Regular seminars and conferences at Indrashil University assisted me in career-related decision making, says Ankit Singh

Having scored decent marks in my Class 10, my friends and teachers encouraged me to opt for Science stream in my Class 11.  Still, before choosing Science, I went through the syllabus of both the Commerce and Science streams and found that the latter was more interesting and fascinating for me to pursue further. Then I had to choose between Maths and Biology. Initially, I thought of keeping PCMB in my course but I got suggestions to go for one subject only as it easy to work and focus on one subject. So, I went with PCM as my teachers told me that I will get more options and opportunities as compared to Biology.

In Class 12 exams, I scored 98.83 per cent and 84.5 out of 120 in GUJCET. I also appeared for the JEE Main exam and scored 123 out of 360, which was not enough to get into any national engineering colleges. However, I could have got admissions in engineering colleges in Gujarat. But I felt engineering was not my thing and also looking at the present scenario of engineers in India, I was not motivated to pursue engineering. So, I made my mind to pursue my career in Applied Sciences and contribute in the field of science. So, I started searching for good graduation colleges around me and my quest stopped at Indrashil University. I was really fascinated by the labs and the faculties there, the entire staff at the college was supportive. Also, they have Dr JS Yadav as their Director of Research and of course, he can easily provide guidance to us. In addition to all this, the college is only a 15 minutes drive from my place. So, with all these factors put together, I decided to pursue my Bachelor's in Chemistry at Indrashil  University.

Initially, I was targeting for Delhi University to pursue my graduation, but unfortunately, I didn’t get admission there. So, I started searching for some other colleges and I managed to get admission in Indrashil University. As it was the inaugural year of this institution, there was not any entrance test to get admissions, the marks obtained in Class 12 was the criteria to get admitted.

Since we have regular lectures, most of the time I spend my time in classes. The lectures are very interesting and conducted using the latest and modern tools. The faculties are well equipped and trained, they are mostly PhD and Post Doctorates from various reputed national and international institutions. We also have regular lab sessions which are obviously very fascinating. Apart from classes and labs, I love to spend my time in the library as reading books in one of my favourite things to do. Additionally, we have different clubs such as science club, sports club, literary club, eco-club, culinary club, yoga club and tech club. All these clubs are active and they regularly organise different events which make the life at college very alluring and pleasing. Recently, we organised an Inter-college sports fest called Muqabla-2020, in which many colleges participated. The best part of this event was that it was entirely managed by students. Similarly, many other events are organised and in our college and we students are always independent and provided the chance to put forth our ideas and arrange activities and events. We also participated in National Chemistry Festival (Rasayanam) at IITGN where we excelled and won the quiz, debate and many other prizes. Now, I would like to share one of my experiences that how the science club benefitted me: As a member of the science club we always take care that all the students are up to date and aware regarding various competitions and internships, so I always search for these kinds of opportunities. In doing so, I also applied for a six-month internship programme at JNCASR, Bangalore. My faculties helped me a lot in writing SOP and guided me thoroughly with this. And fortunately, with the recommendation of Dr JS Yadav, I was among the 11 students in India who got selected for this internship. This internship is very valuable and will prove very helpful in getting admissions abroad for my Masters. In addition to this, recently, I got selected for an online Indo-German Internship based on start-ups organised by Dare-TO-Start and GINSEP, Germany.

So, having spent two years at IU I’ve developed as a student as well as a person. Initially, I had stage fear and I was not in favour of opening up much to the people. But, being here and getting involved in many activities and events helped me a lot in gaining self-confidence, especially, when I got a chance to Anchor our inaugural annual function (IUtsav). Also, the regular seminars and conferences assisted me in thinking and taking decisions regarding my career. So, I would say being at IU helped me a lot in many ways. 

About the author:

Ankit Singh is a student of Bachelor in Chemistry at Indrashil University. He enjoys socialising and connecting with new people. He is also passionate about reading, writing and playing Cricket and Kabaddi. Ankit possesses good inter-personal skills and always look for opportunities around him that can make him stand out of the crowd.

Note: The views expressed in this article are solely author’s own and do not reflect/represent those of Shiksha