Mystory@Komal Banka: How I chose my course and college

Mystory@Komal Banka

Honestly speaking, Science seemed quite interesting to me. Certainly more interesting than Commerce. The trio of the subjects: Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics were successful in drawing my attention towards them and I eventually gave in. The theories as well as the numerical questions were indeed interesting and I believed I had made the right decision. Then as I proceeded in my high school years, it became quite evident that my future had to sail through the island of Engineering. We Ranchiites always been aware of the fame that BIT Mesra enjoys. Thus for me, it was The Destination. I passed the class 12th CBSE Board with flying colours and secured 94.8% and qualified the JEE Mains exam after a period of intense hard work. My road to BIT Mesra was clear yet the stream to be pursued was still unclear. Finally I was allotted Chemical Engineering on account of my JEE Rank which was formulated by combining both the JEE-Main scores as well as my Board percentage. Although I had hoped for a better branch but this wasn’t a bad option either on account of the college’s rich heritage. So, eventually, I settled for Chemical Engineering at BIT Mesra.

How I cracked college admission

Since the beginning of Science in Class 11, I was quite convinced that engineering was going to be my destination. Yet, I preferred focusing more on the Board exams to secure a significant percentage that would matter in cracking JEE. So, instead of undertaking specific coaching that targets the various entrance examinations, I joined local tuitions for individual subjects. It worked quite well for me, as I was able to do well in School. The truth is, I didn’t want to risk my percentage in Board exam by focusing on the various entrance examinations. I believed there would be always time for it too. 40% weightage of Boards exam would also be quite effective in getting a good rank. In the end, though I secured a decent percentage, yet unexpectedly it wasn’t enough. I had attempted a number of Entrance examinations like JEE, BITSAT, VITEEE, SRMJEE, WBJEE but I failed to get a decent rank in those. It wasn’t easy to get into BIT Mesra. As I found out, I hadn’t been allotted any seat in BIT Mesra in the first four stages of counselling. That was indeed quite shocking and I regretted my strategy. I was allotted a number of colleges through the joint counselling process but they lacked the qualitative standards that I wanted in a college. Finally, it was the special round process that got me into BIT Mesra.

What I learned from my college years

College life has been really good to me and I guess I can vouch for almost anyone over here. It has indeed changed me as a person, enhanced my personality, it has helped me develop various traits that I had always possessed but had been tarnished as a result of severe ignorance during the last two years of my schooling. I still fondly remember the beginning of college life. I was shy, unsure of myself but as time passed I started hitting it off well with my friends, then everything seemed to work really well. In the first year, there were a lot of classes and there was this 75% minimum attendance we were required to respect. So, I attended some classes because I liked them and some because I had to. Anyways, the curriculum was not as vast as it seemed and I took a liking to all this. Pretty soon, I joined various clubs and learned those things that I had always wanted to, top most being photography. It had always been a fascinating for me and now I am finally living the dream over here.

There is another thing that never stops bothering. The curfew hours for girls. We girls have be back to our hostel by 8 pm. Yet we have become used to this.

So, I’ll tell you how my every day in college looks like. First half of the day usually kicks off by 8-10 am and the second half of the day by 2-3 pm stretching on to 5 pm. In between the halves, lies a break of around 2 hours. That’s the time for my lunch and rest. At the end of the 2nd half my social and extra-curricular life bursts into existence -- Club meetings and related activities, interaction with seniors, planning of various events, competitions, festivities, etc -- this is pretty much how college day is like. Sometimes the busyness goes to a significantly higher level during fests. Apart from fests and club activities, all we have is friends, we roam around, hangout, go to the city, indulge in gaming and that’s pretty much everything. College life is addictive, it gets into your bones. You learn to become independent, capable and it turns you into a grown up individual.

About the Author:

I am Komal Banka, a confident and dynamic individual from the city of waterfalls, i.e. Ranchi. I am currently engaged in pursuing my Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering at Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Ranchi. My thirst lies in photography, poster designing as well as gaming.