NEET 2024: Life in a Medical College; Students' Perspective

While NEET 2024 is all set to be held on May 5, 2024, and lakhs of candidates are waiting for the NEET 2024 application process to start, read here to know how is life at the medical colleges of India.

NEET 2024: Cracking the NEET exam and getting a seat in the top medical colleges of India is a dream for many students. Lakhs of students appear for the highly competitive examination every year. Indian medical education is renowned worldwide and getting a seat in the best medical colleges here is not at all easy. After hard work and discipline while preparing for the NEET exam when the young medicos finally reach the medical colleges and take admission, what they actually get as their campus life.

AIIMS establishments in India to strengthen health infrastructure

Under Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY), till date, 22 AIIMS have been approved by the Cabinet. The Scheme has two components, namely, (i) Setting up of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS); and (ii) Upgradation of existing Government Medical Colleges/Institutions (GMCIs).

Under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) for “Establishment of new Medical College attached with the existing District/Referral Hospitals”, 157 Medical Colleges have been approved since 2014.  

The NEET UG 2024 application form is expected to be released in January 2024, along with the information brochure and detailed notification. NEET examination is held every year for admission to various UG medical courses including MBBS, BDS, BSc Nursing, BAMS, Veterinary, and other medical/paramedical courses.

• NEET UG Application Form Date 2024 by NTA to be out soon!

Shiksha spoke to a few medical students studying in various AIIMS to know how it is to study in AIIMS colleges.

Parnika Nangla AIIMS Delhi UG student talked about her daily routine at AIIMS. She said that after waking up, she goes to class, then goes to postings, has lunch, and attends more classes. The Sports and extracurricular activities are in the evening. She and other students occasionally have fun parties and the deep conversations among the students normally happen at night. She also added that the routine depends on the semester of course.

The hangout places for AIIMS Delhi students are Nescafe on campus and The Pageturners library. South Ex and Green Park are also near to the college for students to hang out.

When we asked her about the sports activities in AIIMS Delhi campus, she said that there are good sports facilities and every year batch has some national level players. There are a lot of sports at AIIMS Delhi College, as per her.

Those who create good social relations at AIIMS Delhi can achieve high

When we asked her about what was her expectations before joining and what exactly is the reality, she said, "Pretty much as I expected. I guess the setup is more informal than I expected from a college. The culture here is a lot of forming personal relationships with juniors, seniors batchmates and faculty. And if one makes good decisions about social and academic priorities and creates good relationships then the upper limit of what one can achieve at AIIMS is really quite high."

We also spoke to Rahul Chopra of the 2020 batch of AIIMS Rishikesh. We asked him the same set of questions about expectations Vs reality, hangout places and what it is exactly like to study at AIIMS Rishikesh.

About daily routine, he said, "In daily routine, I wake up at 6.50 and then there are classes and posting from 8 in the morning to 4 in the evening. For posting, these days our group is going on field visits. So about half of the time I am awake, I am actually in college. After that, I start studying at around 5 pm after relaxing and snacking. And with intermittent breaks, I try to study till 8. And then I go for dinner and then for a walk of 45-60 mins. Around 9.30, I come back and after giving a call at home, I start studying (again) and try to study till 11-12 am. Then I sleep. Earlier I used to play badminton as well in the evening but now it has been a while. On Sundays, it is a bit relaxed (as expected), sometimes me and my friends go out but I feel like as I am progressing through the course, it has become a bit difficult to make and coordinate plans with everyone."

When we asked him about the hang-out places, he added, "Around the campus, we have sitting benches placed under trees and on the roadside. There's also a ground where you can just walk or sit (especially in winter during afternoons). Apart from that, I'd say that they've maintained enough plantation and greenery around the campus, so it's just nice to walk around the campus itself, particularly on breezy days. Outside the campus, we have aastha path just parallel to the river for walks and hanging out and it's quite beautiful there too. The other places like cafes etc., other places are not in the immediate vicinity but it is a manageable distance from campus."

"For sports, there are more than enough opportunities but the thing to manage is the time for academics, rest and recreation. We have a cricket-cum-football ground, basketball court, volleyball court, tennis court. And there are badminton courts in every hostel and even outside the hostels. Also, the sports committee keeps organising regular intramural tournaments and there's this big sports fest - Invicta, and not only for outdoor sports but also for a bit less exhausting indoor games as well such as chess, carrom, and even video games. Also, our teams try to represent our college in most of the national fests but it kind of depends on the exam seasons of participants as well. But I myself have not been able to utilise all the chances that I get for participation here," he added.

Teachers, Seniors Cooperative; Good Clinical Exposure

"Before joining, I had expected things to be tough ( it being a medical line and my first time living in a hostel), so I was kind of prepared for things to hit me when they would. Academically, you have to cover a vast area with vast depth and maintain it not just for exams but for lifelong which is different from school life and in college you always think things are slipping out of your hand. The teachers are very cooperative and approachable despite being under a heavy workload which I think is a big plus point. The clinical exposure and the cases we get to learn from them are pretty good but you have to be willing to put in extra effort to extract most of it. The seniors are also very cooperative. The big thing is to maintain your time and energy for both academics and for self. Sometimes it does get monotonous, but being surrounded by people of my age group, we try to help each other out and just keep pushing," said Rahul Chopra.

Read more:

• NTA to release NEET UG 2024 application date, official notification and exam schedule soon at neet.nta.nic.in