Good College

Overall the college is decent. There are a few problems such as non-air-conditioned rooms etc. but the pros of the college outweigh the cons.

I chose IP College for Women, as it has one of the best faculty for English Honours in the entire University. Moreover, the college has a good reputation with amazing facilities. Along with academics, there are various other things that the students can take part in. Cultural Societies like Afroza, the Western Dance Society and Abhivyakti, the Dramatics Society are very active and give the students the right amount of exposure. The college gives immense attention to sports and physical fitness. IP College is one of the only colleges to have a swimming pool, on-campus. Overall, all the facilities provided by the college appealed to me, and I chose to take admission in this college.

The course curriculum of BA (H) - English is well thought. Although, it could have been a little better. Students have never studied English literature the way it is taught in college, so the University should start with very basic texts in the first semester.

Yes, our college has a placements and training cell - JEET. A large number of internships are offered to the students. Every department has representatives in the cell. The average stipend for an internship is around 3-4k per month. There are some internships offered by non-profit organizations which are unpaid. Internships from Ministries are also offered to the students of our college.

The cell works hard to get good companies to the college. We have companies like DE Shaw and Macquarie coming to our campus for recruitment. Last year, a student got a package of Rs. 18 LPA from on-campus placement drives. Job opportunities are available for all departments.

The major event of our college is the annual cultural fest - 'SHRUTI'. The fest is generally a two-day extravaganza with various events and activities being held throughout the college. Shruti 2018 saw Rooh - The fusion project on Day 1 and the Indian Ocean on Day. Department fests are also organized in the college where various types of activities are done. Competitions and quizzes are held to encourage the students to participate.

For general Arts courses, the college is expensive. Where other colleges of Delhi University charges around Rs. 10,000 - Rs. 12,000 per annum, the fee at IP is Rs. 19, 000. I don't think the college provides any 'Special' privileges which account for such a high fee. Even though the fee in itself is less, but as compared to other colleges of the University, it is quite high.

Scholarships and loans are offered by the college on the basis of a financial status of the student. A scholarship is given to a student who has scored 60% and above and whose parent's income is less than 2 lakh per annum. Laptops are also given to needy students on loan for one session.

Campus life at IP College is good. The only problem is that the college is not air-conditioned which makes attending classes in the summers a huge problem. Attendance is taken very strictly in this college. Students from diverse backgrounds and different states attend the college. Extra-curricular activities and events are held throughout the academic year. There are no restricts as to what the students can/can not wear. All religions and castes are widely accepted and there is no discrimination on the basis of caste, colour, religion etc. IP College is famous for being a liberal arts college and it definitely lives up to its name.

IP College has two hostels - KG hostel and IP hostel. KG Hostel is located within the main campus and the IP Women's hostel is located across the street. KG hostel was renovated in 2017 and the IP women's hostel in the year 2018. The hostel facilities provided by the college are pretty good. Rooms are available on twin-sharing basis but are large and spacious. A bed, study table, chair, almirah, book rack are provided in the rooms. The rooms are air-cooled or air-conditioned. The only problem is that the hostels do not have enough seats for all the students of the college.

The alumni base of the college is poor. Even though there is an Alumni committee, not many people are willing to come back to college for events or reunions. The Alumni committee along with the Placement Cell of the college are working towards building a strong alumni base for the benefit of the college as well as the students.

As the college comes under the University of Delhi, the exams are also conducted by the University. The date sheet for the exams is pretty good. We get plenty of time to prepare for each exam. In both the semesters, we got at least 4 days to prepare for each paper. The difficulty level of the exams is not very high.

Admission to any Delhi University college is done after the University releases the cut-off lists. The admission process is pretty simple. You have to register on the website of Delhi University and select the courses you want to apply for. Documents have to be uploaded and you have to mention your category, ECA and Sports if any. The registration fee is pretty nominal. After the payment is done, you have to wait for your 12th results. The colleges start releasing their cut-off lists from the second week of June. If you are able to clear the cut-off, you have 3 days to go to the college and take admission. You have to pay the first-year fee within a stipulated amount of time and the admission is done. I had 94.75% in my 12th. When the cut-off for IP College came down to 94.5%, I withdrew my admission from the previous college and took back my original documents. You have to carry your all original documents for the admission process. The documents include - Class XII mark sheet, Transfer Certificate, Character Certificate, Class X mark sheet/certificate, Provisional Pass Certificate (if XII mark sheet has not been issued), Migration Certificate (if you are from a different state), Category proof (If you have applied under a particular category). The admissions officers will check all your documents thoroughly and will calculate your best-of-four subjects marks. If you meet all the criteria, you will be granted admission. Your original documents will be kept so as to avoid multiple admissions. A fee payment portal will be opened for about 12 hours and you have to pay the fee within that time. After fee payment, download and keep the fee receipt for further use. This fee receipt will be the proof of your admission as well as your ID card until one is issued.

I feel that even though the college faculty is good, they expect us to learn how to write good answers, academic papers, do research by ourselves. Even when you ask the teachers what kind of answers fetch good marks and what is the correct way to write answers, they refuse to explain and say that they can't tell this to the students. I think this is something they should work on because even after completing one year of my study, I don't know what is the correct way to write critical answers.