What Next? Entrance Results are Out!!!

As the entrance exam results are being announced across various streams and technical courses, there is rising tension amongst students and parents especially for those who got lower than the expected ranks in the examination or even for those who did not qualify in the entrance exam. As this is very understandable. Students often put in additional years to crack a particular entrance examination. And despite that there are failures, obviously it's actually very heartbreaking. This can become even more complicated if the parents are not mature enough to handle the failures of their children. Because in today’s times, failure at the school level is almost unheard of. There may be occasional subject failures, but by and large most students pass through the school levels without much difficulty. In fact, the challenge is to score in the high 90s in terms of percentage.

In the last few days, I have been getting calls from parents to decide what to do next, after they have come to know the level of achievements of their wards in the respective entrance examinations. Here I must confess, that the process of deciding a career path should start as early as 8^th grade and relevant options should be put in place as a backup as well. Let me quote here only two such calls from parents. One parent’s ward has not been able to secure a high rank in the JEE Mains, and she is unlikely to get into top-ranking institutions like IITs/IIITs/NITs etc. Now the student is trying to get into one of the private institutions for pursuing Engineering in CSE.

The questions from the parents are;

1.      Which Institution is better – amongst the four choices he had?

2.      Which Course is better under CSE?

The best way to get the answer to the first question is to refer to the website MoE, National Institute Ranking Framework (NIRF) (nirfindia.org). This is by the Ministry of Education and hence the information will be most authentic.

The second question cannot have any short answer. Every Engineer Course is good because the demand only grows in years to come. What is more important is whether the student will enjoy being in that field for the rest of the 30/40 years post formal education?

Unfortunately, most of the parents having kids in the age group of 15 to 20 have all seen a different world during their growing up years and are still counselling their kids based on their own lived experiences and not able to see the world from the current framework.

The world of work is going to be very different in the years to come. And there is a very strong possibility that the way we work also will be drastically different in the next 8 to 10 years. The reason for that is the way the world is rapidly changing and impacting our lives, obviously, our children will be facing far greater impact of these global trends in their lives than us.

Then the 3^rd point the parent wanted my suggestion was about the following;

“My ward will be doing engineering with CSE specialization, post that will work for some time and then will take up MBA in Finance," the reason for this, as per the father is, normally an engineering course prepares the student better for the future professional career.

In my opinion in today’s time, such a circuitous educational path is not necessary, because there are relevant educational courses available for each field. And just by doing engineering, there will not be any special addition to the student’s profile, if she does not want a future professional career in that field. A decent private engineering course may cost around Rs. 40 L to 50 L and four years, and if one is not planning to stick to that profession then it is a sheer waste of time and money.

The second student/parent call I want to describe is about a boy, who passed his 12^th grade two years back and tried to get into an MBBS seat for two years in vain and now wants to join some alternative course related to medical or psychology course.

To those students who are planning to take a drop year or two, my sincere advice would be to start working on an alternative path right from the beginning, if the chosen path does not work for any reason which is beyond anyone’s control. The entrance exams in India are very competitive, the chance of getting through is only about 1% to 2%. So it is always better to have alternative handy. There are opportunities available in every field, the only thing one has to be really good at is his/her chosen field or skill. Let me give a live example, today, I came across the profile of Ravishankar Iyer on LinkedIn and his work is to use his storytelling abilities to serve his clients.

In summary:

Engineering education suits those interested in technical challenges and problem-solving.

Finance Management education appeals to those with an interest in finance, economics, and investment.

Humanities education nurtures critical thinking, creativity, and cultural understanding.

Medical education is good for those who want to serve people, animals etc through their knowledge and skill.

Ultimately, the choice depends on individual interests, career goals, and personal strengths. Each field contributes uniquely to society and offers valuable learning experiences

What is more important is not to get drawn towards every shining object (professional profiles/people who are successful in their fields, this we call it, Paradharma). Rather, try to introspect and find out what are your abilities, personalities and interests (Swabhav) and accordingly choose a career that you will love to do for the rest of your life (Swadharma). All the professions will see several changes, and modifications in the future, but the core direction will remain fairly constant.