How I chose my college and course : Anvita Rastogi

Making a choice of stream in class XII is an agitating phase and every one of us have experienced it. Similar to what others must have faced, it was a tough phase for me as well. I was pretty much sure that I won’t take PCB or Humanities but to choose from PCM and commerce was the rocky road for me. I liked mathematics and certain concepts of physics and chemistry, but the derivations of physics and equations of chemistry gave me nightmares. Coming to commerce, it was something I never studied so I was curious to know the content it had and apart from that it seemed more realistic and applicable than those nowhere implemented concepts of physics and chemistry.

After all these thoughts blooming in from all around, I finally consulted a career counselor. She helped me understand my own thoughts and guided me towards my passion. That was the time I discovered I had a passion to deal with mathematical problems, usually statistics based or economy based. So finally I ended up taking PCM with economics in class XI.

How I chose my college and course

After my class XII, like every other student I was much confused about which field to opt as PCM opened a vast variety of career options for me. I was sure that I won’t end up getting enrolled into some BTech programme, only if I didn’t get any IITs, so this means that I might give it a try. But if not BTech then what, was the troublesome question. I liked statistical mathematics and economics but after studying PCM for two years I also developed interest in physics, particularly the aviation part. Owing to the newly developed passion, now I wanted to fly an airplane with the landscape of clouds around me but after researching about the fees, placements opportunities and sector wise growth I gave up on the idea of becoming a pilot.

Talking about the choices those were readily available and the college, I must mention my tuition teacher who helped me in making a right choice. He used to teach me mathematics in class XI & XII. On day while teaching, he just gave me an advice that I must go for the best college even if I don’t get the course of my choice. I know this seems weird right but trust me, it actually works. For the under graduation  course you must go for the brand name of college as it helps in building your reputation and also prepares you for better opportunities. Thankfully, I got an excellent college without any hassle and also got enrolled into the course of my choice.

I am currently pursuing BSc in mathematics, statistics and economics from St. Xavier’s College Mumbai. It’s an A grade college in academics and also provides an excellent quality of exposure through various fests and activities happening throughout the year.

How I cracked college admissions

Getting into a college of your choice seems an easy task but believe me it’s not as easy as it seems. With increasing competition, where every second person you meet has the same preferences as yours, getting the best college which is also your dream college is as difficult as cracking JEE Advanced after Mains to get into the IITs. There are not even 50% of seats available to offer admissions to the Mains qualifiers as the count of qualifiers is 4 times the number of seats.

In class XI and XII I prepared for IITs and other engineering entrances on my own without any professional coaching and guidance. To be honest, I did not even get 50% marks in JEE mains and also didn’t appear for Advance, it is obvious that I did not crack Mains. Now, you may be thinking that I did not give my best or may be I was not capable of cracking the most popular and diffult engineering entrance exams in the country. But what if I tell you that I had no interest in this field ? Would you believe me ? I don’t think so, you would definitely say that since I did not succeed I am giving lame excuses.

I filled a number of admission forms when I was seeking admission in Undergrad, some of them are – IITs, VIT, SRM, DU, St. Stephen’s College, Christ University, St. Xavier’s College Mumbai and Kolkata, IISc Banglore, Lucknow University and a few more to make a long list but sadly are not worth mentioning. I filled forms only for BTech, Bsc mathematics and BSc statistics courses (please ignore the fact that I never wanted to do BTech).

Before the results of XII boards, Christ University conducted its admission process which included a PI and GD round. I appeared for it and the interview went quite roasting, my GD also went average and it seemed they won’t consider me, but fortunately they took me on my predicted score. I made the payment of admission fees and saved a seat for me in case I didn’t get into any college.

Everyone has their dream college right? I too had one which is eventually a dream college for many. I, with all my hearts wanted to study at St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University. I made a lot of efforts to get a good percentage in XII as my main focus was Stephen’s. After all my efforts I got 96.25% as my best four subject percentage but could you guess how unfortunate it feels when college declares a cut off which is 96.75% and it was the only percentage for general category that year at St. Stephens College. This meant I could not bag a seat in my dream college. After this I applied for St Xavier’s and got in easily as it was totally a merit based selection process. I cancelled my plans to go to Christ for obvious reasons and got my fee refunded. By my experience the only advise I would give to any of my junior is “never rely on one single option, you can’t risk your future.’’

Life at my college

St. Xavier’s college is an amazing experience in itself. The campus life that it provides is just so full of fun and exposure. Once you become a part of St. Xavier’s, you will hardly have any time to kill, it provides a number of opportunities where you can get engaged all-round the year, and this engagement is a source of knowledge which no classroom could provide you. Also, the experience gives you certificates which are essential to reflect on your CV and to make it strong enough in this duration of three years before you go out of college and enter the real world.

The college is very strict about its academics, so to spend time in college other than fest days I could be found in library, referring to some text books of my syllabus. I being a BSc student have the longest set of lectures with practicals included. When there is nothing important to do and I have a free lecture, I prefer to spend it with my friends at some popular spots in college (like- woods, foyer, harry potter staircase or may be the canteen).

In my combination i.e. math, stats and eco I love attending statistics lectures because firstly its faculty is amazing and then, I also like the subject as its much applicable in practical life. Other than our core subjects we are also offered two compulsory subjects one is the Social Involvement Program, which is a one semester subject and does not have any written exam instead it has a fieldwork of working with an NGO by devoting 60+ hours. We are graded on the basis of the monthly report generated in this particular subject. To pass a semester it is compulsory to obtain a passing grade in this subject. Apart from this we also have one subject as special course which has different syllabus in each semester like environmental science, Value teaching, human rights.

Every Xavierite has to complete 60+ ECC points, in 3 years of college, which are awarded on active participation in different fests. Till now I have participated/volunteered in some fests like our college fest MALHAR (Asia’s second largest college fest), International Symposium, Xenith (BSc I.T department fest), Alchemia (Chemistry department fest).

Apart from fest and academic syllabus, St. Xavier’s also provide us with some certified courses which are both technical and theory based. These courses are interest based and are not compulsory but the plus point of these courses is that in college these are provided at a very cheap cost as compared to the market. Some of the courses that I enrolled in are: Concepts of Game Theory, Basic & Advance Excel, R programming and Market Research Program. There are a lot of other things that Xavier’s provide for a sound development of its students.

If given a chance I would like to do some internships which would help me enhance my knowledge and also I would like to give back something to Xavier’s in terms of service or assistance since it has played a great role in developing my personality and in making me a worthy person. My college experience has also taught me an intrinsic quality of INCLUSION. We learn to include all kind of students may it be poor or disabled, as all of us are created by God for some special purpose. Being in the second year of college I strongly believe that my college experience has changed me as a person and I look forward to improve myself in the remaining two years of college by utilizing all the facilities that it provides.

About the Author:

I’m Anvita pursuing second year of college in BSc from St Xavier’s College - Mumbai. Statistics is my core subject and I love to study and work with big data sets. I like exchanging knowledge in every form possible and also to advise people in their decision making.

See constantly thinking/working on a single thing could bring a lot of stress and pressure, try handling it by diversifying your area of interest or by some stress buster, like communicating or entertaining yourself.