St. Xavier's College (Autonomous), Mumbai

Location:

St. Xavier's College is situated between Metro Big Cinemas and the BMC building near Mumbai CST. It's about 7 minutes walking distance from the Central and Harbour Railway Terminus and is also pretty much accessible by numerous buses plying all across the city.

Infrastructure:

Well, most Mumbaikars or atleast the ones who've seen a lot of Bollywood movies must have seen St. Xavier's College in some movie or the other. It's that greyish rock structure complete with typical Gothic architecture; looks fabulous on the outside. The interiors aren't too bad either - roomy classrooms equipped with great wooden benches, a fantastic library and brilliantly maintained labs, atleast the biology one. Other departments, except physics, which students say could've been better, are pretty decent. Internet, if required, can be accessed in some of the labs or at Xavier's Institute of Communication (XIC). Hostel facilities are also available on campus.

Courses offered:

• Bachelor of Commerce
• Bachelor of Science
• Bachelor of Management Studies
• Bachelor of Mass Media
• Bachelor of Science - Information Techology
• Masters & Ph.D Courses in Arts and Science
• M. Sc. in Industrial Biotechnology & Enterprise (IBE)

College Run Courses:

• Diploma in Clinical Research
• Diploma in Forensic Science
• Diploma in Gemmology

Fees:

Just Rs.4000 (for arts) to 5000 (for science) a year!

Faculty:

Amongst the Sciences, the Physics department takes a hitting again. Maths comes close to being abused but is saved by a handful of professors who happen to teach very well. The Statistics, Geology and Microbiology departments at St. Xavier's College, Mumbai are particularly well known for having exceptional faculty. Amongst arts, except for Psychology which can improve a little, all other departments have amazing teachers.

Attendance:

It's strict as a school; if you bunk plenty, you better have a GOOD reason. But doesn't mean the college discourages students from participating in co-curricular and extra curricular activities such as workshops or sport events, all of this is considered as a good enough reason.

Crowd:

Perhaps the BEST in Mumbai; you'll find here a lot of beautiful girls (some of who also happen to be smart), innumerable guitar players, even more music lovers and even more English speakers! Funny looking girls, funnily behaving girls, really cool guys (with long hair, french beards and shorts), and a few science lovers as well can be found here. If you're at St. Xavier's College, you'll have the time of your life!
The college has a 50% reservation for Catholics.

Canteen:

Spread over a huge area, it's kinda divided into three parts - one of which is slightly enclose, another part is completely enclosed and the third being  completely open. Great ambience though... and good hygienic food at reasonable rates. Super Sandwich, Dahi Sev Puri, BBC and Iced Tea are a must try here.

Hangouts:

Well, you don't really need to hang 'out' when you're at St. Xavier's College, Mumbai; first you need to exhaust all the places inside the campus. If you keep exploring, you'll find a good number of places in here. Once outside the gates, there's Sterling, New Excelsior, Eros, Regal, Metro for the movie lovers, Mc D's for Mc D's lovers and a variety of other places such as K Rustomjee for ice cream, Marine Drive, Gay lord, Relish, Shiv Sagar, subway food stalls at CST (yes people eat there and still survive), Cannon, Zaffran, Baadshah for Falooda and the list goes on...

Festivals:

"Malhar" perhaps the biggest festival in Mumbai, almost 30 times bigger than an average college festival belongs to St. Xavier's college. With Malhar (celebrated in end-August) begins the season of festivals at St. Xavier's College which continues till mid-February. Amongst the various festivals celebrated around this time, Janfest (a music fest), Eco-nundrum, XRCVC's Antar Chakshu, ITHAKA (a theatre fest) and XIC's Madma are really worth a mention.

Placements:

The legacy and reputation of St. Xavier's College, Mumbai are enough to attract big companies for placements. Citibank and Ranbaxy are regular recruiters at the college. Bain, a consultancy firm, offered packages as high as Rs. 10L per year. Plenty of students here go for higher studies, but those who want the jobs can rest assured that the college will get you one.

Contact:

St. Xavier's College,
5, Mahapalika Marg,
Mumbai, Maharashtra 400 001.
Tel No.: 022 22620661
Fax No.: 022 22659484
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Website : www.xaviers.edu

Verdict:

Supreme legacy, unmatched reputation, amazing campus life coupled with decent academics are enough reason to NOT leave this college if you can get in.