Experience of college life

Management is rather sad to be honest. They do not listen and take longer than permissible breaks. They hardly ever attend to our needs and when they are, the pace is so slow, it might just take you months to get a job done. They are hardly ever completely aware of the proceedings unless instructed by a senior authority.

I took NEET UG in 2013 and by centralized counselling system conducted by the Maharashtra state and hence forth was allotted GMC AKOLA. It was my second attempt as I didn't get through AIPMT in 2012. The fact that NEET was CBSE based and I was better prepared the second time, I scored 340, 94.3 percentile and got through the first hurdle.

The course MBBS as we all know is not an easy one. It takes everything one has got, servitude, hardwork,money, patience. First year has three broadly divided subjects anatomy, physiology and bio chemistry. Second year has pharmacology, microbiology, pathology and forensic medicine. Third year is ENT and ophthalmology with community medicine covering a vast portion. Third year has a second part, also called fourth and final year with major clinical subjects like gynaecology, medicine,surgery, paediatrics and community medicine.

As per the course and the guidelines of MUHS nashik, our university and the MCI all MBBS graduates need to complete a mandatory internship. THe stipend offered as per government standards is variable and depends on the college. The stipend offered at GMC Akola is a monthly 7000.

Since it is a government institution, we have a bond of ten years according to which we have to work with the government and therefore most of the students take up government hospitals post MBBS. The other option is joing a central government agency that allows the person to release from the Bond. A healthy fraction of graduates prepare for post graduation and go on to pursue those.

The college is situated in the vidarbha region of Maharashtra and therefore most of the Maharashtrian customs and festivals are heartily celebrated with gusto. Ganpati fest and the Annual college gathering are the two major events. Regular quizzes are common twice a year inter college and within the college as well.

Being a government college the fee is decided by the the state government committee. It is 65,000 annually in Maharashtra. Including all expenses it comes around 75,000 excluding the books and exam fee that has to be paid separately.

Since I belong to the general category, no loans or scholarships are awarded to the category. However students of reserved categories are awarded merit based scholarships.

The college encourages the cultural and similar interest but to an extent. The debates and discussions are mostly medicine based. Nevertheless students are never behind in arranging trips and tours, and sometimes health camps as well. Some are average and some are not.

The hostel rooms are good enough although a little cramped. The hostel washrooms on the other hand is a sad story. Shared washrooms tend to create problems for everyone and since everyone has a different understanding when it comes to hygiene, some arguments are expected. The mess however is below average and the food is unpredictable at best. Its either bland or spicy to the point of inedibility.

One of the finest things about the college is the the senior-junior comradeship. Once you are past the scary first year phase it is rather easy to interact with seniors. They can tell you about everything you need to know including the academics, teachers and the gossips. They are obviously more experienced and can help you avoid the plausible pitfalls.

Each semester has an exam and then there is a university exam per year. The exams are tough and do tend to take toll on the students. We have regular practicals and the practical exams are pretty fearsome because of the number of vivas one has to appear in. There are internal and external examiners and the course of the viva can get unpredictable.

Faculty like any other institution was a mix of sorts. Some professors were as strict as they come and some were blissfully ignorant. Clinical professors are the busiest of the lot and they have the most experience as they deal with patients regularly. Getting hold of these professors is also a challenge. On the whole it is average, as expected in government run institutions.