HL College of Commerce B.Com Review By Prashnat Kumar

H. L. College of Commerce is arguably the best commerce college in Gujarat. The college is ranked among the top commerce college in India. I just looked at the contribution that this college made in the last 8 and half decades and decided to enroll at the H. L. College of Commerce after my H.S.C. results got out. The college has won Best College in Gujarat Award twice and thereby also enjoys a recognizable image not just in India but abroad. Students of HL are referred to as HLites. In addition to academics, the college provided me to explore the other sides of my interests like participating in cultural and sports activities. No other college of Gujarat University has yielded results as H. L. has. Hence, this is why to take admission to H. L., one needs high grades in their H.S.C. exams.

College admission is purely based on merit. Yes, there is a small portion of management quota but most of the students who enroll at H. L. come through the merit list. The college helped me widen my knowledge horizons and made sure that I am in tune with tomorrow to contribute to the best of my ability in the cultural and economic empowerment of my country. College offers only 2 programs B.Com and M. Com. The college library needs to be boasted as it is one of the biggest libraries that you will see in colleges. The library is equipped with 40k books and also provides national and international magazines and journals. The college has always acknowledged the importance of co-curricular activities to make sure the students are not just confined to studies and that they can explore larger things in life as well. The college has a sports ground, theatre artist club, and harmony music club among others. Enrolling at H. L. College of commerce was certainly the best decision that I took after passing my 12th exams. The college also has enabled various scholarship programs that are enabled by Gujarat and the central government.

The subjects that are included in B.Com are in accordance with Gujarat University’s syllabus. However, it’s the professors at H. L. College who made the syllabus look as easy for me as they were always on their toes to help out students. Dr. Mona S Kelshikar who is the principal of the college and also the head of the English department was certainly the best English teacher, I have come across in my life. I couldn’t score as expected in economics but Hetal madam who was our economics professor cleared my basics and I can proudly say that I was the highest scorer in economics just because of her.

However, there’s one complain that we rose during our time was that we weren’t provided enough practical training sessions. The best part was that the lectures were held in the morning and that allowed me to spend enough time on the things I loved to do.

Others can only envy as H. L. has arguably the best faculty. The lecturers are not just highly qualified but are also highly knowledgeable and hold significant experience in teaching. The lecturers who were there in my time were serving in the college for more than a decade and hence you can see the amount of experienced that they held. As mentioned earlier, the college’s principal and other staff members were very supportive and never hesitated to help out students. Besides studies, our professors encouraged me to participate in other cultural activities as well and also appreciated my efforts.

Guest lectures were held from time to time in the large auditorium that was inbuilt within the campus. Almost all the members of the faculty were easily accessible and were up for held whenever needed. Also, the faculty has built up a student council where the students can raise their concerns and are addressed shortly.

Talking about placement only 8-10 percent of students from our batch got placement. Having said that corporate hardly hires B.Com students and hence H. L. scores well as some of its students during our time were placed in companies like KPMG, TCS, and Godrej & Boyce among others. However, the scene is completely different when it comes to M.Com students as almost all of them got placed.

The average package that the students were offered was Rs. 5 lakhs per annum and the highest package went all the way to Rs. 12 lakhs per annum. This is one department where I wish college had done more as I had to find a job myself but as soon as I told the interviewers that I have passed out from H. L. College it wasn’t tough for me to get the job.

Separate boys and girls hostels available. The hostel was not located on the campus. The girl's hostel and boys' hostel are located at different locations. The girl's hostel is situated at the commerce circle while the boy's hostel of AES is located at the university campus. The hostel has all the basic facilities such as clean rooms, Wi-Fi, clean water, laundry, and security among others.

There are time restrictions at the hostel but to be honest very few of them used to follow them. The hostel is good but won’t say that it is the best choice as there are various rented accommodation facilities available near the college campus.

The campus is sprawling green with high percentage seating areas. There’s an inbuilt complex called H. L. Plaza within the campus. The complex has a stage and has all the amenities to host large events that are held from time to time in the college. There’s a lush green sports ground as well. The ground is used for hosting university cricket and football matches. Also, there’s a mini-pavilion area in the ground. The pavilion has a well-equipped gym, table tennis tables, and chess tables. Also, there’s an Ahmadabad Education Society sports complex which has volleyball courts, basketball courts, and 6 practice cricket pitches.

The classrooms are huge and properly ventilated. Students enjoy all the facilities such as Wi-Fi, medical, and canteen which serves some of the best food that I ever had. The library which needs no mention is of the highest standards that you will find. The library is digitalized and has one modern computer lab which has nearly 30pcs. I can proudly say that my college was the best when it comes to infrastructure. Starting from Sports ground, library, and classrooms everything is up-to-date.

Even 2 years after passing out my life at H. L. is something which I still miss. The pleasant campus that the college has made sure that the students who pass out from their college are industry-ready and will be ready to add value to the company they will work in the future. The best part is campus location as everything that one needs such as banks, restaurants, hospitals, sharing auto-stand is nearby. The campus too is endowed with all basic amenities that made our life 'go easy' during college hours. The professors made learning more interesting.

H. L. shaped my personality 3-dimensional through the clubs that they run inside the campus such as HLCCMUN which is a debate club, Jhankaar Beats Dance Club which organizes dance workshops from time to time, and my favorite Theatre Artists Club which aims to develop the theatrical skills of the students and during college fests and inter-colleges programs the club provided me the opportunity to participate in drama and skit. TED has authorised our college to organise TEXx events. I am not sure but as far as I reckon H. L. is the only college that has this facility. I wanted to study business and will have to admit that choosing this college was the best decision that I took.