Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi M.A Review By Sourabh Bamal

When I look back now, I feel proud but back in the days; I was restless as after mild studies at undergraduate level at Presidency College Chennai, my life turned upside down. Education at D School was such that it was difficult to even go out on Sundays. One thing that Delhi School of Economics did best was that it made me become Socrates. By Socrates I mean the college made student think a lot. I should admit it that I was not that wiser but once I passed out from D School, I left it as a wiser man. One thing that I missed majorly at D School was healthy study. The reason for that is quite simple as D School hardly had any extracurricular activity. One has to study and study harder. D School is tough and getting admissions is also tough. The entrance is tough and one has to be up to date with the financial markets as many questions that came in the entrance were regarding that.

I have no idea where to begin as academics were seriously tough. I had to recall the days when I could relax because the chances of that are bleak. One thing about DSE is that drop out ratio at DSE after the 1st year is quite high and that’s purely because of the rigorous study that one has to do here. All the colleges that offer BA should have a little extra in their curriculum as after such a mild education in undergrad taking pressure of such tough studies is impossible. Some of the study material that we were given were written by none other than professors of LSE (London School of Economics).

Our faculty consisted of a lot of economists as most of the professors were gold medalists. As if the life was not tough already at D-School, the professors made it even tougher. The only place where we found faculty smiling and joking was JP’s tea stall. In classes they had a poker face and it was tough to read because every one or the other student used to get some serious scolding. I used to remember the time when my parents used to scold me and I used to give them back. There was nobody at D-School who could give it back to the professors.

D-School has an active placement and research cell. All our report card was sent to them by our HODs and they would directly categorize students for the kind of job they could get. Very few students could actually get to the placements but those who do, it’s a dream come true for them. Research assistant positions were the positions that were offered at an annual package of 6-8 lakhs. Eligible students acquired the placement from campus and I would consider it as a win-win situation. Getting an off-campus placement is quite tough so a little bit of hard work and you will have great placements. Thus, to have reward, one will have to work equally hard.

D-School doesn’t have an on-campus hostel and has very few seats reserved at the DU Hostel. The problem though is that the merit list of the hostel is based on your entrance rank. Firstly, the seats are limited and then one has to fight these criteria. It was almost impossible for student like me to even stand a chance to stay at the hostels. However, a good PG is never too far in Delhi. There were many in the vicinity of the college. At a price of 7-10k one can find the best PG.

One thing about Delhi is that all colleges are close by and therefore the atmosphere in and around the college is always young. North Campus top colleges like St. Stephen's College, Ramjas College and FMS Delhi were at right left and center of the college. The department of economics was B Block of the campus and one that was the most silent. The block had four classrooms, two staff rooms, and a tutor lab. The common facilities included the canteen and I never thought I have left Chennai as D-School, canteen makes us Dosa available that were similar or close to what I used to have at Chennai. The campus was big but a large part of it was the garden or the lawn which students used for group studies rather than playing sports.

In terms of co curricular activities, the D-School campus hardly believes in it. The reason is also obvious as if we fail to finish our daily work on time means more or less; we have built our own grave. You can count on me for the last words that I have said. I made a lot of friends at D-School with whom I used to study at the campus and was my partners during moments of despair as happiness at the campus was mild.