Admission and Career Building Process Simplified

As days pass by, more and more career fields emerge on the horizon. Some of these are new, while others have evolved from two or more different fields merging together. These fields provide a large number of opportunities to the students. However, this also leaves the students confused due to lack of guidance. There is a lack of experienced people who can guide and convince students and their parents/guardians about the vast opportunities in these new fields.

In my experience of 4 years of interaction with students and professionals in diverse fields, I have come across a bunch of most frequently occurring questions on the career selection and admission process. In this article, I aim to answer most of these questions.  

Q1. Should I go for a course X or a course Y?

Ans. It all depends on your interests. It might sound a bit unrealistic, but you need to follow your instincts. Your interest is the only thing that matters. Many students and the parents try to compare this based on the current job opportunities, pay scale etc. However, what looks lucrative now, might not be so when you complete the course. If it’s a short term-certification course, analyse the market trends and requirement for the course. But if it’s a long term degree course, then current market conditions don’t matter a lot. Secondly, in today’s work culture, a person spends one-third to half a day at work. So, if you are spending a significant portion of your life doing something that doesn’t interests you, chances are that you won’t be happy even with a good pay scale.

Often students are pressured upon by others to pursue a certain course. A little talk with your parents in this case can be very helpful. If you are able to convince them, you have struck gold.

Q2. I’m equally interested in both the courses. What should I do?

Or

I’m interested in a course X. But I’m unaware of what future the course holds for me.

Ans. There are often more than one courses that a student might be interested in. Sometimes a student might be interested in a certain new course, but isn’t aware of the future it holds. So, in that case, analysis in terms of the job prospects, future research opportunities, challenges involved, subjects covered in the course etc., is extremely helpful. With the availability of a large number of discussion forums, you can easily discuss these issues with experts/ career analysts or professionals.

Q3. I’m interested in a course X. But which college should I choose for pursuing the course?

Ans. Choosing a college is not an easy task. One needs to consider a lot of parameters to ensure they choose the right college. Some of the most important parameters to consider are: college ranking for the particular course, fees structure, infrastructure, faculty-student ratio, qualification and experience of faculties and internship & placement opportunities, etc.

Ministry of Human Resource and Development’s National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) ranking system is a reliable means to identify a good college. Apart from the NIRF Ranking system, a student can also read reviews posted by current students of those colleges in various online forums.

Q4. If I pursue two courses from different disciplines simultaneously, will it increase my opportunities?

Ans. No. It might cause more harm to your career. In the current competitive situation, it is understandable that a student wishes to increase their chances, but it is extremely difficult to pursue two non-related courses as you will not be able to put your entire dedication for in-depth knowledge of either courses. Even if you are able to pursue them, you will need to choose only one domain when you opt for a job or higher education.

Q5. Should I pursue a Bachelor’s degree or opt for a dual degree course?

Ans. In today’s competitive world, a Bachelor’s degree only doesn’t lead to a decent job. It is highly recommended to pursue higher education for a better career growth. Hence, dual degree courses like BBA+MBA, BTech+MTech, BTech+MBA, MTech+PhD etc. have become quite popular. Therefore, my recommendation is always to opt for dual degree courses whenever available.

Q6. Is a government college better than a private college?

Ans. Many government institutes, mostly the IITs, NITs and IIMs, are known worldwide for their quality of education but not all. There are many reputed private colleges/ universities as well which provide quality education at par with government colleges and at many levels, even better. While government colleges are cheaper, it’s the private colleges that cater to a large number of students.

Q7. Should I pursue higher studies or opt for a job?

Ans. Higher education (Master degree / PhD) is meant to extend your knowledge to more depth in topics you have already covered previously (unless you have switched domain, which I do not recommend at all). Having an experience makes this easier and more valuable. Pursuing higher degree is not the alternative to not being able to secure a job. The volume of jobs is always more for undergraduates, than for those with higher degrees. I always recommend opting for a job over higher education. Working in the corporate sector not only provides you practical experience, but it also helps you to look at the higher education degree from a different perspective because now you are well aware about the needs of the business and you can adapt to your higher education accordingly.

