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The Travails of College Selection
What College to take up or rather what College will take you in is a question that will befuddle many of you now and plush choices or the lack of them may add to the agony.
The funny part is the better the college choices a student has, the more fine lines of worry he develops as he just can’t decide which college threshold he/ she should consecrate with his steps.
And then turning to the average Moe Joes, well usually this chunk is luckier with just one good choice in the kitty and no unhappy choices. And don’t be surprised if our average Moes and our average Joes end up having superhero careers. From the bespectacled Clark Kent emerges the Superman!!
Finally the ones with lowdown options; they are harrowed by A) lack of options or lack of a college their choice and the ever reverberating question of B) dropping a year.
Well we will visit each of these issues pointwise
1. Too many goodies – Too many goodies maketh a man fat and frumpy, period. It’s really sad that sometimes everything should fall into the kitty of a single person; 99% and IIT and NLSIU and the result probably is that our friend ends up at NUS if you please!! But such are the shenanigans at play in this wicked world,
So the way out for this supremely endowed category is
A) just foresee yourself in your desired profession in the future and choose a college that takes you there. i do not recommend a minute subject or course as a mode of selection but a holistic choice of a profile in which you see yourself.
For eg. both IITs and NLUs can take you to a similar corporate structure and firms but the profiles may vary vastly so just see yourself in these profiles in your mind’s eye and choose what you like yourself better in and accordingly pick a college.
Nevertheless if you’re still ambivalent and equally taken up with a techie profile as that with a legal one then choose a better brand on a neutral international ranking scale.
2. Too few options – Now if you haven’t been lucky enough to make it to your desirous college or any good college then either you settle for the best of the lot or drop a year. both are radically different approaches and have to be discussed with a trusted mentor and parents. But my sincere take is if age/ time and parents permit you should strive for another try to a good college. Dropping a year isn’t a taboo anymore but rather a good breather that helps you think and plan with a clear head as to the way forward. it pulls you out of the gush where everyone’s headed and where you were flowing heedless of what’s ahead; and stabilises you before you rejoin the flux. So rather than as a stress contributor the drop year should serve as a stress buster and help you unmuddle and prepare you again for a good college and good life.
Surabhi Sahai
MD, Chief mentor and most trusted counsellor at Clat Possible
