Ramakrishna Mission Vidyamandira: A Life Changing Experience

The curriculum provides a comprehensive retrospective of literature from the Old English period to Modern period, while also including English works by Indian authors to demonstrate the diversity and evolution of English literature over the years. The current curriculum I believe requires more seminars and lectures from guest faculties on contemporary research and topics.

Our college provides summer internships on various topics from academic writing to translation studies in English department. Other departments also have tie-ups in various prestigious colleges for summer internships, like Ashoka University, Ashutosh College, Ramakrishna Mission Narendrapur, etc.

I was a BA English student, the yearly fees was approximately 64200 rupees. There are numerous scholarships available for reserved individuals and EWS candidates as well as merit based scholarships like Swami Vivekananda Scholarship. The total course fees was 192000(variables may vary). The facilities available on the campus are all in service of the students so that they can get the most out of the education and environment. The atmosphere of the mission life and the basic essence of spiritual teachings are also taught to relieve the students of pressure of the day to day struggle.

There are various extracurricular activities and events hosted by the college typically on Saturdays every month or two. The involvement of the students in this considered mandatory and many participate in these cultural festivals enthusiastically! The books respective toeach courses are available in the library. The college issues books compulsory books for the semester from the long-term section of the library. The science departments have advanced tech and appliances available namely advanced equipments in labs of Industrial Chemistry. The Arts departments are also provided with smart classes and interactive sessions via smart-boards! Sports tournament is held annually where hostels compete each other in various sports. Even NSS campaigns and NCC campus are organised in other colleges across West Bengal. There is a student run photography club in our college - Vidyamandira Photography Club, where students explore their shared interest in photography. It is guided by seniors and some faculty members of our college who are trained in photography and the club organizes an annual exhibition for famous photographers throughout the country.

Hostel facilities are provided by the college and the rooms are great for the most part. If you're lucky you can even get rooms attached to bathrooms. Any technical faults in the room like light and fan problems as well as bathroom facilities are handled by the maintenance department. They're very efficient and hardworking and any problem is solved within 12 hrs. Students have their personal cupboards and tables and capacity of the rooms ranges from minimum 5 to maximum 10 people. There is a common bathroom on every floor and a common bathing and washing space in every hostel. The meal quality is decent. Rice, daal, another vegetable preparation and fish(non-veg) and curd(veg) every morning and egg and chapati/rice and daal every night. The quality is not always the best, but it is good enough so that one will not fall sick. On Sundays, chicken/paneer preparations are made and everyday 4pm some snacks are provided to the students.

Other than this, I applied for St. Xavier's and Scottish Church college. I didn't get in due to the required marks in class 12th and had my chance at Scottish Church but chose this college because of recommendations from previous alumnis and due to the prestigious legacy of this college. There are two rounds of admission in Ramakrishna Mission Vidyamandira. First is the written test which you apply through their website and registering yourself as the candidate and the second round is the interview where both the departmental teachers and administration faculty introduce you to the faculty and test your capability to be an asset to the department as well as your commitment to be in this college. It's a pretty smooth process and once you're cracked the written test, rest of it is easy if you're committed to be in this college.

There are in total 5 teachers in the department. Some have retired recently. They've currently been replaced by guest lecturers, some of whom are alumnis of our college. All of the teachers of the department challenged us and encouraged new and innovative thought process so as to learn via creative thinking rather than textbook definitions. They provided us space to explore our interests and guided us every step of the way to deeply contemplate and understand the concepts, themes, and subtext of the subjects included in the syllabus. There is only one exam(end-sem exam) per semester with continuous assessments and tutorials making up for the rest of the grade. The syllabus provided us a comprehensive understanding of the whole timeline of English Literature from the Old English period to Modern period and even explored english writings by Indian authors, all of.which are very relevant and necessary for the curriculum.

As it is a residential college, the students are generally inside the campus during night time. After college hours, from 4.30pm to 6pm students are allowed to go outside and relax. Many go outside to play at the playground located at an associate facility nearby the college, while others go to Belur Math for mind relaxation and others go out to eat. Other than the allotted time one can only leave the campus with permission of their respective hostel superintendents. There is a gym available on the campus but most people go outside for their daily exercise. There are two student canteen on campus that provide readily available and cheap food and each hostel has a common room in their ground floor where students hangout and play table tennis or carrom.