Mystory@Harshit Bisht: How I chose my course and career path

College is like the foundation stone of one’s career. However not everyone will agree to this because majority considers school life as the one, but I feel school just provides us the basic knowledge but how to apply it in correct place with accurate presence of mind is what our college life teaches us. Like from selecting a preferable course to applying for the first internship or job is all a college chaos. It’s more of taking decisions with intelligence and everyone has equal probabilities of outshining and being better than the rest.

Personally talking about my experience with college life, I totally agree with what Larisa Oleyink said and can completely relate to it. IIMM will always have a great role in wherever I’ll stand in life and I am sure enough that I’ll do that. Note, the attitude is what my college has boosted in me in the past 18 months since I am associated with it.

I passed my class XII in March 2015 with 72.6% marks in CBSE Board Exams from Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh. I had opted for Science stream and my marks also said I wasn’t the brightest one. In fact, I got the least grades among all my school mates; majority of them are in IITs at present doing very well. My good wishes are always with them and I wish them luck for career and life.

After completing my basic schooling, making a college decision for my graduation was a huge challenge for me and I was so confused. I wanted to do better than my Intermediate classes where I always struggled with Science. It was so clear in my mind that whatsoever happens I won’t switch again to Science but the question was – If not Science then What? I had no clue but I knew that I will do something where I can give my best performance and enjoy it.

When I applied for Mass Communication I wasn’t sure whether I’ll manage to compete in it or not. It was like a risk but that’s what life is. “Either take a chance or else regret for not taking it”. My parents were so supportive later because initially it took me efforts to convince them but once they understood, they didn’t just let me apply for Mass Communication colleges but also allowed me to move to Delhi for my higher studies.

However, there was a question in everyone’s mind. Why Mass Communication?

So basically my answer to my parents was that I am not sure about it but I want to. I am interested in sports since childhood days and I also like to stay updated and have a strong command over current affairs and general knowledge. So I just want to get into something where I can apply all this. And Journalism & Mass Communication is a perfect platform.

My parents were worried about the excessive work pressure in this field but I was so clear that if I enjoy what I am doing then it’ll all be fine and they were convinced. I applied at International Institute of Mass Media (IIMM), Delhi and three other institutes for the course and luckily I got selected in all three. I chose IIMM because of the quality standards and the faculty associated with the college. Moreover, I was deeply impressed by the level of competition amongst all the students who applied.  So this is the way I was introduced to this college, this new course and obviously new place.

My College life: Classes, internships and more

My college life started on 3^rd August 2015, where on Day 1, we were given briefing about our Course content and the basic key knowledge about the field of Mass Communication. And it was all very interesting.

Mass Communication course primarily consists of 3 fields:

• Radio & Journalism, including both Print and Electronic Journalism
• Film Production and Direction along with Photography
• Advertising and Public Relations

In Year 1 of graduation as all the students were new to the field of Mass Communication, we were supposed to attend subjects of all the three branches and learn each aspect by putting our hardwork and intelligence. It was new to all of us, so each day we got to learn something new and got enough chances to showcase our skills. The faculty and the administration was so supportive to us that we never felt awkward or uneasy even when we were doing new tasks for the first time. Whether it’s the theory classes or the practical ones, each was so easy and simplified that we started enjoying it with full participation. Particularly, I was enjoying everything in full swing.

Voice Over classes were so fruitful in helping us improve our diction and taught us how to pronounce  each word correctly and accurately and opened an entirely new area of employment. Apart from that I learnt making short documentary films. My story writing skills were highly praised as my batchmates used some of my work in their assignments. It was a combination of so many new things that I learnt.

By the end of the first six months in college, I had enough knowledge about working of Indian Media and Journalism especially, Sports that in March I appeared for my first internship programme and that too with Star Sports for the ICC T-20 World Cup scheduled in India. It was a great platform to showcase my skills and talent and I thoroughly enjoyed that job. And since then, I keep myself engaged in some or the other fields not only limited to Sports but also other divisions like Crime, Politics, Travel and Entertainment.

We had class tests in October and March. Internals in January and the University exams in July. I am glad to share that I managed to get good grades in all exams unlike that of Class XI & XII where I always used to struggle. And recently when Guru Jambleshwar University, declared the University results of Mass Communication year 1, I managed to score 273 out of 350 in academics which is the University highest in theoretical exams.

And now when I have completed my 18 months i.e. half my college journey, I feel I took the wisest of all decisions till date to pursue Mass Communication not just because I get good grades but it helped me to be a lot more confident, wise and active.

I sense a surge of positivity in me now than what was two years back when I was shattered after my Intermediate results. Mass Communication imbibes almost each and every field of knowledge where presence of mind and creativity are equally important as is bookish knowledge. Moreover, the immense job opportunities will always make sure the talent gets richly paid.

“The way I figure it, everyone gets a miracle. – John Green, Paper Towns” 

About the Author:

Harshit Bisht is a Mass Communication student at International Institute of Mass Media (IIMM), Delhi.