How I chose my course and college: Sarthak Sharma

NIT Hamirpur

We know what we are, but we do not know what we may be.

This is my story. A kid who wanted to learn everything. A student who dreamt of making his career around army, space travel, web development, cricket, acting, superhero fiction, etc. A boy who wasn’t sure of what to do in life. A boy who wanted to do something with computers and is now a happy electrical engineer.

From childhood, my aim was to accomplish everything, though I didn’t know what the term accomplishment meant. Till class VIII, I had no idea what I had to do to secure my career. To be honest, I had absolutely no idea what career meant. Then, in class IX, our Science teacher started explaining to us the role of Science in life. Due to his influence, I knew that I’ll be choosing Science stream in classes XI and XII. But we all know that there are two main divisions in Science stream i.e. medical and non-medical. I chose non-medical.

 How I chose my course

What I am now is all because of the decision I made four years back. The reason behind choosing non-medical stream was that I had no interest in the medical stream. And yes, it was the right decision because if you are not interested in something, you can’t excel in that.

This is what I want all of you to consider seriously. Choose the platform according to your interest. If you want to become a musician, don’t bother about medical/non-medical.

So, after deciding the stream, I knew that I’d have to focus on Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics. And so I did. Slowly and slowly, I came to know that I was leaning towards Engineering. I knew that in order to get admission in a good Engineering college, I’ll have to study hard.

How I cracked college admissions and chose my college

We all know that Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) is the only way to get admission into reputed Engineering colleges all over the India. After cracking JEE Main, the admission process started. To all the readers who do not have much idea about the admission process, I would love to explain this in brief.

So, what actually happens during the admission process is that Joint Seat Allocation Authority gives us an opportunity to fill the choice of branch and college according to our preference. You can fill any number of branches and colleges according to your preference and you will get admission into the college according to that.

I filled National Institute of Technology, Hamirpur with Computer Science and Engineering as the first choice and Electrical Engineering as the second preference (I filled 10 choices and I got my second best preference).

I chose NIT Hamirpur because of the following reasons:

•    Hamirpur is in my home state, Himachal Pradesh

•    NIT Hamirpur has the best infrastructure among all Engineering colleges.

•    The environment is quite healthy and clean. Hence, it is better to live in a healthy environment than to study in top colleges at the cost of poor health.

•    NIT Hamirpur has a good history in terms of academics and cultural events.

Let me summarize how one can crack college admissions in a bulleted list:

•    Don’t try to cram all your studying into one session

•    Plan when you are going to study

•    Never procrastinate

•    Make sure you are not disturbed while studying

•    Make a study schedule and stick to it

•    Stay focussed towards your goal

•    If you want to achieve your dreams, learn to sacrifice

•    Stop thinking in terms of fear

The most important thing you need to know is that you will need to make a routine according to yourself. You can choose to become an owl or a lark. Don’t try to copy your peers; all of us have a different lifestyle. So, plan according to yourself. At the end of day, it’s you who is going to get the reward.

Don’t give just one entrance examination. Try to attempt as many as you can. By clearing more tests, you will get confidence to study more.

Are coaching classes beneficial

The answer is both yes and no. It depends on your learning style. If you are the one who learns new things under able guidance, then you can opt for coaching classes. But if you are the one who doesn’t want to waste money and time, and is willing to prepare on their own, then you can study without opting for coaching classes.

These days, coaching classes are merely a business. The management authority wants to harness everything out of their investment. Having said that, no doubt, there are some coaching institutes with exceptionally good teaching methods.  

My college life

I have completed two years of my BTech Electrical Engineering from NIT Hamirpur. As mentioned earlier, Electrical Engineering wasn’t my first choice. But now, I am quite happy with it. It is all because of the faculty members and friends. Our teachers always try to teach their students new things and to keep their interest in the subjects. Yes, there are very, very boring subjects too.

In college, we try to do all the things from serious to silly, daring to dumb, and freaky to funny. College life is really enjoyable. You can play, sing, dance, act or do whatever you want. Remember, only study is not important, you should participate in all activities and this is what college is meant for.

 About the Author:

Sarthak Sharma

I am Sarthak Sharma, an inquisitive electrical engineer from NIT Hamirpur who wants to learn new things. I love reading, blogging, writing, gaming, social networking, and travelling.