The Pros and Cons of the Xavier's Way of Life

The curriculum is very well balanced in terms of relevance to current world topics. In the case of sociology I don't think it prepares you for real world jobs as the Sociology curriculum is very theory based and it doesn't teach a lot of real world applications, but it does thoroughly prepare you for further academic pursues such as purse using your masters in a different country. They teach you to write complex thesis and dissertations which are necessary skills to know. The teaching methods could be improved and a lot of teachers could work on the feedback that they received from the Student feedback forms, as several of the teachers are not good at engaging the students during lectures and often make them fall asleep. The frequency and timing of exams is pretty balanced, the difficulty is also just right but the marking system could be a bit more lenient.

There is a placement cell at Xavier's that you have to pay a fee of 1200 to join. In this cell, you find constant internships and job application portals from various reputed companies such as Morgan Stanley, DE Shaw, Accenture, Ernest and Young, Deloitte, etc., to apply for with great salary packages and stipends if you get selected and placed. Although getting placed through the vacancies here has proved to be difficult for humanities courses as most of the openings are for Economics, Statistics and Commerce students. And there are several rules to be followed when using the placement cell to obtain placements, such as the paperwork regarding the academic credit that is acquired through these internships and once selected the candidates are discouraged from declining the offers, as it results in them getting blacklisted by the companies.

For my course which was Bachelor of Arts in Sociology the fees was 7000 per year with no additional fees as such. But courses such as BMM and BMS had higher fees, depending on the facilities and amenities provided to them. There are scholarships available as well as financial aid for students from impoverished backgrounds.

The fests that are most popular at St. Xavier's College are Malhar the flagship fest of the college in August, Janfest - the Indian Music Group fest in January, Ithaka - the English Department fest in February, Zephyrus - the BMS Department fest in November, Vividha - Ancient Indian Culture Department fest in February, etc. The library at St. Xavier's College is very famous for it's vast collection of books from across decades and it's wide level of accessibility for students, as well as the infrastructure is quite beautiful and several tv shows and movies scenes have been shot there. Almost every classroom has a projector screen to facilitate audio visual learning. The classes for BA and BSc do not have air conditioning but classes for BScIT, BMM and BMS have air conditioning, which is added to their yearly fees. There are specific rooms made for audio visual lectures such as the MMR, SCAVI and HERAS Mezzanine. There is giant football and basketball court right in the middle of the quadrangle as well as a volleyball and badminton court near the college foyer. There is a gym with a lot of equipment for the students to use as well as ample space for students to practice various sports and team games. Student run groups include the Extra Curricular Committee ECC, All India Catholic Union Federation AICUF, Social Service League SSL, Student Inclusion Cell SIC, Student Council, Student Support Group SSG, Marathi Vangmay Mandal MVM, etc. I was part of two of these groups and they helped me grow as an individual, it gives students a lot of exposure to develop interpersonal skills and confidence as well as makes them feel like they belong somewhere, fostering a sense of solidarity among the students.

In my opinion, the admission process for St. Xavier's College was pretty smooth and the portal worked well when I applied. This was the only college I had applied for, after a while I was thinking of applying to Ramnarain Ruia College and Jai Hind College but then I got accepted in Xavier's so there was no need to apply to the other colleges. The parameters on which they select students was purely based on merit, with a few exceptions for minority quotas. Xavier's has a a larger minority quota for Christian students, as it is a Jesuit institution. The cutoffs range at around 95% for Arts and around 90% for Science.

The faculty members are a bit less as compared to the number of students in a particular course. For example the history department only has two professors and the Hindi department only has one professor. This might lead to increased strain and workload on these faculty members. The course structure for BA includes six semesters with two CIA (Continuous Internal Assessment) exams per semester and one end semester exam per semester. Depending on the course the marking schemes and the difficulty of the exams differ. Mostly everyone passes but a few students do end up with KTs. But as far as I know the course curriculum is very relevant. The best department in my opinion is the Sociology department, but I may be biased because I am from that department. But the teachers are very sweet, enthusiastic and approachable people who excel at their jobs. Second best department would be the Psychology department faculty. They are also very kind-hearted and fun to work with. A department that I dislike would be the Economics and Statistics department, the faculty there is known to be very cold and detached from their students. As for the rest of the departments they are pretty okay. The BSc departments also don't have a great reputation at Xavier's.

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The locality surrounding St. Xavier's could be considered the safest, as there is a Court of Law nearby, a hospital, a railway station as well as several restaurants in the vicinity. Favourite hangout spots could be the Sandwich place at Xavier's West gate, which holds a lot of sentimental value for students, as well as the sugarcane juice stall right in front of college, the restaurant Kyaani and co, the bars Kitkat and Gokul near marine lines, etc. Xavier's only has a boys hostel as far as I know which is on campus, although there are a lot of PGs and hostels nearby Xavier's for outstationed students though they might not be very affordable due to the prime location that is South Bombay. As I previously mentioned the college does have a cafeteria and gyn facilities, the food is great and they have a bakery, juice and salad counter and chai corner as well, aside from a few health concern cases. There's also Jehangir Art Gallery, Colaba Causeway, Crawford market and FashionStreetnearby