Everything a College should be!

VES College of Pharmacy provides that wholesome college experience that every college student MUST experience. The college is thriving well in all fields - be it academics, co-curricular or extra-curricular spheres. There are multiple Committees that a student can opt to be a part of apart from focusing only on academics.

VESCOP is affiliated to Mumbai University so the Course Curriculum and Exam Structure are as prescribed by the University itself. Each academic year is divided into two semesters. In each semester, there are mid-semester exams (both theory and practical), which get added onto the internal marks for the final score.

VESCOP has its own Placement Cell which is very active and helpful for students who wish to take up a job after graduation. This year, students were placed at Nestle, Medlife, Pitchman, Aspira, Sulphur and Birla. In the past, renowned companies such as TCS, GSK, Merck and Sanofi have also recruited students from VESCOP. The packages offered to fresh graduates are quite decent.

Equal importance is given to co-curricular and extracurricular activities, as much as to the curriculum. There are a number of seminars throughout the year on both technical and non-technical topics. Usually, there is at least one National-level technical symposium as well which is organised every year. The symposium includes seminar, poster presentations and workshops.

The fees for the entire course is about 5.8 lakhs. First-year fees are around 1.4 lakhs for the college. Other expenses include travel expenses per month, depending upon your mode of travel on an average it will probably be around 1500 per month. There is also a hostel facility available - separate for girls and boys - so if you opt for the hostel, there will be additional monthly expenses for hostel and mess.

The college provides a lot of assistance in obtaining scholarships once you are a student. Scholarships are provided either on the basis of merit, or need, or both. There are numerous scholarships available from Suman Tulsiani Trust, VES Trust, Tata Trust, Schott Scholarship and many more. The college provides guidelines on eligibility for each of these scholarships.

The campus is quite big and spread out and not just restricted to the college building. There are many places on campus where you can go when you want to take a break. There is free Wi-Fi available all over the campus. The gender ratio is more or less equal over the years. There is a slight majority of female students in my batch, but in the later batches, it is almost equal.

The alumni network is very strong and our alumni never hesitate to help us with any help we need. They are always ready to provide any guidance on career paths after graduation or even simply how to prepare for examinations. There is an Alumni Cell of the college which forms a nexus between the alumni and current students. There is an Annual Alumni Meet every year organised in college.

I took admission into VESCOP in 2015. We had to give a separate entrance exam called MT-CET at that time which involved questions on Physics, Chemistry and Biology or Mathematics. The exam was in the last week of April. Once the scores of the entrance exam were declared (in May), the actual online application process for admissions commenced.

The faculty at VESCOP is highly qualified and knowledgeable. All of them hold at least a Master's degree, while most also hold or are working towards a PhD. They are very supportive and approachable, and never hesitate to clear doubts. They put in a lot of effort to ensure that the learning process becomes easy and interactive for students.