Jawaharlal Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research - [JIPMER], Pondicherry

Life at JIPMER is extremely hectic yet very productive. A typical day begins at 8 in the morning for the MBBS students. The sleep-deprived students run for the first class often reaching late. 

MBBS students have clinics from 10 while first-year students have dissection hall classes. Clinics are very intriguing wherein students are dressed up as doctors carrying stethoscopes. Lunch starts at 1 pm and lasts an hour.

The clinic classes are followed by afternoon classes from 2-4:30. The end of the classes at 4:30 marks the end of the day as well and students are free to do whatever they want. Students usually hang out with their friends after their hectic schedules. During tests, students can be seen in the library or pacing up and down the hostel corridor. Yet, we have our times of joy too. Every few months there are games tournaments. The campus life is fun and the annual fest, Spandan, is hosted in the first week of September each year. 

Overall it's a continuous cycle of study, eat, and sleep with occasional fun moments with your friends!

If you work in a central government-funded institution, you will definitely receive the paycheque on time that is the last working day of the month. However, the situation may not be the same in state government institutions where salaries are not received on time.

I have a few friends in Kasturba Medical College, AIIMS, and JIPMER and all of them told me that they receive their salary exactly on the last day of the month.

However, many other less-reputed hospitals and medical colleges, dont pay their residents and interns or they receive the paycheck extremely late. I believe in order to create a strong healthcare system, we must cater to basic necessities such as paying the healthcare workforce on time. 

The life of an MBBS student at JIPMER is quiet and tiring. Yet, they get to learn and experience new things every day. Their daily schedule looks like this 

• 8 am to 11 am: Lectures
• 11 am to 1 pm: Anatomy dissection hours
• 1 pm to 2 pm: Lunch break
• 2 pm to 4:30 pm: Practicals

In the evening some prefer playing basketball, football, hockey, table tennis, and badminton while others order just napping or hitting the gym. Some music lovers go to the band room to play out various symphonies and musicals. A few artist students spend their time participating or practicing for fine arts competitions.

September brings in a huge crowd of students from different colleges attending Spandan. It’s a 7 day intercollegiate cultural literary and sports extravaganza that makes the monotonous life of JIPMER students a bit vibrant.

October witnesses the Jipmer premier league ied teams of girls and boys. There is also Curie Day which is the annual girls' hostel day celebration. The hostel is open for boys as well and girls perform dance and sing. After all this enjoyment, the exams begin and students are reminded of their primary goal. 

January is usually spent at home. In February, students go to Pune for the fest at AFMC -‘Silhouettes’. March brings in the tension of the annual university examinations and everybody can be seen surrounded by books. The seniors organize a wonderful Holi celebration- a cultural night followed by gulaal in the morning to ensure that students don’t succumb to the stress. With this the most happening year, the first year comes to an end. 

The subsequent years bring in additional tasks such as Research projects, voluntary teaching, quizzing, etc. 

No, I don't think excellent medical colleges like AIIMS, PGIMER, and JIPMER are in any way overrated. They deserve the hype they receive. The patients consider JIPMER doctors as the human form of God. They trust them blindly and also respect them a lot. 

Apart from the highly experienced and educated doctors, JIPMER has some amazing facilities. Most of the departments are well-established with highly qualified doctors. The best department of JIPMER is said to be Pediatrics with the best doctor pool. 

As far as academics are concerned, the UG curriculum is well-organized. The students are taken to clinics regularly and are confident about their basic clinical skills. The best past us exposure to all sorts of cases from Male breast cancer to life-threatening emergencies and all kinds of surgeries and non-surgical cases. Recently JIPMER has started focusing on specialized surgeries in the Super Speciality departments.

The campus life is great and the hostel facilities are no less than 5-star hotels. Students are allotted single rooms and the campus is green and beautiful.

Considering everything, facilities, education, and campus life I feel JIPMER is not overrated at all. 

You will be surprised to know that the JIPMER exam is one of the easiest medical exams. The majority of the questions are easier than those asked in NEET. The ratio of the difficulty levels of JIPMER, NEET, and AIIMS is loosely 0.75:1:1.5.

The JIPMER syllabus is based on the Tamil Nadu state board syllabus , so it’s quite easy for CBSE students but the topics that are only a part of the Tamil Nadu state board need to be studied. The exam paper has 10 questions from the English language and 10 from logical reasoning. 

However, the acceptance rate is extremely low at JIPMER due to the lesser number of seats. Unlike AIIMS, JIPMER does not have many branches. The main JIPMER is located in Puducherry while a new JIPMER came up in Karaikal. There are a total of 200 seats under JIPMER, 200 Seats in JIPMER Pondicherry & 50 seats in JIPMER Karaikal. Given the fact that around 1 lakh students appear for the exam every year, and only 200 get selected, the acceptance rate is as low as 0.15%.

Overall, the selection rates of the aforementioned institutes have been arranged below

AIIMS Delhi(~0.02%) > JIPMER Puducherry (~0.1%) > New AIIMS(0.5–1%)

Here are a few pics my friend at JIPMER shared of his hostel room.

His study table is right in front of the window.

A wall with a motivating poster and a whiteboard to jot down important formulas 

Overall, the facilities are decent and bearable.

The official authorities don’t award any prize money to NEET toppers but the toppers are awarded cash prizes from their coaching institute. For instance, Allen Carrier Institute produced NEET 2022 toppers Tanishka. In the victory carnival of ALLEN, she received 21 Lakhs along with other toppers. 

Additionally here is what will happen if you get AIR 1:

• Your name will be included in the Limca Book of Records.
• Every news channel will want to feature you making you a celebrity overnight.
• All book brands pay for you for your testimony.
• The coaching module's back cover will have your photos.

However, I feel one must value respect and humbleness more than the money you earn.