Mystory@Meghna Khanna: How I chose my course and made the most of my college years

Who knew one day I will be writing my life story being a part of Shiksha Campus Connect! My story, to be honest, may be very similar to many of you reading this.

I think with the course I am doing and with the college I am in, I have found a mid-way between my very high dreams and my capabilities. I had always been a very average or to quite an extent a below average student in my school time till class 10^th. The reason for this may have been the subjects which suck my blood – Math and Science, but somehow I managed to pass in every class and fortunately I did not fail because of these subjects.

How I chose my subjects after Class X

Things were gradually changing for me when I came in Class 11^th and chose Humanities as my subject, but even then I was very confused about what I actually wanted to do in life. Being a child I had always dreamt of being an IAS officer but was never ready to study and work hard for the same. Once you grow up, you slowly understand what you can do and what your capabilities are. So obviously I dropped the idea of IAS because I knew I am not the book worm kind who will cut off with social life and study so much.

By the end of Class 12^th, I discovered that I can do Psychology Hons as I found it quite interesting when I started studying the subject. But soon it started feeling like a pain when continuously in my pre-boards and boards my performance in this particular subject was poor. Think how a Psychology Hons aspirant might have felt when in Boards she secured in 80s in every other subject except for Psychology. I could not secure more than 65 in Psychology. So then obviously I knew I was not meant for this field too.

How I chose my subjects after Class XII

As it is said that we should learn from our elders’ experiences I too learned something very important from my sister’s college admission experience. She was then very firm on her decision that she had to do Architecture and that too from Delhi. Seats were less, candidates were more and so she struggled to get into the choice of course. With very less options that she had, she ended up getting admission in a private university where she travelled 70km from home to college and back daily. Observing all this very closely, I understood how difficult it was to get admission in reputed courses and colleges. So I decided that I won’t stick to any one course rather I will have other options too.

I prepared for my Law and BJMC entrance, from a coaching centre run by my father’s friend. I gave CLAT, CET for GGSIPU and waited for the results. My inclination was towards Law at that time and I was hoping that I get admission in a good college but seeing my results in CLAT it was next to impossible to get into Law there and even for GGSIPU I was getting admission but not in a very good college.

Many people who got to know that I was planning to do BJMC really appreciated and said that I should get into that course without any second thought because they said I was meant for it. This was further supported by my BJMC CET rank in Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University GGSIPU, which was 886, and I got admission in VIPS, the best college of the university for this course.

How I spent my college years

I took admission in BJMC and I can say “Yes, I made the right choice,” because here every day I have learnt something new which has added up something good in my life.

It was a University requirement that we do internships every year end related to the subject we studied. I was very excited about internships and learning how things actually work. So on an average, I did two internships per year, missing few days of my college too. After the 1^st year of my college came to an end, I worked with UNI and The Hindu, then in December when I had my winter break I chose to explore how a PR firm works. I was not satisfied working and exploring so in 2^nd year I did three internships, one for 15 days in a PR firm again and the other for India News and Zee Business and I missed my college lectures for a month.

With time, studying all the subjects and doing almost six internships in three years, I am a bit clear on choosing Journalism as my career. Though I don’t know if it is the final call or I will be switching over to something new coming my way. Knowing myself, I don’t know if someday I sit back and decide to fulfil my childhood dream of pursuing IAS.

So yes, life has been strange and I made it a bit stranger dealing with all the ups and downs coming my way, facing some and for some changing my own way.

I know reading this big story you might have got bored and many of you might have just scrolled down to read the end of the story I wrote.

I would say, nothing is impossible for us, for you. Anytime you feel any difficulty, either you can deal with it firmly like my sister did and get what you always wanted or you can be a little (VERY) flexible like me in changing your way and finding something new. The choice is yours!

About the Author:

I am pursuing my graduation in Bachelors of Journalism and Mass Communication from Vivekananda Institute Of Professional Studies, GGSIPU. During the course I have explored almost every aspect of this field from Print journalism to PR.

I have worked with different newspapers and magazines like The Hindu and Womansera and some reputed news channels like Zee Business and India News. I have also worked in 2 PR firms to get an idea about my interest in that field.