CMC Vellore's Review & Verdict by CollegeDekho

Campus at a Glimpse

Christian Medical College or CMC Vellore is considered one of the most popular medical colleges in the country, with a huge campus and the latest modern technologies at service. Founded in the 1900s by Dr. Ida S. Scudder, this private institution grants admission to hundreds of students every year, who wish to study Medicine and Health Sciences. CMC Vellore is located in Tamil Nadu, India. It has been approved by MCI, and accredited by NABH. Some courses at CMC Vellore are accredited by AERB (Atomic Energy Regulatory Board) as well.

CMC Vellore offers a wide range of Undergraduate, Postgraduate, Diploma, and various other specialization courses to students across the departments of Medicine, Nursing, Allied Health Sciences, and other streams. The highlight of this Christian-community-run medical college is that it also offers distance learning courses to eligible students who cannot cater to regular learning courses at the college.

Admissions at CMC Vellore are conducted based on the NEET UG, NEET PG & NEET SS entrance examinations. CMC Vellore claims to offer a high-quality education, however, the whole student experience is not always as pleasant as it may appear. As per a few reports, the number of female students is comparatively a lot less than other private colleges in India. The location of the college also makes it difficult for interested candidates across the country to commute towards the far South. The regional language barrier poses another challenge for non-English speaking students studying at CMC Vellore. 

CMC Vellore Rankings

NIRF Ranking:

CMC Vellore has been ranked as the third-best medical college in India by the NIRF Ranking, for three consecutive years in a row. Check out the CMC Vellore NIRF Rankings below:

Other Rankings

Mentioned below are some of the other rankings as recorded by different organizations for the year 2023: 

CMC Vellore continues to grab a consistent spot among the top 3 best medical colleges in the country since 2021. CMC Vellore seems to be making remarkable progress in the field of medical science. If the trajectory continues, the university can even bag the first position in NIRF ranking in the coming years.

CMC Vellore Academia & Batch Size

CMC Vellore has a relatively lesser seat capacity than most Private Learning Institutes, although it conducts a large number of admissions across several medical disciplines every year. It imparts education through online classrooms, physical classroom lectures, self-studies, and tutorials. Mentioned below are the details of CMC Vellore batch size according to the corresponding course structure:

OurTake:

CMC Vellore has a fairly decent batch size across all disciplines. According to the data submitted by the varsity, the number of female students is significantly less than the number of male students at CMC Vellore. The college must address this gender gap and introduce proper measures to tackle this issue as soon as possible. 

Pedagogy for Programmes

Mentioned below is a list of the most popular courses offered in CMC Vellore:

CMC Vellore's Infrastructure 

CMC Vellore is known for its huge campus infrastructure, consisting of the most modern facilities for enhancing the learning experience of the students. Let’s take a quick glance at CMC Vellore infrastructure in detail:

Classroom

CMC Vellore infrastructure highlights all modern amenities required for the students residing in the campus hostel buildings. All classrooms are spacious, fully air-conditioned and well-furnished. Each classroom is properly equipped with all the necessary amenities for conducting medical classroom learning. Additionally, every classroom has an installed projector for conducting e-learning mode of classes for students pursuing a distance course. The entire campus is Wi-Fi enabled, and hygiene and cleanliness are especially looked after throughout the college campus. Each classroom has a capacity to seat about 50-60 students at once. 

Internet Connection

CMC Vellore has a very strong and stable internet connection access throughout the campus. All classrooms, staff rooms, libraries, laboratories, cafeteria, etc., have wi-fi access all round the year. However, many students have reported instances wherein the internet connection has been disrupted time and again due to minor inconveniences. Additionally, there are many blind spots on the campus where students have found Wi-Fi access to be inaccessible, making it difficult to exercise internet connection. Despite reports made to the authorities, there have been no modifications as of yet. Due to the large area of the campus, the authorities have failed to take into consideration minor student inconveniences pertaining to campus infrastructural errors. 

Library

The library at CMC Vellore constitutes a large section of the campus. It is stacked with a wide variety of databases, e-resources, books, periodicals, journals, etc., along with articles and research papers that are not easily available outside the college campus. Additionally, all bibliographic details of the available resources at the library can be searched and viewed online. The library at CMC Vellore offers various facilities, including lending, reprography, remote access etc. Moreover, the wireless network which is installed in the Dodd Memorial Library, is accessible throughout the campus of CMC Vellore. The entire library is air-conditioned and completely automated.

Laboratories 

With a number of high-tech laboratories spread across the campus, CMC Vellore offers a fine quality laboratory experience to the students. The Microbiology laboratory at CMC Vellore is an NABL-accredited laboratory. Additionally, each laboratory is well equipped with modern technologies and machinery, along with an in-stock availability of laboratory equipment. All of them are fully air-conditioned and equipped with high-end servers. Each laboratory is well maintained by assigned designated lab persons to keep all the amenities available and safe for student's use. The seating capacity at each one of these is also fairly decent. 

Hostel

CMC Vellore hostel facilities are considerably better than that of many private institutions. The accommodations provided for students are well-furnished, air-conditioned and clean rooms. The students' abodes are spacious and properly equipped with the basic everyday student necessities: clean drinking water flowing 24*7, power supply backup, laundry facilities, entertainment zones, on-campus Medical healthcare facility, telephone services, food, and 24*7 security services, etc. There is greenery surrounding the hostel buildings with serene views and a peaceful atmosphere.
Boys and girls have separate CMC Vellore hostel wings with their dedicated separate common rooms and activity rooms. Around a total of 250-400 students can be accommodated at the hostel of CMC Vellore. All hostel buildings are assigned a warden and a senior in charge in the absence of a warden, a gymnasium, a medical care facility, an activity room, an auditorium, etc. Regular encouragement for extracurricular activities is also very common on the campus of CMC Vellore.

