college review

Symbiosis School of International Studies, in short, was the biggest mistake of my life. It's not worth spending 5 lakhs. I've heard that they increase the fees by 10% every year. Apart from the hostel which is managed by Symbiosis International (Deemed) University, nothing provided by the college is worth the money. The health centre is even worse. They don't check the patients on time. The medicines prescribed are either too strong or ineffective.

Course curriculum is good. So is the exam structure. However, the permanent facility is incompetent. The director, despite having experience working in UN, could not bring in companies for placement.

Literally no placement at all. College does not help in finding placements either. On the contrary, the faculty asks us to go for a second Masters, preferably from some foreign universities. They also support selected students (or the director's favourites) in doing so. To cut is short, I had passed in April, 2019. Cut to October, 2019, I am still jobless with a Masters in International Studies from a 'highly reputed' college. Less than 5 people from my college have managed to get a job.

Deepavali (Diwali). Our college never celebrates any other festivals. We were not even given holidays for other religions' festivals. Be it Easter or Muharram, forget celebrating, we had classes from 10 to 5.

Expensive. The fees, for our batch, was 5 lakh Indian rupees for the whole course. Additionally, we had over 3 lakh Indian rupees for the hostel. For international students, the fees was double ours.

No scholarships were available. They helped us get a student loan. Since I haven't taken that, I do not know about the process. According to my friends who had taken the loan, it is a fairly simple process.

Apart from a table tennis board and a carrom board, we hardly had any facilities available. We had a basket ball court and a foot ball court that we shared with two other colleges, but these were rarely used. Tournaments were not initiated by the college. We did not participate in any either. The one time one of my classmates participated in one, she won a price. She was promised that her travel cost and other expenses would be refunded, but it is still pending even after two years.

Hostel facilities were amazing. Good rooms, clean bathrooms, very accomodating staff. We had an inhouse doctor. Any time we fall sick, he was there within 5 minutes. If we had to be taken to the hospital, even if it's the dead of night, they would arrange a vehicle and two lady staffs. If we do not have any family member around, they would arrange a bystander for as long as we are in the hospital. From maids to the warden, everyone was sweet.

There isn't any formal alumni network, but we have made our WhatsApp groups and LinkedIn groups. Some of our seniors have tried helping us with the job hunt and all. The bearers of this unofficial alumni group is much better than the staff and faculty at Symbiosis School of International Studies.

I had applied through college website using my tenth, twelfth and degree marklist. The second stage of admission process was a personal interview and written ability test. The shortlisting was done immediately.

Guest faculty is amazing. But the permanent faculty is highly incompetent. The only good part about the college is the deputy director. Director is very partial towards some students. Opposing opinions aren't considered by the faculty. They "teach" a prominent party's propaganda.