteen facilities are available in the college, where the food quality is passable. Many tiffin services are also available around the college.

There is not any structured alumni network of the college - not as far as I know. Neither have I heard of any alumni get-together. However, students generally maintain personal contacts with their seniors and juniors. Senior students are helpful all the way. Also, some informal group of alumni do exist in various cities of Gujarat.

The full course was divided into 4 years. Every year had two internal examination followed by the final university examination. Apart from that, practical assessment used to take place at the end of clinical postings under every department. Clinical postings used to be of 2 months each. So overall, In a year there used to be 3 examinations plus about 5 practical assessments. Lab work was primarily used to be in first and second year.

The admission merit was drawn up based on the scores of class 12 and GCET examination, in the ratio of 60:40 respectively. The process of admission was conducted by a central admission committee, under government of Gujarat. A common admission process took place for all medical colleges under Govt. of Gujarat. The counselling centre for the admission process was situated in Ahmedabad. Now days, admission process takes place online through a no of centre situated at various places throughout the state of Gujarat.

The faculties in the college are transferable among various medical colleges under Govt. of Gujarat. The faculties are well qualified according to government prescribed standards. All faculties are on permanent basis, not on ad-hoc basis. Compared to many other medical colleges, regularity of classroom sessions was remarkable during my time in the college. Some of the departments like Pharmacology, Psychiatry, Anaesthesia were very well endowed with highly knowledgeable teachers.