Mystory@Manika Shah: How I chose my course and college

Mystory@Manika Shah

Ah! the first time a student is exposed to the world of making choices in life. Mostly, it is the first time a student goes through the process of decision making and tastes the pressure of responsibility for the very first time. Like everyone else I went through the same tedious process.

Having studied Science and Mathematics till 10^th standard, I had all three streams open to make a choice. I chose to pursue Commerce with Mathematics in standard 11th and 12th. My family had given me full liberty to make this choice, so it was not that difficult a task for me. I chose Commerce as a stream because things like finance, management, economics, how financial markets operate, had started to interest me. I had seen my sister (who is also from the Commerce background) fill sheets of register with accounting entries. This made me curious to another level, to know what this complicated jargon and mechanisms stand for. Moreover, the whole idea of studying three completely new subjects (Commerce, Economics and Accounts) for the first time, fascinated me a lot.

Again, like every other confused child, I visited a career counselor to get more clarity on what I should pursue after 12th. After taking a set of aptitude, interest and personality tests and analysing them, she came to the conclusion that I can either pursue management studies or law (as I had good reasoning skills) or can go for mass communication studies, as it appeared from the analysis that I am very creative and possess good people skills. While management and law had been an option for me before the counselling also, the option of journalism and mass communication came as a complete new thought.

How I cracked college admission

As easy as it had been to choose a stream in school, it was equally difficult to choose a course and college for pursing graduation. The journey post board examination till getting admission in my present college has been a long and exhaustive one. I wanted to keep all options open to myself. Just after my board examination, I joined a one month crash course for law and IPM (Integrated management course at IIM Indore). I filled as many college forms as I could for law, management and mass communication, of all well-known colleges across India. So, the ride began in January itself when I gave the entrance for NIFT (got selected for the second round, but dropped the idea later).

Next after completing my crash course, I appeared for CLAT, but could not clear the entrance. I appeared for Symbiosis Entrance Test for BBA and Mass Communication and got selected for the interview round. However, my parents were not convinced about sending me to Pune, so that plan was also dropped. Meanwhile I had appeared for IPM Indore entrance, St Xavier’s College, Mumbai entrance for BBA and BMM (vacancy of only 13 seats, for the general category), could not clear any one from the list. However, I scored an all India rank of 49 in Indraprastha University entrance for mass communication and was eligible to join Sofia College, Mumbai also. But after talking to people I realised that there were other colleges better than these for mass communication. This was a time when I had lost hope of getting into a good college. I scored 92% in 12^th, which was not enough to get a good college in Delhi University. After giving more than 10 entrances and narrowing down my option to mass communication, I was left with no college to look for admission.

One entrance was still left. Entrance for BA(Hons.) Multi-Media and Mass Communication at Indraprastha College for Women, Delhi University. I had not heard a lot about it. However, after a lot of research and talking to people I got to know that there was a kind of buzz about this course in Delhi University. It fulfilled almost all criteria I had in mind for a good college. Indraprastha College for Women, among the top 10 colleges of Delhi University, offering a unique, one of its type course in India which has lot of value abroad also, through process of an entrance (I would have not managed to get this college if the admission was on merit basis).  It was a two-tier entrance process comprising of a MCQ round based on GK and a separate written ability round. I managed to clear both rounds and got admission in the college, I’m presently studying in.

My college life: classes, extra-curricular activities and more

College has been a constant learning lesson for me, only the chapters have kept changing. All my school life I have been an academically strong student, while striking a good balance between studies and co-curricular activities. When I got admission in Delhi University, I was told that life in this university is more about the exposure you get, the societies you join, the co-curricular activities you take part in, the opportunities you grab and the talks and conferences you attend. I had joined college with the same notion, wanting to grab everything on my plate.

I auditioned for AbhiVyakti, the dramatics society of IP College, also one of the best in DU. The audition process was so extensive that I missed out on the auditions of other societies. I got till the last round of audition of Abhivyakti, but could not clear it then. So, for the first year I was part of no society. I joined swimming in college and focused on my course.

My course is a perfect blend of theoretical knowledge and practical application of what all is being taught.  We have subjects like Television Journalism, Reporting and Anchoring where we get to design and produce news stories using professional cameras and other equipment and also get field experience of reporting from real locations. Graphic Designing is another subject. Learning new software for graphic designing and video editing has been a part of this subject. Among all subjects that we are taught, the most interesting of them all has been ‘Exploring Hindi Cinema’. On entering the first class of this subject I realised that all we had to do for the rest of the semester was to watch Hindi classics and do the same for homework, while simultaneously analysing them. While studying, the subject was so much fun, I developed a new understanding of viewing movies, analysing their trends and critiquing them. By far this has been one of the most interesting and insightful subject I have ever studied, which also gave me a chance to be creative and original.

At present, I am an active member of Enactus IPCW, a student-run international, non-profit, entrepreneurial organisation which is an active society in my college. I am also a part of the content and tech team of this organisation. This has done me good by nurturing my passion for business and entrepreneurial skills. In this society, we work on real business models, empowering a weaker section of the society, by generating a source of income for them through entrepreneurial skills.

During the course of my college I would like to do as many internships as possible, as experience counts a lot in this course and it holds more worth than just textual knowledge.

College and also staying away from home has made me more responsible in life. I have learnt the art of multi-tasking after coming to college and have learnt that the key to success is to make full use of your potential and to keep exploring and discovering oneself in the process.

About the Author:

I am Manika, a student of Indraprastha College for Women, Delhi University, pursuing my graduation in Multimedia and Mass Communication studies. I love sketching and doodling almost everything I see, and have made some pretty interesting stuff in the past, like a 3D Harry Potter snitch, souvenir tokens of different countries and doodle on leaf. I have also been into graphic designing and have explored writing poetry too.