The journey to the world of medicos begins from the minute one chooses PCB
Every year students register themselves for various entrance exams for admissions in different medical colleges. The figures are astounding, around 15 lakh aspirants compete for just 80K MBBS seats every year in India.
Let’s get into the detailed stratagem for the same.
Categories of medical colleges
Before we discover the topmost medical colleges in the country and their admission processes, quick know-how of the three types of medical colleges will be helpful.
- Government medical colleges: These colleges are run by either the central or state government. All the expenses in these colleges are borne by the government with negligible expenses for students.
- Private medical colleges: Such colleges come under state universities and are run and maintained by a society or a trust. However, the fee is regulated by a state-fees regulating authority.
- Deemed medical colleges: These colleges come under a deemed university. They are autonomous and are eligible to conduct their examinations because they are not established by any government body. Moreover, deemed colleges also have the right to decide their fees and hence are out of the reach for the common man.
Presently, there are only some states that regulate the fees of some seats in private colleges. Additionally, the Supreme Court has set up committees to fix the fees in private colleges but deemed universities are not covered by these committees. The good part is, nearly 50 per cent of total MBBS seats in the country are in government colleges, and hence comparatively affordable for the common man because of their nominal fee structure.
The admission processes
The eligibility for admission in top medical colleges throughout the country is through various entrance exams. These exams are necessary to decide a student’s capabilities for such prestigious institutes. Although, there are various exams for the admission process but can be divided into two broad categories:
- Exams for Undergraduate Courses (MBBS, BDS, and BVSC): These exams mark the beginning of the journey for the medical field. NEET (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test) is the exam that is mostly taken by students every year for admission in undergraduate courses. Entry in top colleges like AIIMS Delhi, PGIMER etc. is through this exam only.
- Eligibility for NEET is that the aspirant must pass his/her high school with Physics, Chemistry and Biology as compulsory subjects. NEET is conducted once a year.
- Exams for Postgraduate Courses (MD & MS): NEET-PG is conducted every year for admission in colleges for master’s degrees i.e., specialization in various courses like MD in anatomy, MD in ENT, MD in forensics etc.
- Eligibility for NEET-PG requires a valid MBBS degree from any institution that is recognized by the Medical Council of India. Moreover, students must also complete a rotatory internship to qualify for NEET-PG.
List of top colleges
In the list that follows, top colleges are ranked by NIRF (National Institutional Ranking Framework) according to various factors like infrastructure, placements, faculties, academic performance etc. The list covers colleges which are for both Undergraduate and Postgraduate courses.
| S.No./Rank | NAME OF THE COLLEGE | LOCATED AT |
| 1 | All India Institute of Medical Sciences | Delhi |
| 2 | Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research | Chandigarh |
| 3 | Christian Medical College | Vellore, Tamil Nadu |
| 4 | National Institute of Mental Health & Neuro Sciences | Bangalore, Karnataka |
| 5 | Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences | Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh |
| 6 | Banaras Hindu University | Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh |
| 7 | Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences & Research | Kochi, Kerala |
| 8 | Jawaharlal Institute of PostGraduate Medical Education & Research | Puducherry, Pondicherry |
| 9 | Kasturba Medical College | Manipal, Karnataka |
| 10 | King George’s Medical University | Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh |
The list does not end here, there are several other colleges as well but the above stated are mostly preferred by the students because of the discipline and the quality of education. Moreover, deemed colleges are less preferred because of the extremely high fee structure.
The reasons for preference of Government Medical colleges over deemed/private ones are:
- Extremely low fees: Government colleges have extremely low fees as compared to private colleges. For example, the MBBS course fee of AIIMS is expectedly very low with the annual course fee of INR 5856.
- Exposure: As compared to private/deemed colleges, government colleges provide better exposure to patients so the students can learn more treatment options and gain confidence with various types of cases.
However, admission to government colleges is not that easy, it requires hard work and rigorous preparation with the help of proper sources and various platforms like Speedlabs.in which monitors every single student with the help of AI-integrated video lectures etc.
Key Takeaways
There are presently 511 MBBS colleges in India encompassing 261 private and 250 government medical colleges for aspirants who want to pursue their careers in this noble field.
Also published on Medium.