Q8. I have pursued a course in domain X. Should I go for a job in domain Y?

Ans. This is a sort for gambling and has no definitive answer. It all depends on your interest in the new domain and the hard work you put into it. Switching domain has to be done at a very quick pace so that you don’t lose out on the opportunity of getting a job. There are people who have had successful careers after switching domains, but in most cases, this hasn’t worked.

Q9. I wish to appear for XYZ undergraduate entrance examination. When should I start preparing?

Ans. Different analysts can have different answers for this. I believe, the best time of preparation is after 10^th standard until you get into 12^th standard. I do not recommend preparing for entrance examinations in 12^th standard as it requires your complete focus and dedication.

Q10. I wish to appear for XYZ postgraduate entrance examination. When should I start preparing?

Ans. I believe the best time to prepare for this is after the completion of the first year/semester of your undergraduate course. The first year/semester period is for you to get familiar with your current course syllabus and examination patterns. If you are pursuing a professional course, then it is recommended to complete it before the beginning of the final year of the course. If you are pursuing a non-professional course, it’s fine to continue with the preparation until the completion of the course. However, regardless of the kind of course you are pursuing, you should not continue it if it is affecting your degree percentage/CGPA. Don’t ruin your present in hope for a future.

Q11. How should I prepare for a XYZ entrance examination?

Ans. Being a bookworm can never guarantee success in entrance exam. One needs to understand the fundamentals of topics included in the syllabus. You also need to maintain accuracy in the exam. Hence, time management is an important skill. To improve it, you need to solve various mock question papers.

Q12. Should I join any coaching institute to prepare for XYZ entrance examination?

Ans. Joining a coaching institute is beneficial. It helps you to prepare in a structured fashion. Not only they help you to understand the concepts better, but also periodic tests conducted by them help you in realising your strengths and weaknesses.

Q13. I could not get through XYZ entrance examination? Should I drop a year and try once more?

Ans. It depends on a number of factors – did you miss the target marginally or with a considerable difference, what additional preparation strategies are you going to adopt to ensure you clear it the following year, are you financially capable to invest in one additional year, have you analysed the pros and cons of dropping a year.

Every year the competition increases by roughly 17–19 percent, because like you others would have thought of the same, some might have dropped more than a year. In addition to that there will be a new bunch of students who will be appearing for the same. So, your preparation needs to be a lot better as you will have to provide convincing explanation for the loss of year in job interviews. Consult your teachers, parents and then make a wise decision.

Q14. Which programming languages or technologies should I prepare to maximise my chances of getting into a job?

Ans. Your focus should not be on learning a specific programming language. Reason being, different IT companies work on different languages as per their domain. Your aim should be on efficient algorithm design as it’s the algorithm that has the solution and it is transformed to different programming languages. You could pick one language from each domain to understand the structure and instruction flow. For example, you can pick Java or .NET for programming language, SQL or Oracle for Database, PHP or Perl for scripting etc.

Q15. I have got a year back / have backlogs in many subjects. Should I quit engineering?

Ans. This isn’t an easy decision. Not only because you will have to restart your career building process, but also because at every step you will be asked about the gap years. Leaving the course is always your choice, but before you do so, try to figure out where you are lacking, try to put in efforts to overcome this and if it still doesn’t work, it’s your call.

About the Author:

Rishi Broto Chakraborty is a B.Tech (Computer Science) degree holder from AMC Engineering College, Bangalore. Since teaching has always been his passion, he started his career as a school teacher in Kerala Public School, Kadma, Jamshedpur. Gradually, he got interested in advising students about career and education. He has been associated with Shiksha for over 2 years guiding students to the right career. He is currently pursuing Masters in Information Security from KIIT Bhubaneswar.

 

 

 

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