Apeejay Institute of Mass Communication Review By Rajvirsinh Rathod

Apeejay Institute is India’s leading Mass Communication institute and thereby they have limited seats and only the best stands a chance to get here. For full time 2-year PG course we were not eligible as Auro’s Bachelors degree was not considered and had to opt the one-year PG diploma course with specializations. My back-up option was NRAI School of Mass Communication as that is also a good college but after Apeejay. Once I got the call that I have been selected to be a part of Apeejay, I was on cloud 9 and only 2 out of 8 that we went there could make the final list. Apeejay was a lot different from Auro as everything was different here. From people to college calendar and most importantly the weather. Never saw such chilling winters before and such scorching summers ever. Capital city has everything in extreme but probably the best place for journalism studies as Delhi is the power house of our industry.

There were 5 specializations to choose from and I literally got confused as which one to choose. Advertisement & Marketing was not my forte but during orientation program in which we were free to shift from one course to another we had sessions on which course has what to offer and what role will we play after completion of the course. This was probably the best thing because this took all my confusions away and I had no issues in choosing digital media and online journalism. Never thought that we will be in the middle of a pandemic two years later but today online journalism in India has taken large strides. Academic was purely based on experimental way getting to know things. There were editing rooms at the college that taught us what the news is and how we should present so that we can sell it. The course had nothing to do with the subjects that are of no use for us and that made studies interesting as we only studied the things we should know.

Faculties were renowned people and someone who commanded respect. It could work in favor as they had answers to all our questions. Seats are limited and therefore taking a note of every single student was possible for them. The guest faculties that visited here were from the field of journalism and most of them were the ones that we see them on TV often.

Delhi is the powerhouse of journalism and almost all the media houses have their offices here in NCR. After working as a trainee in Times of India group, I was offered the job directly by them and didn’t have to go through the campus placement procedure which was too noisy actually. Students were confused and probably needed an orientation on that on which company should they choose. Many of us had the privilege of continuing with the ones where we did our internships while the others were comfortably placed at the campus as all the big names from production houses to media channels, all were there to take the students they felt have something in them.

Hostels of Apeejay Institute are good enough but at the same time quite expensive. Also, the seats are limited and one had to audition for that as well. There were a number of Boys PG around and staying there was rather better because hostels have curfew timings plus the food that is fixed. Gujarati’s can never enjoy a fixed menu as we believe in changes. Thus, hostel didn’t look that attractive to me that I will leave my freedom for. For those who can stay in the hostel, there’s a hostel that is quite good and food quality from what I came to know was average. (I am saying this from what I heard as non-hostellers were not allowed to have food at the hostel mess).

How a mass communication college should look like, Apeejay is the prime example. The editing room which was meant for online journalism student was also our classroom most of the time and my word how good that room was. Just like that there was a TV studio and a press room and a radio station inside the college. For practical we were taken out but seriously speaking the college has everything at its helm and that is at par with what we saw at the respective offices. Some of might not understand the kind of facilities that were there but for mass communication students; I don’t think we could have ever imagined a better infrastructure than this.

Delhi colleges rocks and our college too would organize rock nights and events during the festivals. Party anthem was on at the campus during the annual event which I guess was one of the best that I have seen from my naked eye. Rappers were called upon and many noted personalities to perform during that function. Only Apeejay or for that matter only colleges of big cities can bring personalities at the colleges to perform, Campus life was like we are already into business as it never looked like we are studying but as if we are on a training program.