Indeed the best years of my life

My overall experience is a good one. I love my college life, my course, the faculty and every other thing that makes me proud to be associated with Manipal. I have a great social life, we participate in events, go out to different places and are living it to the fullest.

I gave the NEET Entrance Exam 2016 to get into Manipal. Basically, the admission was based on the rank obtained and I obtained a good rank so I was able to get MBBS in Manipal. I wanted to be a doctor that is why I took up Medical stream in 11th and for the same reason chose to do MBBS. My admission process was very smooth. We had a counselling session in which I was asked the stream I'd like to choose and since I had a good rank, there was no interview process that followed.

Like any other medical courses, this has a lot of practical work involved. MBBS is the only stream in which there is a lot of theory too but it becomes easy to follow once you're clear with the practical aspects. The curriculum is same like any other medical college. We have to write research papers, attend student seminars which is a part of internal assessment and a lot more. Apart from this, we have subjects that require integrated teaching, group based learning and sometimes self learning. All and all the course is well structured and organised.

An internship is provided only when one has completed their final year. The general stipend is Rs.25000 for an intern. The internships are mostly in hospitals which are immensely helpful. We get to assist in surgeries, work with different departments etc which is fun as well as a great experience to how life is going to be as a doctor. Apart from diagnostics and medical procedures, we get to learn the hospital ethics and discipline which only an internship can teach. It makes us prepared for the bigger world out there.

Talking about a MBBS course, there are no placements from the college but internships available are brilliant. Generally, students after graduating setup there own clinics or start working in hospitals. Many go for the masters and doctorate degrees. Some excellent students who complete their PhD from the college itself are offered placement in the college, either as doctors in the hospital or as teachers in the college.

There are two fests which are the show stopper things of the year. Utsav, which is the annual fest and is full of dance, music, debating etc events. It also has the DJ night which is the most exciting thing about Utsav. Verve is the inter batch fest in which we participate semester wise and see which semester rules them all. There are 30-40 events with cash prizes involved. So this happens on a big scale. We also have sports fest etc.

The fees is not at all affordable. Currently I am paying 9,19,000 per annum which is a little too much for a 5 year course. The reason being that one, mine is a private college so the fee is always on hike every year. Two, because MBBS is itself an expensive course. This fees is excluding hostel and mess which accounts to another 1lac. But then it's all worth it. We have South East Asia's largest medical library, largest indoor sports centre of the world- Marena which has about 200 treadmills and everything that is required. Indoor squash, table-tennis, basketball, name it and we have it.

Yes, I availed one in association with ICICI Bank. It is based on parents annual income. There is a free-ship for students within 100 rank. There is 10 thousand Konkani scholarship for students with Konkani mother tongue. SAGES -scholarship for academy general education students. Student loans are provided by State Bank of India in collaboration with the college itself with very less student subsidy.

The college offers a lot of extra curricular activities and encourages you to be a part of the same. Dance, music, art and craft, debating, sports etc. Whatever you wish to be a part of, it is available. They definitely help in developing our inner selves. There are Yoga sessions organised many times in the semester for releasing about ourselves. Facilities for the sports are of A class. Every sport facilities are present and that to the international standards.

We have an option of choosing from different room types. Indira Girls hostel has single rooms which cost about 56000 per annum. Double room cost around 52000 per year which come with attached bathrooms. This was the non AC part. The AC rooms cost upto 1lac per annum. Chandrashekhar girls hostel is more expensive and luxurious with special beds and deluxe rooms. This is excluding the mess which is for around 50k per year. The food served here is just brilliant. Frankly speaking we usually don't miss our home food.

Seniors are the most helpful people when it comes to anything. Be it exams, places to go, books to refer, or even friends to make. They add to the good experiences in Manipal. There is an Alumni Students Portal for the interaction of the present batches to the passed out seniors. Many alumni even visit the campus and take some guest lectures.

The university exams make us very very tired. It's no cake walk if you're at Manipal. It is frustrating at times but then we look at the positive side of being prepared for the outside culture, so it seems legit. We have Asia's largest museum MAP - Manipal anatomy and pathology museum which is our lab. Over 50000 people come to visit this museum from all parts of the country. The labs are equipped with Ac and have all the required facilities. Yes, I would definitely agree that our day to day curriculum remains full jam packed.

The faculty is experienced and hard working. We have got some amazing teachers who have doctorate in their respective fields and have written a couple of research papers and are highly qualified. Their methodologies of teaching is very nice and is practical and student friendly. Their approach is very simple for a student to follow. What's even better is that there are cameras in the class which record lectures so that students who miss their lectures can see them later.