Canteen

The canteen space at CMC Vellore is an ideal place for students to unwind and engage in meaningful discussions. It is spread across a large section, with both closed and open eating areas, serving hot meals throughout the day, and clean running water for drinking. The closed cafeteria is fully air-conditioned, with modern furnishings and an automatic cooking system. The canteen has a huge food storage facility. Special focus on hygiene and cleanliness is always maintained in the canteen kitchen and moreover, the prices of the food items are also reasonable. 

Health Care Facility

The CMC Vellore also houses the main hospital which has over 7,600 staff, 1,200 doctors and 2,400 nurses on average. Additionally, over 6,000 beds are available for patients coming from different parts of the country, and another 2,600 beds are stationed for in-house patients. Thus, there's a 24*7 medical assistance available inside the college campus for students belonging to all departments of Medical Sciences. Interestingly, there are separate medical healthcare facilities stationed at the hostel wings as well, to cater to emergency medical requirements. The college campus has its own medical vans, in case of medical transportation facilitation.

Sports

The institution has a good reputation for its emphasis towards extracurricular activities. Therefore, it is no surprise that the college campus hosts a number of sports activities for its students to indulge in. The college campus has multiple courts for Basketball, Badminton, Football, Cricket, Volleyball, etc., along with a number of gymnasiums and auditoriums. Regular sports tournaments are also a common sighting at the college campus.  

Our Take: 

There is no doubt that the CMC Vellore College campus is the epitome of infrastructural genius, with a large number of on-campus amenities available for both students and faculty. However, one of the major setbacks for such an infrastructure is that the number of students granted admission to this institution is relatively lesser than many other private colleges. This, therefore, prompts the question of the validity of such a huge infrastructure when the student-teacher ratio is merely 1:5.
Another major drawback of pursuing a degree at CMC Vellore is that, with the constant emphasis on extracurricular activities, students often get diverted from focusing on academic excellence to nurturing sportsmanship skills.

CMC Vellore's Diversity, Representation

CMC Vellore grants admission to a very minimal number of students every year, mostly around 70% of the students are usually from within the state. Being one of the largest medical colleges in the entire South Indian Region, the diversity and representation at CMC Vellore is essentially restricted to South Indian students. However, students belonging to different regions across the country apply for admission at CMC Vellore every year, making it one of the most sought-after medical institutes in the country for medical students.

Our Take:

CMC Vellore constitutes a large number of English-speaking students. As an institute mostly dominated by South Indians, the lifestyle, language, dressing sense, etc., are also vastly different from the standard generic ways across the rest of the mainstream medical colleges. This often poses a challenge for students belonging to far away states as they might not feel comfortable adjusting to the entirely new conduct. Moreover, a large number of admissions are preferred of the students residing in the home state, making it difficult for students belonging to other states to lucidly secure admission into the college.

CMC Vellore Internships & Placements

Internships

As per students' recorded responses, the internship opportunities for students studying at CMC Vellore are considerably higher than most private institutions, catering to the fact that CMC Vellore has been ranked at third place among the best medical colleges in the country, for three consecutive years. Many top hospitals and institutions are always on the lookout for interns to add to their valuable organizations, offering higher stipends and hands-on experience in the field of medical science. While the stipends may vary depending on the course of the particular student, the average salary range offered to students post graduation at CMC Vellore is fairly decent. 

Placements

The placement opportunities at CMC Vellore are relatively higher than at some private institutions. The CMC Vellore placement drives are organized professionally every year. Mentioned below is the previous year’s placement data of CMC Vellore:

Top Recruiters

Some of the top recruiting agencies to recruit students from the CMC Vellore are mentioned below:

Our Take:

Due to its significance in the field of medical education in the country, there is usually an abundance of job opportunities at CMC Vellore. Most top institutions and reputed Hospitals always prefer to recruit medical professionals from CMC Vellore, constituting the fact that the quality of education provided over here is claimed to be far better than the rest. Moreover, with the main hospital residing inside the campus, many students are directly recruited at the CMC Vellore Hospital post their graduation.

Faculty & College Management/Administration

CMC Vellore's faculty fraternity has been well regarded as a team of knowledgeable professionals, with a supportive nature and strong communication skills. The faculty team consists of a total number of 900+ teachers and doctors, along with departmental heads for each department, who monitor the execution of the academic plan. According to the alumni, the entire management is very supportive and the departments have an adequate number of professors. Some of the notable alumni of CMC Vellore are Gagandeep Kang (Microbiologist and Virologist), Divya S Iyer (DM of Pathanamthitta), Jayaraman Gawrishankar (Padmashree Awardee), etc.

Our Take:

Despite a large number of teaching faculty, the student-teacher ratio is still an issue as the number of students accepted in the college is less than the number of teachers available in the faculty. Many students have complained that this inequality should be addressed by the authorities. Others have also highlighted certain instances when the faculty has failed to fulfill its duty of completing the syllabus. 

CMC Vellore Location

CMC Vellore is located on Ida Scudder Road, Vellore - 632004, Tamil Nadu, India. The location of the college is right in the centre of the city, which makes connectivity much easier and convenient for the students. The location of the main hospital inside the campus is an added advantage for communication. 

CMC Vellore: Expectation vs Reality CLD Verdict

For a private institution which stands out for its enormous campus and a wide range of campus facilities offered by the college, CMC Vellore is one of the largest medical colleges in India. It offers a large number of medical courses, with a good faculty, and focuses on the holistic development of its students which is always an advantage. While the institution is successful in catering to the higher educational needs of the home state, it still needs a lot more representation from other states across the country, to make it more accessible to students across the country. According to our research, here are a few Yays and Nays of CMC Vellore: