It was a moment of immense pride for MES Pre University College, Malleswaram, when the CET-2007 results were declared on May 25. The reason. Five out of ten rank holders in the medical stream and two out of ten rank holders in the engineering stream were from MES College.
Commissioner of Pre-University Education S G Hegde read out the remarkable list of the rank holders in the medical stream - V Vinay, R Vikas, N V Ankith, G Indushree and MV Akhila from MES College.

Numerous gems
But, for the College authorities it was nothing astounding. “We know what our students are,” confidently said general secretary of the college B R Sheshadri Iyengar. Confidence that is derived from the fact that the college has always produced gems- be it sportspersons, scientists, musicians, academicians or IAS officers.
“Eminent badminton player Prakash Padukone, Director of CFTRI and Padmashri recipient Dr V Prakash, Jyothsana, Nalini Mohan, Dhananjay Hegde and noted Mrudangam player Arun Kumar are all MES products. More than 10,000 IT professionals in America are from our college,” says Mr Iyengar. He adds that this college was ranked second best in the country by India Today in 1985.
What makes the college produce the best, is our question, that is answered by the CET rank holders. According to Indushree and Akhila,“We have very good teachers who are well-qualified and dedicated.”
A student of a different college, however, has a different say. “This is a college for toppers only. At the time of admission, the college picks only the toppers as the cut-off percentage usually remains at 96%.”

Merit selection
In his defence, Principal of the college B G Prabhavathi says, “We do not pick toppers intentionally. They (toppers) are attracted to our college naturally. We just go by the norms. Since we are an aided college, we have to select students according to the merit list. We cannot flout this norm, so those who apply for admission in our college with highest marks, get preference during admission.”
A fact associated with the toppers is that all of them attended coaching classes too.  Principal B G Prabhavathi said, “I knew these students are extraordinary because none of them took a single day’s leave in first and second PU and used to get all their doubts cleared. I was confident about their ranks.”

Affordable education
What’s more interesting is that most of these toppers are not from a rich background. “Because of our fee-structure and quality education, it is the first choice of brilliant students. And our college is open for such students, since our objective is to provide quality education,” says Ms Prabhavathi.
With an aim to provide quality education for students of Malleshwaram area, five enlightened educationists- G A Acharya, M Chinnaswamy, Prof M P L Shastry, Prof B R Subba Rao and Vimala Rangachar laid the foundation of this college way back in 1956.
Started as an intermediate college, the institution has graduated to being a degree and post graduate college.
It offers undergraduate classes in BA, B Com and BSc with various combinations. The college also has MSc courses in mathematics, a research centre in mathematics, MA in Kannada and PG diploma courses in management.
The best part of this aided college is that it provides quality education at a comparatively cheap price, bringing it within the reach of any class or section of society.
As Indushree, one of the CET Medical rank holders, says, “I paid Rs 4,300 for a year during the second PU.” It also provided the son of a newspaper seller, V Vinay an opportunity to secure second rank in the CET-Medical.