All that you’ve said about people’s impression of Manipal is absolutely true. There is not one but many reasons for the name. Here are they:
- One of the main reasons for this reputation surrounding the University stems from the fact that Manipal as a town’s name, either good or bad, is reflected upon and created by the university and its students. All that Manipal has is the university and its student population and so the reputation is created by the same and no other factors. For example, if an unfortunate incident happens in Delhi, this is not reflected on IIT-Delhi or Delhi University. Such is not the case with Manipal unfortunately.
- One other reason for the bad name is the non-approval of the young and cosmopolitan culture here by the orthodox societies, living in nearby localities or towns. This results in them spreading a bad name about the town and its students.
- Also, I believe till a decade or two ago MU had management seats with very low cut-offs which gave an impression to the people of elder generations that only rich brats come here. It is very much true that Manipal’s high fee cannot be afforded by every individual even today. Because of this you usually see students coming from the upper middle class societies who love to party and have fun. Thus the name of a party college. When there is no financial problem people can dare to dream big. This has resulted in churning out amazing startups including Mean Metal Motors, Fracktal Works etc from the University. A considerable number of students work on their startups instead sitting for placements.
- The university also gives you total freedom that most other universities in the country don’t. Never can you find a student complaining about lack of it here. Freedom can be used both ways. It is used by ambitious and career-minded people to do something useful and worthy while others use it to get into alcohol and narcotics. In Manipal, you’ll find a guy getting drunk one night and working on his robotics project next morning.