The admission season is here and you as a university final
year student have the privilege of answering a lot of questions, asked by
curious admission seekers.
This other day I happened to be in one of Delhi University
colleges for some urgent work. As I walked in I bumped into a girl who was with
her dad for the very obvious reason. I saw them looking curiously onto the Cut
Off list and then walking into one of the rooms for admission. As I walked out,
the same father daughter duo was waiting outside the gate, confused.
As I waited for a ride, the girl’s daughter approached me
and asked if I was a student with the University, to which I nodded calmly. He
then asked me one of the most irritating question one can come up during the
admission season, “My daughter has X amount of percentage, which course should
I consider for her?”
Well yes, I understand the admission anxiety and the value
of opinions at this point of time. But I fail to understand the degree of
confusion inside a father’s heart about which course his daughter would take
such that he considered even consulting a stranger for the same.
The situation I am countering via this entire build up of
the instance is about the lack of concrete choice amongst the students when it
comes to admission. And what further worsens the situation is the amount of
interference parents make with respect to admission related matters.
A very common mentality that prevails amongst most of us;
and by us I meant students as well as parents, is that our first objective is
getting into the University and getting a good college. In the other of
preference, we often put subject or course as a third preference.
Yes, this is the age old debate of course versus college
which I am talking about.
My friend got a call from one of his neighbors asking what
all courses are available in DU so that her daughter can at least secure a seat
in so called ‘India’s best University’.
But how often do we care out course satisfaction? How often
do parents consider the satisfaction of students over prestige of studying in a
top college in a top course? A guess a fraction does, but there exists a
plethora of crowd that still compromises on the aspiration of their child in
the name of a better future and success?
As someone from the middle class Indian society I understand
the concern of parents in terms of future and money and aspirations. But we
often fail to underline is the degree of risk having a scarred career if the
student fails to cope up the demands of the subject.
A lot has already been written on how parents influence
their kid’s choice when it comes to career. But very little is talked about the
confusion that prevails amongst the students when we talk about their choice.
Last year while talking to a new student, I asked her about
why she took up a course like Journalism Honours. Her reply was probably the
most unimaginative ever, or maybe considering the generation today this might
be pretty common. But to my horror she replied, “It just sounded fancy”. Now
tell me, how can we solely blame parents?
It’s a little sad to write that very few students actually
research for their interest when it comes to college and depend more on other’s
opinion when it comes to colleges they want. Since I can quote examples related
to only my field of interest, here is another instance.
A guy approached me with dire interest in doing under
graduation in Journalism from the university. But his condition was like he
wanted a course only in Travel Journalism and hence asked me which college in
DU offers the same. Now for someone who understands the concept a beat, it will
be far easier for him/her to figure out where this guy was wrong.
These are still very technical confusions. There were
instances where guys came up to someone asking if he could get admission into
Miranda House or LSR since they are often listed amongst the top. Now aren’t
these the very basic of things to consider.
The whole intention of writing this piece was to send out a
message that at least you be sure of what you want to do. There is a set of
preference about what you want to peruse. It’s to consider opinions but not
good to live on them. It’s not fair to comment upon one’s personal choice, but
considering the degree of competition, I suppose its noble to be a little
concrete when it comes to booking a seat which might just be a dream for
someone.
Comments
Post a Comment