Students’ Speak: Think about the better opportunities

By: Bisharah Saeed

Many of us have the luck or the opportunity to get into colleges in the first attempt itself. But there are many who miss that crucial opportunity. In this case, most of the time they follow either of the following options: dropping or repeating a year or getting into a college that year itself with the score received.

In the case of dropping a year, in my personal opinion, I would say that this is a better choice as more opportunities are waiting for you at the end of the year. Of course, this would mean dedicating the whole year to hard work, watching your friends study in colleges while you are still preparing for the entrance exams, which also means that when they graduate you will still be in college, etc. Yes, it is quite hard. But think about the moment where you get admission into a college much better than the ones that were available for you earlier. Think about the better placement opportunities that you will receive and the satisfaction that you will get at the end of everything. The price to pay will be really high but in the end, if you ask me whether it is worth it, it is really worth it.

Prepare for one more year

It is almost impossible to get into any top college with low scores. A low score is a subjective term. In my opinion, out of a maximum of 600, I would say that a low score would be in the range of 100-200. This may not be the same for a different person. With a score in this range, you can still get into colleges but they won’t be that good. The learning outcome will be entirely different than the real top colleges.  Studying for two years is a really important aspect in all of our lives, I would suggest getting into top colleges with good scores. In case, your score is bad, try preparing for one more year. Personally, I know friends who tried writing CAT exam for 2 or 3 times for getting into IIMs. And in the end, they succeeded.

On the other hand, there is still a way to get into top colleges with low scores. This can happen only if the college shortlists you. Once they shortlist you, you will be called to attend the GD/PI process. If you outperform the other students in this session, there is a high chance that you will be selected because most of the colleges give more weightage to the GD/PI sessions than the entrance scores. So, practice a lot by referring to YouTube videos for the GD/PI session before attending it. The application procedure remains the same which will be mentioned on the college website.

About the Author:

Bisharah Saeed is a second-year Post Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM) student at Rajagiri Business School. He has a Bachelor's degree in Automobile Engineering. Bisharah has over 10 months of work experience at Amazon.