A stitch in time saves nine

I would like to share with you all my column in the Navi Mumbai City Line, 30th May 2015.

College admissions are on and a lot of students walk in shopping for courses and colleges. Yes the word is shopping! There is certainly some clarity with the courses one can take up after the results are declared. Some have a clear eligibility and cut off marks. Probably some of you are not really happy with your result but when you can’t change that at this stage what you can certainly do is find the best option for you. Things were different when we were growing up, completing 12^th standard 21 years ago is a long time indeed and a lot has changed since then.

Things have certainly changed for the good; I believe in, “we change with changing seasons and times”. Here, not referring to the basic value system, morals and ethics but changing lifestyle. The earlier generations didn’t have so much of competition in the board exams now the toppers manage scores as high as 99 point some percentage. But the good news is that there are so many streams of study and professional courses on offer. The information is available just at the click of a button on the computer. Isn’t this fantastic?

But what I have experienced when counseling students is that when there is so much to choose from they get confused and sometimes don’t make good decisions. For example they might choose a course in Mass media or a branch of engineering as they meet the eligibility criteria and the courses are considered to be very much “In” or “Happening” among their peer group. Once they are in the programme they realize that it isn’t what they wanted or are able to cope with. Sometimes they get ATKTs.  A student who has been good all through school faring badly in college affects their confidence and self esteem. Then they look out for some other professional courses that they think they can do well in. This leads to loss of a year, some finance and also their self confidence. Some find it difficult to bounce back.

To avoid this situation, parents and students can do some research. In fact it’s a good trend that students these days meet education counselors, consult their teachers and also attend education fairs and career guidance seminars. These things help them choose what they believe is their calling. With so many colleges and seats available, it’s not very difficult to get into a professional course. Hence it’s extremely important to make a decision that’s practical, to one liking and based on good research.

The conventional streams, B Sc, B Com and BA are offered by most universities. There are professional courses such as Medicine, Engineering, Hotel Management, Hospitality Studies, BMS, Journalism, Fashion Designing, Aviation, Travel and Tourism, Shipping, Animation and  Film making to name a few. A student who has completed his 12^th standard can find out more about the course of his choice and then select a good college to join that offers the programme.

One’s success is more based on making good decisions than just being brilliant and doing things without thought!