My college has helped me enhance my personality: Shreya Nalawade

My story is similar to the story of most Indian teenagers who have no idea about which stream to pursue after completing Class 10. After a lot of discussion with my friends and  family  based  on my  marks, I  decided  to  take  admission in  an  Integrated  Course  for  JEE  preparation (Science field ). After completing Class 12 with good  marks in boards  and securing satisfactory marks in JEE, I had plethora of options to choose from as I had attempted for JEE Main - Paper 1 & Paper 2 both.  After being confused for a while, I decided to pursue engineering and I am happy with my decision. The main reason behind choosing RAIT was its close proximity from my house (because I don’t like travelling ). Another reason was that my parents did not want a college with a very strict atmosphere. The main reason for choosing engineering was based on many factors. I aspired to be a doctor but did not score well in NEET and MHCET. I scored marks which were enough only for qualifying and not for getting me a good medical college. Thus, we thought that the most efficient or considerable option for me after medical is engineering. Even though this was an impulsive decision and I didn’t think it through but I don’t regret the decision any more.   

I  scored  80.04% in  12^th HSC  Boards and 48 in  JEE Main.  My  aggregate  score was  80 so it made me eligible for admission in  most of the well-known colleges. However,  I wanted  a  college which was closer to my home so I  filled the options accordingly. I had opted for RAIT as my first preference  and applied for both IT and  CS  branches  along  with  other colleges  like  SIES, Terna, D.J.Sanghvi etc.  When  the  results  of 1^st  round were out, I was allotted  RAIT  and since it was my first option and 1^st preference in the form I had filled, I had no other option then to either confirm the admission or leave the CAP round and wait for the 5^th round. I preferred the 1^st option and confirmed my admission to RAIT.

The entrance  exams I have attempted  are as follows:

• JEE  Main Paper 1 (BTech)  &  Paper 2 (Architecture)
• MHCET
• NEET
• NATA (Architecture)
• BITSAT (Engineering)
• VITEEE (Engineering)
• SAT etc.

Since  I  was  pursuing  an Integrated  Course, I  didn’t  feel  the  need  to  attend  any  extra  classes  for JEE  preparation, I  was referring to  books  of the  series -  JEE in 40 DAYS  (Physics, Chemistry, Maths ). I would definitely recommend these books for preparation as they offer test series with solved answers.  

College life

My  college  timing is  from  8:30 am to 4:30 pm. We had 5 lectures and a practical class every day. These classes in the last semester varies according to the number of  subjects  in every  semester. My college hosts a lot of festivals and extra- curricular activities like sports day, concerts, cultural fest, flash mob, technical fest etc. Most of the students are involved in at-least one of these activities as it requires huge volunteering  and  participation.

I am a part  of  MOTIF  committee of  my  college which deals with entrepreneurship and new startup ideas. Whenever I have the time, I work on improving my sketching and origami skills. It is one of the most entertaining thing in my life. It is more than just a hobby for more. It is my  passion. I like attending the practical classes that is related to my curriculum more than  attending  lectures. If I had the opportunity to do anything else, I would definitely want to volunteer to spread awareness about social issues  affecting our society.

My college activities and the atmosphere has helped me improve my communication skills, build confidence and fight stage fright to a large extent. College life does change people a lot. You meet a new set of people, come across good and bad situations, learn self-control and sometimes also lose ourselves completely. My experience of learning  all these good things just improved my self-control. I became strong enough to resist things I did not want to do without actually coming under any peer pressure or caring  about what other people would think about me. The variety of people that I have met and the variety of experiences that I have received is something I  would  cherish for rest of my life along with the good and  bad  memories. I am really thankful  for  my college life as it has helped me develop as a person and has made me more understanding and mature than I ever was. 

About the Author:

My name is Shreya Nalawade and I am a third year BE (IT) student of RAIT (Ramrao Adik Institute Of Technology). My hobbies include sketching, painting and reading. I like volunteering in activities that benefit our society like planting and nurturing trees, spreading awareness about the importance of saving water, electricity, education of children and well as promoting equal rights for everyone.