Jadavpur University

Lots of positives are there to say regarding JU. It's the premier institution in West Bengal and perhaps entire eastern India for a reason. The free thinking, diversity, tolerance, political consciousness which it imbibes into its students is something everyone of them will fondly cherish when they will set foot out of those beloved gates for one last time.

As for my course, Biotechnology, the syllabus covered in 2 years is on par with most other national universities and institutions of eminence like IITs, IISC etc, as well as covers most of the topics asked in exams like NET, GATE etc.

Being a research oriented subjects with few students opting for industries, not many companies come for recruitment. However, having said that, Dr Reddys laboratories, Hyderabad, which is One of the leading pharma companies in the country, recruit students through campusing every year and also take interns for pursuing their summer internships there. I myself have got the opportunity and feel very lucky to be a part of it.

Frankly, there is never a dull moment while in JU, with three big fests, collectively called Sanskriti, organized by the Engineering, Science and Arts faculties in different times of the year. And those fests are indeed HUGE, with eminent artistes like Rupam Islam, Pritam, Arijit Singh, bands like the Local train, Indian Ocean which came last year. There are sports clubs, mountaineer club, photography club, which organize events and excursions, should you choose to be a part of them. In short, you'll never get bored here.

Fee structure is very minimal, in fact it is one of the most affordable universities in the country. With fees ranging from as low as Rs 500 per year to Rs 20000 for 4 years BTech (IT and CSE). My course of 2 years MSc Biotechnology costs only Rs 2000 per year.

You can have several scholarship schemes under the WB govt like the freeship scheme, which will ensure you don't have to pay a single penny during your stay. Also there is Swami Vivekananda Merit cum Means Scholarship (SVMCM) which will grant you Rs 30k per year till the completion of your course here.

Ju boasts of students from varied ethnicities and religions. Although essentially a state university, it provides the cosmopolitan environment which is absolutely essential for understanding others' culture and diversity. Everyone is very open minded in here. Labs are pretty good, however, being a public funded institution, infrastructure is lacking in some places, like replacement of old instruments and updating them. Annual sports events are organized every year with cricket, football, badminton, basketball, volleyball, carrom, chess and the latest addition Esports tournaments being held.

This actually depends on several factors, distance of your place of residence from the university, your family background, what type of hostels you're allotted etc. The New ones are really good, with 3 people sharing a room. However, some of the old ones are in bad shape with sometimes 5-8 students sharing a single room. In that case it's better to opt for a pg which are plenty around the campus.

There is a saying that wherever you go in the world, you will find a JU alumnus in some position or the other. And with just the mention of the word JU he will go out of his way to help you, so is the bond between the students.

The admission to most of the bachelors and masters degree courses in JU are through a written entrance exam followed by one or more rounds of interview. As expected, the standards of questions in the exam are quite high, however, if you manage to secure good ranks in the written exam, the interview will be a cakewalk.

Faculty is very forthcoming, friendly and super approachable. They're almost like our parents, ready to help us in every way possible, apart from being highly qualified. Many a times I've seen if some student was unable to attend classes due to some problems our teachers would invite him/her to the office and patiently explain everything again. For that purpose we have interaction session after class each day for 30 minutes.