There were many occasions when my juniors have approached me asking for my opinion and suggestion on taking up a particular institute over the other. At times, it gets still complicated. They even ask me to help him/her choose between the branch of study and the institute.
For a start… Let me tell something about myself. I had gone through this phase around 6 years back... In 2002, when I was out of my 12th Std, I had lot of options with me... being one of the top CET rankers from Kerala, I was really confused… (I often feel that a man gets totally confused when the life starts giving him many options!) I wanted to take up Electronics then… Not because I knew what was being taught in that or what kind of career path existed for an Electronics Engineer. It was simply because it was the hottest branch in 2002. And I believe it still is. Together with this interest in Electronics (for whatever reason I have told), I wanted to do my Engineering from one of the NITs and that too only from one of the South Indian NITs viz. Calicut, Trichy, Surathkal and Warangal…
Then the inevitable happened... Something many of my juniors (are/will be) facing… I won’t be getting Electronics in the 4 NITs I wanted… Finally, I decided to take up Mechanical Engineering at NIT Trichy… A decision which is still cloudy to me…
Now coming back to the topic… the MILLION DOLLAR question…
For a start… Let me tell something about myself. I had gone through this phase around 6 years back... In 2002, when I was out of my 12th Std, I had lot of options with me... being one of the top CET rankers from Kerala, I was really confused… (I often feel that a man gets totally confused when the life starts giving him many options!) I wanted to take up Electronics then… Not because I knew what was being taught in that or what kind of career path existed for an Electronics Engineer. It was simply because it was the hottest branch in 2002. And I believe it still is. Together with this interest in Electronics (for whatever reason I have told), I wanted to do my Engineering from one of the NITs and that too only from one of the South Indian NITs viz. Calicut, Trichy, Surathkal and Warangal…
Then the inevitable happened... Something many of my juniors (are/will be) facing… I won’t be getting Electronics in the 4 NITs I wanted… Finally, I decided to take up Mechanical Engineering at NIT Trichy… A decision which is still cloudy to me…
Now coming back to the topic… the MILLION DOLLAR question…
- Did I learn something special at NIT Trichy which I wouldn’t have got in any of the colleges in Kerala?
- Was it worth taking up Mechanical Engineering at NIT Trichy leaving the Electronics seat which was waiting for me at College of Engineering, Trivandrum? (CET Trivandrum is supposed to be the best college in Kerala and an Electronics seat there was a hen that lays golden egg. )
- What value addition did NIT Trichy do in me?
I am not going to list down all that I gained from being at NIT Trichy. But then, I can, without doubt, say that NIT Trichy has transformed me into a very different person. Many learning which I have got, the attitude I am carrying with me now… are all from NIT Trichy and I don’t think I would have got those, had I took any of the colleges in Kerala.
Why am I telling you all these? I had yet again gone through this entire thought process very recently… for deciding upon my MBA admissions… I had a couple of MBA admits and I rejected them all… including IIM Lucknow, FPM admit…
Today, with the learning I have got, having gone through this thought process twice… is…
- If one knows 100% what he/she wants to become in life (I mean, the branch of engineering or the specialization in Management), he/she should look towards taking up just that… And he/she can even afford to skip few of the top ranked colleges for his choice of study.
- But then… If one has even a little bit of hesitation from his/her part on which branch or specialization to take, I will STRONGLY recommend them to look for the best college they can get into. It is because the kind of peer group learning which he/she will be getting at these institutions are very different from the other institutions. Here, one will be able to learn quite a lot… not just the text book stuff… and this will in turn help him/her come out as a complete personality package...
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