Life after Class XII: Rajat

Where to go? Which college to join? Should I follow my friends and do Engineering? Will I fit in? Am I even passionate about Engineering? These are few questions every student ponders upon right after Class XII board results are out, and the same questions freak us out when we fail to get into our dream college. Now what? 

“In India, Engineering colleges are something that you can easily find in every corner of this country, and we are producing thousands of engineers every year, but still, we are far-far behind, when compared with other developing countries, the reason behind this thing, is we aren’t producing quality. The quality of Engineering is falling exponentially. So, it’s vital for you to get admission into a good private university in India since the employment rate for engineers is falling drastically. One thing which you should look for in an Engineering college is its placement record and quality of education.” These were the lines by my elder brother, which ultimately guided me to choose the best college for myself. 

I remember how after completing school, I was in a dilemma as to which college should I join. I was allotted one or two government colleges through my JEE Mains counselling and I had an option to join any college from my ‘UPTU/ UPseat marks'. On the other hand, there was a list of private colleges of our country. This was the time when I attended various seminars and symposiums. I recall how through one of these symposiums which I attended in my city (Kanpur), I came to know about NIIT University (NU). I compared the colleges in terms of their quality of education, infrastructure, branding and placement. 

Today I think I made a good decision two years back when I joined NU for its BTech program in CSE branch. Life at NU so far has been an exciting experience for me. I have made friends for life. I have seniors as mentors who guide me through every difficult situation. Professors are friendly and mess food never dissatisfied me. The greenery around the campus is to die for. One half of the campus is surrounded by Aravali hills, so the view outside your dorm window is always enough to mesmerise you. All in all, you are never going to miss home once you have spent a certain amount of time in here, even if you were homesick for your place. 

At NU, the professors teaching CSE- related courses are really good, with notable names like Dr Prosenjit Gupta from University of Minnesota, Dr Sudhir Kaiker from Canada, Prof Kamlesh Bajaj and Prof Navin Kapur from IIT D. Many students have worked with them and published research papers. 

You can also get scholarship, which is evaluated at an interval of 2 years. 

All in all, NU campus is a nice place to live in and this place will never dissatisfy you. Academically, if you are joining its undergraduate BTech program for Computer Science, I can assure anyone that it can be one of the best decisions of your life. NU has an edge over other universities in this field as NU is a branch of NIIT Limited which has been serving in this field since decades. 

Today I am in my third year of Engineering at NU. I am into various clubs of the college. I have three internship experiences and I am involved with two early-age start-ups right now. At present, I find myself in a better place and my piece of mind is restored, but I still remember those days of struggle and dilemma when I didn’t know as to what to do and where to go. To anyone who is reading this article and if you are in that situation right now, in which I was back then, so please let me guide you as your senior. We all go through this gap of about 60 days between our leaving school and joining college. In this time period, we experience our first sleepless nights, we think of our future that seriously for the first time, we start to see our friends as our competitors, we dream, we plan and we try our best to get the best out of the bests. We do not want to compromise and we never get ready to settle. But the hardest truth of all is that we all finish school and we all end up in a college we deserve. In this situation, I would recommend anyone to do your own research to figure not only the best college but also the right college for you. NU has been the right college for me from the day one. 

About the Author

I am Rajat, pursuing BTech (Computer Science) from NIIT University (NU).