Second year in NUALS here, it's the very definition of a mid-tier NLU. If you work hard and gel with the right people, placements and a bright future are assured. If you laze around for 5 years then the degree will be of very little benefit to you.

Another word of caution: if you're not from south india, make sure you are very mentally strong before coming here. It's a very remote and malayali-dominated campus and it costs minimum 200 rupees just to travel to the city.

I remember when I used to take bus from Thorappu junction to travel to the city. People packed worse than sardines, a lot of Bengali and Hindi being spoken on that bus, drivers driving like there's no tomorrow and that bus meandering through the lush green fields. The best of the times, the worst of the times. As a north Indian, really loved it.

Hi, thanks for the response! If you don't mind, could you answer a few questions which I have about the college?

1) I've heard that the hostels aren't made available to all the students due to scarcity of rooms. Is that really the case, and if so, are there PGs available in the nearby locality?

2) Is the rule about wearing uniforms strictly enforced?

3) How hectic is life in the campus with respect to academics and extra curriculars? I want to give CLAT another shot and would like to know if preparing for a partial drop is manageable while studying and trying to get good grades in the first semester.

4) Not from Kerala. Is there a major Mallu-Non Mallu divide, and if it does, does it significantly affect the experience on campus?

1) Unfortunately, that is the case. However, first preference is given to those not residing in Kerala, so you should have no problem getting a room.

2) Yes

3) The life in 1st sem is incredibly chill, you'll have plenty of time to re-attempt CLAT if you wish. A guy in my batch re-attempted CLAT and got NALSAR.

4) No one consciously hates on you due to where you're from, and in fact people will be very interested in getting to know you, your hometown, your language etc. However, the very nature of a university which has over 50% state domicile is that the students will mostly speak in malayalam to each other, the student council will be malayali-dominated, and in general Kochi is not an extremely diverse city. I would say that a bigger difference in experience might be between a south indian and a north indian. If you're south indian then you can travel home frequently, you'll be more in touch with the local culture and there'll always be a few tamilians/kannadigas or malayalis from chennai/bangalore etc.

North Indians will find it a bit tough because honestly the campus and surrounding area will become mind-numbing for months at a time, it's better if you can catch a train home at least once a month.

Hey all, I'm the then-second year who wrote this comment... in the time since, my opinion has changed somewhat. I disagree that placements are assured if you "gel with the right people"; rather, I would say that you should apply yourself, exercise some critical thinking, and just keep yourself in the game - for the record, NUALS has been steadily improving over the years, and it does have a reasonable alumni network and brand value in the fraternity now. I would also like to say that even if you do the bare minimum and graduate from NUALS, you'll be in a pretty good place, so I just want to set the record straight there. I also want to clarify that NUALS is not at all remote from the average NLU perspective, it has a busy train station just 7km away, and a metro feeder bus that stops at the campus gate at least twice a day.