Medical Schools in India
In India, students are required to complete the undergraduate course (MBBS degree) after completion of 12th standard. The course has a duration of four and half years along with one year of internship; thus it would take five and half years to earn the MBBS degree.
After this, those who wish to specialise in a particular field can pursue their postgraduate degree – MS / MD for another three years or two years in case of diploma course after MBBS and in case of super specialties, there would be another three years after MD/MS.
Eligibility and Admission Requirements
The eligibility at most medical colleges in India is 10+2 with 50 percent marks in biology, physics, and chemistry, except at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, which requires 60 percent marks in the aggregate for general category candidates and 50 percent for reserved categories.
Some schools such as the Benares Hindu University, Varanasi, has age limits of between 17 and 25 years, whereas the AIIMS has a lower age limit of 17 years.
English is mandatory in many universities, which also requires candidates to qualify through the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) or through their own tests such as the AIIMS Entrance Examination and the JIPMER test.
Entrance exam
Medical entrance exams are of the objective type based on school-board syllabi to test the candidates’ knowledge of 10+1 and 10+2 subjects and their aptitude.
NEET is a three-hour test with 180 questions but no negative marketing.
Application
The applications have to be submitted online for entrance exams that are usually conducted in May or June.
After the result of the entrance exams are announced, candidates are called for counseling, and a merit list prepared on the basis of marks scored at the entrance test and the 10+2 exam.
Direct admission is also provided in about 30 medical colleges in the country.
Top schools / tuition
The tuition fee in medical colleges in India is heavily subsidized. The premier institution for medicine, AIIMS, collects an annual tuition fee of Rs. 5,856; the annual fee for NRI quota students is $75,000 for the entire course.
The fee at JIPMER (Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research) in Puducherry and Karaikal (Tamil Nadu) is Rs. 12,000 annually. It is $75,000 for NRI quota seats for the entire course.
The other reputed medical schools in India are the Christian Medical College, Vellore; Armed Forced Medical College, Pune; Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore; Lady Hardinge Medical College, New Delhi; Grant Medical College, Mumbai; and Madras Medical College, Chennai.
The tuition fee in most schools depends on the quota category. The highest annual fee under the all-India quota is at the Goa Medical College, Panaji (Rs. 89,500), and the lowest at the Maulana Azad Medical College, Delhi (Rs. 240), not including hostel accommodation, registration, and other fees.
Under the state quota, the annual tuition fee can be as low as Rs. 250 (Maulana Azad Medical College, Delhi) and Rs. 4,000 (Tamil Nadu), and as high as Rs. 70,900 (Maharashtra). Students admitted under state quota are required to sign bonds to serve the government for certain periods.
Students admitted under NRI quota require to pay $20,000-$75,000 for the entire MBBS course in government and government-aided colleges.
For government quota seats in private colleges, the annual tuition can be Rs. 10,000-Rs. 700,000; for NRI quota seats, it is usually $25,000 annually; for management quota seats, it can be as low as Rs. 400,000 (Kerala) and Rs. 18,000 (Rajasthan).
A few private colleges, such as those in Karnataka, charge annual tuition fees between Rs. 2,100,000 and Rs. 4,000,000.
Scholarships
Many scholarships are available to medical students. Top scholarships include the Central Sector Scheme, NEST Senior Scholarship, Vahani Scholarship, Combined Counselling Board Scholarship, scholarships through the All India Premedical Scholarship Test, Indian Oil Academic Scholarships for MBBS, CBSE Merit Scholarship, and BHEL-FAEA Scholarship, to name only a few.
Also read:
– Medical Schools
– Medical Schools in USA
– Medical Schools in Canada
– Medical Schools in the UK
– Medical Schools in Australia
– Medical schools in Singapore
– All about the Medical Entrance MCAT Exam
– MCAT syllabus and pattern
– MCAT preparation
– Best MCAT Books
– Average GPA for top Medical Schools