From Riches to Rags
Education has always been a pride for the Indian system since the old ages.
Even before the Chinese and Persians stole various industrial techniques from us, before various rulers from all over the world came to India, looted and made fortunes for their family and country, even before those damned Mughals attacked India and definitely much before the Britishers tore apart the entire Indian system and replaced it with theirs.
Indians always seemed to excel in studies, whatever may be the course. Education is in the blood of any Indian.
But I always wonder, is this a gift or curse for us Indians to be so good in studies? See, it has its own pros and cons. But I am not going to discuss that. No, I am writing this article as a result of my own enlightenment.
We Indians are very simple, person X guides person Y on how to do a task but person Y ends up doing their own way and after the result wishes they had listened to person X and now they are crying over their luck. Yes, every single person that you encounter is exactly like this — man and woman alike.
One of the education curses or boons, depending upon your own experience, is Engineering for every science student in this country. Indian parents are also the simplest of beings that god could create; the moment you qualify your class 10 there are three basic choices in front of them, not you.
If your marks are somewhat average, then your sorry arse is thrown into the commerce class. For students with good or extraordinary marks, there are two choices for the parents. If you have a doctor in your family who is earning a big amount and is respected by even those relatives you never knew existed on the planet, then you are going to become the next one. The other course of action is, of course, engineering.
In this article, I am not going to answer any philosophical questions or impart the knowledge of the Vedas upon you, no. I dare not go against the decision of your parents.
I am going to guide you through the most basic step of all. Ladies and gentlemen, drum roll, “How To Select Engineering College After 12th”.
“When you play the game of thrones, you win or die. There is no middle ground.”
This is my favourite dialogue from a popular TV series ‘Game of Thrones’. And once you grow a deeper conscience and grow more mature, you will realise that this is true for every single situation of life. There are always two choices, win or lose. So, how do you make sure that you set upon the course to allow you an edge of a win after you are done with your exams?
In my personal opinion, engineering is a waste of time. If you want to live your life as you want to, turn back and never ever think of this dreaded thing again. But, if you still want to kill your happiness with your own hands, be my guest.
The guide points mentioned in the article are not approved by any college or university of international standard. It is all my own personal experience that I am sharing with you so that you can spare yourself the pain of ending up in the wrong place among the wrong people. I will not be responsible for anybody who follows these steps and not achieving desired results, separation from parents or civil war.
Let us begin without further ado.
1. Understand Engineering
Before you go on opting it for a career path, understand it thoroughly. I made a mistake of not researching enough and ended up in a stream of my father’s choice. Not that I am not happy to be a mechanical engineer, but the same might not be the case for you. If you are sure you want to be an engineer, search which one you want to be. Indian and foreign universities are now offering tons of disciplines to choose from that even I don’t know most of them.
My advice? Consult your teachers, talk to a career counsellor and take up a career test. Now, you might find many websites offering free career tests, I would recommend approaching a professional company and paying a couple of thousand bucks for professional guidance.
2. Understand The Future
Once you are sure of which discipline you want to follow in engineering, research about its future. Turn every resource upside down to find what will you do after being awarded your degree. On the basis of your marks, make a list of tentative colleges you will be eligible for on the basis of previous year’s cutoff and research the college. Visit the college website, and see the placement record, the companies that visited the campus in the previous year and average package that was offered to the students. Check the state ranking of the college/University.
3. Entrance Test Is Must
Never, I repeat, never accept admission in a college offering direct entry without any entrance test. There are two major disadvantages of this; there is an unwanted crowd of students who were just able to pass their senior secondary and didn’t want to bother much to prepare for an entrance test to a reputed college, and the management of the college really don’t give a fuck about the students and are simply interested in filling their pockets and lecture rooms.
4. Don’t Miss Out On A Government College
Despite the fact that the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology is not counted even in the Top 50 of the world, one cannot deny the fact in India that government college is a saviour in darkness and a matter of pride for the Indian parents to show off that their offspring have made it to a government college.
The advantage of a government college apart from showoff is that the curriculum is designed to nurture a child’s brain into an extraordinary thing. There is no doubt that these institutes work and produce professionals who are later on converted into the leaders of tomorrow.
I made a mistake of letting a golden opportunity slip right through my fingers when I was offered B.Tech. in Textile Engineering at MLVTEC, Bhilwara. Yeah, go ahead and Google it. I know I was stupid.
These were some mistakes that I made while choosing my engineering college. I got a lot of memories and learnt a lot of things that will remain with me forever. Not that I am complaining, but I would have been at another level had I kept in mind these things.
It is my request to the readers of this article to share it with your near and dear ones and ask them to share it further. Who knows that it might reach a child who benefits from this article in ways we cannot anticipate.
© Prakhar Bansal, 2018. Unauthorised use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from the author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Prakhar Bansal with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
