The Xaverian Life

Intially I applied for Techno India, but when I got listed in the merit list for SXC, it was a dream come true, since getting into Xavier's was my goal. I did not avail for any ST/SC/OBC quota but I believe my Roman Catholic background was a contributing factor in my admission. The cut-off marks for my course was around 95%, but for Arts programmes, English was the required subject for admission evaluation. The admission process was very official and we had to do all the process on our own without our parents help, to groom us in an independent way. We had to sit in a hall and fill our documentation about the generic elective subjects we will be taking, and after that we had a brief counselling type meeting with my department faculties who provided us our Cyber cards.

As a commerce student in my Class XII, I scored 100 in Economics, but I wanted to learn more about the world history and policy formulations, and so I was naturally drawn towards taking Sociology as my college discipline. The initial faculty number for the sociology department was 5, then in my final year we had overall 8 professors. The class strength was around 55. The professors were highly skilled in their respective fields, as they all had a specialized field within the Sociology discipline. The teaching method was very unique and professional as well as exciting. The exams were very timely and were decided before the semesters even began, since Xavier's is known for strictness, discipline, and fixed schedules. The exams were quite difficult to crack but quite unique.

There are various internship opportunities available to get our social credits, and these internships are generally with local NGOs. But for internships related to jobs, it was all done by the students itself. For myself, I did a one-month work from a home internship with SICW which was a local NGO where I did report writing and interviewed children from lower-class background.

I enrolled in the placement cell of my college before starting my final year, but it was voluntary. Our college is known for good placements but due to the pandemic, the placement opportunities suffered. However, there was no point in enrolling into a placement cell as a Sociology student, since the majority of the placements are offered to the Commerce and Science departments.

The fee structure was very modest since it was an aided course. But due to my relatively high cost in a hostel, I had to apply for a concession for my college fees. Although we did not have any fees hike for college, the hostel fees were hiked every year, except for the final year due to pandemics, where we did not need to pay the full hostel fees.

The annual college fest was known as Xavotsav, which was the biggest in Kolkata and quite popular. It was organized in the month of January from 22nd - 24th. The libraries are filled with a variety of books and journals along with unique historical artifacts. The classrooms are very clean and historical. There are several societies and clubs in the college and every department has their respective society and you are automatically a part of your department societies. You also have a dedicated department fest conducted annually.

My hostel experience was the best part of college life. I was on the 6th floor (the topmost floor) and probably had the best room in the hostel. The hostel meals were also great. However, the cost for the hostel is pretty steep and increases every year. Since the hostel was located in a posh area, we had access to every amenities we can think of.