The best general degree college in the city

Apart from studies, the college works to develop a good and charming personality in the students.The college administration is very systematic and strict so as to ensure utmost discipline. There is no scene for politics. It's taken care of that students and teachers reach the classes on time and students attend their classes regularly, failing which strict action is taken against them. Students are required to wear their ID-cards and use of cellular phone is restricted. This is pretty essential for maintaining discipline. One negative aspect of the college administration is that they impose a huge amount of fine for silly stuffs which often very pressuring on the parents.

Being a general degree college, the selection procedure was based entirely on marks obtained in the Higher Secondary examinations followed by a formal interview. There are only a limited number of seats (10 at our time) for students from State board. I secured 84 percent of marks from the state board (Higher Secondary level) by which I could get admitted there.

For studying Microbiology (Hons), chemistry was a compulsory elective and we had to choose an elective in between computer science and physics. My choice was physics as it's very much essential for the competitive examinations to get into good Universities. Whereas the syllabus of other colleges under University of Calcutta is pretty much backdated, the curriculum of our college is at par with national standards and is the sole reason for such a great success rate in relevant competitive examinations from our college.

On a regular basis, we had project works in our departmental laboratory. One of my projects was in collaboration with a fermentation industry in Chandigarh where we had to standardize a fermentation process in lab scale in our college lab itself and we were given a stipend (of 2000 INR per month) for that. The tenure of that project was 6-months (a semester). The project works are very authentic as it's a pre-requisite for working in an industry or in pursuing higher research.

Placements and job opportunities are NOT that great as most of the students opt for higher studies. But for a small fraction of students who do not want to pursue further education, jobs are arranged by the head of our department in companies like TCS, deloitte, IBM and school teaching jobs.

Each department has its own set of events. For our department, in the month of May, every year, a national conference is arranged where students present scientific research works and also allowed to listen to seminars given by eminent scientists. The biggest event of our college is the grand fest "Xavotsav" held in January every year where students from several colleges are allowed to participate in several categories of cultural activities. It generally continues for 3-4 days and on the last day, Bollywood singers are invited for putting up their thrilling performance. It's a grand experience for all.

The college fee is a bit expensive as compared to other colleges. At our time, it was Rs. 2800 per month (for Microbiology Hons course), now the fees is even higher. There is a basic fee of around Rs. 500 per month and the rest is for laboratory facilities for Microbiology as it's a self-financed course. But, I'd still say that it's pretty reasonable as compared to the services (teaching, molding personality and laboratory and research facilities) offered.

Scholarships from the college are available only for the poor students who have good academic records. However, rank holders are also awarded with yearly prizes. Besides, the college faculties also assist the students to get national level scholarships by their outstanding academic and scientific performance.

Apart from classes, we had a friendly interaction with our teachers. We could participate in many extracurricular activities like dance, music, singing, debates, recitation, NSS and sports. The annual sports event is held in January. We even get selected to present our lab-based project work at Indian National Science Congress which is a great achievement as only a few colleges train their students to present their scientific work at undergraduate level.

Hostel facilities are available only for students who stay more than 10 km away from the college. I never required such a facility as my house was near to the college, but I've been to the hostel to visit my friends there. Big rooms are available on twin-sharing basis. Rooms are nicely maintained with regular cleaning and the food quality is also satisfactory. We have two canteens in our college, one at the ground floor and the other is the roof-top canteen. A wide variety of food and drinks is available there at an affordable price.

The alumni network is strong and is widespread all over the world. The senior students assist their juniors to get an overview of the curriculum and how things needed to be dealt with as well as in proper understanding of studies. The alumni network guides the students of the future career opportunities and prospects in different universities.

Apart from the main examinations conducted at the end of each semester, regular class tests used to be held (continuous internal assessments) to keep the students up-to-date with their daily lessons. It used to be of immense help as it served to cut down the pressure before the main examinations.

Firstly, we were called for an interview based on our marks in Higher Secondary examination. It was a short interview to judge our basic understanding of the subject we are planning to pursue and English. Having cleared that, we had to submit the filled-up admission form, pay the admission fee and get admitted on the very same day - a simple procedure.

The faculties train the students with utmost care and concern. Every topic in the syllabus is properly dealt with in class. No private tuition is required as attending daily classes enable students to have a good grasp of the subject concerned. Daily class assessments are held for the faculties to understand the strength and weakness of the students. The faculties are approachable even after classes and they are always ready to help students to gain better understanding of the subject and assist them to have a brighter future. Regular feedback is taken from the students' side regarding every faculty (whose classes students attend) by the college administration.