By Bhanvi Satija:
It’s that time of the year again when students would want a shell to hide in, because any kind of social contact equals to questions like – “Aage kya karna hai beta?“, “Kaunsa college mila?” and the most dreaded “Kitne number aaye beta?” Not so long ago, I was there too.
Every year, thousands of students across the country take admission in the Delhi University. [envoke_twitter_link]With the myriad of courses that the University offers, there is an added choice of which college to go to[/envoke_twitter_link]. So in this already stressful situation of what to do after school, there is an added pressure of choosing a good college – because DU gives you that option. (Of course, a pre-requisite to have such a choice is a certain percentage in your 12th standard Boards!)
Now, clearly while taking admission in DU, there are two questions a student is grappling with. One, which course to choose. Two, which college to go to. The common belief is to give extra value to either of the decisions. There will be people who will tell you that the course is more important and you should never compromise on this aspect of the decision. Guess what? They are right. The course is important because what you actually study in the next three years should be something of your interest.
However, there is another set of people who will preach that the college you go to matters the most. This is because at the end of your course, the market value of your degree (or of you as a person!) will be decided by the college you had attended. So in the practical world, a person passing out from SRCC will have a greater value as a person in the job market than someone passing out from Deen Dayal Upadhyay. (Because, let’s face it, some of you didn’t even know that such a college existed!) Guess what? This set of people is right too! What both these set of people are saying makes complete sense they just have different approaches.
Therefore, to make the decision, all you need to do is combine these two approaches. The first thing is to get rid of this notion that you have to choose one out of the two. What you really need to do, is to find a best combination of both. How do you do that? The most important thing to achieve this combination is to be flexible – with respect to both your course and your college. Also, keep in mind to fill most of the courses that correspond to your interest in the form for DU – that will prove to be advantageous when you go out there to seek admission.
Second, make a list of your interests – and make a list of courses that DU offers which correspond to them. While completing this step, you might want to go through the syllabi of the courses, which my dear friend, are available just at your fingertips.
Third, list the ‘good’ colleges with a ‘good’ market value which offer these courses. Four, strike down two/three combinations that fit you. And when one of them does work out, you will know by instinct that it’s the right one for you!
This is the process I followed while taking the same decision, exactly a year ago. I was a student of Humanities and my subjects included, Political Science, Geography, Economics, Psychology and English. And when I couldn’t choose which one of these to take up for an honours course, I took up Journalism, which is a multi-disciplinary course (yes, that’s an option too!). Next, I listed down the colleges that offered this course and LSR (obviously) topped the list. And there, I had my best combination to refer to.
Even though in my case, my subjects from plus two corresponded to my interests, there is a high chance of that not being the case with everyone. I would still suggest that you list down what actually interests you – people from commerce backgrounds end up doing law, and people from a science background tend to take journalism – be flexible, don’t be afraid to switch streams, and remember, if it feels right, it most probably is.
P.S: You still might need that shell to hide in, especially till you know you have made the right decision for yourself and come out victorious. Because until then, you won’t be spared the infinite questions and unsolicited advice.