How I got admission at NIFT: Shivam Sagar

I was never an aspirant of NIFT nor wished to be an engineer. I was having my own way of living that was quite different from others. After completion of my Class 10, I decided to go for Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics rather than Biology as it was beyond my imagination to score even pass marks in it. So, with all these things I took admission at Sri Chaitanya Educational Institution, Visakhapatnam.

As I always wanted to do something different from the main stream, I succeeded in that by eliminating the word Engineering from my mind. Once, the season of college form fill-ups started I started to search for interesting courses and also some suggestion from my family members gave me a rough idea of NIFT. Then what I did was the most common thing i.e. research. I went through numerous websites on the internet searching for the positives and the negatives of the college and the various courses offered. However, I was eligible for all the courses, but I chose BFTech (Apparel Production) as my course as all the other in BDes courses needed one to have drawing, painting, and sketching skills but I never had any of them.

How I cracked college admission

The NIFT entrance exam is conducted by NIFT itself and at some selected venues with proper guidance and invigilation. For BFTech (AP), the exam (General Ability Test) is of single phase of 3 hours where we need to solve 150 objective questions having four options in all questions in which only one is right. There is no negative marking in any answer is marked wrong like that of JEE Mains. The question paper consists of English (grammar and paragraphs), Maths (very primitive, up to class 10^th level), a bit of Logical Reasoning followed by General Knowledge and some questions related to the fashion industry.

One can easily consider that getting admission at NIFT for BFTech course is not that hard and one can make it without any coaching classes. The best way to be prepared for the entrance test is to keep yourself updated with the latest news and have a clear idea of the fashion industry because this is important to crack the exam. Other than this you can also focus on the grammar part of English and a bit of Mathematics but no need to worry even if you are weak in Mathematics.

Once you have completed the test and the results are out, you will need to select your campus on the basis of your common merit rank and the seats available. You should prefer to choose the best campus (probably the old ones) so that you can have a better opportunity in the upcoming future. Some students choose college on the basis of distance between their home and the college. In my opinion that is absolutely wrong. Please don’t do so. It’s not only your life but your parent’s life also that is dependent on you.

Once you have got admission in the college then start working hard and give a bit of value to your seniors too because there may be circumstances when you will need information and guidance but the admin department will be helpless and will not be able to assist you. Even in the curriculum at the time of assignments seniors will help you a lot. Also, they will be helpful for the extra-curricular activities.

My college life: classes, extra-curricular activities and more

Talking about the college life, it started as a four walled room which we call class. Consisting of maximum 30 students. Each student had a separate chair and attached plank system. The colleges was air conditioned, wi-fi, smart class, and different learning equipment in their particular labs. As the college is having free unlimited wi-fi, it is a bit positive in the educational environment. All the classrooms and labs are well equipped with machines and also have AC facility to beat the weather.

NIFT provides credits for the subjects that you study in each semester and it keeps changing from 0-4 (credits) for each subject and totally adds up to a specific number in each semester. Here, the credits play an important role as higher is the credit of the subject, more is the effect on the SGPA and CGPA. Also, the subjects are categorised as ‘Core’ and ‘Non-Core’. Core subjects have a pass mark of 50/100 and Non- Core have 40/100. Also, the course curriculum at NIFT comprises of three Assignments and End-term Jury or Written test (CEB).

The 1^st year is the Foundation programme (FP) for all students and the course is same for all the departments. At the end of 1^st year one comes to know the basics of fashion, fashion industry and office apps to a high end. Some specific apps like Photoshop and Corel Draw are also learnt by the design students. We are also taught marketing and publicity in the 1^st year only.

In my opinion, I have chosen the right career for myself as I always wanted to have something interesting to do in my life every second day and this is how my course is. Coming to how my course helped in career selection, one can’t imagine a career in the fashion industry and in the global market of Fashion/Apparel without the basics of fashion industry and NIFT is the place where you learn everything that will make you survive and also help you to become a designer or establish your own start-up where you work on something new, innovative, and demanding.

In my view primitive/basic knowledge from school level helped me a lot to make up my career. Every student must keep one thing is mind that whenever it comes to career, choose the one which suits you, not the one others are doing. We must follow both our mind and heart. Once this situation is achieved you will achieve success and can aim to achieve anything in life.

About the Author:

My name is Shivam Sagar. I am pursuing Bachelor of Fashion Technology (Apparel Production) from National Institute of Fashion Technology, Gandhinagar. I completed my Class 12 with PCM from Sri Chaitanya educational institutions. My hobbies include social networking and marketing. I have worked as a social media marketing intern at healthism and as an intern at HKapitalist.

 

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